Hi team,

I owe you all (especially my paid subscribers) an apology. I have not been keeping up with my end of the bargain. You may have (hopefully) noticed that I have not been publishing weekly as of late. My apologies. In true Long Run fashion, I thought we should talk about it.

It has been over a year since I left my job (career?) selling alcohol. All in all, it was a great job: the people were great; it paid well; I had health benefits and an expense account; and it was “cool” to many people in my circle. I have not missed it.

However, I have not succeeded financially in this new-ish endeavor, The Long Run (at least, not yet). I have only had a handful of paying clients and, as of this writing, 23 paid subscribers (a big thank you to those fine folk!). Money is not everything, but neither my landlord nor Jeff Bezos have agreed to accept Substack articles as payment. Alas.

As a result, I have started bartending again, which has been truly wonderful (I don’t think computers were developed to improve human connection, fulfillment or happiness, but I digress…). I still enjoy writing this newsletter, but I have found myself doing less of it due to a decrease in both motivation and available time. I have also devoted some of the free time I have had to creative writing because, let’s face it, I don’t think any of us knows what we want to be when we grow up (or at least I don’t).

WHY I WRITE

Now, I started writing this newsletter for two main reasons:

1. To get clients (which has been a bust, if I’m being honest).

2. For me and my brain.

The first point is self-explanatory, I think. I haven’t converted any readers into paying clients. That’s show biz. But point two has worked out much better.

In an effort to maintain mental sharpness and acuity (and kind of to see if I could still do it), I wanted to write about my approach to health and longevity, to try to distill knowledge I have gained and experience I have had into useful information for people to hopefully improve their lives. According to some of you, I have done that, at least a little. Huzzah! (That’s also why I don’t use AI except to fact-check and look for typos. I could “write more” but it would be offloading the mental work that is half the reason for doing this.)

I cannot tell you how appreciative I have been to everyone who has told me they have learned something and/or enjoyed my writing. I wrote a lot when I was younger, but I haven’t really done it since college (except for thousands of emails asking if someone wanted to buy gin or mezcal) so I wasn’t sure if I would still be any good at it. So, thank you to those of you who have read my writing and said nice things about it.

GETTING TO THE POINT

All of this is preamble to both give a specific update about The Long Run and to remind you about what is important for your health and longevity.

First, in an almost complete reversal of what I said a couple of weeks ago (aren’t humans fascinating?!), I’m going to pause paid subscriptions on Substack. (Note: if you paid for an annual subscription and would like to be reimbursed, please contact me directly.)

Second, consistency is more important than “doing the best thing.” For me, I need to consistently make money and, if I want to keep my brain sharp, I need to learn new things and challenge the ol’ gray matter. And, for all of us, we need to move consistently, if we want to be able to move consistently. But we don’t have to do something specific if it’s not filling our cup or even if we think it’s the “right” or “best” thing to do.

Running regularly is an excellent way to boost and maintain cardiorespiratory fitness. But it is not the only way. Owning your own, financially successful business is a great way to support yourself financially, but it is certainly not the only way.

What I’m trying to say is, we should not be afraid to change direction because there are many different ways to move forward. If your goal is to run a fast marathon, you need to run. But if your goal is to improve your cardiorespiratory fitness and generally boost your overall health and fitness, there are other forms of movement that will help you do that. You just have to do it consistently.

For me, I’m going to publish when I have something I want to share (and I’m going to keep writing some other stuff for my brain).

If you have questions about health and longevity, I hope you’ll send them to me directly or, better yet, leave a comment below. I’d love to know what information would be beneficial to you. I can’t promise that I’ll write (or necessarily have something to say) about any and everything, but it does help give me ideas (also, shout out to my wife for suggesting I, you know, ask what people might want to read about).

Thank you all so much for being a part of this journey. I’ll see you soon!

P.S. If you feel, I don’t know, compelled in any way to support this intermittent work financially, you can Venmo me (@thelongrun).

Happy Sunday!

IMPORTANT UPDATE!

I am changing things slightly and I hope you’ll understand. Starting in September, all subscribers will get one full article a month (the first one of the month), while only paid subscribers will get articles the rest of the month (free subscribers will get a brief summary of the topic).

I really enjoy writing these, but they require time and effort on my part. My hope is that some of you who are interested and able will consider upgrading from free to paid for $8/month (button below). Thank you for reading and for all the positive feedback! Enjoy the rest of your week!

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THE GOOD NEWS

I have good news for you! You’re not old, but you might be out of shape. Ok, before you start throwing things at me, hear me out.

Yes, of course, there are changes that occur as we age, and I’m not suggesting that an 80-year old is going to be playing in the WNBA or NBA or have the same function that they did at age 30 (or 40 or 50), but I think the way we think about aging has some problems.

First of all, we don’t even really understand what aging is exactly or why it happens. Scientists first proposed nine “hallmarks of aging” in 2013, and then added a few more in 2023. These include things like telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, mitochondrial dysfunction, and chronic inflammation (you know, the normal stuff we all talk about on each new birthday). But I’m not here to talk about all that. Instead, I’d like to propose a much less scientific definition of aging: feeling old.

FEELING OLD

Feeling old doesn’t have an exact definition, but I think we could say it means something like this: not being able to do things physically that you want to do, either due to a lack of function or a fear of getting injured, especially when you used to be able to do them.*

I don’t have kids of my own, but I love playing with my nieces and nephews (even when they show me up water-skiing). To me, not being able to play tag or jump on the trampoline or shoot hoops with them, for example, whether because I’m not physically capable (or I’m so unfit that doing so would wipe me out) or because I don’t have the confidence in my body to be able to do so without getting injured, would make me feel old.

Here’s another example. My wife and I got married last year. And what we wanted, besides having all of our friends and family in one place, was to dance like crazy people (shout out to the best wedding band: Sound Society). I may have sweat through my tux (I sweat), but I danced for hours and it was one of the best nights of my life, hands down. A few years ago, I don’t know if I would have been able to do that, or at least to the same extent.

