The Peter Attia Drive Podcast: Training principles for longevity (Part 2/2)

This is part 2 of my conversation with Peter Attia on The Drive. Part 1 covered the science of muscle. This one gets into how to actually train.

I look at what we can learn from powerlifters, Olympic weightlifters, strongman athletes, CrossFit athletes, and sprinters and pull out the principles that apply to anyone trying to build a body that holds up long term. We cover load and rep ranges, training volume, why learning movement patterns matters more than most people think, why training to technical failure beats chasing a rep number, and how to put it all together into a program for someone optimizing for longevity rather than competition. We close with a hypothetical training plan for what I call the centenarian athlete, plus some myth-busting and a list of things to stop doing if you want to stay healthy and out of the physical therapy clinic.

Timestamps:

0:00:00 Intro
0:00:08 Review of skeletal muscle function and organization
0:07:00 Review of muscle fiber types
0:18:20 Hypertrophy: changes in muscle fibers and the mechanisms behind muscle growth
0:30:42 Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and how it relates to rep ranges
0:33:38 Training for maximum strength: lessons from powerlifters
0:47:29 Ideal reps, volume, and load for strength training
1:01:40 What powerlifters should do on off days
1:07:07 Long-term health consequences of powerlifting
1:11:00 Olympic weightlifting as a test of power
1:15:00 Training principles of Olympic weightlifting
1:25:48 Tracking power output in training
1:31:38 Training frequency for Olympic weightlifting
1:34:49 Post-activation potentiation and how to use it for power and speed training
1:43:28 Strongman: breadth of movement, strength, and stamina
1:48:48 Strongman training principles and advice for beginners
2:05:20 CrossFit: weightlifting, endurance, and circuit training
2:15:20 Lessons from elite athletes on heart rate recovery, VO2 max, and other metrics
2:29:20 Optimizing for well-rounded athleticism vs. specialization
2:38:44 What sprinters teach us about speed, acceleration, and technique
2:46:30 A training plan for the centenarian athlete
2:56:47 Debunking training and exercise myths
2:59:27 Training mistakes and tips for avoiding injury