If you haven't yet heard of Dr. Peter Attia, and you're interested in a 50+ fitness lifestyle, you will soon. He is a golden unicorn who masterfully integrates the traditional western medicine concepts of, largely, pharmaceutical and surgical (often crisis-level) intervention while simultaneously promoting, and even emphasizing as a prophylactic approach, fitness and nutrition as a more effective, direct and time-sensitive means of attaining and preserving optimal health and performance capacity.
A life-long athlete who pursued, left behind, and then re-entered the medical field with renewed and re-aligned focus, his insights are invaluable, current, evidence-based, and infused with personal and professional practice experience. And his wisdom is remarkably accessible and clear, through, among other vehicles, his best-selling book, Outlive and his many YouTube videos. I strongly recommend both.
I had originally heard about Dr. Attia during grad school and then, about six months ago, in the same week, his book was recommended to me by both one of my mentors and a longtime client who best fits my target audience (over fifty athletes). I knew he would have at least a few, if not several videos that address our community, of which he is a recent entrant, and the video below did not disappoint.
While it's tempting to dismiss an activity that may take up to two hours of one's valuable time, I can't stress enough the value of watching/listening to the video in its entirety. You may want to break it up into segments and enjoy it while you're driving. As an aid to both facilitating your consumption of Dr. Attia's observations and recommendations, I'm providing here a quick summary and then multiple time stamps in the video and their respective points/topic discussions. I realize YouTube does something similar directly on the video. But mine are more detailed and focus on specifics that I feel are of the most value to over-50 athletes based on my perspective as a fitness and nutrition educator and professional who specializes in this area.
General summary/review
As with most of Dr. Attia's videos, he's engaging in a conversation with either someone who has a pre-existing interest in/knowledge about the chosen topic or an expert/peer in an adjacent or overlapping area. I find these exchanges particularly compelling and valuable, as the flow is organic and the coverage is sharp and relevant with high-value information and persuasive, well-articulated observations and commentary. This video follows that template and the host is easy-going, even playful, as Dr. Attia answers each question the host posits with appropriate depth given the limitations of the format. What I find most enjoyable and meaningful listening to Dr. Attia's thoughts is how passionate and well-informed he is, and how convincingly he articulates his perspective. His points are razor-sharp, radically important and uncommonly relevant to anyone for whom an abundant "health span" is a top priority.
At nearly two hours, it is long for some who are more geared toward quicker, more superficial and disconnected "tips and tricks". He does post Facebook shorts and, probably IG reels (I'm not active on Instagram) for that. But again, the full episode is well worth the time, especially if you can enjoy it straight through.
If that doesn't work for you, here are time stamps with specific sub-topic discussions that may help you begin (or continue) to cultivate your relationship with Dr. Attia.
Enjoy:
1:18 Is 50+ too late to start exercising?
3:35 65+ marks significant physiological changes
4:46 Exercise/saving money for retirement analogy (compounding benefits)
7:07 PA's "Four Pillars of Health"
8:44 Degrees of freedom of movement
9:36 Graphs of age-related muscle mass (M/F)
12:15 Muscle volume/activity drop-off for those 75+, balance implications
14:40 Tipping point for age when minor setbacks become permanent
14:57 Vo2 Max (oxygen consumption/processing capacity) by age
18:30 Exercise variability + movement quality > load + volume + intensity
25:00 Qualitative metric for success at the 3-month mark of regular training
33:30 Finding your zone 2 aerobic intensity (heart rate, RPE)
38:00 WO duration vs. frequency, HR ratio, co-morbidities (relative risk)
38:50 Integrating higher intensity training
52:00 "Sweet spot" for interval training
56:00 The "Name of the Game" is...
1:00:00 Factors in building strength and muscle volume for older adults
1:04:00 Muscle fiber function and preservation
1:09:00 Importance of isolating muscle recruitment
1:11:00 Machines or free weights?
1:14:40 Prioritizing frequency, duration and intensity, progressing
1:16:00 Eccentric loading for control and joint stability
1:18:30 Fall risk as a metric for injury, "health span"
1:23:00 Factors in fall risk
1:28:00 "Lean forward test", other fall risk tests
1:32:00 Bone mineral density
1:39:30 Protein (PRO) for 50+ exercisers (alone; plus resistance training)
1:42:00 Age-related anabolic resistance
1:44:00 A "portfolio" approach to implementing a fitness training program
Click on the picture below to see the full podcast episode.
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