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The High Performance Journal - May 20th, 2025

The other day, I got my blood work back, and it showed that my biological age is 3 years younger than I am right now.

While that's nice, I'm treating it more like a good start than a win.

Since becoming a dad at 40, I have become increasingly obsessed with living longer.

With the advent of AI and emerging technologies, if we can sustain ourselves for at least the next 10-15 years, we have a good chance of surpassing I call the 4-minute mile of aging, which is living to 100 and beyond.

Our job is to maintain our healthspan, so we're not just living but thriving.

Over the next 365 days, I’m following a 5-pillar protocol to try and slow, stop, or even reverse biological aging.

So in today's newsletter, I'll share exactly what I’m doing and how I’ll know if it’s working.

You ready? Let's go 🔥

The Complete Guide To Aging in Reverse

How I'm Measuring Biological Age

1. NOVOS Age: This is a DNA methylation test that estimates biological age based on gene expression. It reveals how lifestyle habits are impacting my cellular health. Here's a link to see what it's all about.​ 
2. VO₂ Max: Testing VO₂ max is the maximum amount of oxygen my body can use during intense exercise and has been directly linked to mitochondrial function and lifespan. I'll be using the ​Cooper Test​ and also conducting a laboratory test to verify this.
3. Healthspan: One of the keys to living an extraordinary life is improving healthspan, and there is a variety of tests that you can do to test how well you will function as you age. I'll be using this thread as a proxy for my healthspan​. The only thing I would change about this thread is doing the farmer carry for 1 minute instead of 2.

Dan Note: I have no affiliation with this test, but it has been used by some of the world's oldest young people.

Important Note: All the pillars in my Anti-Aging Protocol are supported by ​being metabolically healthy​. This is the foundation. We want to create the best environment possible, which means optimizing our metabolic health and function.

The 5 Pillars Of My Anti-Aging Protocol

1. Muscle: Your Armor Against Aging

Muscle is your metabolic and functional currency. If you lose it, everything breaks down faster, leading to insulin resistance, frailty, dangerous falls, and inflammation.

Protocol:

• 2-4x a week of resistance training
• Taking my lifts to within 1-2 reps of failure
• Focus on using good form with an emphasis on progressive overload
• Tracking my metrics: load, reps, total volume, and lean mass (using DEXA)

Muscle is the third most important organ when it comes to longevity. It increases glucose disposal, reduces your all-cause mortality, and releases myokines that protect the brain and heart.

2. Cardio: Training Your Heart, Lungs, and Mitochondria

Your aerobic capacity is the strongest predictor of life-span, having a low VO₂ max equals an early decline.

Protocol:

• 8-10k steps a day minimum
• 1x a week of the ​Norwegian 4x4​ or another VO₂ max intervals
• 2x a week of Zone 2 cardio (45-60 minutes), preferably something I enjoy
• Tracking my metrics: load, reps, total volume, and lean mass (using DEXA)

Cardiovascular exercise rebuilds mitochondria, boosts VO₂ max, improves blood flow and insulin sensitivity, and reduces inflammation.

All these factors slow down cellular aging and can reduce mortality risk by up to 5. Think of every session adding deposits to your longevity bank.

3. Nutrition: Fuel for Cellular Health

Your diet doesn't have to be perfect, but every meal is sending a message to your DNA. And because I'm metabolically healthy already, I'm not eating to burn fat. I'm eating to reverse cellular damage.

Protocol:

• I'm eating my meals according to ​my natural rhythms​ 
• I'm getting at least ​.8 to 1 gram per pound of bodyweight in protein​ to build/keep muscle
• I'm eating a whole food-focused single-ingredient diet while minimizing processed foods at a slight calorie deficit
• My supplements include creatine, glycine, hydrolyzed collagen peptides, a multivitamin, and omega-3 fatty acids.

Nutrient timing, food quality, protein intake, and micronutrient density all activate autophagy, lower inflammation, and support tissue repair.

I've also found that as you age, your nutrition becomes increasingly important because your hormones change. Nutrition is the fuel for our lives. It can be garbage in, garbage out, or help us perform at our highest levels.

4. Sleep: Waste Removal and Recovery

Your body doesn't just rebuild during its workouts; it rebuilds during sleep. It also removes waste from your brain. If you don't prioritize it, you age faster.

Protocol:

• Getting 7.5-8 routine hours of sleep a night
• Setting up the right environment that's evergreen for incredible sleep
• Track my latency, REM, and deep sleep using a sleep tracker like Oura Ring​ 
• Supplementing with a ​sleep tea concoction​ to make sure I go to sleep and stay asleep.

Sleep is the number one performance-enhancing drug. When sleep is poor, it can damage your DNA, shorten telomeres, and accelerate biological aging.

When you have high-quality sleep, it does the complete opposite while improving hormone function, satiety, and protecting you from heart disease, Alzheimer's, and dementia.

Click here to access our free guide on the protocols we use to help our clients improve sleep.​

5. Mindset: The Most Underrated Anti-Aging Tool

The ability to be optimistic, control your perceptions, and manage your stress all impact your biology.

Aside from nutrition and exercise, some of the things I noticed about people who live to 100 and above are that they tend to lean towards being happy and optimistic.

Protocol:

• Journaling (gratitude, managing emotions, etc.)
• Focusing on things that I can control over things that I can't
• Controlling my mind to perceive things in a way that serves me
• Daily meditation (5-20 minutes) to increase my comfort with being bored

Mindfulness, emotional regulation, and a positive mindset are associated with longer telomeres, lower inflammation, and enhanced heart rate variability.

Your mind has a greater impact on your body than you give it credit for. Along with improving your physical health, enhancing your mental well-being is essential.

See You At 120?

Now, will this list guarantee that I hit 120 and beyond? No.

I'm also not treating this list as a to-do list. These are all things that have already been baked into my lifestyle. I didn't add all these at once. I implemented them one at a time.

People wildly overestimate how much they can bring into their lives over six months, and they wildly underestimate the habits and behaviors that they can cultivate over three to five years.

The truth is, when you're looking at a list like this, there are probably a couple of things that you're already doing which are great.

And some things are missing, which is also great. Choose the one that is missing that will make the most impact, and start from there.

And I will do my best to live as long as possible for my wife and children so I can enjoy as many years on this world as possible with them.

Onward and upward. 🚀

- Dan

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help:

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References

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8. Sleep Medicine Care Under One Roof: A Proposed Model for Integrating Dentistry and MedicineSunil Sharma, M.D., F.A.A.S.M., Greg Essick, D.D.S., Ph.D., David Schwartz, D.D.S., Amy J. Aronsky, D.O., F.A.A.S.M.Published Online:August 15, 2013https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.2934
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Disclaimer: This email is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician.