The Longevity Program

Picking the Right Training Regime

Lifting Longevity Research

The Best Muscle Type for Longevity

Power To Mass Ratio

Hypertrophy

Endurance and Cardiovascular Exercise

How Should You Train

Training Structure

Basic Principles to Remember

An Alternative Longevity Program (Boundless)

Ben Greenfield’s Boundless program

Boundless Exercise Program

Picking the Right Training Regime

Before approaching the generalized training techniques that improve longevity, it is worth mentioning that we all have a greater genetic disposition for certain exercises over others. While it is possible to discover what types of exercise you would be better suited for by getting a genetic screen or muscle biopsy, it is just as easy to go by what exercises you “like”. More often than not, the exercises you like tend to be the ones you have shown promise in or have proven to be good at naturally (social reinforcement is a different story). The positive reinforcement from completing the exercise with exceptional performance is typically enough of a reward to continue doing it consistently. Pay attention to how fast your muscles activate, how quickly you develop strength, and how quickly your cardiovascular fitness improves compared to your peers, to get a gauge on what you may be better suited for.

It is possible for you to alter the composition of your muscle fibers to become more suited to an exercise you weren’t always good at, but if we are aiming for longevity here, it makes more sense to attempt movements that your body genetically anticipates you to attempt. We all love a success story about somebody who achieved greatness despite terrible odds, but this is the exception rather than the rule. The entire body works systematically and requires a huge energy demand in order to change its predisposition. This is important to consider as our genetic predisposition is due to generations of environmental adaptation and evolutionary selection. Meaning our bodies are programmed to expect certain physical stimuli and environmental cues, which atrophy the body without exposure (a common circumstance given our sedentary modern-day lifestyles).

Work smart, not hard, and try not to do something just because somebody told you not to. Then again, breaking the boundaries of what we know is what leads to progress. So, if your goal is longevity, do what you’re good at. If you’re goal is exploration and to challenge yourself mentally, do whatever the f**k you want. Just try to understand that you will elicit greater personal authenticity and psychological alignment by understanding who you are and what you are capable of.

Lifting Longevity Research

When it comes to exercise motivation, there is a lot more information out there about weight loss and muscle gain than there is for longevity. If we are to explore this field a little bit further, the genetic expression of our cells, mitochondrial health, and telomere length are good places to start.

When looking at the gene expressions regarding mitochondrial aging, which are downregulated with age, it was found that exercise upregulated their expression which improved their health span. Conversely, genes that were seen to be upregulated with age, were found to be downregulated with exercise. Long story short, studies found that strength training in particular, reversed nearly 40 years of mitochondrial aging. Exercise also promotes the growth of fat burning fast-twitch muscle fibers and even protects DNA from the wear and tear of aging by acting on telomeres.

What Are Telomeres?

Telomeres cap the chromosomes in your cells and protect them from damage. As you age, telomeres wear out and shorten from repeated cell division, oxidative stress, and inflammation, eventually leaving your cells’ chromosomes unprotected. When the telomeres are worn down, the wear and tear begin on the genes and your cells become damaged.

When a cell prepares to divide, the double helix of a DNA strand inside the chromosome is unzipped, leaving the genes open so they can be copied. But the telomere at the ends of the chromosome can’t be completely copied, so once the DNA has been copied, a little bit of the telomere gets snipped off.

When mice had their Akt1 genes activated, they grew type II fibers without exercise. When turned off, they went back to type I fibers and became more obese and insulin resistant. It appears that we burn fat faster when we have a higher disposition for more type II fibers.

Endurance exercise seems to be effective at preserving telomere lengths. Although, to get the telomere lengthened benefit of endurance running, the subjects had to be doing 30-40 minutes of cardio, 5 times per week.

Beyond the age of 30, we lose approximately 6 pounds of muscle mass per decade. Powerlifters’ telomeres were significantly longer than those of the control group and were positively correlated to the powerlifters’ individual records in the squat and dead lift. The stronger the powerlifter, the longer their telomeres were.

Older adults who engaged in strength training at least twice a week had 46% lower odds of death, for any reason, than those who did not. They also had 41% lower odds of dying from cardiac problems and 19% lower odds of dying from cancer.

The Best Muscle Type for Longevity

At one end of the muscle fiber type spectrum, we have low threshold motor units (LTMUs), which correspond with type I slow twitch fibers. On the other end are high threshold motor units (HTMUs), that correspond with type IIb fast twitch fibers. Type IIa fibers fall somewhere in the middle. Both of them get activated according to the force that’s required to move an object. LTMUs are used for low power movements, such as lifting a cup, and HTMUs are for when the resistance is high, such as a near maximal deadlift.

Insulin sensitivity, motor unit control, body composition, metabolic status, aerobic capacity, fibrosis, and neural activation are all factors that determine a muscle’s quality. All of these variables are responsible for how well your muscle functions, as well as the rate at which your muscle cells decline with age. Muscle quality is closely connected with muscle strength and power. With age, you tend to see a progressive decrease of type IIb fibers. Being able to exert more force with less muscle size indicates higher muscle quality and mitochondrial density. Meaning a greater capacity for contractile ability and also the energetic potential and longevity.

A good way of measuring the general health of your muscles, and their effect on your lifespan, is the low grip strength test. Low grip strength is associated with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular events, myocardial infarction, and stroke. It’s thought to be a stronger predictor of dying than systolic blood pressure. Another potential indicator of muscle quality is leg strength. In 2011, researchers found that leg strength was one of the most important factors for determining physical function and mortality. Which gives us all another good reason to get under the barbell to do heavy squats.

