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How Much Strength Training Do You Really Need After 40? with Dr. Jennifer Timmons · FitMitTuro Fitness Podcast

• 1:07
  Turo Virta: Welcome back to the Fit Me Turo Fitness podcast. If you are over 40, you have probably heard that you need to lift weights. But how much strength training do you actually need? Do you need to spend five days a week in the gym, lift extremely heavy weights, track every metric, buy recovery gadgets, or can a much simpler approach give you most of the benefits? My guest today is Dr. Jennifer Timmons, a physician and founder of Timons Wellness, who focuses on longevity and healthy aging.
• 1:40
  Turo Virta: Jennifer is also a 46-year-old woman in midlife herself. So today, I want to combine the science with what she actually does in real life. We are going to talk about muscle strength training, protein recovery, exercise necks, simple tests of physical function, and some of the popular longevity tools, from wearables to saunas and repression plates. So to separate what may actually help from what probably isn't necessary. Jennifer, welcome to the podcast.
• 2:16
  Unknown: So thanks so much for having me. Yeah,
• 2:18
  Turo Virta: I'm so excited, and thank you for. I know you have a busy schedule, as we all do, and and I don't take it lightly having you to take from your valuable time, and and it really, I'm really really excited to learn from you. So first, I I want to talk like, because what what what do you think that why has muscle become such a central part of healthy aging conversation.
• 2:51
  Unknown: Well, I think rightly so that it's become a a big part of it because we've begun to understand how important maintaining your muscle mass as we age is, and I think this is a you know our understanding of this has changed over time. That you know, I think a lot of the focus was on healthy aging before was heart health and getting cardiovascular exercise.
• 3:15
  Unknown: And while that's still important, our understanding of muscle loss as we age and the importance of maintaining our muscle has evolved, and we now know that you know we lose about three to 5% of our muscle mass per year after the age, starting around the age of 35 to 40. So, in order to just maintain your muscle mass, you've had you know in your midlife you actually have to build muscle, and we also now know that a lot of the things that we think of as aging, like fatigue and inability to, you know, live independently and and do the things, get up, you know, get in and out of the car, get up off the floor. That has to do with lost muscle, and so to maintain strength and independence, and to just do our regular day-to-day life as we age really depends on maintaining your muscle mass.
• 4:10
  Turo Virta: So, what actually happens to muscle as we get older if you don't actively do something to maintain it?
• 4:18
  Unknown: So, it just begins to atrophy. So, it it goes away essentially. You know, your muscle fibers get replaced by fat fat cells, and you can.
• 4:28
  Unknown: There's a really great visual I like to show patients of a MRI, which is a cross section of the leg the leg muscle or of your leg and your quadriceps, and so it shows it like across, and it kind of looks like what you'd imagine, you know, a you know a a shank from from meat, but normally in a the the image is one of a 70 year old who is very active and trains all the time, and and his his muscle, you know, you see a a piece of muscle and then a little fascia layer and a little tiny fat around the outside of the leg, and then it's the same image of a a man who doesn't train at you know at all just does the normal sort of the lifestyle that we think of as as normal of you know doing his job not not actively training and there's some muscle and then there's fat in between the muscle spindles and then there's you know more fat along the fascia, and it's just it's instead of one solid color of muscle, it's white and white and gray. So you can actually visually see what happens there. But your muscle just the medical term is atrophies and is replaced by fat.
• 5:46
  Turo Virta: What about then, like a women, like what I? I'm sure you meet also women over 40 who are active, and like at least I meet them every day, and they are telling that I walk a lot and I'm active, but isn't that enough? And what you would, what you would tell. To that kind of person who is telling that I'm active, and but who was not really doing strength training, what do you tell her?
• 6:14
  Unknown: Yeah. So being active is a great start. So if you're inactive and you're sitting all day, that is very detrimental to your health. And just being active is great, and it's going to help you in many ways, but it doesn't necessarily help counteract that atrophy of the muscles, the decline of the muscles that happens, and so it it's going to help to some degree, but typically not enough to give the signal to your body to to counteract that three to 8% loss of muscle every year.
• 6:46
  Unknown: You actually have to lift heavy things and strength train. So, being active is is helpful for your heart. It is helpful for your muscles. It's helpful for your mental health. It's very helpful, but actually keeping those muscles strong and intact and and strong enough to be able to you know manage your body weight as you as you get into your you know eighth, seventh, eighth, and ninth generation is or sorry generation a decade is going to require actual training.
• 7:18
  Turo Virta: Yeah, because then I think it's it's old myth, but there are still women, especially in that age group, who are now in their 50s who grew up without internet and and just seeing some magazines and they were always worried that you know if I lift weights, especially heavy weights, that I become bulky or looking like a bodybuilder. Does do women need to be worried about becoming bulky.
• 7:49
  Unknown: No, so that is a very, very common misconception I hear all the time with my patients as well. That they say, "Well, I don't want to have big arms. I don't want to, you know, look bulky. But that's actually, you know, you can train for that specifically, but that's not going to happen automatically from doing the doing weight training that's going to help your longevity. So again, if you think about the fact that you're losing muscle, you have to weight train just to maintain your muscles. So if you like how your muscles look when you're when you're 40 and you say, yeah, this looks good. I don't want to get bulky. I want to stay like this. Well, you have to train to stay that way. So you're not training to increase-that's a whole different kind of training that requires even further, you know, focus and attention. But just to maintain those same muscles that you have in your midlife, you have to-you have to train.
• 8:40
  Turo Virta: So, and then I want to go a little bit more practical, and that how much training is actually necessary because you have talked about your own 45 minute workouts two or three times per week. What does one of those workouts actually look like?
• 8:58
  Unknown: Yeah, so I think that the there's different you know science that are studies that have been done to look at what is kind of the optimal amount of training that is the sort of minimal necessary amount of training to maintain muscle muscle mass, and it seems that training three times a week your your full body three times a week is kind of a minimum minimum amount. So in that session, that during the three times a week, working all of your major muscle groups. So doing compound muscle compound movements, meaning you know a movement that involves many of your big muscle groups, is the most efficient. So that can kind of get you where you need to be.
• 9:45
  Unknown: You can fine tune it even more if you want to, and do you know like two days of upper body and two days of lower body, and you can get a little bit more out of it. But I would say the minimum threshold is it seems to be two to three times a week, of at least you know about an hour doing full body exercises during those times, and using a progressive overload type of method, which means that you're training the same muscle groups for at least you know four weeks or so, four to eight weeks.
• 10:17
  Unknown: There's different recommendations. So let's say every you know every session you're doing a bicep curl, and you're doing that for four four to eight weeks, and you're progressing the either the repetitions or the amount of weight over time. So it doesn't have to be so heavy, but it has to, you know, it has to progress over time to get your muscles to continue to respond and grow.
• 10:40
  Turo Virta: Then I already like what you what you mentioned.
• 10:45
  Turo Virta: It's like you said, three three times per week, and now I'm sure someone who is listening saying that there's no chance in my life that I find the time or energy to strength train three times per week. So my question is that these two strength sessions per week or one strength session per week.
• 11:06
  Turo Virta: Enough to make meaningful progress or maintain what you have.
• 11:12
  Unknown: So any amount with exercise, it's like any amount is better than none. So with each little incremental change and and improvement, we do see health benefits. And then there's sort of a minimum threshold that you meet, that then you kind of see the most the most health benefits. So, the answer is doing. If you're someone who's doing nothing, doing even 10 minutes of strength once a week is going to have some benefit to you. But what I recommend doing, what I really recommend, is for patients who are wanting to kind of get started, and it feels too overwhelming hearing that recommendation that feels so so far from what they're doing, is you know pick something that's small enough that you can do it.
• 11:57
  Unknown: Maybe you only have 10 minutes, you know, every day. That's for a lot of people is is manageable. The the three times a week for an hour doesn't have to be all at once. You can break it up, so you could do 10 minutes every day and keep some weights in your bathroom and build it into your routine.
• 12:13
  Unknown: Something that's small and manageable. And maybe after you brush your teeth, you do 10 body weight squats and you do some.
• 12:21
  Unknown: You know, maybe you don't have the weights in your bathroom and you do some push-ups against the counter and you build that routine, and then I. For most people, their mindset shifts, and they begin to think of themselves as someone who has time to exercise and makes time for themselves. And you know, you can progress from there. And again, it doesn't have to be such heavy weight to start with.
• 12:43
  Unknown: The weight, the amount of weight you need, increases as you get stronger and stronger. But for a lot of people starting out, just body weight, your own body weight, is enough weight to get you know to get a result. And basically, you can determine how much weight you you need by the idea of how many repetitions in reserve you need you you have.
• 13:06
  Unknown: So you don't want to train to failure, which is going to increase your risk of getting injured. But train where you have about two what they call it reps in reserve. So let's say I'm thinking, okay, I have 10 pound weights. I'm going to do 10 repetitions, but then I realize, oh, these weights are pretty easy. After 10, I could have done 10 more, and it would have been fine. So that means I need to go up on the weights or the repetition, and then let's say I I decide okay I'm going to do 20 now with those same 10 pounds, and after you know at about 18 it's getting hard, and then 1920 I can still do it probably do one or two more.
• 13:40
  Unknown: That's kind of how you can determine, but at the beginning it may just be that body weight is enough, and you can increase the repetitions to get to a point where you're getting the stimulus you need to to get muscle growth.
• 13:55
  Turo Virta: What What about then if someone has, let's say, only 30 to 45 minutes? What should she prioritize?
• 14:04
  Unknown: I would prioritize again doing more, trying to work the bigger muscle groups in your bodies, and doing again compound movements, which means movements that combine lots of muscle groups. So an example would be like a squat and a curl and a press. There you're getting the lower body and the upper body all in one movement, and that's going to be the most efficient time-wise. So that would be, you know, that would be the recommendation of having a shorter amount of time. But I think the main point I also want to make is to not let the idea that you can't do it perfectly stop you from doing it at all.
• 14:42
  Unknown: So if you think, well, she said I had to do it an hour. I only have 40 minutes, so I just am not going to do it. You're going to get a benefit from doing it for 40 minutes, and you know, just consistency wins over intensity every time. So just be consistent with what you can do, and it's going to compound over time. And those those results are going to you know you're going to get results even from less than this. This you know the ideal threshold, but just you know making time to do something is going to is still going to be helpful.
• 15:17
  Turo Virta: Well, and this is something where I personally now I'm also 44 and used to strength train a lot more, and now my actual routine is is it's it's two times per week. Maybe on ideal week it's three times, but workouts can be maybe they are 30 minutes, maybe 45, sometimes even shorter. But I feel I have been extremely consistent for the past. I think over six months I haven't had one week where I didn't have those two sessions per week, and I feel like that that consistency. It's it matters a lot more than having that perfect. Let's say it's one month. You do three times per week, one hour. This optimal, and then for some reason it's gonna be week or two or three that you don't get barely any session in, and I feel like that this this consistency, like you hear it all the time, people are talking about how consistency matters more, but this is it's at least for my personal feeling, and you know you don't get sore even it's a bit less but it's it's the results are I'm I'm extremely happy and it's not that like I'm I'm still I I'm even I'm strength coach I'm fitness professional doing this for it's my life but I kind of commit that I don't admit that I don't. I don't. I don't enjoy doing strength training. I do it because I need it. I love the way how it makes me feel, but actually, the progress of going to the gym, lifting weights, I don't enjoy doing it. It's just for the benefit.
• 17:07
  Unknown: I think you're absolutely, absolutely right that the consistency is the most important thing. So finding something that works for you in your schedule and just doing it consistently. And if you find okay, you know, is only 10 minutes three times a week, and you need to, you know, most the time, if you're really consistent, you can probably build up a little from there, and but the doing you're right that doing the doing something consistently over time, you're going to see progress, and to not let the idea that it's not going to matter, it's not going to count unless it was you know the full thing and it was really hard and you're really sore, you know none of that is true. Just getting moving consistently and having maybe that goal in mind.
• 17:47
  Unknown: Okay, if I can move, get up to two or three times a week, you know that that's a great goal to have. But just having something that works for your life is going. You're going to get results from the consistency.
• 18:03
  Unknown: And if you think about your example, like you've been very consistent two times a week for six weeks, but you know, let's say you had been done three weeks of three times a week for an hour, and then got off track for two, you know, for six or eight weeks, and it took you a long time to get back on track.
• 18:20
  Unknown: You averaged that out, you know, and you've actually done more, you know. Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 18:24
  Unknown: It was in the
• 18:26
  Turo Virta: past. I would be exactly that person who would be like maybe consistent for a month, and then something happens. You get to sleep one week away, then maybe second week, then you start to at least me. I started to talk myself that now I know I should be starting, but but I know that I'm also most likely going to be sore, and then it was like that.
• 18:48
  Turo Virta: Oh no, no! I in my mind, I always found an excuse to buy that there is something more important at this point. And now I'm really like it's in my calendar, and I I just gotta do it. I just gotta get started.
• 19:00
  Turo Virta: Actually, that is what
• 19:03
  Unknown: is what
• 19:03
  Turo Virta: smallest promise what I make for myself. And then once I get there, I have my minimum 10 sets, two times 10 sets, 10 sets per workout. And once I'm done that, I give myself as it okay today. If I don't have time, I don't have energy. I allow myself to quit.
• 19:19
  Turo Virta: But it's more important getting started. And then usually what happens is once I get started, it's I keep doing even at least a little bit more.
• 19:33
  Unknown: Yeah, and that's I agree with you. That's my you know point of like set the minimum. Just don't make it too you know set the bar low so that you can start, so that you can you know have it be a manageable thing that you're going to do, and then you can work your way up after that, but getting started is the hardest part. And you know what predicts whether someone's going to kind of be successful is not necessarily you know how it's it's how quickly they can get back on track if once they have you know a bloop and they their schedule gets disrupted. So you know, all of us can't be perfect all the time with you know all of the health routines. But if you can, you know, you're good for four or five days. Something happens on the weekend. You get off track a little. If you can get back right back into things right away, that's gonna you know lead to success versus letting that derail you for a week or two, and then the longer you know you're derailed, the harder it is to start. So lowering the bar of starting is a really good way to you know keep keep up with it. And I I'm the same way you know I travel and then I you know you get out of your routine. So just doing something, let's say in your hotel room and keeping like a little bit of a you know of the consistency is going to help you be in that mental mindset of like, okay, I I kept this up, I did something, you know, I went on a walk, I did you know some small amount of something while I was gone, and then it helps you kind of get back into the routine when you're when you're ready.