Now, your specific examples might be different, but I think my definition provides a useful framework. Not being able to do something physically that you want to do, especially when you used to be able to do it, whether through lack of function (fitness) or a very real concern that you would not be able to do so safely, is feeling old.

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Happy Wednesday! I didn’t publish on Sunday because I was spending time with family this weekend. I hope you didn’t miss me too much!

IMPORTANT UPDATE!

I am changing things slightly and I hope you’ll understand. Starting in September, all subscribers will get one full article a month (the first one of the month), while only paid subscribers will get articles the rest of the month (free subscribers will get a brief summary of the topic).

I really enjoy writing these, but they require time and effort on my part. My hope is that some of you who are interested and able will consider upgrading from free to paid for $8/month (button below). Thank you for reading and for all the positive feedback! Enjoy the rest of your week!

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SPLIT, SPLAT, I WAS STRAINING MY GROIN

This past Saturday, I strained (or pulled, whatever, potato potato) my groin. It’s still hurting, but it definitely feels a lot better and it’s improving by the day. I’d like to tell you I was rescuing puppies from a sinking bus or bravely limping across the line as I won a race.

But, no. I was water-skiing. Or, since there will likely be some people reading this who can fact-check me, I was attempting to water-ski.

It may come as a surprise to you, but I am not a champion water-skier. As a boy raised in the high desert of New Mexico, I have a healthy respect for water and its ability to both hydrate and cause catastrophic damage.

However, I cannot claim to be a complete novice either. I did, in fact, water-ski once in high school and there are pictures to prove it. I don’t remember the exact date, but if I had to make a guess, I’d say that was 23 years ago this summer… So, not overly recent, either.

KEEP YOUR SKIS TOGETHER, THEY SAID

Now, the specifics aren’t necessarily important, but, suffice it to say, I made a few failed attempts to get out of the water and then, on what became my last attempt, I actually made it up (for a second) before my body ignored the advice everyone had given me and my skis went out to the sides, pulling me into the splits before I realized I should let go to prevent further harm.

When the boat circled back my in-laws asked if I wanted to try again and I politely declined. Instead, I graciously allowed my seven-year-old nephew to completely show me up (it was all part of the plan).

All of this was amusing because I wasn’t actually hurt; I was just in pain. (The only permanent damage being what was done to my pride.)

DON’T BE SUCH A PAIN…

But pain and injuries are funny things. I used to joke in high school and college that you could be in pain all day, but as long as you could run without limping (after warming up for a mile or two) then you weren’t actually injured.

However, because many aspects of our lives are so physically easy and we studiously avoid pain, we have a hard time understanding when pain is actually bad or when it’s just uncomfortable.

You see, pain is just information and, while certain information can be unwelcome, the information itself is not the problem.

If your house has a termite infestation, learning that will certainly be unwelcome, but it’s not the information itself that is the problem: it’s the bugs eating the wood in your walls and lowering the structural integrity of the place where you sleep and take shelter.

The same is true for pain – it’s just information (this is a topic that my good friend Alia Bisat has graciously agreed to address in a guest post that I’m going to publish later this month). But many of us conflate the information with the problem (learning about the termite infestation versus the termites destroying the wood in your house).

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Hello! If our calendars are to be believed, it is August. That means that everyone gets this full article!

If you like my somber and silly tone, I hope you’ll share this with someone who’s having a birthday this year — or who you can’t wait to talk about the new season of Ted Lasso with.

Thank you!

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HEARTBREAK AND CHANGE

My mother died in February at t…

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Hi everyone! I’m so sorry I missed you the last couple of weeks. I was visiting my family in New Mexico (hi, Dad!) and then exploring Utah for the first time with my wife. It was an emotional and also amazing trip. I’ll try to make it up to you all in the coming weeks with some bonus material.

Oh, and please continue to share this newsletter with friends, family, and the next person you sit next to on an airplane! It really, truly helps. Thank you!

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MORE MONEY (AND FITNESS), LESS MISERY

Not having enough money to purchase essentials, like food, shelter, and clothing, can make life difficult, to put it euphemistically. Somewhat more accurately, it makes life really freaking hard. The same is true with fitness. Not having enough fitness to “purchase” essential activities makes life very difficult.

You see, money and fitness are similar with respect to their utility and eventual diminishing returns. At low levels of both things are hard, but getting a little bit more of either is wildly useful.

If you go from not being able to afford shelter, food, clothing, healthcare, etc, to being able to afford them, your quality of life improves immensely. Just like if you don’t have the fitness to walk more than 20 steps, do household chores, etc, and then you acquire the fitness to accomplish those tasks.

But once you have enough money – or fitness – for essentials, the value of each individual dollar above that point starts to diminish and you may start to acquire more luxury goods.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Luxuries exist for a reason. They can provide entertainment, bring people enjoyment, and potentially make us happier. But money for the sake of money or luxuries for the sake of luxuries may not lead to greater life satisfaction.

And the same goes for fitness. If your goal is to live a long, fulfilling life, you’re likely going to need and want a relatively high baseline of fitness, including cardiorespiratory, strength, muscular power, and mobility. But above a certain level, the utility of more and more fitness likely has diminishing returns.

HOW MUCH DOES YOUR OXYGEN COST?

I’ll give you a concrete example. Running 10mph (or 6 min/mile) on a flat surface has an oxygen cost of roughly 55 ml/kg/min. If you have a VO2 max of 55 ml/kg/min, running at 6 minute pace requires 100% of your VO2 max, making it a hard effort that you might be able to sustain for 10 minutes or so.

For most people, however, being able to sustain 6 minute pace is what I would deem a luxury good. Being able to do it certainly means you’re in great shape, but it probably isn’t going to meaningfully improve your life (unless you’re trying to be a professional runner, in which case you need to run a lot faster than that).