Power To Mass Ratio

There is a direct link between your power-to-mass ratio and your longevity. Larger muscles take more energy to carry and cool, and require far more antioxidants for repair, recovery, and mitochondrial activity. Excess muscle mass negatively impacts longevity and is backed up by data on growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which both play a role in the aging process. GH stimulates the production of IGF-1, which is anabolic and promotes the growth and repair of skeletal muscle and neurogenesis. Research suggests that longevity is more highly correlated with muscle quality and the ability of the muscle to support daily functional activities such as walking, sprinting, and lifting heavy stuff, all of which positively impact insulin resistance, fat burning rates, mitochondrial density. mobility, muscle fiber type, and strength.

The greater the proportion of a muscle’s contractile tissue to its noncontractile tissue, the greater the amount of force it can produce for its size and the greater its muscle quality. Higher quality muscles developed for performance, rather than size, also have more mitochondrial density and more energy producing capacity per pound of muscle.

Hypertrophy

The two contributing factors of muscle growth are sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and myofibrillar hypertrophy.

Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy focuses on increasing muscle glycogen storage. It increases the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cells and isn’t accompanied by significant strength gain. The amount of potential blood being stored in the muscles increases. This is the bodybuilder approach. It’s typically caused by several sets of 8-12 reps against a submaximal load.
Myofibrillar hypertrophy increases the number of proteins necessary for adding muscular strength and will also cause small enhancements in size. This is the Olympic weightlifter and gymnast approach – as much strength as possible with the least amount of weight gain. It’s caused by muscle contractions against 80-90% of the one-repetition maximum for 2-6 reps.

The anabolic cycle has two stages. Firstly, we’re stimulating growth that puts us in a catabolic state whether through training or intermittent fasting. Secondly, the effects get finalized, which leads to adaptation. Muscle and strength gain requires both a catabolic state (elicited via training or intermittent fasting) and the anabolic state (recovery and adaptation to the stressors).

These states occur under the following conditions:

There is adequate stimulus that forces the body to respond. This way the nervous system recognizes the necessity for proper adaptation to the stress encountered in the given environment. Too much, however, will lead to burnout and is difficult to recover from.
Hormones and pathways that stimulate growth are met. Testosterone, HGH, IGF-1, mTOR are one of the more important ones for cellular repair and augmentation.
Protein synthesis is necessary for new tissue to be created. With no building blocks to be found, we won’t be able to construct anything.
Energy is the last condition, as all of this requires calories. Under some rare conditions, the energy can be derived from the body’s own fat stores.

Endurance and Cardiovascular Exercise

Improved endurance exercise includes increased capillary supply, mitochondrial biogenesis, and improved transport of electrons in the mitochondrial transport chain. With higher aerobic fitness you’ll also use less muscle glycogen and produce less lactate, which allows you to perform at greater intensities.

Although, this is where the buck stops. Long hours of cardio are not that beneficial because of how the repetitive motions begin to tear down your tendons and promote joint pain. Excess aerobic training also increases the risk of oxidative damage in the muscles which may speed up sarcopenia, especially when dieting. On top of that, the prolonged stress hormones and free radicals in the blood may damage the mitochondria.

Black Hole Training is an exercise zone somewhere between a brisk walk and a Navy SEAL workout. The pace is vigorous but not painful, which is enjoyable for your mind. You get the endorphin rush, which makes you feel like you’re getting a good workout. The reality is, it’s incredibly stressful for the body.

The Black Hole is a heart rate zone that exceeds your aerobic capacity just a tiny bit. Once you can no longer hold a conversation and have to breathe through your mouth, then you’re using more glycogen and less fat for fuel. For a few minutes, that’s fine, but most people run a lot longer than 10 minutes. They hit the runner’s flow, because of the adrenaline rush, and can easily empty their glycogen tank. Once this happens, the body still needs glucose to perform at that intensity. As a result, it begins to break down the protein for fuel (gluconeogenesis).

If you’re doing cardio for 30+ minutes, then you should stay aerobic for the majority of the time. That’s when your heart rate is below 60-70% of your VO2 max. At that intensity, you’re using fat rather than glucose as fuel. Going higher than that will simply make you more glycolytic. With keto-adaptation, you can protect yourself against that to a certain extent but it’s simply not worth the trouble if longevity or weight loss is the goal.

Combining a lot of endurance with strength training may make you a poor jack of all trades and a master of none, because the body won’t have enough time or resources to adapt properly.

How Should You Train

Current research shows that training a muscle twice a week leads to superior hypertrophy compared to once a week. Therefore, you’d want to be targeting the main muscle groups like legs, chest, back, shoulders, and arms at least two times per week.

More frequent muscle stimulation keeps protein synthesis more active and elevated. The window for growth lasts somewhere between 24-48 hours after training in advanced trainees.

If you train your chest only on Monday, then the anabolic stimulus will be gone by the middle of the week and thus you lose out on a few days of potential growth.
On the flip side, training a particular muscle 2-4 times a week will enable you to take advantage of this constantly elevated signal for building lean tissue. It’s probably better for longevity as well because you’ll be more sensitive to insulin and mTOR.

Increasing training frequency also lowers rates of perceived exertion (RPE), reduces delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and increases the testosterone to cortisol ratio. Training more frequently requires that you scale down the volume or intensity of each workout, which enables you to train more often.

The main driver of muscle growth is total volume – how frequently you are able to send intense growth signals to a particular muscle throughout the week. Of course, there’s a limit what the body can handle but generally working out more often facilitates increased hypertrophy because of increased volume.

One of the most popular and simplest strength training programs is the Stronglifts 5×5 (popularized by Bill Starr). It consists of 2 full-body workouts. You train 3 times a week, alternating between A and B, with at least one rest day between workouts.