• 21:02
  Turo Virta: Yeah, Sentinel, I I want to talk a little bit about.
• 21:06
  Turo Virta: Recovery. So, do you think that women genuinely recover differently in their 40s or and 50s, or do they simply have more stress and responsibilities?
• 21:20
  Unknown: Well, probably both are true. I think that women do need more. You know, can need not always, but a lot of times from hormonal changes, we you know need more time to recover, and I think recovery is a really underrated idea in exercise and strength training. But when we exercise and lift weights, our muscles you know tear, and then the recovery period when you sleep, growth hormone is released, and you recover. The healing and repair occurs while you're resting, and that's actually when the muscle's growing. So you think of like, oh, the muscle's growing while I'm lifting the weight. No, that's actually when you're damaging the muscle. The muscle grows when it repairs while you're while you're sleeping and while you're resting, so the repair is is definitely and is definitely part of the routine and making sure that you're giving time and optimizing your sleep is very important.
• 22:22
  Unknown: Especially, this is something especially that's hard for a lot of women during mid you know, during mid age or mid life, with hormonal changes can make it harder to sleep. Or, like you said, stress. You know, they're not prioritizing, but really prioritizing getting seven to nine hours of sleep. So, setting a time this aside, the time, and then doing everything you can to opt to really get good quality sleep. So, not just the amount of time, but you know, do what you need to do to have a wind down routine. Not have screens and blue light right before bed.
• 22:56
  Unknown: You know, maybe take some magnesium. You know, have a warm bath. Do some things to help you get wind down and get good quality sleep. And if you know, a lot of women have trouble because of hormonal shifts of waking up in the middle of the night, you know. Address that with your doctor too, and really prioritize that piece of it because the recovery is so important for you know for building muscle.
• 23:20
  Turo Virta: What about then if someone has slept like a terrible night and should she still do her planned hard work?
• 23:31
  Unknown: I would definitely learn to listen to your body. So I think that it's important to have a schedule and a plan, and to not just let you know your your brain trick you into getting off of schedule. So I know you know sometimes I'll wake up and I'm like, oh, the night before, I have okay. I'm gonna do this, this, and this.
• 23:48
  Unknown: Then I wake up and I'm like, oh, now I'm tired. I didn't sleep well. And so my advice for that is to still do something. Get to the gym. Do whatever your your plan was, and just listen to your body and see how you feel.
• 24:02
  Unknown: Because once you get started, like you mentioned, maybe you're like, okay, I woke up. I feel okay. I can I can do this. Or maybe you're still really tired and you're dragging and you need to. You know, by the time you get to the 10th rep, you're like, gosh, I feel weaker than before. I'm tired. You know, you can listen to your body and and do do less, but still get there.
• 24:23
  Unknown: You can probably do something.
• 24:23
  Unknown: Maybe you get to the gym and you're like, I just am beat today. I, you know, I'm, or you get to wherever you're working out and you feel like you are not feeling up to it, and you do a stretching workout, and you do go through some yoga flow sessions, and you do more work on mobility and work on balance, and you know, there's going to be something you can do to help your body, and if you can adjust and listen to listen to what you need, but don't just say, "Okay, well, I I can't today. I'm you know I'm too tired. I got bad sleep. The doctor said that it was going to be bad for me to still exercise and push myself.
• 24:59
  Unknown: So I think the answer is it is it's not going to be great for you if you got really bad sleep to really push hard. That's not going to be your day to get a personal record of weight, but it's still it's still important to stay with that consistency.
• 25:13
  Unknown: Show up, get started, and do something that feels good. That feels right.
• 25:20
  Turo Virta: I love that answer.
• 25:20
  Turo Virta: Thank you so much for the lingos. I-I it's exactly the same. I'm-I'm-I think the same because I many, especially women, they like to then you know, or men also we like to always find that no, I sleep bad, so I skip the workout, and that is probably the put majority of people are doing.
• 25:39
  Turo Virta: But like I, I love using just a simple traffic light example, and it's exactly what you said.
• 25:48
  Turo Virta: So it's if it's a green, it's a green day. Everything is normal.
• 25:52
  Turo Virta: Keep doing your plan. If it's a yellow, you know, sleep wasn't right there. What you should be, then I would probably okay. Then let's reduce, for example, plan.
• 25:59
  Turo Virta: You plan to do four sets. Let's reduce it to two sets. 30 to 50% reduce your sets or repetitions, and then if it's a kind of red day, you know that it feels like that. You know, am I getting sick or or I have some pain or something? Then it would be just doing good. I what what could I be doing? Is it a mobility work, stretching, balance work? What doesn't need a lot of a lot of energy, but you can still do without obviously having a pain.
