AMA #79: A guide to cardiorespiratory training at any fitness level to improve healthspan, lifespan, and long-term independence

**Peter Attia** (0:10)
Hey everyone, welcome to a sneak peek, Ask Me Anything or AMA episode of the Drive podcast. I'm your host, Peter Attia. At the end of this short episode, I'll explain how you can access the AMA episodes in full, along with a ton of other membership benefits we've created. Or you can learn more now by going to peterattiamd.com/subscribe. So without further delay, here's today's sneak peek of the Ask Me Anything episode.
Welcome to Ask Me Anything AMA episode 79 In today's AMA, we take a comprehensive look at cardiorespiratory fitness, one of the most common topics we get questions about. And of course, an area that is central to not only lifespan, but also healthspan. Now look, we've done a lot of content on this topic, but we wanted to put together an episode that brought it all together in one place. And as always to include any of my updated thoughts, something which of course, I'm constantly updating my thinking on topics and hopefully sharpening it. So the goal of this episode is to provide a practical guide that allows you to structure your training in a way that meaningfully impacts your health, your functional capacity and maintains independence as you age. We'll discuss why cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the strongest modifier predictors of healthspan and lifespan, what zone two training actually represents and why it's different from higher intensity work. And there seems to be still some confusion about this. How to think about exercise volume, intensity and the practicality of training in different zones and using different approaches? How to measure and track improvements in zone two specifically? VO2 max targets age-adjusted goals and planning for the marginal decade. Structuring an effective workout routine around your zone two goals and your VO2 max goals. How to balance zone two with higher intensity work across varying weekly training volumes? Again, this is a very important part of the discussion, because as I allude to, there are going to be some of you listening to this that shouldn't be doing zone two at all. And my hope is that by the end of this podcast, you've been able to identify yourselves. Adjusting training for beginners, metabolically unhealthy individuals, long-time trainees, older adults, et cetera. Specific considerations for women specifically, including some misconceptions around zone two or other forms of cardio training. Common training mistakes and how to avoid plateaus, burnout and missed targeted intensities. Practical strategies for sustainability, progression and long-term adaptation. If you're a subscriber and you want to watch the full video of this podcast, you can find it on the show notes page. And if you're not a subscriber, you can watch a sneak peek of the video on our YouTube page. So without further delay, I hope you enjoy AMA 79

**SPEAKER_1** (2:47)
Peter, welcome to another AMA. How are you doing?

**Peter Attia** (2:51)
I'm doing very well. Thank you for having me back.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:54)
Always welcome to have you. I see every time we do these, you bring something more and more to each recording.

**Peter Attia** (3:02)
What have I brought this time? I don't know. I'm not even aware.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:05)
Nothing you can think of? Nothing jumps out? No new additions to the body?

**Peter Attia** (3:11)
No, but given that we've now introduced carve-outs at the end of these, it's made me that much more aware of how much I am the perfect target of YouTube and Instagram ads, because I could create an entire podcast called The Carve-Out, where I just talk about the things that I buy when they're served up to me as ads that I end up liking.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:35)
Have you bought one thing today?

**Peter Attia** (3:37)
Not today, but I did get something really awesome two days ago. It arrived two days ago.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:43)
Anything you'd like to share with the group?

**Peter Attia** (3:44)
Heck no. I'm saving it for a carve-out maybe next month. I put these things to the test. Let me tell you, I am a serious tester of product. So the thing that I got so far, I've already tested it once. It was insanely good. I need a few more reps with it. And if I'm still digging it in a month, it might make it to the carve-out list.

**SPEAKER_1** (4:04)
That's great. It's exciting because I don't think people realize what you're talking about could be a legitimate thing that is actually beneficial to health and longevity. And it could be the dumbest $20 gadget that has ever existed. And we have no way of knowing which one it is when it comes to that spectrum.

**Peter Attia** (4:24)
Well, I'll give you a hint. It was served up on a YouTube ad, so it's definitely not the former, but I will say it's also not the latter.