However, walking upstairs requires anywhere from 15 ml/kg/min to 30 ml/kg/min of oxygen consumption, depending on how vigorously you’re moving. Now, can you still climb stairs if you have a VO2 max below 30 ml/kg/min? Of course. Is it going to be fun? Depends on your definition of fun.

Put another way, if you go out to dinner and the bill comes to $100 and you don’t have $100, you could put it on a credit card (if you have one), but you still need to come up with $100 soon or end up paying interest.

Also, if your VO2 max is just high enough to climb stairs, you’re still at your limit and that’s going to be a strenuous effort for you. That’s like having $100 exactly to cover your $100 bill. You can pay for dinner. Hooray! But now you don’t have any money. Boo-ray.

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Hi, everyone! I hope you enjoyed your 4th of July!

• In case you missed it, I wrote about why I’m bartending again (and why I love it).

• You can also watch a video of me talking about bartending if that’s more your speed. (Also, go USA! We play Belgium tomorrow in the men’s World Cup. It should be a good game!)

• This is the first post of the month so there…

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Hi, everyone!

• In case you missed it, I posted a video recently about living forever (and why we probably won’t).

• I also talked about what optimization culture gets wrong about living and being healthy.

• If you enjoy my written posts or my videos (or even if you don’t), please take a moment to like and/or comment. Thank you!

• Can you do me a big favor? Would you share this with one friend, family member, or your favorite bartender? I’m trying to grow this community and shares really help! Click the button below. Thank you!

• GO USA!

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Hi, everyone!

• In case you missed it, I posted a video this week about living forever (and why we probably won’t).

• Two weeks ago I talked about what optimization culture gets wrong about living and being healthy.

• Can you do me a big favor? Would you share this with one friend, family member, or your favorite bartender? I’m trying to grow this community and shares really help! Click the button below. Thank you!

  Share

LAST CALL

January 2nd, 2017 was my last shift behind a bar. Or so I thought. Anyone who was there that evening can tell you it was a great night – until I smashed the punch bowl (on accident!) and started uncontrollably weeping. I wept for the punch bowl (it was an antique found by a friend and colleague of mine), but I also wept to be leaving a place I called home for three years and a job that I loved. 10 years on, I think I understand a little better why I was so sad to leave.

Let’s go back. I started bartending because I needed to make money, as one often does. I had been working in the hospitality industry, but I thought I was going to start a liquor company with a friend, which didn’t end up happening.

The first bartending shift was actually just working an event, a pop-up, which morphed into a summer-long gig. It was great. THEN the restaurant whose event space the pop-up was using needed a brunch bartender. Enter: me. That was June of 2014, which for those of you who are quick on your feet, is 12 years ago, when I was the rambunctious age of 28.

I left bartending because I was offered a great job with Plymouth Gin (you’ll recall I thought I was going to start a liquor company at the time so it seemed like a great way to gain experience). That brought me to the world of alcohol sales which I belonged to for 8.5 years.

Working for alcohol brands was not without its perks, but I felt I was ready for a change a few years ago. I just didn’t know what. And then a great company called Rosaluna Mezcal came along. It was – and is – a great brand and company, but sales was no longer filling my cup (if it ever really had)

.

MIXING IT UP

It was during my time with Rosaluna that I started to figure out more about my own health:

• I cut back on my drinking, which improved my sleep and helped me manage my hunger better

• I started eating more protein, which was more satiating so I ate less

• I started lifting, which helped build muscle (who knew?!)

To my surprise, I started to lose excess fat that I had gained from drinking martinis and margaritas, focusing on carbs and ignoring protein, not caring as much about sleep quality, and paying little to no attention to strength or muscle.

And then, I could run again. I had fixed the sciatica that plagued me for months in Covid and had sidelined me from running, but running still didn’t feel great because I had 30 pounds that wasn’t contributing to anything except gravity.

Life was pretty good! But I still felt that there was a little something that I was missing. And I think I have figured it out now. I missed being on a team.

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK

To be fair, I had great colleagues and friends at the alcohol brands I worked with and we, of course, worked as a team, helped each other, and had fun. But it’s not like a cross country team. And, it turns out, a restaurant kind of is.

You see, I ran cross country and track and field through high school and college. (I also ran pretty seriously for a few years after college with a great group of friends). From the outside, cross country appears to be an individual sport, but I think it might be the greatest team sport (bias incoming).

Team scoring in cross country works by taking the first five finishers for each team and adding up their finishing places to get the team score. So, if your top five runners finish 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 10th, and 12th your team score would be 34 points*. The lowest score wins.

This makes cross country a great team sport for a few reasons. First of all, you need at least five strong runners to do well, but teams are allowed to run seven runners. In the event of a tie, the tie is broken by the sixth runners or by comparing the finishes of the scoring runners head-to-head. And even your non-scoring runners, your sixth and seventh runners, can help the team by displacing scoring runners from other teams.

Also, because it’s the lowest score that wins, the upside of having an extremely good front runner is limited. Your top runner could win by a tenth of a second or three minutes and it still only counts as one point. Of course, in big championship meets, with 200 runners racing, getting only one point is a big help. But, if you put Michael Jordan (in his prime) or Lionel Messi on a mediocre basketball or soccer team, respectively, they could still score some serious points, goals, whatever.

The same is true with a restaurant. I could be the best bartender since Jerry Thomas (deep cut), but if there isn’t a great team of cooks in the kitchen, not to mention servers, hosts, dishwashers, and managers, an exceptional martini is only going to go so far.

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But why do I make these videos in the first place? I make these videos for people like one of my best friends: he has two kids, a wife, a job, and a life that doesn’t revolve around reading health and longevity newsletters. He straight up told me he doesn’t read my weekly newsletter (which is totally fine!), but he’s still interested in the information.

Hence, the audio version for paid subscribers (only $8/month!) and a video version of the free article for everyone that you can watch or listen to while you furiously fold laundry.