• 26:30
  Turo Virta: But it's just that that canceling that should not be an option. Yeah, I agree. Reducing and deciding that okay, instead of that hard workout, then something else, but do not cancel. Yeah, thank you. I totally agree,
• 26:49
  Unknown: and I love your traffic light example. I'm going to start using that for my patients. That's a great, a great way to think about it.
• 26:55
  Turo Virta: Yeah, no, it's it's the principle is the same, but then you know it's easy to remember easy to remember that what what you're gonna do. So then, what about nutrition?
• 27:06
  Turo Virta: Like, cause there is all over people talk about protein, how it's important. I think that you hear it every everywhere nowadays. And
• 27:16
  Unknown: yeah, so
• 27:17
  Turo Virta: how much protein do you personally aim for?
• 27:21
  Unknown: So I personally aim for about a gram per pound. I know we we use our crazy pounds there, but of a gram per pound of ideal body weight. So if you're overweight and you're looking to lose weight and you're 100 pounds overweight, don't do a gram per your body weight that you're at, but per your ideal where your your body weight you know your goal body weight is. So that you know for for a lot of women who are maybe let's say or for myself you know I'm 130 pounds so that's about 130 grams per day of protein and I think it's it's important to break it up throughout the day so don't try to have you know 80 90 grams all in one meal and then a you know a few a few grams the rest of the day, but try to spread it out if you can.
• 28:13
  Unknown: And getting protein as your first meal of the day, whenever that first meal is, whether you're doing some intermittent fasting or or whether you eat when you first wake up, having protein at the beginning of your day is going to set you up for a stable blood sugar and sort of stable, you know, yeah, your blood sugar to be stable all day. So that's a great opportunity to get protein. And I, I think a lot of times, you know, women and men might think, okay, I'll have some protein in the morning, two eggs, and you know, a little piece of fruit.
• 28:46
  Unknown: But to you know, if you actually start looking at your protein, of you know, tracking your protein intake, each egg is six grams of protein. So 12 grams of protein is not going to be enough if you know your goal is to get close to 30 grams. And I, I kind of you know, even though I I like the idea of this rule I borrowed from Dr. Amy Shaw that is a 3033 rule. So it's 30 grams of protein per meal. That's kind of an an a way to think about it. And then you can get your other your get up to your goal with with some snacks. So 30 grams per meal, 30 grams of fiber per day is a good rule of thumb, and then three probiotic-rich foods per day to help with your gut microbiome because that's so important for your hormones and everything else. So, protein I definitely think is important for muscle muscle strength and growing your muscles, but also fiber is like the unsung hero. I think that is not getting the attention it needs. And having a healthy microbiome is going to interact with with your your muscle mass in an indirect way. But help doing paying attention to that as well is important.
• 30:05
  Turo Virta: No, absolutely, and and just for those who are listening, Europe, what Dr.
• 30:08
  Turo Virta: Timon said, it's in if you are using kilograms, it's around 1.8 to two grams per kilogram. So, and that's all about your ideal weight. So, what is if you are at the moment, let's say you are 90 kilos, but you would like to be 70, so it would be around there, 140, 130 cramps. So, and it's not it's not about cramp, but just to have you an idea idea about goal. Because many people they talk like here in Europe, and I think it's everywhere. Like somebody is telling, like it's gonna be fitness people are talking about 1.6 to 2.2. If you look recommendations, they are a lot lower, and I feel that that somewhere there, like it don't have to be high end, but definitely more is helping, especially with the with the high. And and that fiber is is the second thing, and those are basically also for me as a as a coach two things what I ask them to track, and even if it's not the calories, but if you make sure that you have you hit your protein goal or you are close to it, you have your fiber goal or close to it. Usually, especially if your goal is not, if you are just want to maintain your body weight, the rest is automatically pretty much close to it because it's gonna get just so hard to over it. If you hit those both cost volumes, you are going to feel so full, and that is that is the most like those are two most important things.
• 31:50
  Unknown: Yeah, I agree, and I think that's an important point too. That you know, I think you don't have to be. You're not gonna. You don't have to be hungry to have this diet. You know, this type of eating plan work. You're actually going to be very full if you're eating whole foods and you're getting those getting to those goals, I often like to you know show patients pictures of what I'm eating and how big of a plate of food it is because having all the you know the fruits and vegetables and the it's a big plate of food if you're having whole foods and getting to your goals of fiber and protein and that you're not going to gain weight that way. If you're eating whole foods that are, you know, that you obviously need to also pay attention to how much fat you're using and what exactly, you know, it's you can't just eat a big plate of pizza. But if you're eating whole foods and trying to get to those goals, I like to try to think about with each meal, kind of in my head have a plan of okay, what's the protein source that I'm going to have?
• 32:50
  Turo Virta: Absolutely.
• 32:51
  Unknown: And you know, I I do encourage patients to track their their macros or track their grams of each thing they're eating for at least a couple weeks, so they can start to get a sense of what it like visually looks like. But so you have a plan in your head for each meal. Okay, what's the protein and about you know if you're eating meat about the size of your palm approximately of some sort of protein, and then what's going to be my high fiber source in this meal? So trying to get something that's added you know some fiber. So legumes, so beans are really good source. Different berries are a really good source. So, trying to think, like, is there a high fiber food I could add to this meal? So, like, chia seeds are another really high, really good source. So, trying to plan your meal around one high protein food and one sort of high fiber food that you can add into there.
• 33:43
  Turo Virta: Yeah. So then I wanted to ask you about exercise snacks because I really like your idea of exercise snacks.
• 33:51
  Turo Virta: So, what exactly do you mean by that?
• 33:56
  Unknown: Yes, an exercise snack is just a small little burst of exercise that you do throughout the day. So, to your point at the beginning, when you said you know maybe your listeners thinking like I don't have an hour three times a week to dedicate to working out or I you know they say you should get you know work out and get your heart rate up I don't have time to do that but there's data and science to that points to the fact that breaking up the exercise throughout the day is actually can be even more beneficial than one long chunk.
• 34:35
  Unknown: So one of the studies I like to tell tell people about is where they looked at doing body weight squats. So every hour, doing body weight squats for like sorry for two minutes every hour, so you know getting up from your chair and doing that versus doing a 30 minute walk, you know brisk walk at the end of the day, that the the body weight squats actually did more for stabilizing your blood sugar and than doing the ones. the one exercise all at once. So there's other studies too that just confirm that doing little things throughout the day can be very effective. So maybe get 10 minutes, you know, a 10 minute walk after each meal. Well, that's 30 minutes total, and it didn't, you know, it felt doable. Most people have 10 minutes to go on a walk, or again with your weights, you don't have to do all of your weights all at once. You know, in an hour session, but you could have, you know, do you do your upper body, do one, you know, three sets of one exercise that'll take you about you know 10 minutes, and do that throughout the day. So it doesn't all have to be at once, and I think that's important for people trying to get started, like you said, who feel like the barrier to entry is lower. If they feel like they can, you know, okay, I I can do something for 10 minutes, and that it is effective, and the data backs that up.
• 36:03
  Turo Virta: Yeah, no, I wish that's that's what I. What I personally like, I don't like even if my plan is 45 minutes, but it might be 10 minutes there, 10 minutes there, 10 minutes there. So I might divide it my own workout for three times per day, like because you know sometimes you don't have if you want to do it all at once.
• 36:22
  Turo Virta: Of course, it depends on your situation, or if you are walking somewhere, you see, like let's say you have a pull-up bar or something, and just doing it couple times or once in a day, but you do it every day when you walk by it. Like usually, I feel like at coaches or trainers who are working at the gym, and you know, you see that okay, I do just one set and repeating that more often, and it's it's so like you said it's it's so beneficial doing those small things because first of all you are fresh every time when you do it. It's not that if you do some exercise end of your one hour workout, most likely you are already pretty exhausted at the time. So that's that's why it's actually so beneficial. So it's I would say that it's even better if you like. It says that that one hour workout. It's because most people that schedule is like that. You know, you have that your one hour for yourself that you can't divide it. Let's say six times per day for 10 minutes. But if you have a chance to divide it for six times for 10 minutes instead of doing once one per one time per hour, I think it's it would be even more beneficial.
• 37:36
  Unknown: Yeah, I agree with you.
• 37:36
  Unknown: It's not. I I like to make the point that it's not just that it's almost as good. It's actually more beneficial. So it can be more beneficial, and I think the just getting up and moving your body throughout the day is for that reason it's beneficial. Like you said, that you're fresh when you do that 10 minutes. You're focused and fresh, and it's just realistic.
• 37:56
  Unknown: And you could potentially, if you could, be more consistent with it. And again, that consistency really is the key.
• 38:03
  Unknown: The key that I like to you know equate it to someone who's saving money. If they start you know saving as a kid, a compound the interest compounds over time, and it's like they could have a million dollars by the time the other 50. And it's the same thing if you just start with a small amount and you you know continue it long term and you build that into your lifestyle. So it's just part of your identity, part of who you are. You're someone who you know does your little exercise. Your your five minutes here, your 10 minutes there. You're maybe you do the you like doing the hour, and but yeah, I think those exercise snacks can really help people who feel like it's too hard to start and feel like it's not going to count. Just know it. It can be even better for you to break it
• 38:50
  Turo Virta: up. Oh yeah. What about then? What kind of tests?
• 38:54
  Turo Virta: Is there some simple tests someone can do at home that give useful information about how well they are physically aging?
• 39:02
  Unknown: Yes. So there is a couple of different tests I'll tell you about, and before I tell you about them. I'd like to just preface it with that. A lot of times, people hear about these tests and they think, "Oh, I got to train to do the to to do that test well. And it's these things are actually meant to be just a test of where you're at. You don't specifically train to do these things well. So, one is grip strength. So again, people are like, "Oh, I should train, so I'm going to be really strong, but they do. They know that grip strength is correlated with longevity, and you think, well, you know, how is your hand? But it's there's a correlation with how strong your grip is, as as far as overall whole body strength. That's one that a lot of people, you know, you can do like a grip test machine, but also there's you know you you can do a hang test like hanging from a bar. One that I like sort of even more than that though is is getting up and down from the floor without using your hands.
