Since writing about Outlive two Sundays ago, I started sharing changes I’ve made in my life thanks to Outlive. Last week spoke to the first major change – intermittent fasting. Today’s is about another major change – to workouts.
Peter Attia breaks workouts into 4 categories –
(1) VO2 max or Zone 4+ workouts: Imagine going up a steep hill at full pelt and feeling breathless. This stretches our lungs to maximum capacity and is the type of workout that helps us build up our VO2 max.
(2) Zone 2 workouts: These workouts involve extended periods at an elevated – but not uncomfortable – heart rate.
(3) Grip strength: Our ability to deadlift weights. This needn’t be lifting weights above our heads – it is just a measure of our ability to grip a heavy weight and carry it.
(4) Stability: Our ability to maintain balance.
I learnt 3 lessons from the book that have inspired more changes –
(a) Stability first. I didn’t appreciate how important stability is. It is logical – stability prevents injuries. And, in the long term, the single best thing we can do for our health is prevent serious injuries. I’ve added some stability work to my workout every day.
(b) Grip strength. I’ve been gradually building grip strength in the past year with 12-15 min workouts 3-4 days a week. I’ve now made these 5 days a week with gradual increases to grip strength.
(c) Zone 2 + Zone 4 run. Finally, I’ve made a 12-15 min run every morning a priority. I’ve seen some of the research about the power of getting a few minutes of sunlight in the morning. And this run has been a breath of fresh air – no pun intended. I’ve started with a fixed circuit involving two steep hills nearby and I can already see marked improvement in my ability to run up these hills. I expect to add more variations in time – the goal is to maximize time in Zone 2 with at least one Zone 4/max sprint.
I don’t know how or why I didn’t do this before – but moving from 3-4 days of ~15 minutes of workouts to a ~30 min workout every weekday morning has felt great.
Additionally, I’ve been increasing time spent walking up and down stairs in the office – which has also added a surprising amount of time spent in Zone 2.
There are more additions I expect to come in time. As our kids grow up, more time spent outdoors actually results in a workout. A year ago, for example, a bike ride with the kids did not do anything for my cardio. But that’s changing quickly as they get older. And I’m also in the market for a regular game of football/soccer. There are many small changes coming together – all of them are having a large impact on my mental health in addition to my physical health. The key is to keep the momentum.
Every addition to the schedule has trade-offs however. Creating space for all of this means removing stuff that takes space. And, in my case, the trade-off has been following Manchester United. Following the news, catching up on highlights, and watching the news was a guilty pleasure. Breaking this 20 year old habit came easy once I realized what was at stake. I’ll write about this in the coming weeks.