Workout A: Squat, Bench press, Barbell row
Workout B: Squat, Overhead press, Deadlift
For your elbow tendons, wrist and forearms you can do extremely slow full range of motion pullups, pushups or biceps curls. Wrist curls and farmer’s carrys will also improve your grip strength.
For the legs and hips, you should do some walking lunges, Bulgarian split squats, hip extensions, and kettlebell swings. This will increase the range of your neuromuscular finesse and teaches you how to execute hip drive.
Don’t forget your core work, as it’s important for structural integrity and a solid posture. As Paul Chek likes to say, “You cannot fire a canon from a canoe.” Abdominal work will also help to define your six pack once you’ve reached a low body fat percentage. Do hanging leg raises, ab-wheel rollouts, dragonflags as your main exercises. Add hollow body holds, oblique twists and plank holds as accessories if you feel the need.

Training Structure

The first thing you want to do is warm up. This will increase your core temperature, direct some blood to your muscles, and get you psychologically primed for work.

Do about 3-5 minutes of light cardio or something aerobic.
Spend at least 5 minutes doing mobility work. Do arm circles, deep lunges, squats, some pushups, hang from a bar, etc. Focus more on the body parts you’re about to train.
DON’T do static stretching. This is the complete opposite of what we want to achieve with our training. Your muscles have to be tight and strong if you’re lifting heavy weights. Stretching can lead to injuries because you’ll soften your fascia. Do dynamic stretching and mobility instead. Imagine trying to stretch out a piece of gum without chewing it first. Stretching out cold muscles are not conducive towards healthy muscles that can contract throughout a large range of motion.

Next you want to practice movement technique (skill work). It’s second in training order because you’ll still be fresh and ready to go. Do handstand holds, snatches, focus on perfect form and proper ranges of motion. Skill work is almost like an extended warm-up, as you’ll be still priming your muscles for the actual work. Do this for about 5-10 minutes.

Strength work is the core of your workout – the most difficult and exhausting part of the workout. You’ll be doing your key lifts, such as the squat, deadlift, pressing, rows or benching. All of your effort should be directed towards improving the weight you can move. Power and explosive work can also be included here, as you want to be as fresh as possible so that you can get stronger. Don’t think about getting a cardio workout in this phase. Just focus solely on your lifts. This is the bulk of your training and should last for about 30-45 minutes, depending on how long your workout lasts.

Next is your accessory/hypertrophy work. After you’ve finished your compound lifts, you can also do some accessory work. Isolation exercises can add the extra benefit of sculpting your physique. It’s also a great way to build smaller muscles, such as the forearms, calves and elbow tendons, that benefit more from higher reps. This is the hypertrophy part of your workout, that contributes towards increasing your key lifts too. Do about 3 sets of 8-15 reps each and focus on the pump. Accessory exercises should complement the major lifts you did that workout. For instance, if you did squats, then you should do walking lunges, Bulgarian split squats or leg extensions, instead of biceps curls or dips. If you deadlift, then do rows and pull-ups.

To improve your cardiovascular fitness and burn more fat, you should also include some metabolic conditioning. Do 5 minutes of Tabata or about 10-20 minutes of LISS cardio. These exercises are done to take advantage of the state in which your muscles are at after resistance training. They’re not as taxing on the nervous system as the main lifts. You can still have a good conditioning session after strength training, whereas it wouldn’t work the other way around.

Flexibility and mobility work are done at the end. These help your body to relax and to prevent injury. Try to increase your mobility by doing deep squats, back bridges, splits, and foam rolling. Work on your rotator cuffs, hips and elbows so that they will get stronger.

Basic Principles to Remember

When training, have a clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve. Exercise, go for a walk, play sports and do yoga just for fun, but train with a specific goal in mind.
Structure your workout routines around only 2 of the 3 variables of the triad. They are frequency, intensity, and volume. Don’t try to scale them up all at once.
When you’re aerobic and can breathe easily through your nose, then you’re burning primarily fat. If you start breathing heavily through the mouth, then you’ve reached the anaerobic zone and will be utilizing glycogen for fuel.
If you do cardio, then avoid the Black Zone. Running and cycling for more than 30 minutes are supposed to be aerobic. Start slow and you’ll be able to go faster as your heart rate improves.
Doing Tabata and HIIT is a much more time-efficient way of improving cardiovascular health for the majority of people.
Resistance training is a lot more important for health, longevity, muscle growth and bone density. The least you should be doing is 12 minutes per week but for more optimal growth slightly more is needed.
Nutrition is more important than exercise. Whoever you may be, lowering your carbohydrate intake will be beneficial for your health and body composition. But low carb won’t work if you don’t have an idea of what you’re doing. It would only keep you in the Black Hole of eating.

**An Alternative Longevity Program (Boundless):**

5 x intense 4-minute intervals, one session every 2 weeks
2-3 x Tabata sets per week
1 x 12–20-minute super-slow strength session per week
1 x 7-14-minute high-intensity bodyweight workout per week
A short series of sprint bursts 1-3 x per week, such as 5 x 4s all out sprints broken up by 20s rest periods
A fasting protocol and limited snacking
Low-level physical activity all day long
1 x 90 minute or longer stamina session 1-2 x per month

**Ben Greenfield’s Boundless Program**

This program is made up of a variety of activities that one can undergo to optimize their health without sacrificing their life to any one form of exercise.

WEEK 1

Cold Thermogenesis:

Complete the following 5-minute showering protocol in a fasted state: 10 seconds of warm water followed by 20 seconds of cold water, x 10. In addition, choose one day and do either a 10-minute ice-cold shower or 15 to 20 minutes of full-body cold-water immersion

DAY 1: Foundation Training

Complete the exercises from True to Form: How to Use Foundation Training for Sustained Pain Relief and Everyday Fitness by Dr. Eric Goodman. Go through each of the ten foundation exercises in the book just once (it will take you about 10 to 15 minutes), with a focus on perfect form.

