INTRODUCTION

Sharing a great interview of Dr Andy Galpin. He is a Professor of Kinesiology at Cal State. This interview covers optimising one's training, health, and most importantly, it's longevity. Following is a summary of my key takeaways.

LEG STRENGTH

Interestingly, one of the major contributors to rapid health decline are falls. Anyone who has suffered mobility compromising injuries, can attest. Dr Galpin states leg strength as a key indicator. Increasing leg strength, primary to mitigating risk. Personally, when I'm not running a program, I run a default three day split. Outside of weight training, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I usually run a 5km-7km one day. The alternate I run Plyos(usually sprint training). These cover a ton of basics, but if anyone has any solid suggestions for leg strength/variations, please share.

GRIP STRENGTH

This was surprising. In relation to longevity, Dr Galpin stated one's grip strength as another key factor. He stated 'getting one's appendages out in front of themselves', as key to decreasing risk of serious injury. Again, in context to maintaining and extending a solid base of health, this makes sense. Personally when not running a program, I run the usual big compounds, as I've always lumped grip strength in with weight training. Bench. OHP. Plus Chins. Dips. Wrist curls. I haven't used specific grip trainers, so if anyone has experience, please share. Again, if anyone has any other specific wrist/grip strength tip, again please share.

SLEEP HYGIENE

This facet is self explanatory. One interesting takeaway was how Dr Galpin and his team set up an entire sleep lab, in one's home. To run thorough diagnostics. Us laymen might not need such a thorough approach, but it is food for thought. Another takeaway he mentioned was an extreme form of sleep depravation. That they use as a last resort. They instruct clients to stay up Till 12:15am. By then, they're usually exhausted. So when they hit the pillow, they're almost instantly asleep. Then strictly up at 5/6am. After a few nights, they move the bedtime back 15 minutes. Rinse and repeat. The goal being to retrain the body, to fall asleep almost instantaneously. Personally, and something Dr Galpin confirmed, was having a solid bedtime routine is pivotal. My kids are in bed around 7pm. Wife and I unwind, and I'm in bed around 8:30pm. Sex/rec reading,. Then I'm usually asleep by 9pm. I have no issues falling asleep. Sleep Hygiene is paramount. If you have any tip or hacks, please share.

VO2 MAX

This factor in health is fairly well known. VO2 is the optimum rate at which the heart, lungs, and muscles can effectively use oxygen exercising. It's used as a way of measuring a person's aerobic capacity. Dr Galpin posits this is the pivotal indicator, for optimisation. Personally, I like running, and my C2. Another key way I get my heart rate up, is through HIIT. My default program I use supersets. Bench with push ups. Squats with box jumps. OHP with curls etc.. A key I picked up was to pick a big compound, then supplement the movement. It's an efficient way to target different groups, whilst maintaining a solid heart rate. It doesn't compare to something like the rower, but it is a handy tool. This is by far the biggest takeaway, so if anyone has solid tips, definitely share.

CONCLUSION

This list is far from conclusive. It's purpose is to spark thought. What are your goals? What's your plan to get there? What tools, information or hacks will expedite the process? The entire interview, is well worth checking out. If nothing else, hopefully at the core of your sexual strategy, is not just your sexual health; but your capacity for enjoying that health. Far into the future.

Godspeed and good luck!