101: Living Better, Not Just Longer: 5 Predictors of Longevity

Here's what nobody tells you: living to 90 or 100 has less to do with your genetics than you think. And here's what matters even more - it's not just about living longer, it's about living better. Because what's the point of adding years to your life if you can't actually enjoy them?

In this transformative episode of Group X Appeal, Kimberly and Terry reveal the five biggest predictors of healthy aging backed by decades of scientific research. But this isn't a lecture. It's actionable, practical, and proven. 

Discover why muscle is one of the strongest longevity markers (and it has nothing to do with looking good), why cardiovascular fitness determines your energy for everything - not just workouts - and why balance is being overlooked despite preventing one of the leading causes of injury in aging.

Learn the critical difference between flexibility and mobility, why recovery is when your body actually transforms (not during the workout), and how simple daily habits can dramatically shift your health trajectory.

Longevity isn't built in one workout. It's built through thousands of small decisions. And you don't have to be perfect - you just have to keep showing up.

**Stay tuned! 2 bonus longevity predictors coming in the next 2 episodes that might surprise you. 

Your healthiest years are still ahead of you!

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - @groupxappeal.

Questions or topic ideas? Email us @ groupxappeal@gmail.com

Get your FREE Guide To Holistic Well-Being here: https://gxaguide.com/

Stay Connected with Kimberly:
- @kimberlyspreenglick on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube
- email: kimberly@theinspiredlifeuniversity.com
- website: www.theinspiredlifeuniversity.com

Stay Connected with Terry:
- @terryshorter on Instagram & Facebook
- email: terry@rippedplanet.com
- website: www.rippedplanet.com

Transcript

What if I told you that living to a 90 or even a hundred has less to do with your genetics than you probably think? And what if just a few simple habits could dramatically improve not only how long you live, but how well you live? Well, today we're revealing the five biggest predictors of longevity backed by decades of research. Yes, and the best part is you don't have to be a professional athlete, you don't have to spend thousands of dollars.

Or completely change your life to start improving those predictors today. So if you're serious about having more energy, moving better, and making every decade your strongest yet, this episode's for you.

Kimberly & Terry' (00:44)
When Kimberly and I press record on the very first episode of Group X Appeal, we simply hoped we'd have a few meaningful conversations. We never imagined we'd be sitting here today 100 episodes later. Crazy. Over the past 100 episodes, we've interviewed incredible leaders. We've laughed together a lot. We have learned, we've been challenged, and we've been inspired. Yeah. But today, this episode, it isn't about us. No, it's all about you.

The instructors, the participants, the first timers, the comeback stories, the lifelong friendships, the lives that have been forever changed because someone walked into a group X class. Absolutely. Today we are celebrating the stories that remind us all why this incredible community matters. So welcome to episode one hundred of Group X Appeal.

Kimberly & Terry' (01:41)
Welcome to Group X Appeal, where we believe movement isn't just exercise. It's literally one of the greatest gifts that you can give yourself. Whether you are teaching classes, taking classes, or simply trying to become the healthiest version of yourself, we are here to help you create a life that is filled with energy, purpose, and connection. Yes, we are. Today we're talking about something every single person wants, not just living longer, but living better.

Better because none of us simply wants more birthdays. We want way more adventures. We want more memories. We want more vacations. Doesn't that sound good? More hikes. Yes, yes, missing that. We need to do that sooner than later. More dancing. She's been doing a lot of it actually. More dancing. And more playing with our kids and our grandkids too. Yep. Health span is just as important as lifespan. Because what's the point of adding years if you can't enjoy them?

So today we're sharing five of the biggest predictors of healthy aging and some practical ways to improve each one. Yeah. So the very first marker, marker number one, and we're gonna start perhaps probably one of with one of the hottest topics right now that you're hearing about is hot. Watch out. We're talking about muscle. Right? Woo! It's not just about looking good, right? It's really one of the strongest predictors of longevity.

And muscle, it helps regulate your blood sugar levels, it helps protect our bones, it helps to support our metabolism, it helps improve balance and allows us to stay independent as we age. And that's exactly why resistance training isn't optional anymore. It is absolutely essential. So, with every one of our markers today, we're gonna give you a little challenge. And today's challenge, we're gonna ask a question.

When was the last time that you challenged your muscles and how did you do it? We'd love to know what that looked like for you. When's last time you felt the burn? Yeah. What about you? on my way my I was literally walking on jello legs coming in here to film today because I had done my cycle class, I taught a CTR class, and then I took.

