The Ten Squared Decathlon – which we call the “Centenarian Decathlon” – consists not of track and field pursuits, but of the events which will ensure an enjoyable and fulfilled Marginal Decade. Some of these events might simply be activities of daily living, such as dressing without restriction, or walking up a flight of stairs […]
Peter Attia, MD, is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of simultaneously lengthening their lifespan and increasing their healthspan.
He is the host of The Drive, one of the most popular podcasts covering the topics of health and medicine.
He is also the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.
Dr. Attia received his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine and trained for five years at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in general surgery, where he was the recipient of several prestigious awards, including resident of the year.
He spent two years at the National Institutes of Health as a surgical oncology fellow at the National Cancer Institute, where his research focused on immune-based therapies for melanoma.
He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three kids.
To understand the company, to really “get” the raison d’etre, you need to understand the problem we’re addressing, first.
Without exception, as people age, their physical healthspan declines. And it does so precipitously and non-linearly as they get closer to the final decades of life.
What does this mean? It means they lose speed, power, strength, reaction time and reactivity, muscle mass, endurance, balance, flexibility, tissue pliability, resilience, and more. It will be subtle at first. Until it’s not. By the age of 75 most people can expect a significant reduction in both muscle mass and physical activity level as both of these issues feed off and exacerbate each other.
What is the implication of this inevitable decline? Well, it depends on the extent of the decline. In the case of most people it means the last decade or so of life, regardless of other health metrics, is usually a decade (or more) of limited physical experiences. You can’t do the things you once did for enjoyment. Your body is in pain. Your energy is so low that you need to rest frequently throughout the day. Things you once took for granted, like getting up off the floor without much effort, become nearly impossible.
The sad irony of this state is that for most of us this last decade–what we call the Marginal Decade–should be the best, most fulfilling decade of our lives. We should be enjoying the rewards of years spent working hard. We’re surrounded by kids and grandkids. We have the means to travel and immerse ourselves in our hobbies.
Instead, we retreat and become less and less involved in the lives of people we love.
You might ask, is this state of decline and the resulting unpleasantness of our Marginal Decade inevitable? No, it’s not. But, if you want to secure a better path you need to prepare. And not just prepare, but prepare with the same focus (albeit less intensity) of an athlete. Except your sport is life. You’re an athlete of life.
One thing all elite athletes have in common, regardless of their sport, is that they train with great specificity. Without this specificity, their efforts will be futile. And no athlete embodies a better model for living a great life more than a decathlete. The decathlete is not the “best” at any one thing. Rather, they are very good at many things. This is what life is all about. And so it’s no surprise that we’ve chosen the decathlon as the mental model for how we think about training for life. But it’s not a regular decathlon consisting of only track and field events.
Our decathlon–which we call the Centenarian Decathlon–consists of the events you want to ensure you can enjoy in your Marginal Decade. Some of these events might simply be activities of daily living, such as putting on your pants while standing up or walking up a flight of stairs without assistance. Other events might be more ambitious, like being able to dance for 30 minutes, swim a mile in a lake, or ski easy slopes.
Regardless of the particular events that make up your Centenarian Decathlon, our goal at 10 Squared is to focus your training today on your goals tomorrow. Nothing happens by accident. If you fail to train correctly, you will not achieve your objective.
So now the big question. How, exactly, does one go about training for the most important athletic event of one’s life?
The same way a decathlete would prepare for the Olympics: with consistency and specificity and a very well-rounded approach to all facets of training. You start by working backwards, reverse-engineering from the physical traits that will be necessary for your goals to the extent to which you possess them today–but with a very big caveat: they must be discounted to account for aging. If your goal at 90 requires X units of strength, then you’d better have 2X units of that same strength at 50.
While most people are easily able to accomplish their goals of tomorrow today, virtually everyone is shocked to learn that based on their current physical traits, and the inevitability of decline, they will fall well short of their goals in the future. So they need to increase their capacity today to glide comfortably into their Marginal Decade. But it’s not just about the last decade or decades of life.
There is another benefit of training for the Centenarian Decathlon: it won’t just make you the best version of yourself in your Marginal Decade, it will make you the best version of you in every decade along the way. Just as an archer who practices to be a sharpshooter at 100 yards is not only great at that distance, but also at every distance inside that range.