Steven Austad is a gym fanatic.
As the director of an anti-aging research nonprofit, he’s deeply aware that exercise might be the closest thing we have to a longevity cure-all.
That’s why he puts in about an hour a day on his bike or in the weight room as part of his longevity routine.
“I don’t take any supplements. I don’t even take a multivitamin, but I do spend a lot of time in the gym,” he told Business Insider
But on a recent research trip, Austad met with centenarians who stayed spry with a completely different style of exercise, and it changed how he thinks about working out.
“I met all these hundred-year-olds and talked to them and watched them,” he said. “They get a lot of exercise, but it’s not heavy exercise.”
Here’s what we know about the healthiest kind of movement — and why being a little bit lazy may be the key to a long, healthy life.
The best exercise for longevity
Sardinia, Italy is one of the few places in the world where people regularly live to be 100 (or even older).
Known as Blue Zones, residents in these regions have traditions that scientists suspect are linked to enduring good health. Despite being spread around the globe, from Okinawa, Japan to Nicoya, Costa Rica, Blue Zones tend to share lifestyle habits like staying active, eating simple, mostly veggie-based superfoods, and building strong social communities.
Austad traveled to Sardinia last year while working on a research paper about whether longevity hotspots live up to the hype. He wanted to test the theory that the high number of centenarians in Blue Zones is more about poor record-keeping than any exceptional anti-aging habits.
What he found is that Sardinian elders are legit. Not only did he verify that residents of the island are active and vibrant into their 90s and 100s, but what he saw changed his own approach to healthy living.
Villages in Sardinia are dotted throughout the region’s rugged, mountainous terrain. As a result, people who live there are consistently hiking as part of their day-to-day activities to get around.
Combined with other household chores like gardening, Sardinians tick all the boxes of longevity exercise without ever setting foot in a gym: lots of easy cardio, a bit of high-intensity effort from walking uphill, and muscle-strengthening movements using a full range of motion.
Austad also spoke with a regenerative medicine doctor in the area, who specializes in staving off problems caused by injury or aging.
She told him that her patients are primarily young people who hurt themselves in the gym.
Austad was stunned. All the 90- and 100-year-olds he had met were vibrant and healthy, while the younger generations needed medical care for pushing themselves too hard.
“That’s just remarkable,” Austad said. “It convinced me that you don’t have to be fanatical about this stuff.”
Take it easy for a longer life
Coming back from his Italian excursion, Austad couldn’t help but rethink his own approach to exercise.
Previously, he liked hit the gym hard, leaning into the addictive rush of endorphins from intense exercise, and was constantly tempted to push for an extra set or more time working out. For him, rest days felt like a distraction.
“The occasional day off, it drives me nuts,” he said. “I’ve got this one bad knee, and if I overdo it with that knee, I pay the price. So that kind of keeps me real, tells me when I’m starting to overdo it.”
Austad still hits the gym regularly, with a mix of cardio and strength training that prioritizes core stability and everyday motions like pulling and pressing.
But since his recent studies on the Blue Zones, he said he’s more likely to give himself a break without stressing about it.
“It makes me feel a little bit less guilty on the days when I decide that I shouldn’t work out,” Austad said.
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