Never Too Old To Be Wrong: Why Owning What We Didn't Get Right is a Superpower

Too Old for This Sh*t: How to Take Your Life Back from an Ageist Society

Me practicing getting it wrong

When research validates, wonderful. But when you’re wrong, change what you write

As someone who writes about fitness regularly, and pounds the drum about diet, exercise and attitude, I have long touted what was then assumed to be correct: genes accounted for only a few percentage points of how we age.

Seven percent, maybe a little more.

Oh, boy, I loved that factoid. Put it in lots of my writing. That said, as happens with new research, I get to be wrong.

The best part of being a writer, a responsible one, is that we get to retract what we don’t get right. What I have written for years is going to shift in the light of new information and news. What’s important is that we share it as swiftly as we get it.

This article touches on that, plus a couple of other health and fitness articles I found recently which validate not only what I’ve been doing instinctively but also goes against what too many doctors still wrongly recommend, such as RICE for injuries.

That we still see famous athletes use RICE for their injuries is part of the problem: they’re largely wrong, but who can argue with a top pitcher, right?

I will.

Because science wins over habit. Let’s talk.

First, OKAY, I’m wrong about the role of genetics in how long we live. Look. I happen to be fortunate in that regard. With the exception of my father’s parents, damned near everyone in my parents’ generation lived well into their nineties.

Okay, my father and brother didn’t, but both had alcohol and/or drug addictions. That counts.

If you will, can we please just ignore the stupid articles which quote centenarians who brag that whiskey and a cigar for breakfast are their secret to longevity?

There is no single secret. No matter how badly we wanna live a long time, there are many things we can do. Genetics, sadly, are now thought to have up to 55% influence on how long we live.

Well, crap.

Those of us who have touted 7%, and I am among them, as proof that doing the work was more influential, were wrong.

However, that doesn’t mean to avoid the work and let loose. It does still mean that smart habits help a great deal- and whether your lot is to live to 101 or 61, let’s have good years, shall we?

So the proviso: my brother was gone by 62, and he had access to the same genetic makeup I did. His genetic makeup, however, included some psychological tendencies that did not lead to a long life. So, lots of factors.

The article specifically points out the danger of taking a fatalistic viewpoint that no matter how hard we work, if our family dies young, that’s our lot. Nothing is that simple- and besides, we might just hit the jackpot with the right set of genes because someone in our genetic history jumped the fence along the timeline.

Which only goes to show that no matter what Bryan Johnson promises and no matter what his snake oil costs, there are bigger forces at work, and Bryan is going to die just like all the rest of us, when it’s our time to go home.

Now for other news on the longevity front. For those still struggling to figure out if more and harder exercise leads to longer life, well, nope. That had already been established, but you wouldn’t know it from the (uninformed parasitic) influencers.

What single exercise is the best for longevity? That’s like asking an equally- stupid question: what’s the best food? The best supplement? The best….depressed Dachshund video?

There is no “best” or miracle food, that works for everyone all the time. Nor is that true of exercise or supplements or anything else.

These are foolish questions with eight billion people on the planet, and eight billion different ways to eat, have sex, love, age and die. Our individual lives are as unique as a fingerprint, but overdoing it for anything is nearly always a dumb idea.

Plenty of very smart people, including fellow Stacker Brad Stulberg , write wisely and even-handedly about optimum performance without the compulsive optimizing made so popular by so many.

So many of whom, in fact, have a remarkable habit of dying young because of all the abuses they have committed against their bodies. Seems these days that being a beauty/fitness influencer is one of the more deadly jobs you can have. Just saying.

That said, this article from Outside Magazine explores that highly-debated exercise topic for us, and offers some scientific insight and some visuals which might confuse (they sure did me). You come away with something simple.

This quote says it all:

Is Variety the Spice of Workout Life?

This brings us to the central message of the study: that doing a variety of different types of physical activity is better for you than an equivalent amount of just one activity. This claim passes the most important hurdle, which is that it makes sense. As the researchers point out, there’s solid evidence that aerobic exercise primarily increases cardiovascular fitness while resistance exercise primarily increases muscular strength. Both strength and cardiovascular fitness have been associated with longevity, so we should assume that variety is good.

We do NOT have to engage in all kinds of complex, ridiculous activities or extremes. We do better having variety. It really is just that easy. Whew. And you don’t have to overdue anything. Whew again.

Finally, and I just love being right about a few things, the next topic. You will have plenty of doctors who will tell you to RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) a damaged joint. Now look, if you have pieces of bone sticking out of your skin, chances are you’re not going to want to keep moving that body part.

That said, this Scientific American article discusses what we now know about moving a joint sooner after a soft-tissue injury.

If you have a sprain, turns out that what I learned in years of adventure travel was spot-on: wrap that sprained rat bastard ankle/knee/elbow/whatever in RockTape or KTape and keep right on using it. Carefully, mind you, but movement is your WD-40 and better guarantees a return to full health.

In fact what we now know about RICE is that icing can not only delay healing, it can damage tissue. It is called for in some situations, but not in most of kinds you and I encounter in our athletic and daily pursuits.

The problem is that places like The Cleveland Clinic blithely continue to recommend the protocol despite the fact that research indicates that this is NOT the approach to use in many situations. Precisely to my point. They are wrong. That old advice badly needs to be updated, as people tend to trust such websites.

The author on day 3 of Macchu Picchu. Clear the coca leaves are working

Here’s a perfect example of how this works in real life.

Back in 2014 I hiked Macchu Picchu, the traditional trail. On the way down the steep hill from Dead Woman’s Pass, some 14k feet high, I did the stupid thing: looked at the stunning scenery while walking down.

There are few faster ways to disaster.

The rocks you use on your downhill hike have been smoothed shiny by millions of feet. Add to that light rain or mist and it’s like ice. You’re going to go down if you don’t carefully watch where you put your boots.

I did go down. But not before my right foot wedged between two rocks and twisted the holy hell out of my right ankle. Within seconds I was swelling fast. I pulled a roll of RockTape out of my day pack and went to work. In seconds I had my ankle bound, my foot back in my boot, and was on my way on the trail again.

With poles, mind you, always with poles.

Had I not taped up right away, I’d have been unable to get my foot in the boot at all. As it was, the swelling was contained. As a bleeder I blow up like the proverbial balloon. Not this time. The ankle later turned bright purple, but I was mobile the entire rest of the hike.

Sore, but the swelling was contained to my ankle

The medical community has an unfortunate habit of hanging on to beliefs which have not stood the test of time, like RICE, like exercise is a weight loss plan and that statins are good for you or that sugar or seed oils are relatively benign.

It’s our job to question, to read the science, and to test things out in our own lives.

As someone who writes about this kind of thing it’s incumbent upon me to share when I have been wrong. Yeah, genes really do have a far greater influence on longevity, but so do our habits.

Yeah, exercise is good, too much exercise often isn’t and variety is the best for all of us, for the most part.

Finally, yeah, move that sprain. It’s likely going to hurt, but it hurts less the more you use it, especially if you don’t overdo it. Your body will tell you when it’s too much. And, as I found, boy do you get better faster.

Above all, extremes are unhealthy. I’ve stopped doing things to the extreme. There’s no joy in it. You not only get tired, but you can injure badly.

Variety returns us to more enjoyment and more options.

Just bring a roll of KTape just in case.

Oh. And that superpower? The willingness to be wrong, to be educated, to continue to evolve. What a wonderful thing to be open, soft, curious, and always learning.

Let’s play.

Better’n some boyfriends.

Thanks as always to my readers and subscribers. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on old wisdom that has now become extinct with research. Please consider