Welcome to our December edition, fellow Healthitude enthusiasts!
Thank you for investing a bit of your personal capital to sustain your long-term physical portfolio with a lifeline from my operating system!
When you reach the bottom of this article, you will find attractive Deals that become a Win-win for the big KAHUNA and for you.
Resolve?
We are halfway through this 2025-2026 Holiday season.
How are you doing, physically and mentally, at this Halftime show?
- Those two to 5 pounds of added white fat for many Americans are harder to shed as we age. ‘Tis far better to avoid the storage of white fat – unless you plan to be a member of the next Donner Party…
Naughty and Nice
Here’s hope that those North Pole elves have you covered.
Please be uber-nice to those strangers, acquaintances, and compadres with whom you chinwag through and beyond this most wonderful time of the Year.
Well, whether the Holidays (Hannukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Festivus…) are truly wonderful depends on matters within and beyond our control. So, let’s commit to working on those factors that we can control – like mental anguish, loneliness, and poor lifestyle choices. Surely I know that you get plenty of coaching from Madison Avenue and digital sources about Holiday Happiness.
- I pile on with my counsel that motion and sweat can tackle the causes of Holiday unhappiness. And, it does not take hours to move your muscles and joints or generate happy hormones. Here is one of my “atomic” Holiday habits:
a. before a party or social event – I do 25 bodyweight squats, 25 pushups, and 25 Dead Bug moves.
- Granted, these are all in our sagittal (front to back) planes of motion. Yet I said “atomic”, didn’t I? If you go for the gusto before the fruitcake, eggnog, glögg, or lutefish helpings, add sets of side-to-side and twisting motions. Trust me that these little efforts count toward your enduring physical portfolio.
Recall that a prime reason for failing resolutions is that folks choose goals that are too ambitious and actions are too irregular. Yes, we can fix that!
Hoosier Daddy
Curt “I win, Google it” Cignetti is my unquestioned Coach of the Year. Talk about turnarounds! About-facing from the role of biggest loser in NCAA football history to this year’s undefeated Big Dog is remarkable.
Coach Cignetti is a mastermind of process. His key point for us aging athletes is that it is far more important to adapt and to work smarter than it is to work harder. I commend to you today’s Wall Street Journal article that highlighted Coach C’s adaptive, work-smarter system. Yes, it is important to do the work in that safe zone of your Dose-Response curve. When there, remember to adapt and make your movements count rather than count your movements. Go IU!
Stocking Stuff
This month, as we reflect on the past year and look forward to new beginnings, we’re focusing on the foundational element of Strength and a critical health topic: Hypertension.
Let’s dive in and keep our Healthspan UNAbated!
1. 
Medical Section: Avoid High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
Hypertension (High Blood Pressure, or HBP) is often called the “silent killer” because it frequently has no outward developmental symptoms. However, it significantly increases your risk for both a heart attack and a stroke. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is your best defense!
- Dietary Changes: Follow the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, focusing on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean proteins, and limiting saturated and total fats.
- Sodium Reduction: Aim for less than 1 teaspoon of sodium per day, especially if you have HBP. – which too many countrymen do! Read nutrition labels carefully, as processed and ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are a major source. Fact: We Americans average 2 teaspoons of sodium a day. Even if you sweat a lot from healthy exercise, it is prudent to consume and absorb “right” levels of sodium from natural foods.
- Exercise: Get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (like brisk walking) or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week. Note that these are our Government’s “blanket” guidelines for Joe and Jill Six Pack. Many of you readers safely exceed these weekly guideline totals.
- Limit Alcohol: For those who drink, it is prudent to limit intake to two drinks per day for men and one for women – or less. The jury is still out as to whether abstinence is a healthitude booster. For now, practically follow the adage that moderation is key!
- Know Your Numbers: Regular blood pressure checks are essential. A normal blood pressure reading is generally considered below 120/80 mmHg when you are at rest.
2. 
7-S Segment: Focus on STRENGTH
Strength is more than just lifting weights; it’s the foundational enabler for two other S’s in our framework – Stability and Stamina as we age. Building and maintaining muscle mass offers tangible benefits well past forty:
- Boosted Metabolism: Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat, even at rest.
- Better Bone Health: Resistance exercises put needed stress on your bone matrices, stimulates bone density, and reduces risk of osteopenia/osteoporosis.
- Improved Balance and Coordination: Stronger muscles support joint mobility, helping to prevent falls. Or, if a fall occurs, those sarcomeres serve as capable shock absorbers. Remember that rehearsed exercises for our neuromuscular systems and proprioception (as your sixth sense) are your flexible insurance riders.
