Whenever I hear the phrase “I’m training for longevity,” I have to physically stop myself from rolling my eyes.
It’s usually followed by “...and that’s why I don’t…” (insert whatever exercise or training style has been deemed dangerous this week).
I don’t blame people. Everyone just wants to train in a way that keeps them from getting hurt and keeps them able to do the things they love. That could mean continuing to ride bikes with their friends, or something as simple as not getting sore from holding a granddaughter who now weighs 25 pounds.
Furthermore, there’s so much information on what you should and shouldn’t do. Good exercises vs. bad exercises. Good training styles vs. bad training styles. Depending on who you talk to, you’ll get completely conflicting advice.
Personally, I think there’s a simple way to look at training for longevity. It cuts through the noise and makes sure you’re actually making progress in the right direction.
So here it is:
Training for longevity should be treated just like saving for retirement.
When it comes to retirement, most people have two main accounts. These days, we’re told to have a 401(k) and a Roth IRA, so I’ll use those for my example.
When we’re saving for retirement, the goal is… TO SAVE AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE. You want as much as you can get in your Roth, and as much as you can get in your 401(k). Why? Because one day you’ll have to start withdrawing from those accounts, and the bigger the balance, the longer it lasts.
Training for longevity also has two main accounts: strength capacity and aerobic capacity. The stronger we are, and the more blood our heart can pump through this human meat sack, the more capable we are. And just like retirement, the withdrawals are coming. An injury, a surgery, a rough winter of being sick, and plain old aging all take money out of the account. The bigger your balance, the more life can take out while you still have plenty left to carry groceries, chase grandkids and get up off the floor.
This is also where the “I don’t do that exercise because it’s dangerous” crowd gets it wrong. That’s the training version of keeping your entire retirement in a savings account because the stock market feels risky. It feels safe, but inflation is quietly eating your money the whole time. In training, inflation is aging: you lose strength and aerobic fitness every decade whether you train or not. If you never put that money to work, “playing it safe” is actually the riskiest thing you can do.
Here’s where it gets a little more nuanced. With your retirement accounts, you usually aren’t picking individual stocks. You’re investing in mutual funds and index funds (and other things I know nothing about). Each fund holds tons of different stocks that all contribute to the overall growth of your account. No single stock makes or breaks it.
Our strength and aerobic “accounts” work the same way. To keep getting stronger or building a bigger aerobic engine, there are a lot of underlying qualities we need to invest in.
Qualities that feed your strength account include mobility, stability, speed, power, max strength, hypertrophy, etc.
The same applies to your aerobic account: aerobic threshold, anaerobic threshold, glycolytic capacity, etc.
Just like an index fund, no single exercise is going to make or break your account. Deadlifts aren’t going to bankrupt you, and there’s no one “longevity exercise” that will make you rich. What matters is the overall balance, and that you keep making contributions consistently. Small deposits made every week for years will always beat a few big ones made every once in a while. That’s compound interest, and your body works the same way.
And if you’re reading this thinking you got started late, the IRS lets people over 50 make “catch-up contributions” for a reason. It’s never too late to start building the account.
So to sum it all up: if we want to train for longevity, we want a little bit of everything in the portfolio, but the main goal is to keep growing our strength and aerobic capacity. As long as you keep the main goal the main goal, you’ll be in good hands.
If you don’t know where to start, fill out our contact form and we’ll get you set up so you never have to choose between training smart and training hard.