A C T R class, which is muscular endurance as well as stability training and mobility. my goodness. You got it all. I was wobbling. All the stuff. But it felt so good. You got all the stuff. good. Well you l you look strong. Look at those muscles. Well, you know. I don't wanna I don't wanna, you know, bust at the seams, so I'm not gonna flex. All right, She Hulk. But you know. But there's so many different ways you can get strength training in. Yeah. You know? So it's you know, there's no excuse. Pick up a a set of dumbbells or do some body weight only stuff or get into classes. It just

It must be done. It has to be done. Has to be done. So the second marker, the second predictor, he's teasing me because I like to say marker, because I think I read it in like a scientific journal at some point that these were markers for longevity. I keep referring to the marker. But cardiovascular, cardiorespiratory fitness, what we often refer to as the VO2 max. So think of your VO2 max as your body's engine size. It's a it's a measure of how efficiently your heart, your lungs, your muscles work and

They work together using oxygen in your body. So the the cardiovascular fitness, the better it is, the more energy you have. And that's just not just more energy you'll have doing exercise, but the more energy you'll have doing anything, everything. Yes. Walking, playing sports, even just climbing the stairs, going to your car, work doing work around the house, everything. You have better heart health, more stamina, lower disease risk, increased energy.

These are all benefits of having an improved VO2 max. How do we do that? Gotta get the cardiovascular in. You've got to get your heart rate up. So what are you doing? I think that because strength training has been such a hot topic, there have been people that have even been pushing cardiovascular exercise to the wayside. Yeah. And it's not okay. No. They are both important. They're both really important. We want to make sure our heart and our lungs are healthy and that our body is using oxygen in an efficient way.

And that can't happen without you getting out there and getting your heart rate up. So that is your challenge. What are you gonna do this week to get your heart rate up to a place that's a little uncomfortable? We can't be afraid to get uncomfortable if we want to improve these markers for longevity. What's your favorite way to get cardio? My favorite way to get cardio. I do walks. I just simply get out and do walks. I got to teach a cycle class yesterday or Tuesday, so

Which has been a while, but ripped also, get plenty of cardio there. So and then in in in my lifts as well. You know, if you're lifting with minimal recovery time in between, you Do you superset? I'd superset and get that heart rate up on my push and pull days. That's where I feel like I, you know, max max out the heart rate. That's for sure. Yep. I'd love supersetting, yes. I'm a walker too. We both love hiking. That'll get your heart rate up. Go h go find somewhere to hike. It's got a few hills. Yeah. Whew, there we go.

For sure. One hundred percent. So it's all it's all in balance, the strength and the cardio. So don't don't leave one out without the other. And speaking of, that's our third marker. Balance. So and this is one that people rarely think about, unfortunately. But you know, what happens is falls remain one of the leading causes of injury as we age, as we get older. But the good news is balance is

highly trainable yes whether you do yoga whether you do tai chi take one of Kimberly's classes her fit classes where she's doing it on a bosu ball. There we go. Right? So lots of options out there. Single leg exercise all these different kind of kinds of movements functional movements all of them help and so you know getting there to to kind of challenge your balance is super super important in order to put

Prevent those falls from happening. I was just telling Kimberly before we pushed the record button today. my mom, she was doing balance classes, she was taking tai chi, she was doing chair yoga. And, you know, some things happened. Her gym changed, her teacher left, you know, her yoga teacher left, her tai chi class moved to a different location. And so she stopped going to all these things. And guess what happened several months later? She fell down.

Lost balance, she fell down and she's, you know, she's been in pain ever since, unfortunately. but you know, she keeps talking about, you know, as soon as she becomes more pain-free, she really wants to get back into her classes to help prevent any further, you know, future falls. So, you know, the challenge for you today is to stand on one foot while, you know, watching, watching, let's say

if you sit and watch your favorite TV show or you you know, you're watching a YouTube channel, brushing your teeth. Yeah, something that you do every single day. See if you can hold it for thirty seconds. Something as simple as that on a regular basis can absolutely help. So you don't even have to, you know, sign up or register for a group exercise class. Just do it while you're doing your normal day-to-day kind of chores or your, you know, your habits and just kind of habit stack from there.