Do you have a friend like my friend? Please share one of my videos with them!

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Lastly, if you like these videos, I’m slowly going to be working on my YouTube channel. You can find past videos there! Oh, and don’t be afraid to like, subscribe, and comment.

Hi, everyone!

• In case you missed it, I posted a video about bone density a few weeks ago, along with a second article about bones (and how not to break them).

• Last week I talked about what optimization culture gets wrong about living and being healthy.

• Lastly, can you do me a favor? Would you share this with one friend or family member? I’m trying to grow this community and shares really help! Click the button below. Thank you!

• Psst! I recorded this for paid subscribers! (9:57) See if you notice the word I struggled to say in the first section!

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THE ONLY WAY TO SPEND A BILLION DOLLARS…

Immortality, the dream of megalomaniacal men for thousands of years, permeates Silicon Valley and has attracted a lot of attention recently from the billionaire class (I suppose living forever is the only way they could possibly hope to spend all that money*, but I digress).

Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of Oracle, has plowed some of his not-insubstantial fortune into the quest for geroprotective drugs and life-extending treatments. Then, of course, there is Bryan Johnson, who has perhaps read one-too-many vampire novels and thought that transfusions of his son’s blood plasma may help him in his quest to ward off death (Dad, if you’re reading this, don’t get any ideas).

And don’t forget the autocrats and dictators (as much as you might like to). Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin were caught talking about the dream of living forever and the technology they hope will get them there.

I barely have the heart to tell them (nor will I likely ever have the chance) that the odds are very much against them achieving immortality. But, as sci-fi and ridiculous as it sounds (and I feel typing it), there is a non-zero chance that we could “solve” aging sometime in the not-too-distant future. Do I think it likely? Not remotely. Does it make for an interesting thought experiment? You better believe it!

Hopefully by now you understand that I am not prone to flights of fancy. My advice to achieve better health often hinges on staid, but scientifically supported actions that can be repeated year after year: get adequate sleep, don’t eat too much or too little, move your body regularly and, occasionally, vigorously. It’s not always sexy, but it is effective.

So why on God’s green earth are we talking about something like immortality? Well, frankly, because other people talk about it and as someone who follows trends in the longevity scene, I think it’s worth addressing (it also happens to combine two of my favorite topics: longevity and artificial intelligence).

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DREAMS OF LAZARUS

Humans, I think it’s safe to say, are somewhat obsessed with immortality and cheating death. From expeditions to find the fountain of youth to stories about vampires to the possibility of achieving “escape velocity,” (more on that later) we, as a species, have often wondered what everlasting life might be like. I have no answer to that question and I’m not going to attempt one here.

And certainly we have to be careful what we wish for. Eternal life without eternal health sounds like a fate worse than death (look up the Greek myth of Tithonus).

Without distracting ourselves with the implications of immortality on a societal level, let’s focus on you, a (very likely) mortal human individual. But, before we go there, why are people even talking about this? The answer, as it so often seems to these days, has to do with artificial intelligence. Specifically, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), or possibly Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI).

WE HAVE LIFTOFF

Some people in the tech world view aging much like they view gravity: an earthly problem to be overcome. To be sure, there is nothing we can do about gravity, but that hasn’t stopped us from landing on the moon or putting satellites into orbit. Gravity is a difficult problem, but not an insurmountable one, as long as you have sufficient technology and a boat-load of rocket fuel.

Aging, I think it’s fair to say, is much more difficult to solve than gravity (though I am not a rocket scientist nor a physicist). Aging is a complex and multifactorial process that even experts still do not understand fully (we have gone from nine to 12 “hallmarks of aging” in the last decade or so).

What’s worse, aging impacts the various systems of our body differently, hence the dozen “hallmarks.” That is why movement and exercise are so powerful. Physical activity creates an entire symphony’s worth of effects throughout our body, from cellular respiration to the physical stretch placed on your muscles.

However, there is a belief (or, rather, hope) that with sufficiently intelligent AI, likely AGI or even ASI, we’ll be able to understand the wildly complex process that is aging. And, with that understanding, we’ll be able to create novel drugs or techniques that either halt or reverse aging.

YOU SAY ESCAPE VELOCITY, I SAY NOT SO FAST

That brings us to the idea of escape velocity, which I mentioned in passing earlier. With gravity, if you can reach a sufficiently fast enough speed, you can escape the gravitational pull of Earth (and, with even more speed and many, many more years you could escape the gravity of our Sun).

Some people expect that we will similarly achieve “escape velocity” with aging. That is, the rate of scientific progress in human longevity will exceed the rate of human aging (at least at an individual level) and we (or some billionaire) will thus be rendered immortal (never mind about who’s going to pay for that or who will have access to said drugs).

So, what should you do if you expect you’re going to live forever and have some machine god who can cure all diseases? Should you take up smoking, as apparently some have done in Silicon Valley, because AI will be able to cure lung cancer in a few years?

My extreme advice is to not do that. (BTW, 10 to 20% of lung cancers occur in people who have never smoked so it’s worth getting screened for, regardless of smoking history).

Or, should you perhaps hedge your bets just a little by remaining generally healthy? I, and this is going to surprise you, would argue for hedging your bets. I know, I’m living on the edge!

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Hi, everyone! We were off last week because I was traveling. I hope you didn’t miss The Long Run too much.

• This article is free for everyone (the first article of every month is open to everyone). I hope you enjoy!

• Before I left, I posted a video about bone density, along with a second article about bones (and how not to break them).

• If you want help bu…

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In case you missed it…

• I posted a video last week about bone density. It will provide more context to what we’re talking about below.

• If you want help building a program to build your bones, reply to this email or schedule time to chat with me here.

• Psst. Paid subscribers can listen to this whole article (10:36)

• Can you do me a favor? Would you share this with one friend or family member? I’m trying to grow this community and shares really help! Click the button below.

