What's Your Number? How to Measure What Actually Matters for Health and Longevity (Without Spending a Dime)

No gym membership. No equipment. No trainer. No lab. Just four simple movements and a formula that gives you a clear, objective snapshot of the two physical markers most closely linked to longevity, cognitive function, and quality of life in the second half of life.

In this episode of Not Done Yet!, Dr. Brad Cooper introduces the Personal Performance Quotient — a free, self-directed assessment built around strength and cardiovascular fitness that you can do anywhere, repeat two or three times a year, and use to track whether you're trending in the right direction. The best part? It doesn't matter where you're starting. Because this one is you versus you — and nobody else.

The four components are straightforward: push-ups, pull-ups, a 5K, and a plank. Dr. Cooper walks you through exactly how to calculate your score, what it reveals about where your gap lives — strength or endurance — and why zero pull-ups and a walked 5K are not just acceptable starting points, they're honest ones.

This episode pairs directly with the "Shifting the Algorithm" episode on the 1%/year muscle loss statistic. Together, they give you both the why and the how for pushing back against "all things being equal."

The formula: (Push-ups + Pull-ups) ÷ (5K time in minutes − Plank time in minutes) = Personal Performance Quotient

Topics covered: fitness test for people over 50, VO2 max, strength training after 50, push-up test, 5K fitness, plank test, personal performance quotient, measuring fitness in midlife, longevity and exercise, muscle loss after 40, all things being equal, cardiovascular fitness, functional fitness over 60, health metrics second half of life, not done yet, self-assessment fitness, midlife fitness baseline, physical health tracking, strength and endurance balance

Here is article that provides alternatives to the 5K along with examples for how to calculate your Personal Performance Indicator.

Reach out anytime with questions or ideas - Results@CatalystCoaching360.com

Tap into the BetterPath Substack series on unlocking life's second half here.

Access industry-leading, nationally board certified health, wellness & high performance coaching for yourself or your team here.