Yeah. I think what people don't realize when you bring instability into your environment, whether it's standing on one leg, getting on a bosou, whatever the case may be, you don't just fire the major muscle groups that we're used to firing when we do strength training classes, but you're also firing the tiny little muscles, tendons, and ligaments that support the joints themselves. So they become more stable, which is how we become more efficient, more effective, and less chance for falling and injury out in the world. So it's important. A hundred percent. Can we talk about one of my favorite?

let's guess what this one's gonna be. I don't know. How about recovery? I know we've taught we've done full episodes on the importance of recovery and sleep. Sleep specifically. Yeah. I mean I I like a good power nap. I don't know what to say. And and there's studies, there's science behind it. Yeah. I think I got you eventually on board for power nap. I'm a power napper now, official. I got my power. I don't think he does it all that often. He's got my certified busy all the time. Yeah. Certified power napper.

Yeah, not as much as before, but when I when I get it in, it counts. Yes, it's so funny. our body, how we evolve and become stronger, it's not during the workout. It's during recovery. Yeah. You know, sleep in particular affects almost everything from our hormone levels, our memory, our immune system, our mood, of course. It is when our muscles repair. getting good sleep and recovery helps us with stress resilience and reduces our cortisol levels.

And sometimes the healthiest thing you can do is go to bed earlier. Yeah. Get a good solid night's sleep. Give yourself the recovery time. Be that, you know, first focus is of course a full night's sleep, you know, seven, eight hours and getting that deep sleep in there. But then can you throughout the day fit in? Maybe it's not a power nap, maybe it's a five, ten, twenty-minute meditation or just listening to music and finding a bit of stillness, like a presence practice. We've talked about that before. That will aid in recovery.

the full reset and recovery happens during that that sleep overnight. But there are other ways we can incorporate recovery and it's really, really important. And it will increase your bandwidth to kind of go back and do all the other stuff. Yeah, come back stronger. Yeah, for sure. One hundred percent. And so power naps are your favorite ways to recover. What other things do you do to to to recover? Is there anything else? Yeah, meditation. Yeah. Is a big one for me. Have a presence practice morning and evening. Yeah.

And so yeah, so that's gonna be a challenge for you. either choose morning or evening and give yourself, even if it's just five, ten minutes, to come to a place of stillness and just be in your body in the moment. And I'm gonna do a double challenge. What? Let's hear it. What? Let's hear it. Can you challenge yourself to create a routine that allows you to settle into sleep 30 minutes early?

earlier than you normally do if you are lacking sleep overnight, which most people are. Right. Right. And that could be no screens before bedtime. That immediately will enhance your ability to go to sleep earlier. It's recommended the room be cooler, like around sixty eight degrees, sixty eight, sixty nine degrees, helps body sleep. Like your body, you can't get into deep sleep until your body drops a certain number of degrees. So a few things you can do to make sure you get to sleep a little earlier and get that full night's sleep.

Ooh, I like that challenge. So, and you'll like that challenge too. Just put it into effect. Say yes. Thank us later. Yes. Say yes, I'm doing it. So, yeah. So rest and recovery. And then market number five for longevity. And with this one, a lot of people use these two terms interchangeably, but they are there's a major distinction between the two. So we're gonna go ahead and kind of define that. And this is actually one of my favorites. absolutely.

This one is flexibility and mobility. Wait a minute, Mr. Shorter. They're not the same thing. They're not the same thing. Two different things. When we're talking about flexibility and mobility, we'll start with flexibility. Flexibility has more to do with your muscles. Both of them are fascia for different forms of fascia, but with flexibility, we're talking about the muscles' ability to stretch and to contract, right? And so, and we have dynamic and we have static flexibility as well. And so

With flexibility, when we have a good amount of flexibility, we are able to perform a lot better. We're able to lift heavier weights. We're able to increase our our endurance, our muscle endurance when we are doing our lifts. But then when we come to mobility, mobility has everything to do with the joints, the movement in the joint areas, whether it be your ankles, your knees, your hips, your shoulders, your elbows, your wrists, and having that.

movement, that mobility in those joint areas is also important, especially when we are active, not just lifting weights. That is super important, but it allows us to go deeper. It allows us to increase our load as well if we we are lit lifting weights. It allows us also to run faster, jump higher, get off the line faster as well. So lots of huge benefits to flexibility and mobility. I also spoke earlier just about

dynamic and static flexibility and also mobility. And dynamic is continual movement, right? Gradual, controlled, intentional movement through different ranges of motion, as opposed to holding a certain stretch or being in a certain position for a lengthened amount of time. So one of my favorite types of flexibility and mobility exercises would be simply myofascial work. I love using foam rollers.