Tabata Sets:

Perform a 10-to-15-minute warm-up, then complete 8 rounds of 20 seconds of a single exercise (burpees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, kettlebell swings, squats, treadmill running, cycling, rowing machine—you choose) with 10 seconds of rest between rounds. Go at an all-out, maximum-intensity pace each round. Cool down with nasal breathing and easy aerobic movement for 5 to 10 minutes.

DAY 2 Workout 1: Morning Fasted Fat Burning

Before breakfast, perform 20 to 30 minutes of light cardio: yoga, fast walking, cycling, the elliptical, swimming, or hiking. The goal is to burn fat and lean up. You can drink a cup of plain black coffee or tea before this, but don’t consume any calories until you are done. If you can’t perform this cardio in the morning, do it after dinner and don’t eat anything afterward.

Workout 2: Swim Hypoxic Sets (optional)

Perform a 500-meter warm-up. Then swim 12 rounds of 25 meters each. During each round, do not breathe, or keep breathing to a minimum. Recover for 10 seconds, then repeat. Swim as smoothly as you can—you don’t need to sprint. See what changes in technique and fluidity you can make to conserve energy and oxygen.

Workout 3: The 7-Minute Workout

Perform each exercise for 30 seconds with 10 seconds of rest between exercises. One round takes about 7 minutes, but, if time allows, I recommend doing 2 or 3 rounds. Be sure to use good form on each exercise.

Jumping jacks
Wall sits
Push-ups
Crunches
Step-ups
Squats
Dips
Planks
Running in place with high knees
Lunges
Push-ups with rotation
Side planks

DAY 3 Workout 1: Metabolic Mobility (The Ultimate Foam Roller Routine)

20 to 30 passes with the foam roller on each step. Making one pass means you go up the muscle group and back down.

1: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the Achilles tendon and calf on your right leg.
2: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the Achilles tendon and calf on your left leg.
3: Foam-roll your right hamstring. Perform 20 forward and backward high leg swings with your right leg.
4: Foam-roll your left hamstring. Perform 20 forward and backward high leg swings with your left leg.
5: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the outside of your right hip.
6: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the outside of your left hip.
7: Foam-roll the IT band on your right leg (located on the outside of your thigh). Perform 20 side-to-side leg swings with your right leg.
8: Foam-roll the IT band on your left leg. Perform 20 side-to-side leg swings with your left leg.
9: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the adductors (on the inside of your thigh) on your right leg.
10: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the adductors on your left leg.
11: Perform 50 jumping jacks. Foam-roll your back from bottom to top.
12: Perform 50 jumping jacks. Foam-roll your entire right shoulder complex.
13: Perform 50 jumping jacks. Foam-roll your entire left shoulder complex.
14: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll your neck (back, left side, right side).
15: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the front of both quads.

Workout 2: Tabata Sets

Perform a 10-to-15-minute warm-up, then complete 8 rounds of 20 seconds of a single exercise (burpees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, kettlebell swings, squats, treadmill running, cycling, rowing machine) with 10 seconds of rest between rounds. Go at an all-out, maximum-intensity pace each round. Cool down for 5 to 10 minutes.

DAY 4 Workout 1: Morning Fasted Fat Burning

Before breakfast, perform 20 to 30 minutes of light cardio: yoga, fast walking, cycling, the elliptical, swimming, or hiking. You can drink a cup of plain black coffee or tea before this, but don’t consume any calories until you are done. If you can’t perform this cardio in the morning, do it after dinner and don’t eat anything afterward.

Workout 2: Super-Slow Routine

DAY 5 Workout 1: Tabata Sets

Perform a 10-to-15-minute warm-up, then complete 8 rounds of 20 seconds of a single exercise (burpees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, kettlebell swings, squats, treadmill running, cycling, rowing machine) with 10 seconds of rest between rounds. Go at an all-out, maximum-intensity pace each round. Cool down with nasal breathing and easy aerobic movement for 5 to 10 minutes.

Workout 2: Sauna

Spend 20 to 40 minutes (as long as you can tolerate) in a dry sauna. Focus on deep breathing, box breathing (four count in, four count hold, four count out, four count hold), occasional yoga moves, and stretches. Drink water in moderation (as little as you can get away with). Finish up with a cold shower. It is fine for your heart rate to get high during this session and for it to feel a bit uncomfortable.

DAY 6 Workout 1: Morning Fasted Fat Burning

Workout 2: Mitochondrial and Metabolic Sprints

Do an all-out, maximum-intensity sprint on a rowing machine, bike, or elliptical (kettlebell swings, lunge jumps, or squat jumps can be used as a substitute) for 4 rounds of 30 seconds with 4 minutes of active rest between rounds. Active rest can be walking, easy jogging, or easy cycling. Finish with five 4-second all-out sprints, with 20 seconds of rest between sprints.

DAY 7 Workout 1: Deep Breathing & Yoga

Engage in deep, nasal belly breathing during a morning yoga routine, for ideally 45 to 60 minutes. Try to do this routine in the sunshine to amplify vitamin D levels. If that isn’t an option, use a brightly lit room. Focus on your breath. Whatever routine you perform, you should preferably perform it alone. No power or calorie-blasting yoga!

Workout 2: Morning Fasted Fat Burning

Before breakfast, perform 20 to 30 minutes of light cardio: brisk walking, cycling, the elliptical, swimming, hiking, or anything else you can perform while maintaining an easy, conversational, aerobic pace. You can drink a cup of plain black coffee or tea before this, but don’t consume any calories until you are done. If you can’t perform this cardio in the morning, do it after dinner and don’t eat anything afterward.

Hot-Cold Contrast

Alternate between a 5-minute cold shower, cold soak, or easy cold-water swim (the water must be 55 degrees or less) and a 10-minute dry sauna or wet sauna session. Cycle between these for as long as possible, preferably for 30 to 45 minutes, which would allow you to perform two or three cycles.

WEEK 2

Cold Thermogenesis:

Choose 5 to 7 days this week and complete the following 5-minute showering protocol in a fasted state: 10 seconds of warm water followed by 20 seconds of cold water, 10 times through. In addition, choose one day and do either a 10-minute ice-cold shower or 15 to 20 minutes of full-body cold-water immersion.

DAY 1 Workout 1: Tabata Sets

Perform a 10-to-15-minute warm-up, then complete 8 rounds of 20 seconds of a single exercise (burpees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, kettlebell swings, squats, treadmill running, cycling, rowing machine) with 10 seconds of rest between rounds. Go at an all-out, maximum-intensity pace each round. Cool down with nasal breathing and easy aerobic movement for 5 to 10 minutes.

Workout 2: Foundation Training

Go through each of the ten Foundation exercises in the book True to Form by Dr. Eric Goodman just one time with a focus on perfect form.

DAY 2 Workout 1: The 7-Minute Workout

Perform each exercise for 30 seconds with 10 seconds of rest between exercises. If time permits, attempt to do 2 or 3 rounds. Use good form on every exercise.

Jumping jacks
Wall sits
Push-ups
Crunches
Step-ups
Squats
Dips
Planks
Running in place with high knees
Lunges
Push-ups with rotation
Side planks

Workout 2: Morning Fasted Fat Burning

Workout 3: Swim Hypoxic Sets (optional)

DAY 3 Workout 1: Tabata Sets

Perform a 10-to-15-minute warm-up, then complete 8 rounds of 20 seconds of a single exercise (burpees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, kettlebell swings, squats, treadmill running, cycling, rowing machine) with 10 seconds of rest between rounds. Go at an all-out, maximum-intensity pace each round. Cool down with nasal breathing and easy aerobic movement for 5 to 10 minutes.

Workout 2: Metabolic Mobility

20 to 30 passes with the foam roller on each step. Making one pass means you go up the muscle group and back down.

1: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the Achilles tendon and calf on your right leg.
2: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the Achilles tendon and calf on your left leg.
3: Foam-roll your right hamstring. Perform 20 forward and backward high leg swings with your right leg.
4: Foam-roll your left hamstring. Perform 20 forward and backward high leg swings with your left leg.
5: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the outside of your right hip.
6: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the outside of your left hip.
7: Foam-roll the IT band on your right leg (located on the outside of your thigh). Perform 20 side-to-side leg swings with your right leg.
8: Foam-roll the IT band on your left leg. Perform 20 side-to-side leg swings with your left leg.
9: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the adductors (on the inside of your thigh) on your right leg.
10: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the adductors on your left leg.
11: Perform 50 jumping jacks. Foam-roll your back from bottom to top.
12: Perform 50 jumping jacks. Foam-roll your entire right shoulder complex.
13: Perform 50 jumping jacks. Foam-roll your entire left shoulder complex.
14: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll your neck (back, left side, right side).
15: Perform 10 burpees. Foam-roll the front of both quads.

DAY 4 Workout 1: Super-Slow Routine

Workout 2: Morning Fasted Fat Burning

DAY 5 Workout 1: Tabata Sets

Perform a 10-to-15-minute warm-up, then complete 8 rounds of 20 seconds of a single exercise (burpees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, kettlebell swings, squats, treadmill running, cycling, rowing machine) with 10 seconds of rest between rounds. Go at an all-out, maximum-intensity pace each round. Cool down with nasal breathing and easy aerobic movement for 5 to 10 minutes.

Workout 2: Sauna

Workout 3: Foundation Training

Go through each of the ten Foundation exercises in the book True to Form by Dr. Eric Goodman just once with a focus on perfect form.

DAY 6 Workout 1: 4-Minute HIIT with 4-Minute Rest Periods for VO2 Max

Complete five rounds of intense 4-minute intervals. Go at the maximum pace you can maintain without compromising on form. Take a 4-minute easy, aerobic, active rest period between each round. You can run, bike, swim, use the elliptical, or row.

Workout 2: Morning Fasted Fat Burning

DAY 7 Workout 1: Hot-Cold Contrast

Workout 2: Morning Fasted Fat Burning

Workout 3: Deep Breathing and Yoga

Engage in deep, nasal belly breathing during a morning yoga routine, which, for this particular day, should ideally last 45 to 60 minutes. Try to do this routine in the sunshine to amplify vitamin D levels. If that isn’t an option, use a brightly lit room. Focus on your breath. The yoga routine you follow is up to you. Whatever routine you perform, you should preferably perform it alone.

Boundless Exercise Program

The beginner program below will give you maximum results with the absolute minimum effective dose of exercise. The intermediate program includes elements that further enhance sports performance, mobility, fat loss, and muscle maintenance or muscle gain. The advanced program is designed to give you the best body possible and can be used by athletes and hard-charging high achievers who are preparing for a more intense event, such a triathlon, marathon, obstacle race, or other serious sporting endeavor.

