Dr. Andy Galpin

Well, I would say that we as a strength conditioning field didn't help ourselves much. And this was actually the whole fun story here. In the early 1900s, strength training was viewed as something that was really deleterious. It was dangerous. There's a long story here, but you'll have a heart attack. It's this thing, right? And that stayed along for a long period of time.

Well, I would say that we as a strength conditioning field didn't help ourselves much. And this was actually the whole fun story here. In the early 1900s, strength training was viewed as something that was really deleterious. It was dangerous. There's a long story here, but you'll have a heart attack. It's this thing, right? And that stayed along for a long period of time.

The science said it was bad for you. And then the science changed. In fact, there's a famous individual named Dr. Karpovich, who himself was a scientific advocate of this is dangerous. And then collected more data and realized actually it's not dangerous. And then, oh my gosh, there's all these health benefits. That happened in the 1950s and 60s.

The science said it was bad for you. And then the science changed. In fact, there's a famous individual named Dr. Karpovich, who himself was a scientific advocate of this is dangerous. And then collected more data and realized actually it's not dangerous. And then, oh my gosh, there's all these health benefits. That happened in the 1950s and 60s.

Right after that, on the back of it, you've got Arnold Schwarzenegger. You've got Pumping Iron. You've got Conan. You've got these things. And you went from bad for my health to, oh my gosh, I can become a superhero. And this empowered a generation of men, mostly. Oh my gosh, I can become a physical superhero. That was awesome.

Right after that, on the back of it, you've got Arnold Schwarzenegger. You've got Pumping Iron. You've got Conan. You've got these things. And you went from bad for my health to, oh my gosh, I can become a superhero. And this empowered a generation of men, mostly. Oh my gosh, I can become a physical superhero. That was awesome.

But the downside of that was everyone's association with him with strength training was muscle and bodybuilding. And that is a very limited perspective of strength. So scientifically, the people in this field were not strength training people. The exercise physiologists, the nutrition scientists for, in most part, the 1960s through 90s were all endurance folks.

But the downside of that was everyone's association with him with strength training was muscle and bodybuilding. And that is a very limited perspective of strength. So scientifically, the people in this field were not strength training people. The exercise physiologists, the nutrition scientists for, in most part, the 1960s through 90s were all endurance folks.

And so you had no research being done. I mean, you couldn't make the argument anymore that it was bad for your health, but there was no argument that it was really great for your health. And they had a whole generation of kids like me. who came up on that, but then also like science and started saying like, why aren't we doing studies on strength and high intensity stuff?

And so you had no research being done. I mean, you couldn't make the argument anymore that it was bad for your health, but there was no argument that it was really great for your health. And they had a whole generation of kids like me. who came up on that, but then also like science and started saying like, why aren't we doing studies on strength and high intensity stuff?

And well, that only lasted so long before work started coming out in that area. And now it is so clear. We have mechanism. We have epidemiological evidence. We have randomized control trials in men and women, young, old, and the research goes on. Physical strength is one of the single strongest, pun intended, predictors of lifespan.

And well, that only lasted so long before work started coming out in that area. And now it is so clear. We have mechanism. We have epidemiological evidence. We have randomized control trials in men and women, young, old, and the research goes on. Physical strength is one of the single strongest, pun intended, predictors of lifespan.

And so you've got lifespan, which is how long you're going to live. You have health span, which people talk about now, which is how healthy are you within those years? And now scientifically, we call that strength span, right? And what they're saying is strength span, it's not the only thing that matters, but it's an important characteristic to your health span.

And so you've got lifespan, which is how long you're going to live. You have health span, which people talk about now, which is how healthy are you within those years? And now scientifically, we call that strength span, right? And what they're saying is strength span, it's not the only thing that matters, but it's an important characteristic to your health span.

If you lack physical strength, a number of things start to happen. Number one, This is one of the reasons why we look at, for the record, like leg strength and grip strength as two of the most ubiquitous predictors. You'll see this all across the literature as statistically significant predictors of mortality.

If you lack physical strength, a number of things start to happen. Number one, This is one of the reasons why we look at, for the record, like leg strength and grip strength as two of the most ubiquitous predictors. You'll see this all across the literature as statistically significant predictors of mortality.

And in fact, some of the papers that directly compare strength, again, mostly leg strength, leg extension, and grip strength, to VO2 max, oftentimes, but not always, but oftentimes will show strength is a stronger predictor of mortality or all-cause mortality than VO2 max. So we've talked ad nauseum, you know, last bunch of years about important VO2 maxes, and it's absolutely true.

And in fact, some of the papers that directly compare strength, again, mostly leg strength, leg extension, and grip strength, to VO2 max, oftentimes, but not always, but oftentimes will show strength is a stronger predictor of mortality or all-cause mortality than VO2 max. So we've talked ad nauseum, you know, last bunch of years about important VO2 maxes, and it's absolutely true.

But strength is right there as an equivalent predictor of how long you're going to live. So the question is why? Well, you have correlation and causation here. Lots of evidence on both sides. If you are weak, say in your hands, it is a proxy for overall strength. So that in and of itself is true. It's also direct intervention.

But strength is right there as an equivalent predictor of how long you're going to live. So the question is why? Well, you have correlation and causation here. Lots of evidence on both sides. If you are weak, say in your hands, it is a proxy for overall strength. So that in and of itself is true. It's also direct intervention.