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Last week, I dropped a horrifying statistic on you about one-year mortality rates for hip fractures in people over 65. If you’ve decided to return and haven’t unfollowed me, thank you! As a reward, this week we’re talking about something that will hopefully instill that all-too-rare and fleeting sensation in you: hope.

That hope comes in the form of a groundbreaking Australian study published in 2018. However, before we jump into the study, I want to talk briefly about studies.

STUDY HALL

1. When we say “study,” we mean a scientific study, experiment, or analysis. Studies exist to try to prove hypotheses, which are just fancy guesses. You probably remember learning about making a hypothesis (and then testing it) in science class.

2. You can find a study to support almost any claim (and don’t people just LOVE to do that). But it’s not being particularly scientific or rigorous in your thinking to only focus on data that supports your belief. That is, broadly speaking, the difference between influencers and scientists.

Scientists look at all the data and form conclusions based on where those data point. They also can and do change their minds as new data arrive. People on social media, on the other hand (and again to paint with a very broad brush), might be sharing data that support their claims (or whatever service or supplement they’re selling).

As for me, I am not a scientist by training, but I do my best to think like a scientist and look at what the broad, scientific consensus says. You might have noticed that the way I speak and write is often terrible for social media. There’s a lot of hedging, “probably’s,” and “this may blah blah blah.”

And I will certainly get things wrong. But I’m really trying to represent everything accurately, to the best of my ability. When I do make a mistake, I will own up to it. Or I’ll let you know if I change my mind on something as new information becomes available.

3. (Yes, we’re still going) Many scientific studies that have been conducted with humans (not rodents, worms, etc) have relied primarily (or entirely) on male volunteers. There are a lot of scientists trying to correct for that bias in the studies they do now, but just know that we still understand relatively less about human female physiology than we do about human male physiology.

And, while there are many, many similarities between males and females, I hope you can understand that there are also large differences, especially when it comes to sex hormones, like estrogen and testosterone, and how much they each fluctuate in men and women.

WHO RUN THE WORLD? (WOMEN)

That’s what makes the study we’re talking about today so interesting and valuable. Not only did it focus exclusively on female volunteers, but the researchers eventually selected a group of 101 post-menopausal women, who were all either osteoporotic or osteopenic (having lower than average bone density, but not full-blown osteoporosis).

The purpose of the study, known as Lifting Intervention for Training Muscle and Osteoporosis Rehabilitation or LIFTMOR, was to see whether it was safe and effective for post-menopausal women, already at a heightened risk of bone fractures, to perform high intensity resistance exercises.

The women were divided into two groups. One group conducted eight months of carefully supervised high intensity resistance training (HiRIT), while the control group performed a lower-intensity exercise program over the same period of time at home, focusing on bodyweight movements. The women in the HiRIT group met twice weekly for 30 minutes each session.

Not only did the program prove to be safe, but the HiRIT group actually gained bone mineral density in their lumbar spine and femoral neck (which is where many hip fractures occur). At an average age of 65 that is pretty astounding!

LIFTMOR SAYS LIFT MORE

If you remember from last week, our bone density tends to peak in our 20’s and we generally thought that it was all downhill from there. The results of the LIFTMOR study revealed that with appropriately intense stimulus the loss of bone mineral density could be reversed.

This is even more significant given that this result was seen in a population of post-menopausal women who had already lost significant bone mineral density.

Last week we discussed osteoclasts and how they break down or reabsorb bone material. If osteoclast activity exceeds osteoblast activity (the ones responsible for building or laying down new bone material), then we lose bone mineral density (BMD).

Estrogen, the primary female sex hormone, inhibits osteoclast activity, which is why after menopause, when estrogen decreases suddenly and rapidly, osteoclast activity can accelerate and lead to a reduction in BMD.

But physical stress can still activate osteoblasts to build stronger bones, even in an older and at-risk population! How cool is that?!

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Before we start, I have a favor to ask of you!

1. Please share this video (or one of my articles) with a friend, colleague, family member, or cute person you occasionally say hi to at the dog park or coffee shop, but don’t know how to talk to. “Hey, YOU have a skeleton…” Great icebreaker, works some of the time, all the time.

   Or

2. Please like this and leave a comment below. I love responding to questions, so if you have any, even if they’re not skeleton related, please ask away. Or, if you have a comment or words of encouragement, I’ll take those too. Thank you!

Hi, everyone!

This week we’re talking about bone density. If you’re reading this (and human), you have a skeleton. You may not think much about them, but keeping your bones strong and healthy is important, both before and after we reach our peak bone density, sometime in our 20s.

Next week, we’ll talk even more about bones, specifically an incredible study that should give us all some hope. Until then!

In case you missed it…

• This week, I posted a video about why exercise is less like saving for retirement and more like showing up for work.

• Two weeks ago, my friend and very smart person, Alexia Acebo Carter, joined us to tell us all about the menstrual cycle (and why it’s more than just a period.) I highly recommend checking it out! You will learn something.

• Psst! Prefer to listen? I recorded this for paid subscribers (8:35).

I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM, WE ALL SCREAM WHEN WE BREAK A BONE

I’m worried about our bone density.

Bones break. It is part of life. Kids break bones often because they are rambunctious daredevils with underdeveloped pre-frontal cortexes. It’s adorable.

But they also break bones because their bones aren’t that strong yet, with peak bone density typically occurring in our 20’s.

Now, I don’t know about you, but my late twenties are in the rearview and I would guess that most of my readers are in the same boat. So why bother talking about something that’s in the past (other than the fact that history is cool)?

Well, three reasons.

One, some of you have kids or grandkids (or nieces and nephews!) who have not yet reached their peak bone density, so maybe you want to impart wisdom to them (if they’ll listen).

Two, I’m worried about our bone density generally, for reasons I will explain.

Three, there is something we can do about it (and no, you don’t have to relive the 90s and do your body good by throwing down a glass of milk at every meal).

SKELETONS, THEY DO A BODY GOOD

Before we get to all that, however, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page when it comes to our skeletons (the ones holding up your muscles and skin, not whatever you might have in your closet). Bones, as you are likely aware, are made of minerals, in particular calcium. But bones, much like everything else in our bodies, from hair to skin to muscle, are always changing.

Our bones are constantly being remodeled in response to everything that’s happening to and in our bodies. This is a good thing for a variety of reasons.

For instance, we have a backup supply of calcium if we need it. Calcium, cool element that it is, not only helps build our bones, but also helps our muscles contract and relax. That’s especially important because our heart is a muscle and it must contract and relax to keep us staying alive (ah ah ah ah).

Of course, you don’t necessarily want to be taking calcium from your bones to make sure your muscles keep working. That would be a little like tearing down your walls to get wood to make your furniture. Like, it is possible, but not ideal for reasons that I think you can put together.

But the other good thing about bones constantly remodeling and changing is that they can adapt based on what you need them for. To go back to our house analogy, if our bones couldn’t change – if we couldn’t remodel – we couldn’t ever get additional bedrooms, storage space, or that second bathroom (because you also can’t buy a new skeleton or house, whatever; remodeling is the only choice in this analogy).

While I wish I could tell you there was an exercise you could do to add an additional bathroom and outdoor space to your home, there sadly isn’t (I would have done it). But there are ways to remodel your bones to make them stronger and more resilient, which is almost as good.

HAVING A BLAST WITH BONE PHYSIOLOGY

But before we get to all that, we’re not quite done with the physiology lesson. No discussion of bones would be complete without osteoclasts and osteoblasts! Very basically, this is what they do:

Osteoclasts tear down (or reabsorb) bone material.

Osteoblasts build (or deposit) bone material. (I remember this because of the “b” in Osteoblasts; b for build).

You have both and they are working constantly and simultaneously. And all without pay. What troopers!

Who cares? We should all care. Breaking a bone is not fun, but (to wildly generalize) it’s mostly an inconvenience these days, until it isn’t. And then it can be really, really bad.

THE BAD NEWS AND OTHER BAD NEWS

How bad? The data vary, but the one-year mortality rate for hip fractures in people over 65 is roughly a third. That means that one-in-three people who break a hip over the age of 65 will be dead within a year. Yikes. That scares the bejeezus out of me.

That’s bad news, but it’s not the only bad news (I know, who invited me?!). The other bad news is that bone density appears to be declining in younger generations. We don’t have a perfect picture of this, but it seems that my fellow Millennials, along with Gen Z, and Gen Alpha probably have lower bone density than Baby Boomers at the same age (it’s probably that damn avocado toast!).

That means that in those younger generations, our peak bone density was probably (or will be) lower, on average, than the peak bone density of older generations. Not great.

And, anecdotally, I’ve noticed this in the people around me who are roughly my age. One of my clients told me that she broke her foot twice recently. A friend fractured his tibia during a recent marathon. Another friend broke an ankle after tripping.

Now, it’s worth pointing out that distance runners are not strangers to bone stress fractures; fractures due to repeated strain on a bone from running. This can be a sign of training too much, too fast, or not consuming enough calories (or, likely, a combination of all of that). It is also worth pointing out that anecdotes are decidedly NOT data.

THE PART WHERE WE DON’T REALLY CARE WHAT THE DATA SAYS

But, again, there are studies suggesting that peak bone density has, in fact, been declining. And, even if our bone density hasn’t decreased, at the individual level we still want to have strong bones (and avoid falling) to reduce the odds of sustaining any bone fractures, especially in the hip.

So, why has our bone density decreased and is there anything we can do? There are probably a variety of factors, but likely the biggest reason is the reduction of physical activity over the last several decades. We walk less, we carry less, and we sit (and stare at screens) way more.

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In case you missed it…

• Last week, I posted a video about VO2 max and why it is (and isn’t) important. Give it a watch and if you find yourself wanting to improve your VO2 max, that’s something I work on with my clients. Reply to this email to get started.

• Please let me know in the comments what activities you’d like to be doing in your 70s, 80s, 90s (and — perhaps — beyond)!

In case you missed it…

• Last week, my friend and very smart person, Alexia Acebo Carter, joined us to tell us all about the menstrual cycle (and why it’s more than just a period.) I highly recommend checking it out! You will learn something.

• This week, I posted a video about VO2 max and why it is (and isn’t) important. Give it a watch and if you find yourself wanting to improve your VO2 max, that’s something I work on with my clients. Reply to this email to get started.

• Psst! Prefer to listen? I recorded this for paid subscribers (8 mins 31 secs)

YOUR TIME-OFF REQUEST HAS BEEN DENIED

Have you ever heard that moving and exercising is like saving for retirement? Well, I hate to break it to you, but it’s not. Regular movement and activity are more like showing up for work. And, in this “job,” there is no time-off.

Now, before you throw your phone across the room and write me off as some lunatic drill sergeant, give me a chance to explain. I’m certainly not saying that we all need to become muscle-bound gym-obsessed CrossFit devotees (but, if that’s your jam, go nuts). No, instead we need to understand that, in order to have the future we likely want, movement will need to be an ongoing feature of our life.

As we have discussed previously, we all have use-it-or-lose-it-itis and there is no cure. That means that, without regular stimulus, our muscles and our cardiovascular fitness will deteriorate as we age (don’t shoot the messenger!). And, when that happens, certain activities of daily living (or activities that we enjoy doing, like hiking, playing pickleball, running around with kids or grandkids) become more and more difficult until, finally, they become impossible (yikes, sorry; pretty grim, I know).

The goal, of course, is to push the age at which that happens back as far as we reasonably can (increase that healthspan!). I hope – and plan – to be able to do all the things I will both need and want to do until my time here is up. But that will take being active for all my remaining years.

