Video summary
Dr. Mike Israetel emphasizes that while muscle mass training addresses specific fitness goals, general physical activity outside of lifting weights is crucial for maximizing both lifespan and healthspan. He references *The Blue Zones* to highlight how maintaining low morbidity correlates with a higher quality of life, suggesting that most people should aim for 6,000 to 12,000 steps daily or significantly increase their current activity levels if they are currently sedentary. For individuals who engage in intense exercise but remain largely inactive during the rest of the day, Israetel recommends breaking up periods of stillness with additional bouts of aerobic output. He suggests that adding two to four sessions per week of 30 to 60 minutes of cardiovascular activity can further reduce morbidity and extend life expectancy for those who already lift weights or perform high-intensity training. To make these recommendations practical, Israetel introduces a simple metric for assessing the intensity of aerobic exercise: the ability to hold a conversation while moving. If an individual is huffing and puffing to the point where they cannot speak consistently with someone else during their workout, it indicates sufficient cardiovascular effort. He advocates for performing this level of activity at least twice weekly, progressing up to four times per week if possible. This approach serves as an "extra cherry on top" for longevity enthusiasts who are already optimizing their body composition through weightlifting and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Israetel notes that while his own BJJ practice contributes significantly to his heart rate elevation, he acknowledges he is not the ideal model for general longevity due to past steroid abuse and a history of extreme training intensity. A significant portion of the discussion focuses on overcoming common barriers to maintaining consistent aerobic activity, particularly among those who dislike traditional cardio or find it boring. Israetel shares insights from his experience teaching health behavior classes, noting that successful adherence relies heavily on two factors: enjoyment and social connection. He argues that physical activity should be fun and ideally involve a community of peers, creating an environment where missing a session feels like letting down friends rather than just skipping a solitary treadmill workout. This concept is illustrated through examples such as Airsoft teams or BJJ classes, where the fear of disappointing one's group acts as powerful social pressure to show up even when motivation wanes. The conversation also touches upon strategies for those who struggle with self-motivation in isolation versus training within a supportive environment. Israetel contrasts staring at oneself in the mirror listening to dark music against outsourcing exercise motivation to a dedicated group of people, which lightens the mental burden of working out. He suggests that if an activity feels like medicine or involves swallowing "horse tablets" without enjoyment and social engagement, compliance will likely suffer over time. For individuals who need more drastic measures to lose significant weight quickly, he acknowledges that strict dietary adherence is sometimes necessary, but for most people, leveraging the fun factor of sports like pickleball or cricket alongside a supportive community offers a sustainable path to better health outcomes.
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we touched on muscle mass like the bro
side of exercising but what about more
General activity outside of that yes
walking and stretching and cardio and
all that stuff so stretching no reliable
mechanism by which it'll let you live
longer but generally a moderate to high
amount of physical activity has a good
combination of promoting the longest
life span and the longest Health span I
think that's a caper AA book title I
just said by accident um
that you know the keeping them morbidly
low having the higher quality of life
because so something like just for
people's reference frame 6 to 12,000
steps per day for most people is totally
cool but a better way to put that is
probably if you're doing a lot fewer
than five or 6 thousand steps per day
all the time and you don't get a lot of
physical activity otherwise you could be
living longer if you did more physical
activity in most cases just to touch on
that uh I think I'm a good Avatar for
the Jim bro who goes quite hard for an
hour and then is sedentary for a lot of
the
day I'm doing some exercise I'm doing
probably significant 95th percentile
intense exercise but I'm also not moving
quite so much what would you say I
imagine a lot of the audience fits into
this particular bracket I think you're
doing really well for yourself if you
wanted a small but meaningful enhancer
to quality of life and Longevity later
down the road you would break up your
periods of physical inactivity at least
another one time in the day for a
serious bout of some kind of aerobic
output be it walking uh as easily as
that all the way up to pretty difficult
aerobic activity and so if you lift
weights and you do all that and if you
get you know roughly 10,000 is steps a
day very roughly huge variation for
individuals you're pretty good to go but
there's probably almost certainly a
morbidity reduction way of doing it and
probably increases your lifespan by a
little bit if you have several sessions
a week two to four sessions of 30 to 60
Minutes of intense cardiovascular
activity and for most people a really
easy way to measure that is can you have
a conversation with someone while you
exercise I don't mean a few words here
and there like H I'm doing good see you
tomorrow like not that I'm talking about
like consistent a like you and I are
having now you and I can have this
conversation on a walk no problem if we
were in really good shape we could have
it on a jog but we're not pushing the