The List of Exercises Used in the Exercise Programs:

Complex Exercises

Upper Body Push:

Machine chest press
Barbell or dumbbell bench press
Incline barbell or dumbbell bench press
Standing overhead press
Standing cable press
Loaded push-up with weighted vest, or super-slow push-up with body weight

Upper Body Pull:

Machine pull-down
Bent barbell or dumbbell row
Weighted or super-slow pull-up
Weighted or super-slow horizontal pull-up
Fast single-arm cable or dumbbell row
Lat pull-downs
Seated row

Full Body Moves:

Man Maker
Turkish get-up
Bear complex (power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, and second push press)
Dead lift to overhead press
Overhead squat

Lower Body Push:

Leg press
Barbell squat
Goblet squat
Front squat
Single-leg squat
Front lunge
Reverse lunge
Barbell or dumbbell step-ups

Lower Body Pull:

Back extension machine
Dead lift
Suitcase dead lift
Romanian dead lift
Hexbar dead lift

Mobility:

Torso twists
Cat/cow
Birddogs (opposite arm-leg extensions)
Yoga Sun Salutation series
Banded side-to-side walks
Mountain climbers
Foam rolling
Bridging
Banded side-walks
Lunging mobility exercises

Power Exercises

Upper Body Push:

Overhead push press
Explosive or clap push-up
Medicine ball chest throw or overhead throw
Snatch
Burpees

Upper Body Pull:

Jumping pull-up
Explosive horizontal pull-up
Battle rope
Fast single-arm cable or dumbbell row
Muscle-ups

Lower Body Push:

Jump squat
Lunge jumps
Explosive step-ups

Lower Body Pull:

Power clean
Hang clean
Clean and jerk
Kettlebell swing
Medicine ball slam

Core/Carry/Move

Lunge jumps
Box jumps
Fast farmer’s walk
Sled push
Explosive stair climbs
Explosive torso twists
Medicine ball side throw
Rowing machine
Bicycle
Treadmill or another sprint
Banded side-to-side walks
Mountain climbers
Burpees
Muscle-ups

DAILY HABITS

15 minutes of Morning Movement:

Beginner: Walk for 15 minutes, preferably in the sunshine.

Intermediate: Perform one or a combination of the following exercises for a total of 15 minutes:

Yoga: Warrior poses and Sun Salutations
ELDOA stretches
Foam rolling and deep tissue work on any sore or tight areas
Sunshine walks with deep nasal breathing and box breathing
Mini-trampoline rebounding or time on a vibration platform
• Foundation Training (True to Form by Dr. Eric Goodman)
Try to avoid music, podcasts, or audiobooks during this time and instead focus on silence, breathing, and meditation.

Advanced: Choose from any of the intermediate routines. On as many days as possible, either later in the morning or immediately after this routine, if time permits, perform 20–30 minutes of fasted, aerobic cardio, such as an easy walk in the sunshine, a yoga routine, sauna, hot-cold contrast, a swim, or a bike ride. Preferably finish with a 2-to-5-minute cold shower. If time does not permit for this in the morning, instead do a 20-to-30-minute evening pre- or post-dinner walk.

Low-Level Physical Activity Throughout the Day:

Beginner: If you work indoors, use a standing or treadmill workstation. Walk and use the stairs as much as possible everywhere you go.

Intermediate: Adopt the beginner protocol, but stop every hour for 100 jumping jacks.

Advanced: Continue the beginner and intermediate protocols, but throughout the entire day, every 30–60 minutes, take quick stops or Pomodoro-esque breaks for burpees, kettlebell swings, jumping jacks, high-knees running, stairs, mountain-climbers, mini-trampoline jumping, vibration platform work, or 1-to-2-minute bursts of any other quick, explosive activity. In addition, on any three days of the week, slip away and perform a single Tabata set

Warm up for 2–5 minutes, then complete 8 sets of 20 seconds of a single exercise (burpees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, kettlebell swings, squats, treadmill, bike, rowing machine—you choose), with 10 seconds of rest after each 20-second effort. Go at your all-out, maximum-intensity pace for every 20-second effort. Cool down for 5–10 minutes after 8 sets.

Finally, during any of the day’s activities, try to practice hypoxia. For example, during the rebounding session, you could hold your breath for the first 15 seconds of every minute. Or during the sauna or yoga, you could hold your breath during certain movements. You can even practice breath holds during the last few reps of a weight-training exercise. In addition, during every activity you do in this program, unless absolutely necessary (for instance, you are gasping for breath or getting lightheaded), attempt to only breathe through your nose using abdominal belly breathing.

MONDAY

Super-Slow Strength:

This routine is ideally performed in the late afternoon or early evening, at least three hours prior to bedtime.

Beginner: Warm up with 5–10 minutes of aerobic exercise. Complete each of the following exercises very slowly, with an 8-to-10-second count up and an 8-to-10-second count down. Focus on keeping your muscles tight and tense for each rep, and do not rest between reps but instead maintain constant muscle tension. Complete a single round of the entire circuit. Each exercise should be completed as one single set to complete failure. Each exercise should take you a minimum of 90 seconds and ideally 2 to 2½ minutes to complete:

Machine chest press (or dumbbell chest press, push-up, or other horizontal pushing variation)
Machine pull-down (or pull-up, assisted pull-up, or other vertical pulling variation)
Machine shoulder press (or dumbbell shoulder press, handstand push-up, or other vertical pushing variation)
Machine seated row (or cable row, bent-over dumbbell row, or other horizontal pulling variation)
Leg press (or squat, goblet squat, dumbbell squat, or other squatting or lunging variation)

Intermediate: Warm up with one or two sets of 3–6 fast, explosive reps for each exercise in the beginner routine, and finish each of the super-slow sets with as many fast, explosive, partial-range reps as you can complete.

Advanced: Warm up for 5–10 minutes, preferably with a gymnastics routine, Animal Flow, a Foundation Training routine, or anything else that dynamically prepares the body for movement and elevates the heart rate.