AGING 40 YEARS IN 3 WEEKS

To illustrate the importance of regular activity, I want you to join me on a little trip to the year 1966. 60 years ago, researchers took 5 healthy 20-year old males and put them on strict bed rest for three weeks. The groundbreaking study wanted to assess the effects of bed rest, followed by training, on cardiopulmonary function. It is known as The Dallas Bed Rest and Training Study.

All participants were assessed before bed rest, to establish baseline, after bed rest, and then again after an eight week training period. As you may or may not expect, their cardiopulmonary function after the training block exceeded their baseline fitness (which is great news for anyone coming back from sickness, injury, or just a less active period of life).

What was truly remarkable, however, was how much their cardiopulmonary fitness declined in just three weeks of bed rest. Also, because the researchers followed the men and did subsequent check-ups on them in 1996 and 2006, we can compare the effects of several decades of aging to three weeks in bed.

Drum roll, please. After just three weeks of bed rest, the participants’ cardiopulmonary function declined as much as it did over the subsequent 40 years. 40 years! Put another way, healthy 20-year olds, after three weeks of bed rest, had the same level of fitness as a 60-year old.

The first time I heard that I was flabbergasted. Age, in many ways, really is just a number.

Other studies have demonstrated similar findings with muscle atrophy after putting volunteers’ arms or legs in casts to immobilize them. After a few weeks, healthy 20-somethings suddenly have the muscular physiology and anabolic resistance of someone much older (but only in the muscles that were immobilized).

It is worth reiterating, however, that The Dallas Bed Rest study was extreme. We’re rarely in situations where we’re going to be on complete bed rest. But there are plenty of situations where we might dramatically reduce our activity for a few days to a few weeks (or longer).

In these scenarios, our body doesn’t really care whether we’re injured, sick, bingeing multiple seasons of our favorite Netflix show, or relaxing on vacation. The response to the inactivity will be the same and it’s this “progressive underloading,” which I’ve talked about before, that leads to a decline in physical function.

This is why we cannot collect retirement. If we stop moving we can lose strength and fitness in a hurry.

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I still have 3 coaching spots available for May!

Maybe you want to improve your VO2 max so you can:

• Run a faster 5k this summer

• Complete your first marathon this fall

• Or maybe you just want your day-to-day activities to feel easier!

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Respond to this email or email me directly at robby@thelongrun.nyc if you want to learn how to improve and/or measure your VO2 max.

I wrote more about VO2 max in an earlier post. I also wrote more about how to test it (without going to a lab) and how to improve it here.

Exciting news! This is the first of many (or at least a few) guest newsletters from smart people in the health and wellness space. Please give a warm, Long Run welcome to Alexia Acebo Carter, founder of The BKFST Club.

Alexia focuses on 1:1 Integrative Nutrition women’s wellness health coaching. She helps women “Heal your hormones & optimize your body without restriction.” (Psst! Prefer to listen? I recorded Alexia’s article for paid subscribers! Click the button above.)

I still have 3 remaining coaching spots. Let me help you kick off summer right and establish lasting habits! Why work with me?

• Improve the quality of your sleep to feel better tomorrow. If your sleep scores and HRV are all over the place, let me help. If you have no idea how well you’re sleeping, let’s make sure you’re set up for success.

• Cut through the noise and confusion surrounding nutrition. Want to improve metabolic health and/or lose excess fat? Want to manage your hunger signals? We will work on that!

• Want to move more, but don’t have time? Not sure where to start? Let’s work together to create a simple movement plan to keep you injury free and moving!

Your Menstrual Cycle is More Than Your Period

When I ask potential clients and those that are just starting out with me where they are in their menstrual cycle, the answer is usually a blank stare. And then something like “well my last menstrual cycle was two weeks ago”. No sis, it was not. Your last period was two weeks ago but your menstrual cycle is much much more than just your period.

What is the menstrual cycle?

The menstrual cycle, now considered the fifth vital sign by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics is arguably one of the most important biological rhythms in a cycling woman’s body. According to Merriam-Webster, a rhythm is “ a regular, repeated pattern of events, changes, activities…” Precisely what the female menstrual cycle is. It’s a pattern that repeats over and over and over from menarche (your first period) to menopause (your last).

This pattern consists of 4 phases characterized by the presence of specific hormones that lend themselves to specific effects on and needs of the body during each phase. When you begin to align with these 4 phases of your menstrual cycle you will not only feel more in tune with what’s happening internally, but you’ll be able to give yourself forgiveness for things you once loathed, and use your hormones to your advantage (think, weight loss & maintenance, better energy, productivity, sleep, and even sex).

The Phases

The phases of your menstrual cycle are unique and specific, you have four of them:

1. The Menstrual Phase

2. The Follicular Phase

3. The Ovulatory Phase

4. The Luteal Phase

The Hormones

Estrogen

Estrogen is a sex hormone that exists in 4 different forms - estrone, estradiol, estriol, and estetrol, depending on what stage of life you’re in. It is produced by the ovaries and is dominant in the first half of the menstrual cycle. It’s responsible for building up the uterine lining to support possible pregnancy. Estrogen keeps your brain firing, your heart in tip-top shape, and is a big reason why your bones don’t bend or break.

Progesterone

Progesterone is another key player in the cycle and fertility. It causes the uterine lining (thanks to estrogen) to thicken and support pregnancy after ovulation if an egg is fertilized and promotes healthy pregnancy. Progesterone is produced in your ovaries and adrenal glands after ovulation, and is known as the ‘happy hormone.’ It keeps you feeling chilled out, calm, sleeping soundly, and loving life.

LH

LH (lutenizing hormone) is a hormone made by your pituitary gland, a small gland located at the base of the brain, that controls the function of the ovaries in females (and testes in males). Around two weeks into your cycle, a surge in LH causes the ovaries to release an egg during ovulation.

FSH

FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) is a hormone associated with the development of eggs in women and sperm in men. It is also made by the pituitary gland, the main controller of secretion along with the hypothalamus and hormones produced by the ovaries. During the first half of the menstrual cycle, FSH initiates the production of estradiol by the follicle, and the two hormones work together to develop the egg follicle.

