Your Decathlon

I’ve written before about Peter Attia’s idea of training for the Centenarian Olympics - specifically designing your training plan and goals to hedge your bet on having physical capabilities for the last decade of your life.

Peter now is referring to this as the Centenarian Decathlon and I think it’s a better name, which is more descriptive of this idea. You can learn more about this and the specific items on hIs list on this recent podcast. The idea is to have a list of physical tasks that you want to be able to do, or specific gym tasks that you want to continue doing for the years to come.

Included on Peter’s list are things like, being able to pick up and goblet squat a 35 pound kettlebell, so he would know he has the strength and mobility to pick a baby out of a crib.

How about covering 3 miles on foot within 3 hours. If you’re reading this, chances are a 20 minute mile is palpable for you right now. What about when you’re 80? And that’s the point, even if it feels silly now, it’s helpful to spend some time thinking, what do I want to be able to do?

Other items on Peter’s list include performing a one minute farmers carry with body weight, a sit to rise standard, and a couple of physical tasks involving stairs.

Even if your terminal decade is off in the distance, start thinking now about how you can train to maintain your physical capabilities in the future.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain