In part 2, I cover the remaining highly important and extremely effective concepts you can implement to strike a balance between maintaining a healthy passion for competitive intensity with adjusting to the realities of aging and aging with grace.

You’ll learn about the value of integrating short-term extrinsic goals and I share some compelling research about motivation cited by a Stanford neuroscientist. I talk about how making a conscious decision to depart from cultural influences and ego demands can offer wonderful health benefits, why it’s healthy to downsize your ambitions into age appropriate goals, and the importance of keeping track of your progress through journaling and performing regular fitness assessments, as this allows you to spot any regressions or patterns of injury or breakdown.

You’ll hear about emerging research that suggests that we can achieve good (or even excellent) fitness levels with a MED (minimum effective dose) approach and that cardiovascular fitness and disease prevention benefits can be obtained with only a few hours of low intensity exercise per week. I break down how you can honor the high intensity repeat training protocol while also avoiding the overly-stressful HIIT modality, reveal why there is no justification for inducing post-exercise muscle soreness in pursuit of lifelong fitness, and explain how to make necessary adjustments so you rarely get sore.

I also talk about the importance of reframing “consistency” and the fact that many fitness enthusiasts and competitors misinterpret the importance and application of “consistency” in training, to the extent that they experience a consistent application of too much stress. One important takeaway from this show is that it becomes increasingly important as you age to honor your intuition over anything else when it comes to fitness, as you have far less wiggle room to overdo it and get away with it. This is why establishing a modest baseline of activity makes it far easier to incorporate fitness on a daily basis without overdoing it—the best example of this being my morning routine, which has taught me over the last few years that even with subpar energy and motivation, once you’ve made a habit out of it, you’ll always get the job done. I also talk about establishing firm guidelines for yourself in your fitness routine and why you should never push yourself to a peak performance effort (unless you feel 100% rested and energized), and the three symptoms that warrant a rest day. Finally, I suggest introducing cold exposure into your routine and talk about the benefits that come from still pushing the limits of peak performance occasionally—not just for the fitness breakthroughs, but also for the psychological benefits that come from getting out of your comfort zone.

TIMESTAMPS:

We are trying to maintain a healthy passion and competitive intensity for compelling fitness athletic goals, but also adjusting to the realities of aging with grace and keeping your healthy perspective. [01:21]

Any form of motivation will be effective toward achieving short-term goals. [03:32]

Set age and lifestyle appropriate goals. [08:53]

Track your progress. [14:34]

Fly under the radar. Be conservative with your approach to fitness. [17:27]

Perform the high intensity workouts correctly. [24:45]

Avoid overly stressful HIIT modality. [29:44]

Try not to get sore. [31:27]

Consistency is essential but it can be misinterpreted. [33:45]

Push the limits once in a while. [38:35]

Try cold exposure. [47:33]

LINKS:

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Twitter: @bradleykearns

YouTube: @BradKearns

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