• 40:01
  Unknown: So so if you can sort of sit on the floor and then stand up without pushing off from the floor. There's another one that's a sit to stand just from a chair. How many times in a minute you can get up and sit down without pushing yourself off from the chair? There's different recommendations of how you know the threshold of where you should be at for these different tests, but you know another one is like the farmers carry. So carrying heavy weights for a minute, you should be able to carry for women like three fourths of your body weight, or for a male your body weight for a minute, and that kind of tests your leg strength, your grip strength, but there's you know we know that these are basically tests to kind of see how how you're how you're doing and overall you're with some of them it includes things like mobility so and strength that you that you need to be able to do these.
• 41:06
  Turo Virta: Awesome. Then, like, because I I love those tests what you said. What is then for crypts, strength? Like, if you mentioned this, there's some threshold. Like, what what is good value, or what is enough, or what it should be? Like,
• 41:21
  Unknown: yes. So being able to have
• 41:24
  Turo Virta: like, yeah, for hanging, for example. Yeah,
• 41:27
  Unknown: for like a for a minute, being able to hang for a minute is a good sort of indicator that you you know that the the grip strength is on par,
• 41:38
  Turo Virta: and that is hard. I can tell you, it is
• 41:40
  Unknown: hard.
• 41:40
  Turo Virta: It's
• 41:41
  Unknown: it
• 41:41
  Turo Virta: is hard, especially is it same for women or and men?
• 41:46
  Unknown: Yeah, I think that because it equals out with your weight, so typically, you know, so your grip strength for your weight. Yeah, a lot of it's some of some of the tests I find are, you know, like the sit to stand test is meant to be to detect someone who's already very frail. So if you fail that test, it's because you're already, you know, very frail, and it's. I think it's a good one for maybe a doctor to use to understand.
• 42:15
  Unknown: Okay, this person is out of high fall risk. They're, you know, not safe to be living on at home on their own. But those ones, I don't want to, you know, I don't want you to wait till you're, you know, thinking, oh, I'm good, I'm good. I'm still passing those tests because those are those are kind of waiting too long. So some of the hard, I I like to recommend that people try to have the goal of some of the harder ones that are kind of testing that you're still very strong and that before you know to be able to see things change before you've already declined.
• 42:48
  Turo Virta: So I I want to go quickly through about Gadsit. So so it says some good rapid fire section. So I want to go through some popular longevity tools.
• 42:56
  Turo Virta: What do you personally use, and what can most people skip? So wearables, useful or unnecessary?
• 43:06
  Unknown: Sorry, I didn't hear what was
• 43:07
  Turo Virta: wearables.
• 43:08
  Unknown: Wearables. I think wearables are very useful. I'm a big fan. I I love my Aura ring.
• 43:12
  Unknown: I also you know have an Apple Watch, although I've kind of moved mostly to my Aura ring. I think that it's helpful because it helps you just understand the habits that when especially when you're trying to build good habits, it helps you see visual data of the the changes that you're making, how they're affecting your health. I think that people can get a little obsessive about it, and that can sometimes not be good for mental health. But I think it's helpful. I think overall, it's helpful to track your activity, to track your sleep, and again, it keeps you accountable, and I think it helps you see when you're making a positive change, get to see the benefit of that, or when you're slipping to get a reminder to get back on track.
• 43:57
  Turo Virta: What about 10 continuous glucose monitors for healthy people?
• 44:03
  Unknown: I would say that you you could skip it if it's you know I think if you're if you're just a regular person just trying to be healthy I would say you know track your macros or do some other things to test. I think if you're really already if you're really wanting to optimize and go to the next level, I think it can be a helpful tool. But for the average person, I think you could skip
• 44:28
  Turo Virta: it. Sauna.
• 44:30
  Unknown: Sauna is very helpful.
• 44:30
  Unknown: I think it's one of my one of my favorite tools to recommend.
• 44:35
  Unknown: However, I like to preface this that it shouldn't take the place of exercise. So if you only have you know 20 minutes or an hour a day to do something for your health, don't think I'll do the sauna instead of exercise. So if you already have time to exercise, then adding sauna on is very helpful. There's a lot of really good data that sauna is like an exercise mimetic, so it has a lot of the same effects as dilating your blood vessels, releasing these heat shock proteins that can help you heal, and so I think is a very helpful tool if you already have time to exercise and you're doing that as the baseline.
• 45:16
  Turo Virta: What about the vibration plates?