Testosterone

Testosterone is an understated but important player in the menstrual cycle as well. Produced in the ovaries, it rises slightly during menstruation and peaks at ovulation with its main purpose being regulation of sex drive. These rises in testosterone may also have you feeling more confident and able to communicate well.

The Details

So now you know the phases and the hormones of your menstrual cycle, but how they all interact and inform each other is why you’re madly in love with your partner on day 13 and may be planning a murder on day 27. So, let’s break it down.

The Menstrual Phase

We’ll start in the most familiar phase of your menstrual cycle- the menstrual phase. The menstrual phase goes by many names- your period, aunt flo, the crimson wave (not to be confused with Tide, RTR), shark week, time of the month, code red, and quite a few others. I hope that soon, you can shed some of the more negative connotations as you learn the ins and outs of this magical week (or so). In this phase, progesterone and estrogen come to their lowest points throughout the cycle, triggering the shed of your uterine lining- a hallelujah for those TTA (trying to avoid). With this shedding comes a bleed that lasts roughly 4-7 days and signals the start of a new menstrual cycle. Day 1 of your bleed=day 1 of your menstrual cycle.

The Follicular Phase

Next on the menstrual cycle docket is the follicular phase. In most medical literature, the follicular phase is inclusive of your period but for my purposes I like to separate the two so that you can capitalize on some subtleties each phase has to offer (more on this later) even though your brain and ovaries are in pretty similar places during both phases. The follicular phase lasts from the last day of your bleed all the way up until ovulation. This phase usually lasts for 7-10 days and is characterized by a rise in estrogen leading up to ovulation which has some major benefits in regard to energy, physical endurance, and social capacity.

The Ovulation Phase

The star is up next, the whole reason you have a period in the first place, ovulation. The ovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle is more of an event than a phase but the days leading up are significant so we treat it as a phase. Most traditional literature would say that you ovulate on day 14 of your cycle but this is false false false unless you have a perfectly regular 28-day cycle. You will always ovulate 14 days BEFORE your period but not necessarily on day 14 of your cycle. Before ovulation, LH and FSH reach a peak with estrogen and the most significant rise of testosterone throughout your cycle. This stimulates the release of an egg from the ovary, making you fertile to create life (WOOOOOO!!!!! Or AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!). We’ll talk more about fertility later but for now, treat ovulation as about 3-5 days where you get to capitalize on high energy, stamina, confidence, and coooonnfffiiiideeennce;)

The Luteal Phase

Last but not least, the luteal phase. This the one we all know and love to ha…..ave a lot of ice cream and cookies. So you just ovulated, and now your body is like ok time to get preg (little does she know you’re responsible, and won’t be fooled by the mainstream media and thinking around birth control because you actually know your body and made intentional decisions during the only 5 days of your cycle where it’s possible to get pregnant). But nonetheless, a uterine lining is being built up by rising progesterone to hold a fertilized egg and carry out a healthy baby baking. This progesterone makes you a little chiller than normal, you might sleep really well and be more inclined to rest. Now, the issues come with the rise in estrogen post-ovulation, if that estrogen is not in fine balance with progesterone. Estrogen excess can lead to PMS symptoms. But not for long because you’re in the club!!!!

Sync With Your Menstrual Cycle

The menstrual cycle is intricate, and confusing at first, but the more you learn and listen to your body, the more intuitive it becomes. Start tracking first- use an app like apple health or download my free tracking template here. Everything begins with awareness. Give yourself the gift of learning your body and before you know it, it’ll feel like a superpower.

XX
Alexia

ONE THING

I also asked Alexia if she would be so gracious as to share some of her coaching advice in the form of One Thing. Read her recommendation below!

Alexia:

One thing to focus on this week that can be a total game changer is logging your menstrual cycle. To intimately understand your unique cycle and use the info it provides, it’s critical to log how you’re feeling day in and day out. I recommend creating a note on your phone and writing down your current cycle day (CD) followed by your sensations. Feel free to copy and paste this for ease:

CD#

• sleep

• skin

• gut

• cravings

• movement

• mood

• sex

• discharge

• other

That way, you can look back over a cycle, compare, and contrast it with the following cycle to begin learning your body, better.

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COACHING AVAILABILITY, “ONE THING,” AND FIRST ONE IS FREE

Hi everyone! A few quick updates:

• I have 5 coaching spots open for May.

  • Are your sleep scores and HRV all over the place? Or, worse, going the wrong direction?

  • Do you find all the conflicting nutrition information on social media stressful and confusing?

  • Are you worried that you’re not doing enough Zone 2, VO2Max, Strength Training, Yoga, etc?

  • If any of that sounds like you, let’s connect. I help people sleep better, fuel properly, and move in a way that improves fitness and prevents injury now (and for the long run). Let’s get your summer started off right!

• Attention paid subscribers! Each week, in addition to the full article, you’ll also get One Thing.

  • Every week I’ll share one (simple) thing you can focus on to improve your health now. You can find it in the text version of the article from Sunday.

• The first post of every month (like Sunday’s!) will be fully available for ALL subscribers. If you’ve ever wondered why the paid subscription is so valuable (but still shockingly affordable!), the first post of the month is for you.

• You can find all my videos on my YouTube Channel. Please like and subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

If you enjoy these videos and/or my newsletters, the best way to support is by liking, subscribing, commenting, or especially by sharing with someone else! Click the button below to share! Thank you for being here!

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You can also check out my Notes page where I post shorter thoughts during the week. Check it out!

NOTES

COACHING AVAILABILITY, “ONE THING,” AND FIRST ONE IS FREE

Hi everyone! A few quick updates:

• I still have a few coaching spots for May. If you’ve been thinking about working with me, reply to this email (or drop me a line at robby@thelongrun.nyc) and I’ll send you the details. Also, in case you missed it, I sent out a bonus post explaining what working wit…

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