Best 2 types workouts improve longevity

In our last letter, we wrote foods that greatly influence our longevity. Surprisingly, something even more important than proper nutrition exists. This might seem strange, but even if you don't eat ideally (without going to extremes), your physical fitness will affect your longevity much more than your diet.

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Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max)

VO2 max measures the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise. It reflects your aerobic fitness level and is commonly used to indicate cardiovascular endurance. VO2 max, a direct measure of cardiorespiratory fitness, is tightly linked to longevity. Enhancements in VO2 max are associated with substantial increases in life expectancy, with a notable impact observed even with modest improvements in fitness levels. ⁽¹⁾

How to increase VO2 max:

• Prolonged walking, especially with external loads, can increase VO2 over time, potentially improving VO2 max. ⁽²⁾

• Walking with blood flow restriction (BFR) has increased VO2 max, suggesting that even low-intensity walking can enhance aerobic capacity when combined with specific training techniques. ⁽³⁾

• High-intensity interval training (HIIT) improves VO2 max, especially among individuals not responding to moderate-intensity exercise. Important! HIIT must be in moderation! Studies have shown that benefits stabilized when HIIT was practiced for more than 75 minutes per week. So, people doing four to seven hours of vigorous exercise per week didn't get any additional benefit and, from a cardiovascular standpoint, lost a little. ⁽⁴⁾

Muscle Is your metabolic regulator.

Skeletal muscle is the primary site for glucose disposal - 80%. For individuals struggling with elevated blood sugar, glucose, or triglycerides, skeletal muscle is the primary site for disposing of and utilizing these nutrients and substrates. The greater your muscle mass, the higher your survivability against all diseases, including cancer. ⁽⁵⁾

Increased muscle mass decreases leptin resistance. 

Leptin is a powerful and influential hormone produced by your fat cells. It plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure. 

Insulin and leptin work together to control the quality of your metabolism and, to a significant extent, your rate of metabolism.

Both insulin and leptin resistance are associated with obesity, and impairment of their ability to transfer the information to receptors is the true foundational core of most all chronic degenerative diseases.

Controlling hunger is a major (though not the only) way leptin controls energy storage. 

When you look at people who do strength training, it adds another 19% reduction in all-cause mortality to the 45% reduction from one hour of moderate exercise per day. ⁽⁶⁾

For people over 45, strength training for about 60 minutes per week will achieve the maximum benefit for healthy longevity. ⁽⁷⁾

Once you get to 130 to 140 minutes of strength training per week, your longevity benefit becomes the same as if you weren't doing anything, which is nothing short of shocking. ⁽⁸⁾

Based on the data above, we can focus on 20-30 minutes of strength training 2-3 times a week and daily one-hour moderate exercise sessions, such as walking, to give the best results for quality and healthy longevity for people over 40.

It is obligatory to consider health conditions and consult with specialists to select the loads permissible for each person individually. 

Once you get into your mid-40s and 50s, exercise should be fun and stress-reducing, not competitive.

While there's certainly benefit to cardiovascular exercise — mitochondrial biogenesis, for example — resistance training is far more foundational to your long-term health because skeletal muscle is the organ of longevity. Muscle mass optimizes you for longevity.

The good news is that it's always possible to start building muscle using diet and exercise, even in your 70s or 80s. Yes, adding muscle with advancing age becomes more difficult, but it's far from impossible. 

Grip strength is a reliable biomarker of biological age. ⁽⁹⁾

Grip strength naturally begins to decline around age 50. 

Data have also shown that greater hand grip strength is correlated with:

• Improved heart health can help predict cardiovascular problems alongside family history, blood pressure, and other indicators. ⁽¹⁰⁾

• Reduced risk of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. ⁽¹¹⁾

• Increased functional independence can affect your stability and reduce the risk of falls. ⁽¹²⁾

• Neurocognitive brain health and a reduced risk of cognitive loss, psychiatric conditions, and dementia.

• Preliminary predictions on the current level of immunity and inflammation in the body. ⁽¹³⁾

We've already written about this, but it's worth a reminder in the context of this article.

How do I increase my grip strength?

1. An increase in grip strength of about 0.9 pounds occurred with each additional portion of fatty fish, rich in omega-3 fats, consumed weekly. ⁽¹⁴⁾

2. Hand-grip strength was also associated with vitamin D levels in one study of young women, which makes sense since vitamin D is critically important for muscle function. ⁽¹⁵⁾

3. Exercises for improving your grip strength:

   • Partial-Grip Pull-Up

   • Plate Pinch

   • Towel Pull-Up

   • Farmer's Walk

   • Push-Up

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Kos and Helen.

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