Exercise regularly
Post three in our five-part series on physical health.
Why it matters
Exercise, sleep, and nutrition form the “holy trinity” of habits. They’re all hard, they influence each other, and they can together have a massive impact on your wellbeing. As for the other one, exercise
Helps you live long and healthy: If you exercise regularly, you reduce your risk of death from any cause by at least 30%. It holds as you age, and is dose-dependent, so even a little exercise will give you a little boost. It affects your heart, your brain, your metabolism, and protects your bones.
Helps you feel good and energised: Exercise boosts your serotonin and dopamine, and builds your self-efficacy and confidence. This has been shown to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms on similar levels as drugs or therapy.
Top three things to do
All of these serve a different function, so an ideal training setup focuses on all of them. We’ll talk later about how to easily integrate them into your daily routine.
Cardio
Cardio trains you in two different ways
“Zone 2” endurance training: This builds the basis of most longevity training by improving your metabolic flexibility and ability to recover from stressors. You’re doing it right if you can still talk during your exercise; you’re doing it wrong if you can still sing. The aim here is 2-4 hours per week, but due to its moderate intensity, it can often be integrated in your commute (cycling, fast walking). Others like rowing, rucking, or running.
“VO2 Max” training / HIIT: This trains your maximal capability. Training usually goes in “bursts” - 4min high intensity, 3min recovery, rinse and repeat four times. One session per week is good for maintenance, two to build your capacity. If you’re older, double-check if your heart and knees are up for the challenge.
I discovered team sports as my version of “effortless” cardio. It does not feel like exercise in the same way a treadmill does, because you are focused on the game, the people, and the next decision. Right now, I rotate between football, volleyball, frisbee, and spikeball.
The underrated bonus is community. You show up, see the same faces, and build friendships passively. Plus, there is a mental layer, tactics, positioning, and reading the play, that keeps your brain engaged. And you can choose your intensity. Some people want a relaxed run club or casual pick-up games. Others want structured training and competitive leagues. There is a version for almost anyone.
The bigger point is simple: find a form of movement you actually enjoy. When you like the activity, consistency stops being a battle. And any time you can shape your environment to make it easier, you are stacking the odds in your favour. For me, rowing at the gym works. The treadmill and stationary bike do not. That is fine. The best cardio is the one you will do.
One more lever that feels almost unfair is turning movement into part of your day rather than a separate event. If exercise becomes your commute or your default transport, it turns into passive fitness. Getting a bike in London has massively increased my baseline activity without needing extra motivation. Even small swaps count: walking to the shops, cycling to meet friends, or jogging to a nearby meetup if it is practical. When movement is baked in, you win twice: you get fitter, and you reclaim time.
Cameron
Strength training
Gym bros have a bad rep. Focusing on strength training is actually one of the best things you can do for your health and well-being. The key idea is that by regularly going to the limits of what your muscles can do, you progressively increase your strength.
The traditional focus is to go at least three times a week, but even with less time, you can see benefits, and there are a lot of home workouts that don’t need a lot of equipment.
If you never did this before, then explaining how to do it in this blog post won’t be enough, so best to get a coach, a good friend, or an app to walk you through everything to avoid injury.
For most of my life, I had a mental block to going to the gym. I did basketball, fencing, yoga, tennis, some bodyweight stuff, all kinds of “fun” sports, but never went to the gym. It felt intimidating. It didn’t fit my nerdy self-image. I didn’t want to look like a gym bro.
Then one day I listened to one more podcast on how good strength training is for your health and I did a 360 - I got a personal trainer (one from a gym that had before-and-after pictures in the window) and went all-in for three months.
I should’ve done this so much earlier. Turns out I love going to the gym (can listen to podcasts, it’s not overwhelming once you know what to do, fun to see yourself grow, and feedback from friends on my looks). And looking like a gym bro takes so much work that you don’t need to worry about it.
Don’t be like me. Don’t avoid being a gym bro. Give it a try!Christoph
Stability and Mobility
This is your yoga, pilates, stretching, and similar exercises. You can be strong and have high endurance, but if your full-body coordination is weak, then you still have a higher risk of injuring yourself. Both during the more intense exercise, but also simply from falling, and that’s unfortunately a very high cause of injury, the older you get. A simple test is to just stand on one leg and see how long you can stand. Aim for 30sec+. Bonus points for doing this with closed eyes.
Similar to cardio, try a variety of exercises here, for example, there are maybe different types of yoga and ways you could try yoga or other stretch adjacent activities:
Yoga with a friend at the park
Try a sample of yoga courses at a studio (Kundalini, Hot Yoga, etc.)
Try a 30-day yoga course on YouTube
Try a 5-minute stretching routine in the shower
Dance-based mobility course/YouTube video
Acro-based classes
Foam roller + Stretching
Yin yoga
And many more, the point for each of these categories is worth trying until you find one or more you like
Your story here. Our next topic will focus on not getting sick. Have a hack or story you’d like to share? Just reply to this email, message us on substack or send your thoughts to christoph@euzoia.org.
Do something now
Ok, so… 3x zone 2, 1x VO2 max, 3x gym, 1x mobility - how does anybody do this? Two answers to this: a) Many people do - by aiming for 1 session per day with a rest day and zone 2 while commuting. b) You already get lots of good results with putting in less effort:
Ever heard of VILPA? Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity is a bit of a mouthful, but it has shown that by simply doing a few brief exercises throughout your day, just 5 minutes max in total, you get significant health benefits. Think planks, pushups, squats, sprinting up stairs, etc. Next time you need a break at work, try this instead of getting a snack. Also fun as a team.
Integrate it into your life: Can you change your commute? Friends you can play squash with? Sunday living room yoga with your partner? Where are good slots to fit it in? Make a plan now and put some slots in your calendar.
Experiment. This applies to all behaviours you want to change but for exercise, the great thing is that there are so many different ways to do it. Alone, in a team, at home, at the gym, in a class, in the morning, at lunch, in the evening … If you’ve never done much, give yourself a month to just try a bunch of different things and see what you enjoy
Block some time in your calendar to go through our guide on behavior change and apply it to your exercise intentions
Commit to us that you will do the idea you selected from these