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| Less is more than enough! |
Isabelle and I are often asked what we do in terms of maintaining a healthy body. People are stunned at how little exercise we do (45 minutes/week) and how we keep it simple to achieve our results. I’ll go over the basics of our nutrition, sleep, physical activity, and exercise.
Nutrition first: We follow what resembles a mediterranean diet for two reasons:
Food variety (makes it easier follow as part of your lifestyle)
Nutritional science continues to show the benefits of food variety.
In short, the best diet anyone can follow is the one that involves healthy foods, reasonable portions and one that you will be able to follow as part of your lifestyle.
TIP on nutrition: If you want to lose weight, just start by reducing ONE meal a day by 1/4 in size, add another meal after a you plateau in your weight loss.
Great resource on eating habits (no diets involved):
Fat Loss Habits: The No Bullsh*t Guide to Losing Weight
Sleep: Research over the past 100 years overwhelmingly shows that we all need 7 hours of sleep (for most it’s 8 hours) and a fixed schedule where we go to sleep at the same time daily. We focus on doing both.
Great resource on the science of sleep: Why We Sleep
Physical activity: We aim to get 10 000 steps per day via walking. We get our steps through walking to work, going for walks, but you can add steps from just parking farther away, using stairs instead of elevators, and finding any excuse to add a few extra steps throughout the day. It all adds up.
TIP on physical activity: Try adding 1000 steps/day for 4 weeks; then add another 1000 until you get to 8000. This has been shown to give excellent benefits. From there, decide if you want to do more or keep it at 8000.
Exercise: Resistance training is key. If you were going to change just one of the 4 habits listed, this is the one studies have shown to be most beneficial and important for long term health benefits.
People are stunned that we spend only around 45 minutes per week in the gym. How is that possible? Simple - results with resistance training are about effort and not time.
Key concepts:
Push your muscles to their limit (going to failure)
Do one set per muscle, until you can’t do another repetition.
This type of training delivers a ton of full-body benefits: cardiovascular, hormones, bones, brain, strength, muscles, and so forth.
When people ask for a “wonder drug” for health, research since the early 1900s has shown it to be resistance training; it takes VERY little time per week to get PROFOUND benefits, as long as you tax your muscles to their limit.
Here is an example of Isabelle going to failure for biceps using dumbbells.
That was one set and the only exercise she did for her biceps that week.
Anyone of any age can do this! See how Barbara Walters started doing this style of resistance training at 80.
TIPS on training:
Aim for one total body workout per week, doing 1 slow and controlled set per muscle, lasting approx. 90 seconds before you reach failure. Be sure to train the following muscle groups:
Back, chest, shoulders, abdominals, triceps, biceps, legs, and calves. It can be done with free weights, machines, bands, or just your body weight.
A workout can be done in under 30 minutes. If you’re interested in a more in-depth look, click here for a post I made that shows what we did from 2018-2024. (In 2025, we added a second mini-workout per week.)
Do exercises YOU enjoy. If you don’t like it, you won’t be motivated. There are easily 10 or more exercises per body part you can choose from that are effective; stick with the ones you like. Here’s a database of exercise videos using free weights and machines.
Focus on getting 1 good quality workout/week; if you have energy for more, a second workout will provide optimal benefits.
A short article on resistance training: Strength Training Frequency, Less is more than enough
A book on the science of resistance training with exercises suggestions: Body by Science
That’s it!
To sum it up, the keys to healthy aging are:
Nutrition
Sleep
Physical activity (i.e. walking)
Brief and infrequent resistance training at a high intensity
7 comments:
Good job Isabelle and Ricky!
Thanks!
Very clear INFO, LIKE IT
Noted and shared with Family! Thanks!
Looking great guys! Thank you for sharing, Ricky.
I have a few questions, I figured I’d ask them publicly to continue in the spirit of sharing.
The one workout per week stands out to me. I currently do resistance training splits 5x per week for about 25 minutes per evening, focusing on 6 exercises per session, most repeated for 3 sets. 1x per week hitting all the groups for one set until failure sounds a lot more tempting, easier to manage and motivate for, and much less exhausting. But I’m not in the same shape you’re in and I’m wondering if your schedule works so well for you maintaining your current physique, but if more might be needed for those of us who still have some transformation to do? Put simply, if you had my current physique, would your current routine eventually get you to where you are now, or did you have to do more in the past to get here and are now maintaining it?
Other than the 10,000 steps and the cardiovascular exercise from resistance training, do you do any other intentional cardio? I currently will myself through a cardio lunch routine every day that I work from home. Some kickboxing, burpees, running and jumping on a rebounder, and then the stationary bike. It’s a grind, every single time. Is there a beautiful world where in fact these cardio sessions are unnecessary or even detrimental to my progress?
Do you count calories and protein? If so, do you try to eat at a caloric deficit or surplus? And what is your target for protein consumption? I presently TRY to eat a caloric deficit while still consuming 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (usually via a combination of lean meat, casein, and high quality whey isolate).
What about other supplements? Any creatine? We’ve discussed HRT before and I still intend to get tested, but I do have indications that suggest my levels are likely still within a range that won’t qualify for supplementation. I’ve also been reading about HGH peptides, like sermorelin. Do you have any experience with those that you can comment on?
Thanks again 😊
About your training; you are doing too much and the fact that it’s a mental grind and "exhausting" is a clear indicator. You’re too tired to build muscle and get stronger.
I made the best gains of my life when I switched to once per week, I was doing twice per week for a total of 6 sets per body part and it just was not working. After switching to this style, my strength went up 25-35% on ALL my lifts within the first 6 months (same for Isabelle). This was all at 45. It goes to show my potential was not reached, because I was too tired to truly tax my muscle and then let it rest to grow. I go into more details on training here: https://ricky-ryan.blogspot.com/2020/05/how-i-stay-fit-and-healthy-on-less-than.html
I WISH I could have started this from my first day of training in my teens.
About cardio; If it’s a “grind” as you say, that reads to me as an indicator of doing too much, in such cases it’s detrimental (especially for putting on muscle). For us, we want to be in good health, including our heart, but we’re not looking at being performance athletes. With that said, when you do this type of training, your heartrate will skyrocket when you end your set. Plus, the elevated heart rate from walking is sufficient for very good general health as it’s usually 40-50 bpm over your resting hear rate. If you’re curious, listen to this podcast https://highintensitybusiness.com/andy-magness-pushing-the-limit
About calories; Isabelle does not count calories and I only count my breakfast and lunch when I go to work. I don’t count at night or on my days off , but IT IS NOT NECESSARY. What I tell people is if you want to lose weight, take 1-2 meals per day and just reduce your portion by 1/4, see where that takes you and then reduce some more as needed for further weight loss.
I eat enough to stay at my current leanness and weight.
About protein; we aim for the recommended 1.5 grams per kilogram. The latest research has shown that 1.5 kg is more than sufficient, EVEN for a bodybuilder. Whey protein is an excellent source, but don’t get fussy on the type, yes Isolate is the highest quality, but it’s expensive. A simple whey is sufficient. We use Leanfit.ca Whey Protein, it's among the most affordable and known for its quality.
About supplements; I did not mention it in my post because in reality it really amounts to very little in terms of benefits if you have a balanced diet and if your goal is general health. With that said, we do take creatine (5 grams), multi vitamin/mineral, magnesium and vitamin D as we’ve both shown to be in the low range for vitamin D.
About HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy); GET CHECKED! That can be life changing if you have symptoms, a good practitioner focuses on the symptoms and not just numbers.
About Peptides; don’t bother, they’re too expensive and the research is still ongoing on their benefits, good or bad.
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