My Fitness Regrets

Win some, lose some…

In my last post, I talked about my fitness triumphs—things I’m glad I’ve done over the last 10-15 years to age as gracefully as possible. Today, I’m not going to be so nice to myself. We can all improve, and maybe reading my regrets will spark action for you so you don’t have similar regrets yourself.

My number one regret is avoiding cardio like the plague for way too many years than I’d like to admit. When I was younger, I played tennis and surfed whenever there were waves. But since I’ve been married (22 years now!), I don’t get to the beach nearly as often as I used to except when I was in chiro school and lived two blocks from the ocean. That was pretty sweet.

I regret this mistake because I wasted time that I could have used to improve my heart health. I was erroneously conflating body composition with health. I was decently lean and muscular, so I figured I was good.

But my family history says otherwise. My dad had to have an emergency heart surgery that almost killed him a few weeks after competing in a bodybuilding competition. He’s a walking medical miracle today, just because he lived after spending a solid month in the ICU in what was essentially a coma.

And he was leaner than I’ve ever been leading up to that show.

But did I get busy with heart-friendly exercise after all of that? No. No, I did not. I blamed Dad’s issues on him getting pretty heavy in his 50s and figured that’s when he did the damage. I wasn’t going to do that, so I thought I was good.

But then, in my late 40s, I sent myself for a coronary calcium scan, which is a CT scan of the heart that will show calcifications in the arteries that bring blood to the heart itself. And, low and behold, I had some calcification, which is consistent with arterial plaque buildup.

After an initial freakout, I assessed my options. And, my friends, it became apparent. Imagine a medication that would improve every health metric you can think of–sleep, resting heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol, cognition, and more (including slowing the progression of arterial calcification).

You’d want to take that medication, right? Well, now imagine that you have to put in a couple of hours of exercise a week to qualify to receive it. Most of us would still want it. And the rub, of course, is that the exercise is the medication.

But if I had only started taking my medicine years ago, when I was in my 20s instead of my 50s, I would be so much better off today. Still, there are plenty of benefits to get, even starting now. Everything from that list of benefits above is my current experience. But, still. Dangit.

So, if you’re younger, let my hindsight be your foresight. Start doing some form of cardio. The single best metric for predicting longevity is your VO2 max, and the only way to get that number up is by consistently working your heart at the top of its range. This video gives more detail about improving your max (including defining it).

If you want to learn how to measure your VO2 max, this video shows a couple of dudes doing just that at a lab and then comparing the numbers their Apple and Garmin watches got. And this video shows some other ways to measure if you don’t have one of those fancy watches.

If you’re older, the best time to start is 30 years ago, but the next best time is today. Even upping your step count by walking a few miles daily can help. And if you really want to make some changes, I suggest finding a group exercise class to join.

The research shows that adherence to a program is the most critical piece of the puzzle when making the changes I’ve been writing about. People are typically more likely to keep showing up when there’s the added benefit of seeing a friend or two when you get to the class—and then suffering together.

I have more regrets than this, but the lack of cardio is far and away my biggest one, so I’ll stop here for now.