Next, from the list of Strength exercises, choose one upper-body push, one lower-body push, one upper-body pull, one lower-body pull, and one full-body move. Pair that exercise with one exercise from the Core & Mobility list on the same page.
Gradually adding weight and decreasing repetitions or maintaining repetitions with each strength set (as long as you keep good form), complete 3–8 repetitions of the upper-body push exercise in a slow, controlled fashion. Next, complete 10–20 repetitions of a Core & Mobility movement of your choice (for active recovery), preferably one that does not exhaust or work the same muscles that you used during your strength set.
Then return to the Strength set, do another set of the same exercise, and follow it up with the same Core & Mobility exercise. Repeat until you have completed 3–5 sets of both the Strength move and the Core & Mobility move, and then move on to the lower-body push.
Continue this pattern until you have finished all movement categories: upper-body push, lower-body push, upper-body pull, lower-body pull, and full-body move.
Cool down with deep breathing, box breathing, sauna, walking, or any of the easier movements programmed for the day.

Hot and Cold Thermogenesis:

Beginner: Take a hot-cold contrast shower in the morning and/or evening, alternating 20 seconds of cold water and 10 seconds of hot water. Ensure the water touches all parts of your body during the shower, particularly the armpits, insides of the thighs, face, head, and other areas of high blood flow.

Intermediate: Take a hot-cold contrast shower and do the following routine if time permits:

Spend 15–30 minutes in a dry sauna or infrared sauna. Stay in at least long enough to begin sweating, and ideally long enough that you begin to get uncomfortably hot.
Take a 2–5-minute cold shower, cold soak, or easy cold-water swim (55 degrees Fahrenheit or less).

Advanced: Exercise in the sauna if possible. It is okay to kill two birds with one stone and do any of the day’s sessions in the sauna (such as Foundation Training, mobility, or meditation) or to do yoga or detox strategies such as dry skin brushing in the sauna. You can also simply read, breathe, and relax. Just stay away from phones, WiFi, Bluetooth, and other forms of EMF.

Other techniques that are good for the sauna or pool (just be careful and responsible!) are resisted breathwork, restricted breathwork, breathing exercises, and breath-holds. Optionally, either in the sauna or after your shower, complete a full-body dry skin brush (this should take 2–5 minutes).
Finally, consider using Cool Fat Burner or Cool Gut Buster cold thermogenesis gear for 20–60 minutes at some point during the day. Or, if you have more time, you can lie on your back in the sauna and do the full 60-minute holotropic breathwork routine found in week 3 of Niraj Naik’s SOMA breath routine

TUESDAY

Functional Fitness:

This routine is ideally performed late afternoon or early evening, at least three hours prior to bedtime. If you don’t have time to do it on Tuesday, do it on Thursday instead.

Beginner: Perform the 7-minute workout from chapter 12. If time permits, attempt to do 2–3 rounds. Use good form on every exercise and move as quickly and explosively as possible!

Intermediate: Perform 2–3 rounds of the 7-minute workout. If possible, use blood-flow restriction or Kaatsu bands on both arms and legs. Start or finish this routine with a mitochondrial training set of 4 rounds of 30–60 seconds of all-out effort followed by 4 minutes of active recovery using any bodyweight or cardio movement, such as bicycle, treadmill, elliptical, or rowing (you can also perform this at a different time of day).

Advanced: Perform the intermediate routine above, or, along with the mitochondrial training set above, perform 3-5 rounds of the full-body kettlebell training routine:

5 Turkish get-ups per side
30 swings, split into 3 sets of 10 with 10 seconds’ rest between each set
5 goblet squats
30 snatches per side, split into 3 sets of 10 with 10 seconds’ rest between each set
5 bottoms-up presses per side
60 seconds of walking with two kettlebells “racked” on your chest or held farmer’s carry–style at your side
Ideally, use hypoxia during the 30-to-60-second hard cardio mitochondrial efforts, such as a Training Mask or LiveO2.

WEDNESDAY

Morning Detox Session:

This routine is ideally performed late afternoon or early evening, at least three hours prior to bedtime. If you don’t have time to do it on Tuesday, do it on Thursday instead.

Beginner: Do 5–15 minutes of tai chi shaking, rebounding on a mini trampoline, or vibration platform work.

Intermediate: Do a clay mask. While the mask dries, do 5–15 minutes of rebounding on a mini trampoline or standing on a vibration platform. Rinse off the mask, then move to the sauna for 20–30 minutes. While in the sauna, do full-body dry skin brushing and any yoga movements or other stretching movements that feel good. Finish with a 2-to-5-minute cold shower or cold soak. Dry off, then apply topical magnesium to all joints and any sore spots, or take a warm magnesium salt bath later in the day.

Advanced: Do a clay mask (see chapter 17). While the mask dries, do 5–15 minutes of rebounding on a mini trampoline or standing on a vibration platform. Next, perform a coffee enema. Rinse off the mask, then move to the sauna for 20–30 minutes. While in the sauna, do full-body dry skin brushing and any yoga movements or other stretching movements that feel good. Finish with a 2-to-5-minute cold shower or cold soak. Dry off, then apply topical magnesium to all joints and any sore spots, or take a warm magnesium salt bath later in the day.

Cross Train:

Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced: Today is your free day to engage in a hobby of your choice and a chance to challenge both your brain and body at the same time. If you’re sore or beat up, try something like an easy paddle boarding session, a new yoga class, hiking on a new trail, frisbee golf, or regular golf. For more of a challenge, try tennis, basketball, ultimate frisbee, soccer, kickboxing, or jujitsu.

If you do want to perform a more structured workout, do the Functional Movement / Animal Flow routine.