- Functional Fitness: Makes everyday activities—like carrying groceries or standing up from a chair—safer and easier.
Action Step: Incorporate 2 full-body strength training sessions per week if you are a Kaboomer. If you are a GenX, then 3 is your “go to” number of sessions per seek. Use resistance bands, free weights, or even your own body weight (squats, push-ups).
Repeat after me as your guide, resisted motion is fine medicine!
3. 
Myth Buster: The “Younger You” Myth
Myth: The key to longevity is trying to look, act, and exercise exactly as you did when you were 20-something.
Fact: Attempting to replicate your youthful self can lead to injury and burnout. The key to successful longevity is rational Adaptation and Consistency. Your body is constantly changing, but it remains incredibly adaptable. Take another look at Coach Cignetti’s winning recipe in this article to reinforce this point.
- Focus on Healthspan, not just Lifespan: Prioritize exercises and habits that maintain your quality of life and ability to function independently, rather than chasing a personal best from decades ago.
- Embrace Progressive Overload: Keep challenging your body safely (e.g., gradually increasing weight or distance), but always listen to what your body needs, including adequate recovery.
4. 
X Factors from KABOOMER, Strong to Save, and soon Burden? or Banish
X Factor aren’t secret pills, or fountains of youth. Rather, these “‘lil bit extras” can help us on our continuing adventures, with long-term returns in our physical portfolios.
Today’s subjective X Factor is Adopting a Growth Mindset and Purpose. With purposeful and immersive efforts- rather than brain-dead ones – (such as volunteering, mentoring, or mastering a new skill), your brain stays engaged, your stress levels decrease, and your motivation to maintain physical health soars. Purpose fuels Healthitude.
5. 
Dave’s Latest Checkout: Fitness Watches
This month, I’m highlighting the Apple Fitness Watch (or similar smartwatches/fitness trackers). These devices are powerful computational and tracking assets to monitor and motivate your Healthitude journey:
- Activity Rings/Goals: Provides a visual, satisfying way to track daily movement, exercise, stress levels and resilience and step counts.
- Heart Rate Monitoring: This watch function is crucial for tracking heart health, especially for those managing or preventing conditions like HBP (Hypertension) and even A-fibrillation. Remember that any device can offer false positives and miss actual occurrences.
- Sleep Tracking: Offers insight into the quality and duration of your restorative sleep. Yes, light sleep counts. Yet, Deep Sleep and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) segments are invaluable.
- Fall Detection: A powerful safety feature that can automatically call emergency services if a serious fall is detected.
Tip: Use accessory data that the watch provides as insight, not as a stick to beat yourself with. Progress and favorable trends are our game for life!
6. 
Healthitude Humor
Why did the 40-year-old weightlifter break up with the 20-something cardio enthusiast?
He said their relationship didn’t have enough resistance!
7. 
December’s Fitness Haiku
Cold wind blows outside,
Strong muscles defy the frost,
Warm purpose remains!
8. 
Join Us in the Big KAHUNA Movement!
The KAHUNA Movement is about collective commitment to Keeping America’s Healthspan UNAbated.
We reject the notion that accelerated or “normal” decline is inevitable. We are committed to strength, stability, and purpose! Yes, we can change the nation’s trajectory of glothic behaviors, and prevent preventable dis-eases. Yes! We can chase yesterdays of 7-12 vital years. Trust me.
What is a personal KAHUNA Commitment?
- Know Your Numbers (Blood pressure, cholesterol, weight).
- Actively Engage in Strength Training and Stamina efforts.
- Hydrate properly.
- Under-eat (situationally leverage Intermittent fasting and/or calorie moderation).
- Nurture Restorative Sleep.
- Adopt a Life of Purpose.
Are you ready to become part of a Big KAHUNA? Share this newsletter with friends who are also dedicated to thriving well past forty. Let’s inspire the nation!
Here is the Deal (cited in your welcome above)
By joining the big KAHUNA movement and our mailing list by MLK’s Holiday (Monday, January 19th 2026) –
- you will receive from Well Past Forty LLC a digital copy of either Kaboomer or Strong to Save as your Healthitude operating system and guide,
- You will be eligible for a Buy one Get one (BOGO) Deal when our new FutureFit online training package is released in 2026,
- You will be eligible for a Half-price offer for my new Book, Burden? or Banish! to be released in 2026.
Stay #strongtosave. Stay #wellpastforty.
Back with you next month for 2026’s first newsletter,
Dave Frost