pace with aerobic exercise if we can
talk so if you can't talk and you're
huffing and puffing doing that at least
twice a week for 30 minutes on end and
all the way up to four times a week for
60 Minutes on end or any combination
therein is probably that extra cherry on
top for longevity and Quality of Life
Enhancement so if you really want to
live as long as possible I would say
some pretty intense regular aerobic
activity is probably a good thing and
unlikely to be a bad thing is that
something that you're thinking about now
that you're out of I just want to be as
big and lean as possible world are you
or do you see your Brazilian jiu-jitsu
as is that contributing in that sort of
manner my Brazilian jiu-jitsu definitely
counts as that and I do BJJ now roughly
five times a week and at least a few of
those sessions have me huffing puffing
so I'm probably taking good care of that
um I am absolutely not the model for
longevity and quality of life I'm in a
very perverse very strange path very
understood very chosen path I think
you've uh at least partly ejected
yourself out of that or sort of gent
gently come into land yeah I stopped uh
abuse level
steroid uh but yeah it just makes me
think again I have this idea called the
manop pause uh guys at some point
between 28 and 45 that have just wanted
to get as jacked and lean as possible
maybe they have or haven't abused Peds
maybe they have or haven't ever tried to
do different training modalities realize
that they're they become chronically
aware of their own mortality yeah and
they think hey I shouldn't be out of
breath going up those stairs or whatever
I can't touch my toes or my shoulder
hurts always yes
um just again thinking about people
pivoting out of that and it seems to me
that uh if cardio which for some people
is is fun apparently but for other
people you need to game it like you have
which is choke the guy oh my heart
rate's High I was trying to choke the
guy my heart rate Got High um for me
pickle ball as a good example I'm
chasing a ball around a a a thing very
British very British way of of engaging
that would be yeah maybe not Bulls Bulls
are Polo um but yeah just trying to
think about some of the easiest ways for
the non- cardio lovers
to get themselves to that place for sure
that's a great great question Chris a
great statement because we know from the
exercise participation
literature in the physical activity
participation literature I actually used
to teach a class dedicated pretty much
to this that that is encouraging people
to participate Behavior okay uh health
behavior is a trip like we know pretty
well what to tell people to do but then
they're like and you're like okay they
won't do it how do we get them to do it
a big part of that is uh a two- Factor
thing one is your physical activity
should be pretty fun and it should also
hopefully be something that involves you
with other people so that the community
reinforcement part is in play and that
you have the situation where if you just
don't feel like it someday your Airsoft
team is still meeting up to shoot
AirSoft pellets at each other you better
be there and so you just end up falling
in and if you fall out of activity that
nobody gives a [ __ ] because you're just
on a treadmill at home and you have no
friends and no one to talk to you're
maybe kind of done but if people are
like dude are you gonna make it to
Jiu-Jitsu again I heard you healed up
you're like God I do I should go back I
love Jiu-Jitsu okay I'm going back dude
[ __ ] social pressure usefulness that
was the thing that I realized when I
started doing uh CrossFit and uh any
fighting that you know you're most
training for most people unless you have
a really cool Gym training buddy yeah is
you steeping in your own Neurosis as you
stare in the mirror listening to metal
or dark thoughts if it's you and or
nothing yeah EXA um and I realized oh
this is awesome I'm like Outsourcing all
of my exercise motivation to this group
of sure people around me it lightens the
burden of me having to do this thing
that I kind of probably didn't want to
do yes and I I don't want people to
misinterpret that as being like you got
to bully your friends into
exercise see that that was good have you
considered playing American football I
played Cricket for a long time excellent
that's it I don't want people to constr
this as us saying you need to bully your
friends into exercise there's a latent
assumed expectation that people have
that you're going to come back to
aerobics class that you're going to come
back to the pickle ball situation
Jiu-Jitsu whatever it is and that
internally to people without anyone ever
saying anything you have this thought of
like well all the guys are at
Jiu-Jitsu I'm going to go you social
pressure is a hell of a drug it's a big
deal and also what to the early Point
like it should be something that you
ideally look forward to and then it's
fun you don't want physical activity and
nutrition everything and Longevity
pursuit to start feeling like medicine
to start feeling you just swallow the
horse tablet and then you're good to go
people generally don't tend to stick to
that sort of thing and the discomfort of
it the
um less enjoyment that you have the less
involvement that you have already
actually exes off another longevity
variable we'll discuss later which is
like life involvement so if you like
what you're doing you're doing it with
friends and it's healthy for you [ __ ]
man you got a real good thing going yeah
I suppose there's a few times where a
more nuclear option is required if
you're Ethan Supple that you got to meet
the other day and you're 530 and you're
going to get down to 250 or something
you got to do the thing yeah you eat the
horse tablet all day but yeah for most
people there are easier ways to kind of
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SL modern wisdom thank you very much for
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