This workout is flexible but needs to be primarily bodyweight and functional and should include elements such as crawling, carrying, lunging, hanging, traversing, and swimming. Total workout time is 30–60 minutes. Examples of workouts include these:

1. Riding your bike to a river or lake to go for a swim

2. Completing a bodyweight or functional CrossFit WOD like “Fat Amy”

3. Walking briskly on a nature trail and stopping at park benches or other areas for dips, push-ups, squats, hanging from tree branches, pull-ups, etc.

4. Doing a circuit like the following:

Farmer walk—20 meters
Bear crawl—10 meters
60-second asymmetrical carry (like carrying two heavy objects of different weights farmer’s carry–style); swap sides at the 30-second mark
Frogger—10 meters
Overhead walk—single hand, swapping hands at the 10-meter mark
Duck—10 meters
Repeat for five total rounds.

Brain Training:

Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced: At any time of day, choose any new skill or hobby, or an existing skill or hobby for which you are learning a new technique—for example, you could cook a new recipe, play a new board or card game, play the guitar, ukulele, harmonica, piano, or any other musical instrument, or create a watercolor or oil painting. Anything on your bucket list for learning counts. You can also use any of the tools, biohacks, or brain aerobics exercises.

THURSDAY

Hot and Cold Thermogenesis:

Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced: Spend 10–30 minutes in a dry sauna, steam sauna, or (preferably) an infrared sauna. Stay in at least long enough to begin sweating, and preferably long enough that you begin to get uncomfortably hot. It is okay to kill two birds with one stone and do any of the day’s sessions in the sauna, such as Foundation, mobility, or meditation, or to do yoga or a brief workout. You can also simply read, breathe, and relax. Just stay away from phones, WiFi, Bluetooth, and other forms of EMF. Finish this sauna session with a 2-to-5-minute cold shower, soak in a cold bath or cold pool, or any other cold thermogenesis activity.

VO2 Max Training:

Beginner: Complete 4 rounds of 4 minutes of intense intervals (the maximum sustainable pace that you can maintain without your form suffering) with 4 minutes of easy aerobic active-recovery sessions between each round. The mode of exercise is your choice and can include a bike, treadmill, rowing machine, swimming, elliptical trainer, or running outdoors.

Intermediate: Do the beginner workout, but for the first 2 rounds, wear a Training Mask during the work efforts, and for the next 2 rounds, wear a Training Mask during the recovery efforts.

Advanced: Do the intermediate workout, or use a LiveO2 trainer set at hyperoxia for the first 2 rounds of work efforts and hypoxia for recovery efforts, and set at hypoxia for the next 2 rounds of work efforts and hyperoxia for recovery efforts.

FRIDAY

Super-Slow Strength:

Repeat Monday’s routine.

SATURDAY

Foam Roller or Massage:

Beginner: Get a 30-to-90-minute full-body massage.

Intermediate: Get a 30-to-90-minute full-body massage, if possible while lying on some type of PEMF or earthing device (such as a Biomat, BodyBalance PEMF mat, or Pulse Center’s Pulse XL Pro table) and while listening to Michael Tyrell’s sound healing tracks.

Advanced: Get the same intermediate massage or do the full-body foam-roller workout described in chapter 12. I highly recommend the RumbleRoller and Training Mask for this routine to spice things up a bit more. Bonus points for doing this in a dry or infrared sauna.

Adventure of Choice:

Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced: Choose your own adventure, preferably outdoors. It can be, for example, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, road cycling, mountain biking, or playing on an obstacle course. Don’t make this too epic in terms of physical intensity but instead use it as an opportunity for nature therapy, challenging your brain, and doing something novel. This can last anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours. For an added fat-burning effect, perform this workout in a fasted state.

SUNDAY

Social Sport:

Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced: Choose any sport or activity that allows you to be with other people, such as badminton, volleyball, tennis, frisbee golf, golf, or a group exercise class.

Brain Training:

Hot and Cold Thermogenesis:

Beginner: Take a hot-cold contrast shower in the morning and evening, alternating between 20 seconds of cold water and 10 seconds of hot water. Try to ensure the water touches all parts of your body during the shower, particularly the armpits, inside of thighs, face, head, and other areas of high blood flow.

Intermediate: Take a hot-cold contrast shower and do the following routine if time permits:

Spend 15–30 minutes in a dry sauna or infrared sauna. Stay in at least long enough to begin sweating, and preferably long enough that you begin to get uncomfortably hot.
Take a 2-to-5-minute cold shower, cold soak, or easy cold-water swim (55 degrees Fahrenheit or less).

Advanced: Exercise in the sauna if possible. It is okay to kill two birds with one stone and do any of the day’s sessions in the sauna (such as Foundation Training, mobility, or meditation) or to do yoga in the sauna. You can also simply read, breathe, and relax. Just stay away from phones, WiFi, Bluetooth, and other forms of EMF.

Other techniques that are good for the sauna or pool (just be careful and responsible!) are resisted breathwork, restricted breathwork, breathing exercises, and breath-holds. Optionally, either in the sauna or after your shower, complete a full-body dry skin brush (this should take 2–5 minutes).
Finally, consider using Cool Fat Burner or Cool Gut Buster cold thermogenesis gear for 20–60 minutes at some point during the day. Or, if you have more time, you can lie on your back in the sauna and do the full 60-minute holotropic breathwork routine found in week 3 of Niraj Naik’s SOMA breath routine

The Longevity Program

Contents

Picking the Right Training Regime

Lifting Longevity Research

The Best Muscle Type for Longevity

Power To Mass Ratio

Hypertrophy

Endurance and Cardiovascular Exercise

How Should You Train

Training Structure

Basic Principles to Remember

**An Alternative Longevity Program (Boundless):**

**Ben Greenfield’s Boundless Program**

Boundless Exercise Program

HOM

Categories

Useful Links