The Expedition: The truth about VO2, a killer pullup variation, running shoe tips, the Dead onramp, and more
17 ideas to improve your life this month.
Housekeeping
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Audio/Podcast version
The post
The Expedition is a monthly journey into thoughts, opinions, ideas, observations, studies, facts, figures, etc.
Good ones, insightful ones, interesting ones, weird ones, and ones you can use to live well and long.
It’s a roundup of all the worthwhile stuff I’ve discovered in the last month. The Expedition is a bit of an island of misfit toys. But, hey, the greatest journeys are winding.
This month, we’re covering:
Explore the Edge, a new live show I’m hosting on Substack.
Numbers on:
How men are growing more than women.
Health tracker usage.
Active shooter drills.
Mental health a top issue.
The year when humanity shrinks.
The Sunday scaries.
Weekly bouts of exercise required to maintain heart health.
Men dying younger.
The truth about when you should replace your running shoes.
A really tough, really beneficial pullup variation.
Surprising data on VO2 max and performance.
Two stories I loved.
A TV series I loved. (Highly recommended—unless you dislike violence.)
An onramp to the Grateful Dead.
A good parting quote.
Let’s roll …
An announcement: Explore the Edges, a live weekly show on Substack
I’m launching a live show on Substack. It’s called Explore the Edges, and it starts this coming Tuesday, February 25, at 1EST.
What it is: A 20-ish minute live conversation between me and a fascinating guest who has information that can help us live better.
When it is: I’ll usually go live every Tuesdays at 1pm EST. Of course, my work takes me to some far-off places with minimal service and wifi, and guests sometimes won’t be able to make a 1pm show. So I’ll fill you in when when times and dates change.
How to tune in: Use the Substack app on your phone or your desktop computer.
If you prefer to use the app, you’ll get a notification on your phone when we go live. Make sure your notifications from Substack are on.
If you prefer to watch on your computer, you’ll get an email. Click the button in the email to enter the live feed.
By the numbers
2
Times more that men have grown compared to women over the past century.
“Analysis of records from dozens of countries found that for every 0.2 point increase in Human Development Index, women were on average 1.7cm taller and 2.7kg heavier, while men were 4cm taller and 6.5kg heavier. This suggests that as living conditions improve, both height and weight increase, but more than twice as fast in men than women.”
35
Percent of Americans have tracked their exercise using a device or app. Exercise is our most tracked health marker. Next are blood pressure and heart rate, which 29 percent of Americans have tracked.
32
Percent of Americans have never tracked their health using a device or app. That includes exercise, blood pressure, heart rate, weight and diet, sleep, water intake, and more.
37
States now require annual active shooter training for public elementary schools.
52
Percent of Americans say that mental health is the most significant problem people in their country face right now.
The research compared countries. At the top of the list was Chile, with 69 percent of Chileans saying mental health was their country’s biggest issue. Meanwhile, Mexico was at the bottom, with 25 percent of Mexicans believing mental health was the country’s biggest issue.
2086
The year the global birth rate is expected to intersect with the global death rate, leading to a net zero world population growth.
45
Percent of Americans say they experience the “Sunday scaries.”
My solution is to plan a long and hard run on Sunday. Then I get the Saturday scaries and the work week is more manageable.
4 to 5
Exercise sessions a week were required to prevent cardiac stiffening—a condition where your heart muscles stiffen, making it harder for your heart to pump blood effectively.
Meanwhile, 2 to 3 exercise sessions did not prevent cardiac stiffening.
5
Number of years longer American women live on average than men.
American women die at ~81 years old while men die at ~76. This is leading some to call for more initiatives into men’s health.
The truth about when you should replace your running shoes
You may have heard you should replace your running shoes between 300 to 500 miles.
But your shoes might go much farther than that. Runner Zach Bitter interviewed the shoe expert Dustin Joubert, a PhD who runs a shoe testing lab.
Joubert discovered that his favorite shoes (Nikes with ZoomX foam) had the same efficiency and return at 400 miles as they did on his first run in the shoes.
The lesson: Rather than using an arbitrary mileage, follow these signals that it’s time to replace your running shoes:
Significantly worn or uneven treads.
A noticeably compacted midsole with decreased support.
New aches and pains during and after your runs when you haven’t significantly altered your run distance or speed.
Those tips work—but here’s an even easier and more effective way to determine when you need a new shoe:
Find a running shoe you like. (Here’s the Two Percent guide to running shoes).
Buy two pairs of the shoes, but only run in one pair for a while.
If you think you need to replace the first pair, put one shoe from the first pair on one foot and put one shoe from the second pair on your other foot. Compare how the two feel. If the difference is striking, throw away the first pair and use the second.
Repeat the process.
Even better pullups
I posted recently about this pullup variation, which I love.
But you can make it even harder—and even better. It might be the most effective pullup variation ever.
Work up to it and do it often. I think pullups are arguably the best upper body exercise—and if you can do the toughest variations, you’ll be better off.
Here’s a video of how to do it: