The High Performance Journal Written By Dan Go - May 12th, 2026

A few months ago, a client named Robert told me something I haven’t been able to shake.

He’s 58, fell on a ski trip, and couldn’t get up without help. He said the worst part wasn’t the embarrassment. It was the moment afterward, when he realized his body had quietly stopped being something he could rely on.

I think about this a lot because most of what we call aging isn't aging at all. It's the slow accumulation of damage due to lack of use.

You get weaker when you stop loading your body. Joints get tighter when you stop using them through their full range. Power fades faster than strength. Your cardiovascular engine declines the moment you stop pushing it.

The body is adaptable at any age. The trick is that you only get to keep what you use.

In today’s newsletter, I’m sharing the 7 exercises I’ve built my own training around, plus the ones we use with clients in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s.

Each one targets a specific science-backed capacity you lose with age.

You ready? Let's go 🔥

#1 - Bar Hangs

If you sit for 8 hours a day, take a good look in the mirror. You might see your head pushed forward, your shoulders rolled in, and your upper back curled. The modern desk worker is starting to look like a croissant.

Researchers call it Upper Cross Syndrome, and the data isn’t pretty. It’s linked to chronic neck pain, reduced lung capacity, shoulder impingement, and tension headaches. Desk workers are the demographic that gets hit the hardest.

The antidote is hanging. Grab a bar, let your body weight pull you long, and let gravity do the work in reverse. The spine decompresses, the shoulders open, the chest stretches, and the lats wake up.

Start with 10 seconds, and place your feet on a chair if you need to take some weight off. Build up to 30-second hangs, and work up to 2 to 3 minutes a day, broken up however you want. Hang every day, and your body slowly uncurls. You start to stand like someone who owns the room again.

#2 - The Asian Squat

This isn't an exercise. It's the human resting position your body was designed for.

A study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that adults who struggled to sit down and rise from the floor without support were nearly six times more likely to die within six years.

We lose the ability to sit in a squat position, but we can get it back through proper training.

Keep your heels elevated on a book if your ankles are tight. Chest tall. Hold a door frame for support.

Accumulate 2 to 5 minutes a day. Get comfortable down there again.

#3 - Zone 2 And REHIT Training

Most people approach cardio the wrong way: they work out at a moderate intensity for 30 minutes, three times a week, and wonder why their fitness has plateaued. But pros don’t train that way. They train two cardio systems, and they barely overlap.

Zone 2 builds the engine. It's a pace where you can barely hold a conversation and your heart rate sits around 60-70% of its max.

This is the zone where your mitochondria multiply and get more efficient. More mitochondria means more energy, better metabolic health, and a higher ceiling for everything you do.

REHIT works the heart itself. Reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training is what happens when scientists stripped HIIT down to its minimum effective dose. The protocol: 3 minutes of easy cycling with two 20-second all-out sprints inside it. 10 minutes total.

An 8-week study compared REHIT to traditional moderate-intensity cardio. The REHIT group improved cardiorespiratory fitness by 12 percent. The moderate cardio group improved by 7 percent. The REHIT group also saw a 62 percent drop in metabolic syndrome severity.

Low cardio-respiratory fitness is a strong predictor of early death, more so than smoking or diabetes. Zone 2 raises your floor while Rehit raises your ceiling. For a strong cardiovascular system, we want both.

#4 - The World's Greatest Stretch

This is one flow that hits four of the joints that lock down first with age: hips, t-spine, hamstrings, ankles, and shoulders.

Step into a deep lunge, drop your opposite hand to the floor, and rotate your top arm to the ceiling. Three reps per side. Five minutes a day.

If you only had time for one mobility drill, this would be it.

#5 - Plyometrics

Strength fades slowly with age. Power fades twice as fast, around 3 to 4 percent per year after 40.

Power is what catches you when you trip. It's what gets you out of a chair without thinking about it.

Beginners: ankle pogos and line hops. Stay light, almost silent on the ground. Intermediate: broad jumps, skater bounds, low box jumps. Advanced: depth jumps and single-leg bounding.

Two short sessions a week, 5 to 10 minutes each, before a workout.

#6 - Loaded Carries

If I had to pick one strength exercise for the rest of my life, this would be it.

Carries train grip, core, posture, breathing, and full-body integrity in a single movement. They also mimic real life. Groceries, suitcases, your kids, furniture. This is the strength that shows up when life asks for it.

Loaded carries are among the best exercises for spinal stability and core integrity.

Start with a suitcase carry: one heavy dumbbell or kettlebell in one hand, 30 seconds per side, walking tall.

Progress to farmer's carries with both hands, then heavier loads and longer distances.

#7 - The Hip Hinge

Bar hangs fix what sitting does to your upper body. The hip hinge fixes the lower body.

Sit 8 hours a day, and your glutes, the biggest muscle group in your body, go quiet. Stuart McGill calls this gluteal amnesia. The lower back and hamstrings take over jobs they were never built for. It's why so many men in their 40s have chronic back pain even though they're "active."

The hip hinge wakes the posterior chain back up. Strong glutes mean a stable spine, healthy knees, and a lower body that picks things up off the ground for the next 40 years.

Beginner: kettlebell deadlift. Push your hips back, drive the floor away. Three sets of eight. Intermediate: kettlebell swing. Two or three sets of 10 to 20. Advanced: trap bar deadlift and low back extensions.

The hinge is the lift that ages best. Done right, it's a strength move you keep doing in your 70s.

The Body Keeps What You Use

Most people lose their independence in one capacity at a time, and they never see it happening until something breaks.

I consider these seven movements non-negotiable because each one helps your body maintain something it will quietly give up if you lose it and starts compensating.

I'm 46. I plan to be more capable at 76 than I am today. Not because I'm chasing youth, but because I refuse to give up things I can keep with a few hours of work a week.

The body keeps what you use. Use it on purpose.

Onward and upward. 🚀

- Dan

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