This is Richard Morgan.
He's a 93-year-old four time world rowing champion who has the fitness levels of a 40 year old.
Scientists studied him to find out his secrets to delaying the aging process.
Here's what they found:
Lesson #1 - It's never too late to start
Richard was never an athlete growing up.
He started rowing at 72 years old but before that he lived a sedentary lifestyle.
Since then he's gone on to win 4 world titles in rowing for his age group.
Lesson #2 - Healthy body fat levels
Richard is 5'3, 131 lbs, which puts him in the normal range for BMI.
His body fat was recorded at 15.4% through a bioimpedance scan.
While the body fat may not be accurate it's still impressive for someone his age.
Lesson #3 - Is he as fit as a 40 year old?
His vital capacity is ideal for a 40 year old.
His oxygen intake was ideal as well.
His maximum heart was the highest ever recorded for his age.
He's not as fit as the average 40 year old. He's fitter.
Lesson #4 - His training program
He rowed 20 miles a week doing 70% low, 20% moderate & 10% high intensity.
2-3x a week he did resistance training doing 3 sets of lunges, curls & rows to failure.
Lesson #4 - His nutrition
His diet is what most people would consider to be healthy.
He eats primarily whole foods & minimal junk (aside from this photo) with a protein shake post workout.
He eats 110 grams of protein daily, which is around .8 grams per lb of bodyweight.
Lesson #5 - Consistency is key
Every day without fail he dedicates 40 minutes to his exercise routine, which we'll get into in a second.
The same thing goes for his diet.
In his words,
"I started from nowhere and suddenly realized there was a lot of pleasure in doing this."
Lesson #6 - He doesn't take supplements
Aside from the whey protein shake after his workouts he doesn't take any supplements at all.
You could assume that his diet largely takes care of the nutrients he needs to keep himself healthy.
What can we learn?
The big lessons are it's never too late & consistency is key.
Also, eating a high protein whole food diet & doing low to high cardio sessions w/weights are crucial to staying young & fit.
If you're interested here's the study:
journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.11…
NOTE: Genetics does play a factor in longevity.
But don't let that discourage you. You can't control your genetics but you do have control over your epigenetics.
Control what you can & let the cards fall where they may.
You can't reverse your age but you can reverse certain traits of aging.
It's never too late either. The best time to start was yesterday. The next best time is now.
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