Concept-mapping longevity — training for your centenarian decathlon
In the book “Outlive”, Peter Attia, MD proposes the idea of training for your so-called centenarian decathlon. The idea is essentially to imagine 10 daily tasks you want to be able to do when you reach the age of 100, i.e., become a centenarian, and then start training for this at your current age. This sounds both absurd and easy, but the catch is that you lose about 10% muscle mass per decade. Hence, you’ll need to train for a much higher strength at age 50 to factor in muscle loss.
Disclaimer: Please consult professionals (your doctor, personal trainer, etc.) before applying any of the methods mentioned here.
As mentioned in the overview article, Dr. Attia promotes the idea that exercise is by far the most important tool to extend your healthspan. He mentions several studies showing a 3–4 times increased risk of all-cause death if you do not exercise compared to the upper quartile of fit people. Just moving from the lower quartile to the second quartile still below average will cut your risk in half. In other words, the un-exercised has twice the risk of dying compared to the below-average fit. A moderate investment of 90 minutes per week should be sufficient to reach the second quartile.
An interesting aspect of research on the positive effects of exercise is that it ticks…