• 45:20
  Unknown: I would say you know this is one that you could probably skip unless you're you're using it for a specific goal, you know, I have one, and I I do like using it, but I think if it's just one more thing, like you don't have to have it, but I think it can be helpful for recovery, you know, for really sore muscles. It can be helpful for lymphatic flow and drainage, and it can be helpful sort of for bone health, but I think that you could also go on a walk. You could do jumping jacks. You could do other things that you could get some of those same benefits without the device. So I I would say again, if you're already doing a lot of things and you want to take it to the next level and really optimize, it can be helpful. But for the average person, you could probably skip it.
• 46:06
  Turo Virta: Forgotten cold plunges.
• 46:10
  Unknown: So cold plunges, I would say, are more user. You know, on a use a case by case benefit can be helpful. They, for one thing, like doing a lot of people want to do a cold plunge right after they do a workout, and actually, there are some studies show that that can inhibit muscle growth, so timing kind of matters. Sometimes it can be too intense, and can you know what we want with these these things is to cause a hormetic stressor for your body.
• 46:39
  Unknown: So your body has to sort of overcome the stress to recover.
• 46:42
  Unknown: But sometimes if it's very very cold, it can be a little bit too intense. So I think I I think a great way to get some cold benefits is just even a cold like a one minute of cold shower at the end of your shower. It's not as intense of a cold. You can get some of the benefits, but I would say cold plunge on a case by case basis and really optimizing how and when and how cold.
• 47:12
  Turo Virta: So then, if someone has let's say $1,000 or euros to spend on improving their health, would he rather they buy technology or invest in something much more basic?
• 47:27
  Unknown: I think invest in the basics. Until you have the basics down and the base of your pyramid super solid, then the technologies are just like these distractions. So the base of the pyramid, I like to say, is you know taking your meds, which stands for M is for movement, E is for emotional health and sort of stress regulation. D is for diet or for nutrition, and S is for sleep. So the meds kind of make up the base of your pyramid, and I would invest in things that are going to help you get be able to meet those goals of really getting solid.
• 48:07
  Unknown: You know, getting those solids.
• 48:07
  Unknown: So maybe, yeah, I think. And then once you have that solid, you can use these other technologies to kind of add on to the be the icing on the cake.
• 48:18
  Unknown: But I would invest your time maybe in getting a trainer to get you started to really get you to learn the exercises and commit to showing up and getting your exercise really in place, or maybe you don't have time to cook and doing some healthy meal delivery, or a chef, or you know, I would I would invest your money in, or just even buying organic, healthy, high quality food. I would invest in getting that that base of the pyramid, really solid.
• 48:48
  Turo Virta: Awesome. Time is flying. I have a last question.
• 48:53
  Turo Virta: So, if there is imagine there is 45 year woman listening who hasn't strength trained for years, what would you have her do this week?
• 49:05
  Unknown: I would commit to doing 310-minute sessions this week, whether you know you know, and start with that. And I would do some full-body exercises that are just your body weight. So you know, I would I would say do like a set of of squats. Squats are really easy and kind of good to start out with, and then maybe you know some push-ups, which you know are, and you can start on your knees where you're, you know, it gets the chest and arms, and you know some planks, which help your whole body strength. So start, you know, those three exercises do three, do 1010, of each of those exercises. So the plank is going to be a minute hold. So like do 10 body weight squats, then do 10 push-ups, and then a minute. Or let's say start with 30 seconds of a plank, and then do that three times. That you know, and that would take about about three minutes. Or sorry, that would probably take about six or seven minutes, but commit to doing, and then maybe do some stretching for the last few minutes, where you're doing maybe a child's pose, where you lean forward and stretch out your back, or just other stretches that feel good to you, and commit to doing 10 minutes for this first week, whether you do it all in one day and you love it, or you say, "Okay, she said three sessions of 10 minutes, and you split it up, you know, three days a week. You pick a day that, and then plan to just do that consistently for at least three weeks, and then start to build from there. And maybe you can say, "Okay, actually, I can do 15 minutes at a time, or "That 10 minutes really works, so I'm going to do 10 minutes twice a day and build from there.
• 50:50
  Turo Virta: I love that. That is a great way to end. So, where can listeners learn more about your work?
• 50:57
  Unknown: So they can follow along on social media. I put out a lot of the same sort of health content. It's at Jennifer Timmons, MD. I also have a news.
• 51:03
  Unknown: Letter that they can sign up for that I have monthly information that's that can be found on my Instagram. Also, Timms Wellness MD is my website, and they can reach out if they want to work with me that way. Or there's a lot of good information on there. The blogs that I write and other health information can be found on my website.
• 51:26
  Turo Virta: Thank you so much, and I will put all links to the show notes. Thank you so much, Dr. Timms, for your time.
• 51:32
  Turo Virta: Really, really enjoyed having a conversation with you, and I hope listeners too. And if you enjoyed the conversation, please leave a five-star rating as they are helping so much to people find more people to find the show. Thank you so much for listening, and talk to you in the next. Thanks, Chris, so
• 51:49
  Unknown: much for having me.