The Genius Life
543: The New Rules of Men’s Health, Aging, and Performance | Josh Duhamel
19 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
What up, everybody? It's episode 543 of The Genius Life. Let's go.
The Genius Life.
What's going on, everybody? I got my voice back. Yay. I'm your host, Max Lugavere. Welcome back to The Genius Life, a show where we try to make living better feel a little less like homework and a little more like a cheat code.
Today, I'm sitting down with actor Josh Duhamel, who somehow looks like he's aging in reverse, and who's also the co-founder of Gatlin, a performance-focused healthcare company aiming to bring more transparency and a lot less stigma to to the longevity and men's health conversation.
We talk about what pulled Josh into the longevity rabbit hole, starting with pure vanity, his words, then evolving into a real obsession with staying strong, energized and resilient as he gets older. We get into testosterone, what it is, what it isn't, and why so many guys quietly feel off without realizing hormones may be a part of the picture.
and how to normalize these conversations without turning them into bro science. We also talk peptides, injury recovery, the so-called Wolverine stack, and why Josh believes the future of healthcare is more personalized and precision-based. And then, unexpectedly, we go deeper.
Imposter syndrome, aging and caring less about what doesn't matter, protecting your energy and what it means to build a career and a life with integrity without pretending to be somebody you're not. If you've ever wondered what an A-list actor actually does to stay on track or how to build sustainable guardrails without becoming a slave to your routine, this episode is for you.
Listen all the way through to the end. You're not going to want to miss a beat. And as always, don't forget to share this episode with friends and loved ones that you think may benefit from it. And if you haven't yet, please consider leaving a rating and review on your podcast app of choice and make sure that you're subscribed here and on YouTube.
Now, with all that out of the way, here's episode 543. Let's rock. Josh Duhamel, welcome to the show, my friend. How are you doing? I'm really well. Thank you for having me. It's great to meet you. It's nice to meet you too, Max. Same. I can't believe that you're in your 50s.
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Chapter 2: What insights does Josh Duhamel share about aging and men's health?
No. Definitely not. You look incredible. And I want to hear about all the things that you're doing, because I feel like you've probably got some inside tea into the anti-aging longevity space, being a very successful working actor in Hollywood. I want to learn the tricks of the trade.
Well, I don't know if I have any inside tea, but I have, like you... a real fascination with it. I think that when I got into my mid-30s, I started thinking or researching more about, you know, what's out there, what can I do to, you know, stay as, you know, healthy and virile and active as I can, mostly for professional reasons because I wanted to stay in the business for as long as I could.
And, you know, there are certain expectations. But, you know, as I've gotten older, I think it's more – it's still some of that, but it's more – you know, now that I've got kids, I've got a 12 year old and almost two year old. He's one year, 11 months today. And we have a little girl on the way. I'm not a, thank you.
I'm not a young father, you know, so I want to be as young and active and, and, you know, energetic as I can for as long as I can. And then, you know, recently it just dawned on me too, that My parents are getting older. My mom is going to live to be 130, but my dad is starting to feel it, and you can see it.
I think that one of my biggest motivations behind this company right now is to help him as well. I think that we're on such a forefront right now with...
longevity and the research behind it and all the medications and hormones and peptides and things that you can take to sort of uh you know extend your health span uh if i can just get him to hang on for a little bit longer i feel like there's things that we're going to be able to do to keep even if i can keep around for an extra five years ten years you know that's really because he loves his grandkids he lives for his grandkids and i want him to be able to see mine grow up you know
Yeah, it's beautiful. You personally said in your 30s is when you became kind of aware of... I think so.
You know, I started taking, you know, Rogaine and things like that early on because I didn't want to go bald like my old man.
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Chapter 3: How does testosterone affect men's health and performance?
Does that stuff work? So pure vanity was really what, you know, I think got me into it in the beginning. It was just wanting to stay as, you know, as healthy as I could. But like I said, your priorities change as you get older. And I think that that's kind of where I'm at now.
Had you had a wellness routine at that point?
Well, you know, I played sports my whole life. My mother was very much about health and eating well, even before it was a thing. I remember as a kid back in Montana, North Dakota, she would order an egg white omelet. And me and my sister were so embarrassed that she would make them take the yolks out of the eggs. This is back in the early 80s.
Chapter 4: What role do peptides play in injury recovery and performance?
And she was always very conscious of what she fed us and how we ate. And I think that that was kind of the beginning of it for me in a lot of ways. So yes, I guess I've always had a curiosity about it. But it hasn't been until the last few years that I've really sort of... I dove in and tried to learn as much as I can. I'm no expert by any means.
I'm just a guy who's trying to learn what I can and pass it on, really. Because there's a lot of things that... One of the main things is guys don't want to talk about this stuff either, especially the TRT, like low levels of testosterone. aging and low energy and these types of things, guys don't want to talk about it.
And I think that that's one of the main reasons for this as well is just to open up the conversation, shine a little light on it and make it like a thing that's okay to talk about.
