One Stroke at a Time for Longevity

How a simple workout schedule can lead to increased life and health span

Swim practice at sunset. Photo: Per Håkansson.

Over the summer I’ve been conducting a personal experiment in fitness and wellbeing. In mid-July I signed up for a membership at the local university’s recreation and sports center, giving me access to both pool and workout gym.

I was inspired by my kids’s summer camps in soccer and climbing, remembering how fun it was to meet new people and exercise together as a kid. But there aren’t many adult summer camps around so I had to design my own camp.

DYI Summer Boot Camp

I signed up for one month and then extended it for a second, making the whole experiment two months or 10 weeks. I wanted to shift from only strength training three times per week to both strength training and cardio six times per week.

Schedule

• Thursdays, Saturdays, and Mondays: 60-70 minutes in the gym.

• Fridays, Sundays, and Tuesdays: 2,000+ meter breaststroke.

• Wednesdays: rest and recovery day.

Since I’m used to doing strength training with kettlebells three times per week it wasn’t that hard to shift to a program combining both kettlebells, free weights, and machines but getting back into swimming, something I haven’t practiced regularly since swimming in high school, was more challenging.

But after having read Peter Attia’s excellent book Outlive, I decided that my daily cardio walks wasn’t enough to increase my heart and lung capacity. And since I love water and how it makes me feel, I wanted to start swimming again.

Five tactics to combat four chronic diseases

In his book, Peter Attia recommends five tactics – exercise, nutritious food, sleep, pharmacology, and mental health – to combat the four chronic diseases that might derail a long, happy, and healthy life.

“You will never be able to experience everything. So, please, do poetical justice to your soul and simply experience yourself.” ― Albert Camus, Notebooks, 1935-1951

Swimming seem to be the natural choice for cardiovascular exercise since it’s an excellent activity to both build heart, lung, and muscle strength; has low risk for injuries; and recommended for any age group and practice level.