Transcript

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Let's start this episode with a quick thought experiment. Imagine someone handed you a simple four-part self-assessment. No gym membership required, no special equipment, no lab, no trainer, and it gave you a personalized snapshot of two of the most important physical indicators of health and longevity as we move through this second half of life. And then imagine that same assessment, repeated, I don't know, two, three times a year, give you a clear, objective read on whether you're trending in the right direction. Sound interesting? And here's the part I want you to stay with me on. It doesn't matter where you're starting. At all. Because this is all about you versus you. It's not a comparison to your friend, your brother, coworker, or anyone else. This is you versus you, but it brings reality to the whole conversation. I'm Dr. Brad Cooper, co-founder of Catalyst Coaching 360, the nation's premier health, wellness, and performance organization since 2007. And I'm also your fellow traveler on this journey through life's second half as I'm moving into my 60s. I believe we have a unique opportunity through this phase if we lean in with purpose and open ourselves up to the awaiting possibilities. Thank you. Thank you for joining me on this journey. Today I'm going to walk you through something I call the personal performance quotient, a simple, free, and entirely self-directed tool for tracking two of the most beneficial and critical physical markers in the second half of life. And please remember, I'm not here to provide medical advice, so please discuss this with your physician before jumping in. In fact, that's probably a really good idea. If this was something you brought into your physical that you're doing annually, I hope it could be an incredibly beneficial bonus to that conversation. Now, various challenges get momentum among friends or via social media all the time. Maybe it's a 30-day steps challenge or getting your first 10K or travel onto the calendar, or maybe something a little lighter, a no news week, an unplugged weekend, a singing the shower commitment. All of it's fair game. The energy around these types of things are real and it's worth channeling intentionally. But if you've been looking for something meaningful to anchor the physical side of that fresh energy, today's episode, what we're going to talk about is exactly what you've been looking for. We're releasing this mid-year, making a great time to create that baseline. But frankly, it's a lot like the old saying about the best time to plant a tree being 20 years ago and the second best time today. Same thing here. So let's talk about how you can plant this valuable tree in your life today. For those of us in life's second half, two physical markers stand out above the rest in terms of their connection to longevity, quality of life, and function. Those are strength and VO2 Max. We've talked before about the 1% per year muscle loss after the age of 40 and the fact that all things being equal is the critical qualifier. VO2 Max, your body's ability to utilize oxygen during intense effort, that's one of the gold standards for cardiorespiratory fitness. Multiple studies have been linked to longer lifespan, cognitive function, and quality of life. If you want to get technical, for every 3.5 milliliters per kilogram per minute increase in BO2 max, okay, that's about 10% for the average person, research shows a 13% decrease in all cause mortality. These two markers, strength and cardiorespiratory fitness, aren't just gym metrics, they are life metrics. What if you had a simple, no-cost, personalized way to track both? Something you could put on your calendar a couple times a year and then come back to consistently to see how you're doing. You do. Or you're about to. Here's how the personal performance quotient works. There are four components. That's it. First one, total consecutive push-ups. Complete it within two minutes. Second, total consecutive pull-ups within one minute. And if you're saying, well, where am I going to get a pull-up bar? Any park. Any park, you're good. Third, your time to walk, jog, or run of 5K, 3.1 miles, or that's about 12 and a half laps around a standard track if you prefer to stay off the roads. And fourth, how long you can hold a plank position? Up to five minutes. Now, I can already hear some of you saying, pull-ups? Pull-ups? I can't do pull-ups. That is completely fine. You can just write zero for that one. You're not done yet, remember? That's what you're here for. This is not a fitness test with a passing grade. It's a baseline. It's your baseline. And for what it's worth, the inability to do a pull-up, that's pretty much the starting baseline for most of the population. So you're in great company. Zero is a perfectly legitimate starting point. It just means that first pull-up when it comes will be one of the more satisfying moments of your year. The same goes for every other element. Haven't done a 5K in a decade or ever? That's okay. Walk the whole thing. Write down the time. That's your number. Can only hold a plank for 15 seconds? Great. 15 seconds it is. The point is not where you start. The point is that you start and that you have a real number from which you can build. Once you have all four of those, here's the simple formula. And we'll include this in the description section of this episode so you can see it. A lot of you are probably driving or on your stationary bike or whatever while you're listening to this. You're going to add your push-ups and pull-ups together. That's your numerator. Then you're going to take your 5K time in minutes and subtract your plank time in minutes. That's your denominator. And then you'll divide the first by the second, and that's your personal performance quotient. Let's do a quick example. Let's say you do eight push-ups, one pull-up, you walk run the 5K in 30 minutes, and you hold a plank for 30 seconds. That gives you 9 divided by 29.5, a score of about 0.3. That's your benchmark. Then a few months later, after some consistent training and trying these things out and working them into your schedule, you're up to 15 push-ups, two pull-ups, a 60-second plank, and your 5K time has dropped all the way to 28 minutes. So now it's 17 divided by 27 for a score of 0.63. That's more than double your original number. That's not a small thing. That's a meaningful, measurable progress earned by someone who started off with one pull-up and a walked 5K. On the other end of the spectrum, someone deep into consistent training might start off with 45 push-ups, 10 pull-ups, a two-minute plank, and a 21-minute 5K for a score of 2.89. What the quotient reveals for that person is where the gap lives. If the 5K time is dragging down the result, cardiorespiratory work is the priority. If the push-ups and pull-ups are the weak link, strength training needs more attention. The personal performance quotient rewards balance. It doesn't flatter the speedy runner who never lifts weights and has no strength, nor the gym regular who's never tested their endurance. It gives everyone a true and broad picture. One more thing worth emphasizing: you set the rules on the specifics. As long as you stay consistent with yourself over time. Push-up depth, you decide. Leg kick on the pull-up, your call. This is you versus you. The number is only meaningful in comparison to your own previous number, not your coworker, brother, or friend. And that's exactly the point. We are reminded constantly that we lose 1% of our muscle mass and functional performance each year after 40. All things being equal. But as we've discussed, all things don't have to be equal. We have a choice. And now we have a new tool in the toolbox to push back against that equal sign. Put the four assessments on your calendar, get your baseline, and then a few months from now, get back out there and see how you're doing. Get a new comparison. Now you have a tool. Easy to do, no cost, and a huge benefit as you move forward. Thanks for joining me here on the Not Done Yet podcast. Now, it's time for those pondering prompts that you've been waiting for. And remember, these are for journaling, these are for conversation with friends, these are for maybe a small group discussion, but these are to try to take what we've just discussed and move them into application, move them in the forefront of why we're doing what we're doing and the path that we're walking through this second half. So number one, your starting line. Before you calculate anything, sit with this question. What story are you currently telling yourself about where you are physically? Is it accurate? Or has it become a quiet excuse for not finding out? Zero pull-ups and a walked 5K are honest starting points. You did it! What would it mean to trade the fictional story for an actual number, regardless of what that number turns out to be? Number two, even before you run the full assessment, you likely already have a sense of where your gap lives. More strength, more cardiovascular fitness. Which side of that equation do you tend to avoid, downplay, or skip? What might it look like to give that neglected side just a couple of sessions per week for the next 90 days and see what the numbers say? And then number three, the accountability partner. Who is the one person in your life, a friend, spouse, sibling, training partner, who might benefit from establishing their own baseline alongside you? Not to compare numbers to you, this is personalized, but to share in the commitment to check in on progress that you're each making and celebrate the improvements together. What might it look like to reach out to that person this week? Until next time, here's to being a catalyst, upward aiming, forward oriented, and not done yet.