Ahhhh January….we love you. The new year. The new and improved approach to #allthehealthythings #goingcoldturkeyoneverything
“It’s gonna be different this year.”
“I’m ready for total transformation.”
We get it. We’re in the fitness industry and it’s no surprise to us anymore to see the onslaught of reinvigorated willpower this time of year. You’re gonna make it to the gym no matter hell or high-water. Your favorite Starbucks Frappuccino with extra sweetener? Never again.
Kinda extreme, we think. No wonder the candle is lit and it’s quite swiftly blown out…
Here at The Athlete Lab, we’re proposing you take a different approach – a longer approach that has forethought and cumulative efforts that add up to a nice even number.
We dare you to live to 100 with a high quality of life.
Who doesn’t want to live to 100 and still have all their marbles? And don’t even get us started on all the money you’d save avoiding assisted living or the nursing home while instead using that money to take trips to Europe, go on bike tours in wine country, hike a Fourteen’er, or simply enjoy your gardening or puzzles in your own home.
You’d also save a lot of money avoiding those pesky pill prescriptions too. You can go visit your kids more regularly, join a painting class, or regularly attend your favorite theater productions if that’s your thing.
This sounds waaaay more fun and fruitful than pill-popping, shuffling around a nursing home and struggling to get in and out of the bathtub.
No thank you.
What is the “Sport of Living to 100” you say? Well, it’s having a little competition with yourself.
But sports have rules and points. These rules and points are special though. Since you’re making the long-play (it’s a marathon, not a sprint), you don’t have to go into the penalty box for “slipping up” every time. That sounds demoralizing.
Think of it as accumulating “points” while normalizing best health practices.
Can you reach your target number? Before you know it things will start feeling like new habits.
Essentially, what you want to do is gamify your life and give yourself small prizes that matter.
First, set a target. Let’s say, if you’re just starting the “Sport of Living to 100”, your goal is to reach 100 points in week #1. Make it a little scary, but reachable.
The list below contains everyday “to-do’s” that will get you incredibly far in your quest to live a healthy life to 100. But, you could ultimately customize your game to incorporate best practices that you personally need to work on.
Sleep 7-8 hours (12 points): No bones about it, this is a biggie. So much so, that chronic lack of sleep actually shortens your telomeres…a part of your DNA that determines longevity. You want your telomeres to stay long!
Check out Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson to dial this in.
Intermittent Fast (10 points): If you’re new to this and all its amazing benefits, start with 12 hours and work your way up from there. Intermittent fasting is like a janitor cleaning up your old cell debris and giving your digestive tract a rest. To learn more about the longevity benefits of intermittent fasting, YouTube is your best friend, or pick up The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and co-author Jimmy Moore.
Lift Weights (8 points): Bottom line, the more lean muscle you have or maintain, the longer you live. Not to mention you’ll have much less of a chance breaking bones when you fall at an older age. We’re not talking 2lb dumbbells….those are great for physical therapy, but they’re not good enough for saving your life.
Lift heavy shit. That’s what you were meant to do. It doesn’t matter your gender or age, you would have been doing that for your own basic survival needs as a homosapien.
Lift a rock or tree stump 3000 years ago? Yep. Haul buckets of water in the Middle Ages? You bet. Carry a sick calf into the barn? Yes indeed. Haul your kids on your back for 2 miles? That too.
Don’t let the weights intimidate you, get after it.
Aerobic exercise for 20+ minutes (8 points): That’s all it takes. Get the blood flowing and break a sweat. It’s enough to help detoxify your body, help your skin glow and keep your heart in working order.
Stretch/Yoga/Mobility for 15 minutes (7 points): It’s no fun to fall on the floor and not be able to get yourself back up. They even made a commercial about it in the 90’s. Not being able to bend over to pick something up, having a difficult time getting in and out of the car or just slowly shrinking into a hunched over existence is like waving your white surrender flag too early.
There are plenty of mobility apps, group fitness classes and yoga mats for sale these days to have a justifiable excuse not to do this in your quest to live to 100.
Eat more vegetables (6 points): If you get points for this, it’s easy to prioritize them at your meals and snacks. Steaming and adding butter and sea salt is easy to mix with meat, fish or eggs for a quick dinner. Roasting is easy too. That way, you have leftovers for the next meal.
Now, did you reach 100 points? Yes? Great! Reward yourself with something meaningful.
Maybe it’s a session at an infrared sauna (we love Awaken for Wellness in St Paul!), buying a good book that you’ve been meaning to read, or trying a new restaurant. Be sure to decide what your meaningful prize is going to be before your start your weekly points accumulation, so you have something specific to feel driven by.
OR…was reaching 100 points kinda hard and you didn’t quite make it? Keep 100 points as your target until you can regularly reach it. Then, aim higher.
At The Athlete Lab, we know there are no quick fixes to health and longevity. Striving for your own healthy existence should just be a normal pattern of living because that’s what you are supposed to do as a human being.
If playing “The Sport of Living to 100” helps you find a new and improved version of yourself, then use this as a tool for developing a “new normal” for years to come. Forget about resolutions. Make the long play!