Total Eclipse of the Heart

We recently listened to a podcast with the great Joel Jamieson as the guest speaker. If you don't know who Joel is, he is the man when it comes to learning about anything conditioning related and is at the forefront of teaching the importance of HRV (heart rate variability) and training for longevity. While he is the epitome of what you'd imagine as the textbook figure for cardiovascular health considering his lifestyle, habits, and training experience, he revealed the important role that genetics play in our fight against longevity and health. Note: we aren't trying to scare you by sharing some of this information, we just think it's an important bit of information to pass along that can help you determine the right course for you and your health!

Joel has a family history of heart disease and has dedicated his life to studying and implementing his knowledge to help others live a longer healthier life. He's also spent his entire life practicing what he preaches and doing what all the experts would deem "healthy" and beneficial for long-term health. He's made sure he's done his annual bloodwork and every year it comes back "good". He's currently in his mid-40s and decided to question his health a bit more. During his last visit to his physician, he asked if he could order a CT angiogram so he could satiate his curiosity and he was very glad he did. While Joel has done everything "right" up to this point, the results shocked him. They found some substantial blockages that were already forming in some of his arteries.

How is that even possible you might ask. Joel is the godfather of conditioning and has dedicated his life to making himself healthier and he's helped thousands of others be able to perform at their best in sport and life! Well, what Joel found out is something he knew all along. Your genetics have a major role when it comes to your long-term health. This is why it's important to know yours and to dig into it a bit more. We aren't saying you should go out and have a CT Angiogram done like Joel (Shocker - insurance doesn't cover these and they're about $1500 out of pocket), but if many of your close relatives have had cardiovascular disease and/or have died at an early age from it, it might not be a bad idea.

Your health is very important to us and things like this are why we want to know you and your health history as much as possible in order to create a program designed to help make you the best you can be for as long as you can be. While we think that your individual performance based goals are super important and one of our big focuses is on strength, we also make sure we are always focusing on longevity within our programming. This is why we have conditioning programmed at the end of our workouts, why we promote healthy dieting and lifestyle habits, why we encourage daily movement like 20-30 minute walks, yoga, or meditation, and encourage annual bloodwork. Being strong and moving well is really important when it comes to quality of life, but make sure you're also focusing on endurance and cardiovascular health. It's important to try and check as many boxes as you can in order to have a healthy life as long as you can, but knowing as much about yourself and your genetics is a very big piece of the puzzle. Sometimes checking the diet and exercise box just isn't enough. That's why we encourage you to look into your family history and individual health to make sure you have the best battle plan to fight against your genetics if need be. The more you know and the more proactive you are the better the odds are that you'll have a super long healthy life.