In fitness news… There’s some new research on HIIT training that confirms what we already know about strength training – that muscle “memory” is a real thing. Once you’ve made gains through strength or HIIT training, you may lose them BUT getting those gains back is faster than the first time around. I suppose this is a lot like learning anything – except that instead of storing those memories in your hippocampus, for example, they’re stored by changes in myonuclear retention (the cellular orchestra leaves but the conductor stays); DNA methylation (making cells easier to activate), and gene expression (what parts of your genetics are easier to activate). So, that’s just a happy reminder that even if life sets you off-course from your exercise practice, finding your way back is easier that the first time around.
In cattier fitness news, a bunch of longevity grifters are fighting, which is kind of funny. What’s the next grift, you ask? It’s already here via peptides. I’ve even seen someone use the beloved, “The government doesn’t want you to have this!” line. Except they do. Insulin; GLP-1s, oxytocin (for inducing labour); leuprolide (for prostate cancer treatment); and so on – to the tune of over 100 peptides in active use. The government, as it turns out, is totally into peptides. Loves’em! What they don’t want is a bunch of untested shenanigans out in the wild. Some people will make that same argument about mRNA vaccines and GLP-1s but… well, which is it? Do we want decades of testing – or are a few weeks and a bunch of hype good enough?
The answer for many seems to be that no amount of testing is rigorous enough for public health and any testing at all is overreach when it comes to health “optimization.” This is fine and will never cause any problems for anyone.
Now we’re getting to the core of a lot of belief systems. But to explain this, I need you to picture Scrooge McDuck for a second.
Hang on. That’s too joyful. That’s his social media edition. Let me try again.
Yeah. Here’s the vibe. No real joy in Mudville. Just hoarding. The pleasure is in having what other people don’t. And I guess that’s how wealth works when it comes to real estate or NFTs (LOL) but what about health? Couldn’t way more people be healthy with the right kind of public health interventions? After all, health isn’t a finite resource?
The answer, of course, is yes. But there’s always a subset of people who want to believe that health comes from what they do for themselves. The right regimens and protocols and supplements and biohacking. This is the same moat that longevity grifters want to put between their clients and the health plebes. But most of the real work is done through simple practices like exercise, eating a whole bunch of veggies, lean proteins, and unsaturated fats, and sleeping well. All of the other “hacks” offer incremental gains, at best… Expensive, time-intensive, and often half-baked.
Remember this decadent foolishness?
Beyond the physical basics, there are the mental basics. Your social and work environments. Having a sense of purpose. Stuff like that. Going beyond has a lot to do with advocating for health on a public level. I’m talking socialized medicine, community centres, and the social safety net. Not just because making health more accessible for others might just trickle back to you but because it’s even more important to be able to say, “Hey, I’m actually ok with what I already have” and then turn your attention outward and toward others.
I know, I know, IN THIS ECONOMY!?
It’s hard to be human – no matter how much you have going for you. But, compared to throwing resources into an bottomless personal pit until you die – at whatever age – the real magic is in lending your neighbours tools, community gardens, and doing goofy shit with your friends. It’s free, it’s joyful, and it makes wellness grifters mad. That’s good for the soul too.
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