#333 World’s #1 Biohack for Longevity

Steven Munatones (0:00)

We're seeing that people in their 80s, 90s, and 100s are functionally, because of their muscle tone, strength, stamina, et cetera, are what they are in their 40s, and 50s, and 60s. And if you think about this anti-aging goal, isn't that what we're trying to achieve?

Siim Land (0:16)

Welcome to the SIIMLAND Podcast. I'm your host, SIIM LAND, and today we have two guests from KAATSU Global, Steven Munatones and John Doolittle. KAATSU is a form of blood flow moderation training that can mimic heavy weight lifting with lighter loads. You're basically tricking your body into thinking that it's lifting heavy weights that it actually is. You can use it for treating injuries, recovery from exercise, and improving cardiovascular health. If you want to try out the KAATSU bands, then head over to kaatsu.com and use the code SIIM for a 10% discount.

John, Steven, welcome back to the show.

Steven Munatones (0:47)

Hello, nice to be back.

Siim Land (0:50)

Yeah.

John Doolittle (0:52)

What a great honor to be back on your show. Thanks for inviting us.

Siim Land (0:56)

Yeah, of course. Like, yeah, we did our first like show maybe like two years or something like that ago. And yeah, I mean, it's, yeah, I'm glad to have you back because KAATSU itself is one of the best, I think, let's say anti-aging exercise routines for at least for the elderly folks out there. And yeah, I'm glad to still, you know, that it's, you know, spreading and people are still, you know, getting access to it.

And yeah, maybe we can start by both of you, you know, going through your journey of becoming involved with KAATSU and yeah, like how did you discover it? What was your like, you know, some sort of activation point or like this, yeah, what got you hooked with KAATSU?

Steven Munatones (1:45)

Yeah, well, I'll start off because I was introduced to Dr. Sato, the inventor of KAATSU back in 2001 So about 2021, 22 years ago. And he, I visited his laboratory in Tokyo, just outside of Tokyo. And there was a long line of older people there. And I observed what he did with them. And then he did KAATSU on me. I was immediately hooked.

I thought this is the greatest thing that I have felt.

But I was thinking about actually my parents at the time. When I asked them this question, I asked them, how can I learn about KAATSU? Obviously I live in California, he lives in Tokyo. And he said, well, I'll teach you. I've been waiting for someone like you to meet. And I said, well, why isn't KAATSU known outside Japan? And he said, well, two reasons. I don't speak Japanese and I don't travel outside of Japan. And I said, okay, I'll do that. And then I asked him, when I return home, I want to study KAATSU. And then he smiled and he says, well, the information is all up in my head.

And so at the time, early on, I visited Japan four to six times a year for 13 years.

And some people say, well, why does it take you 13 years to learn KAATSU? Well, at the time, there was nothing written in English.

Everything was in Japanese and even the stuff in Japanese wasn't what it is today. So it took many years. And as you know, if you want to become a very good sushi chef, you have to learn how to cook the rice and prepare the rice for many years before you get to actually be in the sushi bar. And same thing with KAATSU. And so during this 13 year period, I learned all about KAATSU. He took me to the hospitals. He took me to see Olympic athletes. He showed me how he works with older people, with people with sleep apalsy, people who are bedridden. And every time I visited, I would take lots of notes, ask him questions. And in 2014, we launched the company. And then that's when soon after that, I met John and the rest is history. John, do you wanna explain your journey?

John Doolittle (4:24)

Yeah, my journey is much different than Steven's. I got pretty beat up during my career. I spent 25 years in the SEAL teams.

I retired out of the SEAL teams in 2017

Before I retired, I had an injury. It was a full thickness tear, supraspinatus, it's a rotator cuff. Exact same injury I had had when I was six years younger. And back then it was an 11 month full recovery and rehab.

So about that time, I'm working in the humor performance program.

I was the director for that program at US Special Operations Command, otherwise known as US SOCOM. So I had a lot of trainers and PT's, strength coaches, sports psychologists working under me. So I messed up my shoulder and got the surgery done. And the guys told me, you gotta go to SOXN, that's Special Operations Command Central Command. So that's in Tampa, Florida. It was right across the street from where we were stationed. They said, you gotta go over to SOXN, meet with the PT's there and try this thing called KAATSU. And at that point, I actually had heard a little bit about it, but I didn't know much about it. I met the PT's over there. They had a KAATSU machine. They had one, it was like the size of a shoe box.