Why you need to become an Athlete of Life

It was in the office a few days ago that I found myself discussing fitness with a colleague. He’s a total badass — early 20s, fresh out of university, and already training like a semi-professional athlete. Cycling, running, swimming, track sessions — he does it all.

Now, I’ve been running for over 10 years, but never with that level of intensity or consistency. When he asked what I was training for, I paused for a moment and replied: “Nothing really… I’m training to be an Athlete of Life.”

And that’s when it clicked.

Learning how to stay fit for life isn’t about training for a single race or short-term goal. It’s about building a body that can carry you through decades — with strength, energy, and resilience. We are all, whether we realise it or not, training for life itself. The question is: are you training intentionally, or leaving it to chance?

My very fit work colleagues

I’m fortunate to work with a group of people who are very fit – we are all motivated to keep our bodies in top shape. Everyone has their own exercise they prefer, but a common theme amongst us all is running. We all love to run, and we organise weekly running sessions on the trails around the office. (I’m very fortunate to work somewhere that has fantastic access to nature through walking, running and biking trails.) My colleagues inspire me to be a better version of myself – both inside and outside of work.

While most of my colleagues put occasional races in their schedule that they can train towards, I don’t. I’ve always treated exercise as a form of physical therapy – taking my mind off the stresses of life while providing me with life-affirming fitness. I also enjoy it, and I have a deep sense of satisfaction upon finishing a workout because I know it is one little step towards becoming a better me.

The goal should be to train as an Athlete of Life – that’s what this blog is about – but there’s no harm in putting some races in your schedule to provide motivation along the way.

My ambitious training plan for 2026

My goal in 2026, and it’s an ambitious one – is to stick to 5-6 days of training per week, with a 60/40 split between weight training in the gym and running/ cycling outside. I appreciate that when on holiday, this will be a lot more difficult, so I’ll give myself some wiggle-room during these periods. Even so, I’d still like to get as much training into my routine as possible – even if it’s body-weight training or long-distance hiking when away from home.

I want to improve my VO2 max to above 60 (ml of oxygen synthesised per kg of body mass per minute), and I also have a number of time goals for the 5K and 10K race distances.

VO2 max, and why it matters for longevity

But what even is VO2 max, I hear you say? Great question. It’s the maximum volume of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise, serving as the best indicator of cardiovascular fitness and aerobic endurance. It is the most comprehensive measure of cardiovascular fitness there is, and is the best predictor of long-term health and longevity. A higher VO2 max means better fitness, allowing you to work harder for longer, and it’s strongly linked with better health and longevity.

If you’re serious about learning how to stay fit for life, improving your VO2 max should be a priority.

Take a look at the below table. Where do you think you lie for your age group? To get an accurate measurement, you need to cough up a lot of money (~£100) for a lab test, but fortunately, many smartwatches these days will provide an estimate of VO2 max, measured directly from your wrist.

By the way, the lab test is horrific. You’re essentially hooked up to an oxygen ventilator and told to run as fast as you can on a treadmill up increasingly steep gradients until you pass out.

Get a smartwatch!

I’ve been wearing my smartwatch full-time since July 2025, and you should get one as well. It gives me strong motivation to keep working out and improving my fitness. I bought mine for £150 on eBay. You can buy even less expensive Garmin smartwatches for £50 or lower these days – so you don’t need to break the bank. Just make sure the watch you buy can estimate VO2 max. Even if you aren’t interested in the metric straight away, you may want to know eventually! Trust me, the investment will be worth it.

The aim of the game is to get yourself into the Elite bracket for your age group. Once you’ve reached this bracket, you should aim for even greater heights – try shooting for the Elite bracket of one or even two age groups lower than yours. There’s always room to improve, and there’s absolutely no upper limit of benefit from improving VO2 max.

These days, I also use my smartwatch to track my sleep. You may think of this as an intrusive use of technology, but it honestly encourages me to go to bed on time and to aim for overall better sleep health. If technology can help me to live a healthier life, I’m going to use it every day of the week. And you should too. We should embrace technology to improve our health.

Train to become an Athlete of Life

As Peter Attia says in his book Outlive, rather than trying to catch the falling eggs, we need to be taking out the person throwing them off the building. In other words, rather than trying to solve chronic health problems using medicine (catching the falling eggs), we should be preventing the eggs from falling in the first place. We should be trying to be the fittest, healthiest version of ourselves (what he calls Medicine 3.0) to keep out of hospital for as long as possible, rather than relying on the conventional healthcare system (Medicine 2.0), which emphasises curative rather than preventative healthcare.

This is where training to be an Athlete of Life comes in. You’re training to prevent chronic disease and to keep yourself out of hospital. Attia’s “Four Horsemen of Chronic Disease” are the primary cause of death and disability in developed nations: Atherosclerotic Disease (heart disease, stroke), Cancer, Neurodegenerative Diseases (Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s) and Metabolic Dysfunction (Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, hyperinsulinemia). Yes, genetics play a role in the probability of developing these, but guess what? Exercise is by far the most beneficial thing you can do to reduce the risk. That’s right – better than any drug or medication that any doctor in the world could prescribe to you.

The benefits of staying fit for life

Note, in the above image, how, through a concoction of drugs and modern healthcare technology, today’s healthcare system can prolong your life – but only at the very end when your health is poor. Only when your health has already deteriorated significantly will doctors intervene. Why would you want to have your life prolonged when in such poor health? You, like me, want to live healthily for as long as possible. The good news is that this is all totally preventable – and that’s why you need to be an Athlete of Life!

There are other profound benefits of staying healthy:

• You’ll save a shit ton of money in healthcare bills.
• You’ll be better looking and have higher self-confidence.
• You’ll have a better work ethic and be more motivated, leading to more opportunities inside and outside of work.
• You’ll be less tired and sleep better.

If you truly want to stay fit for life, the answer is simple: train consistently and think long-term.

So, start building your fitness for a longer life right now. Get to the gym. Lift heavy weights. Start running. Buy a bike and cycle everywhere. Swim. Play sports. Hike mountains. Do all of the above and you will become an Athlete of Life. You really have no choice – either live a happy, healthy life for as long as possible by exercising regularly, or drift through life and deal with the consequences later.

Train your body. Build your fitness. Raise your standards.

Become an Athlete of Life.

FAQ

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like:

• Building fitness for a longer life
• A no-nonsense guide on how to live a healthy life
• Why you need to embrace discomfort

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