Chapter 5: What mindset shifts are important for aging gracefully?
What? Yeah, I mean, we definitely were all about destigmatizing the use of hormone replacement therapies on the show. I mean, we've talked a lot about recently, you know, HRT for women. Yeah. But but I've said, like, you know, I have very few peers that aren't at this point on some form of testosterone replacement therapy.
What what what did you notice in your life or was it like labs even that compelled you to look into it?
I forget what it was, what the initial sort of test that I got, but I remember I wanted to, it was, again, it was more because I was having a hard time and I was injury prone too. I haven't played sports my whole life. It was like, I never got any major injuries playing the sports, but I was always one of those guys that just worked and worked and worked and lifted and ran and did all the boxing.
Chapter 6: How can men normalize conversations around testosterone and aging?
And my joints had started to feel it pretty early on. So I wanted to find out what I could do to sort of prevent myself from being a frail old man at the age of 45 years old. So that was kind of the beginning of it. And it's not just the peptides and the hormones and the... and all the stuff that you can take now. But it was also a bit of a life change and, you know, eating better.
Yoga has been huge for me. I started doing that about ten years ago. That hot yoga is like literally fixed my back and my knees. So that like I'm always just trying something new, like the cold plunges. I love doing that. You know, I'm a bit of a nut when it comes to this kind of stuff. Biohacker. I try to be. I love it.
But, you know, I want to grow old, but if I'm going to be old, I want to be able to still do shit. I don't want to be a guy who lives to be 103 and miserable when I'm, you know, starting at the age of 80.
Amen. I want to be like a healthy sort of longevity. How do you stay on track with your routine, given the demands of your job, which I would imagine are pretty intensive?
You know, I go in phases, honestly. I try to stay within I like pizza and I like burgers and I like ice cream and I like like I'm not afraid to eat that stuff. But, you know, sometimes you got to, you know, you got to be real clean. And there's sometimes you can, you know, let loose a little bit. But I never let myself go too far so that I can't get back into shape if I need to. So that's.
I guess that, does that answer your question? Yeah. Do you have an overarching, like, dietary philosophy at this point? Like, are you, like, do you take a protein forward approach? I'm just curious, you know, like, is it protein? Do you prioritize protein? A lot of people now are talking about protein. I mean, you walk through the aisles of a supermarket. It's like a protein amusement park.
I mean, I went to Starbucks today and they have protein coffee now.
Is that what that is? No, no. I didn't get that, but they have it. It's available. So you're right. It's like protein. I thought that was something that had, you know, come and gone. I mean, it's like we're talking like protein's a new thing. It's like, but maybe, I don't know, what am I missing there?
No, I mean, protein's pretty important. It's right there in the name. It's like protein is the first, the name derives from, I think in Greek, it's like of first importance, of primary importance. Yeah. It's pretty important.
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Chapter 7: What future plans does Josh Duhamel have for Gatlin and men's health?
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I was able to keep muscle on. I also do this, what they call the Wolverine stack. It's like four different things, and it's specifically made for joints. So my joints are not, you know, I would go run, and my Achilles tendons would kill me. I couldn't run for another two weeks. All this kind of stuff has helped me sort of,
you know, recover and sort of optimize workouts better than I could before. And I feel stronger. I feel like I'm just feeling like I have more desire in all aspects of life than I did before. Dope.
Yeah.
Libido? Yep. I mean, that's a... It's a real thing. It's a real thing, yeah.
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Chapter 8: What are the benefits and misconceptions of testosterone replacement therapy?
About TRT and the dosing regimen.
You know what, you're a goddamn genius.
It's not, no, I'm not. And it's not, it's very far outside my wheelhouse. So what are some of the stigmas that you have that are attached to it? I mean, I personally don't, I think my primary concern was the fertility stuff. Like I don't have kids and I, you know, I think at some point I may want one or two. And then you often hear stuff about like,
Well, I'm in the sort of wellness fitness space where, you know, you see a lot of people that use it to get like to push their testosterone to like super physiologic levels to get jacked.
Yeah, that's that's also a misconception. I mean, you can do that, but we're not talking about that. We're just talking about getting them to the levels that you're at when you're mid twenties.
Interesting. So you can actually take it. You can dose it in a way that's like physiologic and healthy.
Yeah, it's all natural and it's all healthy. You know, there's very few side effects. And all you're doing is basically just replenishing what you've been losing for the last 10 years. And you have that same sort of oomph that you didn't have, you know, that you used to have that you no longer do. Wow.
So, you know, that's one of the stigmas is the guys, you know, in the past it was seen as almost like a steroid for guys to get super yoked. But that's not what we're selling. I mean, you can do that. We have a whole team of doctors that would probably, you know, try to talk you out of that. Because we want to do this as healthy as possible.
And we have an amazing group of, you know, doctors that watch this stuff very closely. So, yes, that's a big misconception.
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