Hello, health enthusiasts, and welcome to Rev Up Health, your go-to podcast for all things wellness. I'm Dr. Mark Hechler, and I'm Tandi Hechler. Together we're here to fuel your health journey with the best of functional medicine and holistic well-being. Each episode, we'll dive deep into topics that matter to your health, bringing you the latest insights, research, and inspiring stories. Whether you're on a quest for vibrant health or just looking for daily health tips, we've got you covered. So let's embark on this journey together and transform the way you live. So, Tandi, what's on our wellness radar for today?
Hello, hello, and welcome to the Rev Up Health Podcast. I'm Tandi, and I'm Dr. Mark, and we're so glad you're here. We're looking forward to talking a little bit today about the idea of a Centenarian Decathlon.
The Centenarian Decathlon
This is an idea from Peter Attia, a doctor who does a lot of work around longevity and health span. We've been following him for several years. He recently wrote a book called Outlive — it's fantastic — and there's a whole chapter about the Centenarian Decathlon, so I'm really excited to talk about that today.
It's one of those things people tend to not really think about. At younger ages and middle age, you're able to do a variety of different things you want to do — travel, play with your grandkids, chase the dogs around, all kinds of activities. But when we start getting older, you're losing muscle mass, and you're going to lose your ability to perform some of the basic tasks we do day to day and don't really think about.
So one of the starting points for thinking about what your Centenarian Decathlon might be is asking: what are the things you want to be able to do later in life — when you're a hundred, or in your 90s? For me, I definitely want to be able to get on the floor and play with the grandkids I hopefully have by then. I want to be able to still hike like I do today. And I'd love to still be able to walk a half marathon — that would be fantastic. Let's see, what are some of yours?
I'm a pretty avid runner, and I like hiking and biking too. At this stage in my life I'm very active — I'm able to run marathons and compete against myself — and at this point it's all about cross training too. But I would like to learn how to continue to be physically active and strong enough to, number one, do things, and number two, keep myself safe. You're obviously going to be on unlevel ground someday, and in that situation you don't want to hurt yourself or fracture anything by simply falling and not having control, strength, or stability.
Travel and Independence
Some of the other things I think about when I think about what would make my life full as I get older — I certainly still want to travel. We do quite a bit of traveling now, and it's interesting to see the number of people who can't travel on their own; they need help, or they're just not able to do it on their own. So what does that mean? It means I need to be able to put my carry-on suitcase in the overhead bin, and I may need to make a quick connection and get from one terminal to another.
Just simply being able to go visit different places. For instance, we went down to Mexico not long ago, and just going up and down some of the steep stairs to visit the ruins down there — that's a taxing thing, and it's not something you can do very easily. I actually saw a patient today who mentioned they had fallen and could not get up off the ground. In those situations, you've got to maintain your strength and stability, and it's not something that just happens, because as we age we lose muscle mass. If we're not putting forth the effort on a daily basis, it's not going to come to us. So it's an ongoing thing. Yes, you've got to eat right, you've got to get some sleep, but exercise is the most vital, important thing you can do.
Functional Tests: Sit-to-Stand and Grip Strength
The situation of not being able to get up off the floor is really something to consider. As we get older, those types of things get a little harder, and we don't even think about how they're getting harder — we just know we can still do it. There's a functional test you can do called sit-to-stand, and we'll have to do a little video of it and post it so you can see. Basically, you cross your legs and sit down onto the floor, and then, with no hands, get back up off the floor. It's scored on a 10-point scale, and you lose half a point for every arm or knee or whatever that you use. When you start looking at it that way, it's something you can be working toward now, training yourself for the Centenarian Decathlon.
Another one is grip strength — basically grabbing a bar and holding your own weight. That seems kind of daunting; some individuals can't do that at all. When you look at the more elite individuals, both males and females, they're able to hold their grip strength, just simply holding their body weight for a minute and a half to two minutes — and that's the outside edge, those are the people who are in shape. These are predictors for longevity. It's hard to believe that grip strength means so much, but it does, and if you think about it, it's true.
My grip strength is not super. My dead hang — maybe one time I've done a minute; typically I can't hang that long. But the other day I was out weeding the yard, and we've got this area where some grass spread a little wide, so there are these big hunks of grass that are really hard to pull out, and I thought, "Dang, it's a good thing I have the grip strength I do, or I probably couldn't weed this rock bed." We all like getting outside — getting vitamin D is important, yes, but being outside in nature is also a mood elevator, with the fresh air and the birds and being able to work in your garden. And simply carrying things around, whether it's rocks, shovels, bricks, blocks, or wood — those types of things are not easy to do, but it's all part of daily functional life.
I've been thinking about the bees we've got on the way. As we were learning about what it takes to take care of bees, the boxes the hives go in can get pretty heavy, and that's something where, yes, we're going to need the strength and capability to move those hives. It's just one of those things you really don't think about. We take it for granted what our bodies can do for us today.
VO2 Max and Cardiovascular Fitness
As a marathon runner, I'm pretty attuned to my body's capabilities, its strength. I know that there are situations and conditions when I run — when I'm getting fatigued, or toward the end of a race — where it takes more strength to do some of those last miles. Cardiovascular-wise I'm in good shape, but it's the strength that we all fall short in. VO2 max is a measure of your cardiopulmonary efficiency, and my VO2 max is in good shape, but some individuals have trouble walking into their house or going upstairs to the second floor. It just takes more effort, and it's worth it.
Training for the End of Life
You're used to training — you train for events all the time. Putting on the lens of training for the end of life, what are you focused on? With running, you'd think it's all about putting in miles. Yes, there are a lot of miles that need to be put in, but the biggest thing I've found is trying to build strength — and not necessarily just strength for running, not just your heart and lung endurance, but also leg strength, upper body, and core. It takes all the major muscle groups to be able to perform. I know that if I can swim, bike, and run, then I'm going to do well on a marathon, because that covers all the major muscle groups. The same principle applies as we get older, just in a different fashion.
I feel like muscle is probably one of the most important things a person preparing for their end-of-life years needs. Having strength in all the large muscle groups will help you perform, but also keep yourself safe. I touched on that earlier — stability is pretty key, and mobility is another one. Tandi, you've had a lot of training with yoga, and you could say that's probably one of the good things you can do for mobility, right?
Mobility, Flexibility, and Yoga
Definitely. Yoga is really great on a lot of levels for the flexibility piece, but it also brings in stress management, which is huge, and breathing. All around, yoga is a great tool. Along with yoga is this newer idea of mobility that's gotten pretty popular lately — that's just keeping all your joints mobile, which you do in yoga, though not quite as concentrated on specific core joints. I would say that's definitely going to be a key piece as you're training.
I agree. I've even gained an interest in yoga to try to relax and unwind. It's hard for me to sit still for very long and just be present and in your mind, but that's also very helpful.
Protecting Your Shoulders
Some of the most important muscle groups, which I've told you many times, are the muscle groups around the shoulders. There are going to be times you trip, times you fall — and Lord knows I just fell not long ago skating. The ability to catch yourself and protect yourself, and keep from tearing a rotator cuff — those activities for the shoulder are very important. But that all goes back to the idea of cross training for the Centenarian Decathlon. Specific exercises are okay to do, but you can't just be good at one thing — you have to be good at all of them, and that's where the decathlon comes into play for everyone.
Building a Well-Rounded Routine
So the question is, what are some of the key things people can do to be well-rounded? Not only the strength in our muscle groups, but mobility is really important too. I've found myself not stretching enough, not being flexible enough. When we get older, things get a little tighter, and as a runner, certain muscle groups get tight, which creates more stress on joints. You've got to maintain flexibility and do exercises that simply stretch things. That's something we a lot of times forget, and it's also going to help us get up and down off the floor, pick up our groceries, and put that luggage in the overhead compartment.
So, to do a little recap: strength training is a must.
Do you think body weight is enough? A lot of folks think, "Oh, I've got to go to the gym to work out." Well, you don't have to go to the gym, and you don't have to pay those absorbent fees to get the benefits you need for aging. You can find a desk, a chair, the floor; you can pick up a backpack; you can pick anything up — just pick things up. I've heard people mention that simply doing hard things and picking up heavy things is something you can do to improve your muscle strength and tone. You'll also find that these types of activities increase your bone density. Not only muscle strength, but bone density — because if you stress your body, you stress your bones, and they're going to lay down calcium to counteract that stress. If you're sitting around, you're going to get a little softer; if you're getting up, moving around, being more active, and lifting heavy things, your body is going to respond to that. It's an adaptation.
Why Fractures Are So Dangerous Later in Life
That's a great point. It's well known that when you have a fracture, especially a hip fracture or a femur fracture later in life, that's a pretty poor potential outcome in terms of recovering. All of these things are getting your body ready to be prepared in case of an accident. They say hip fractures in your older years are very similar to a death sentence — within a couple of years, basically, the statistics show that death is going to happen within two years for a percentage of folks who have that type of fracture, and they run the risks of all-cause mortality.
It's Never Too Late
So the idea is there is absolutely hope, and it's never too late to get into your training. This is just a really good invitation to think about what the things are that bring me joy and that I want to do all of my years. If I know where I want to be, then I have a pretty good indication of where I need to be right now in order to make that happen. That's definitely something we want to talk to people about and answer any questions on. So if there are things, please reach out and let us know. If you have something where you're like, "I really want to do this, and this is what I'm able to do right now — what do you think I need to be able to do to get there later in life?"
You have to prepare now. Preparing now, in your younger years, is going to determine how you perform when you get up to your older age. So ask yourself: how do I want to live? What do I want to do? Do I want to spend my life in a chair, a wheelchair, or in a bed, letting others take care of me? Or do I want to be active and productive? I think most everybody out there would choose to be productive and active. Life is fun — it's just a matter of taking the time to prepare for it now and doing the things necessary to build your strength and mobility. These types of things will also improve your mental health and your neurocognitive function later in life too.
Be Grateful for Your Body
One last thing to say is to just really be grateful for these bodies we have. A lot of times it's easy to look at your body, or feel pain in your body, and have a negative take on it. But really look at your body and be grateful for all that it does for you. A lot of times after a workout, Mark will say, "You're welcome, body," even though we're kind of sucking air. Exactly — when I'm in my 20s of the miles, when I'm getting ready to finish a race, almost every time it puts you in a different frame of mind, and you start to think, "Wow, I'm doing this." Your mind is your limitation — if you put your mind to it, your body will follow.
So if you have any questions or comments, or want us to speak to you more about this, just reach out to us at Revelation Health and Wellbeing. We'll be happy to help you and guide you and help you navigate your health.
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Rev Up Health. We hope you're leaving with some valuable insights to supercharge your health journey. Don't forget to follow or subscribe to Rev Up Health wherever you listen to your podcasts, and if you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a rating and review. Have a topic you want us to explore? Reach out to us on our social media channels — we love hearing from our wellness community. Until next time, keep thriving, and remember: your journey to health is a journey to a better you. Stay well, and we'll connect with you again soon. This is Tandi, and this is Dr. Mark, signing off from Rev Up Health. Take care.
The information provided in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. The content is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient and their healthcare provider. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your healthcare regimen, including diet, exercise, or treatment plans. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Revelation Health and Wellbeing.