we've talked about power plate work as well. You can get flexibility and mobility work, whether it's static or more more dynamic work using either tools or you don't need any tools at all. No. You know, you could work on both areas you know, both of those areas in a yoga class, in a tai chi class, in a Pilates class, just about any sort of class that that it allows you to move.

but more intentional movement. I love to step into like a yoga class. Yeah. I love to do a roll and recover class in myofascial work. So what about for you? Yeah, well, I think this is so important because so often, like when we're in our 20s and we get injured, it's because like we did this like badass kickboxing class or something like that. Or like I I sparred with a black belt or whatever, at least that's what I would say. But now That'd be the story. We we we get injured because

I need something out of my backpack and it's in the backseat of the car. And because I haven't trained proper like mobility and such to be able to move through different ranges of motion on a regular basis, that's where I could get hurt. Wow. but you you woke up for that. What about if you slept wrong? Right? my gosh. It's true. When we get it to a certain age I mean, how'd you get hurt? I tied my shoe. I rolled over in bed. I vacuumed my floor. That was me. I hurt it all. gosh.

We we we've both probably heard it all. You probably felt it too. And so when we are very intentional about training, flexibility. For me it's it's yoga for sure. Yeah. that that helps maintain that mobility, range of motion, and the flexibility that big markers for longevity. For sure. And if you're if you haven't taken a yoga class or you you know, or if you're new to yoga, you don't need to you know, you don't need to

Be like those Instagram yoga practitioners who are doing right. There's no prerequisite. You you're there to you're really there for yourself. That's it. You're not there for the perfect Instagram shot at all. You're there to get what you want most out of your practice. So if it is flexibility, you're really focusing more on flexibility. If it is mobility, you're moving through the joints and trying to improve that area. And you don't have to go fast. You can take your time.

Be in the moment, enjoy it. And that's yeah, that's my favorite practice too. Yeah. All day long. You get you get it all. So those are the five markers for, you know, longevity and good health. And if today's conversation inspired you in any way, please remember that longevity isn't built in w just one workout. No. It's not gonna happen. Not gonna happen. Right. It's built through thousands of small decisions that you make. Yep.

You don't have to be perfect. You just have to keep showing up for yourself. Yep. So imagine where your health could be just one year from today when you intentionally improve just one of these markers that Kimberly and I just shared today.

And now imagine doing it alongside a room full of people who are committed to growing stronger together. Because that's what we're all about. And that's exactly why we're creating our vitality workshops. Woo woo! That's right. These aren't going to be ordinary fitness seminars. No. These are going to be immersive experiences that we're going to deliver virtually. And they're designed to help you build a life that is filled with energy and resilience and movement and purpose and meaningful connection. Yeah. All of the good stuff.

Together we're gonna be diving deeper into more practical strategies for longevity, for mindset, for movement, recovery, nutrition, and community, giving you all the necessary tools that you can use for decades to come. Definitely. Yep. So if today's episode resonated with you also, you're gonna wanna make sure you tune into next week because we have two bonus markers. Ooh, there's bonus. This is a bonus. Bonus predictors for longevity that you might

You know, what we talked about today is pretty expected. These physical markers that science has sh has brought to the forefront as as really strong predictors for longevity. But next week there are two that we're gonna dive deep into that play a huge role in you living your best life. So don't miss that. 100%. So follow group X appeal. Share this episode with somebody you want to grow older and healthier with.

And be sure to keep an eye out for the official launch, like Kimberly said, of our Vitality Workshops. We're so, so excited about. And you can find it at groupxapeal.com and also vitalityworkshop.com. I can't believe we got that. I know. Fantastic. Because your healthiest, happiest years are still ahead of you. Yeah. So be sure to get on the wait list. We'll be launching Vitality before you know it. And you want to be the first to hear about it. So you go to one of those.

GroupXFL.com or vitalityworkshop.com. Get on the wait list so as soon as we launch, you're able to grab a spot. Yeah, that's where we'd love to have you. So that's it for us today. I'm Terry Shorter. I'm Kimberly Spreen Glick. And as always, we encourage you to make it a great day. And why Kimberly? Because it is a great day to have. It is. Thank you. Much love.