How To Train For Future You

If you’re the type of person that wants to be strong and capable into your 70s and 80s, then this is for you.

You’ve probably heard of the knees over toes method? Or strength through length training? 

These are just two well-known examples, yet there are countless training systems that we are bombarded with, all preaching to be the one system that is: 

• The key to longevity. 

• The antidote to all injury. 

• The one system that will make you bulletproof.

So which one is the one?

Here’s what I think.

If you want to be bulletproof, go buy a bulletproof vest.   

There is no one system to guarantee maximum longevity, but there is a way to increase the likelihood. So let’s go through how to get there.

Stop Looking At The Sun Through A Telescope

If you’ve ever looked directly into the sun, you would know that you can’t stare for longer than 2 seconds, and won’t be able to shake off that bright watermark where the sun was for the next 6 to 9 minutes. 

Now imagine looking through a telescope with the sun's rays penetrating directly into your retina. 

It will literally make you blind. 

This is exactly what happens when you focus too closely at something that is too far off in the distance for you to attain.  

You can’t see what’s right in front of you. 

If you hyper-fixate on the longevity utopia, what you quickly begin to learn is that there are infinite potential ways to achieve it. 

The overwhelming uncertainty causes you to chop and change too frequently, and you eventually lose sight of any reasonable path.

You’re so focused at the un-trackable image through the telescope, and find yourself spinning in circles. 

So the first thing you want to do is take your eye off the telescope and shift your perspective. 

The Anti-Fragile Nature of Longevity 

When we think of something that is anti-fragile, we think of something that doesn’t break easily. To the contrary, it benefits from chaos, shock and stress. 

Longevity is anti-fragile in the sense that it is not a single state of being or a final destination. It is a dynamic, evolving, and adaptive state. Even in the long-term it’s true existence can never be measured, except in hindsight.

Recognising this, we are urged to step-back and employ the spirit of exploration, without considering every consequence too deeply. 

Rather than denying yourself from what may be perceived as an unhealthy behaviour, you experience something less optimal to obtain value in other ways. 

For example, many people may consider running a 160 km marathon bad for your longevity. But is denying yourself the opportunity to test your limits any better?

Probably not!

How You Can Become Anti-Fragile

There are two important attributes you must embody:

1) Develop a keen adaptability

Be willing to go deep into one specific practice with full focus, despite the sacrifices you may need to make, knowing that you are not bound to that practice forever. 

Push your limit, and when it no longer serves you, use your gained knowledge and experience to catapult into a new practice. 

2) Be curious and explore a range of experiences

The best defence is a strong offence. Longevity is less about hiding behind the castle walls for protection, and more about chasing new obstacles - striving to overcome adversity in all realms of human endeavour. 

So do it all, do it well, do it wrong, when you are ready, and when you’re not, do it wholeheartedly, and never stop allowing yourself a new experience.

“Start with what you want to achieve, instead of limiting yourself to what’s realistic or sustainable” 

- Will Guidara

Yours in running and life,

Daniel Lucchini