Tag: Thrive and Strive

Staying Well Past Forty in Febrero

February 3rd, 2026
Thrive and Strive into your 90s • Issue 2026-01

Feb 7, 2026

Do you recall that the name of our shortest month of each year comes from Ancient Rome’s celebration of purification and atonement, called Februalia? Who is ready for atonement and purification – before and after:
1. Super Bowl LX this Sunday
2. Girl Scout cookie consumption
3. Valentine’s Day bubbly and irresistible chocolate?
Credit: Nano Banana

Your Heart!

Ah, it is that time to help my Live Well San Diego volunteers screen our community members for Blood Pressure and to coach about ways to Love Their Hearts.

Cupid Chocolate

Hmmm, Did Hallmark Cards and Willy Wonka invent this great American Holiday?

I’ll begin by sharing that I get behind Valentine’s Day far better than I support Punxsutawney Phil’s shadowy prognostics yesterday. 🙂

Duh –

Next, what’s not to LOVE about a day with its roots in a mix of: ancient Roman, pagan, and Christian traditions? Now, that is diversity! Fertility and pairing certainly come in varied sizes, shapes and colors – don’t they?

I’m told that “VD” dually originated from the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia in mid-February, and the martyrdom of Saint Valentine on February 14th in the year 270 AD.

I reckon that a buying trip to SEE’s Candies is a better way to celebrate with Cupid, then it is to be clubbed, beaten and beheaded as Saint Valentine was….

What’s not to love about a snuggly day with moderate consumption of healthy dark chocolate, and a little break from a eating-to-live lifestyle? I argue that I won’t become a glutton as long as I quickly reboard the wellness train.

Supplement of da Month

You know my experiential bent for sharing – right? It is in my nature to transform scientific knowledge to practicality to help you on your journey..

Within that context, let’s examine Fenugreek and learn from my year-long trial, plus leverage centuries of Ayurvedic and Chinese healing.

Fenugreek herbs sniff-test like maple syrup and offer no-kidding benefits for your metabolic health. Here are the three biggest reasons why it’s worth remembering as a natural supplement:

🌱 1. It’s Buffers your blood sugar: Fenugreek seeds are high in soluble fiber. This helps slow carbohydrate absorption and may improve how your body handles insulin.

🤱 2. It’s a New Mom Favorite: It is widely used traditionally to help boost milk supply during breastfeeding.

🔥 3. Drumroll – Fenugreek Just Might Boost Libido: Some smaller credible studies suggest fenugreek may support healthy testosterone levels and libido in men.

Fun Fact: If you amp up your ingestion of Fenugreek, you might smell faintly of maple syrup, says this Vermonter. And, guys might get a little bump for their sexercise too.

Do chat with your MD or Care Team before starting a new supplement or ergogenic, particularly if you are managing blood sugar issues.

Jejune

Today, this word jejune suggests that something or someone is uninteresting or dry. Closer to its Latin origin, jejunus meant Fasting – which is the reason for my paragraph of sharing.

As your personal KaBoomer Lab Rat and Field Mouse, I have tried time-restricted eating (TRE) for 18-24 hour periods once a week in this New Year.
- My principal reason is to learn and share.
- Yet, I also believe a little hunger is very good for our bodily systems to counteract cellular senescence (I do drink water and coffee, so it is not a total FASTING period – a la Ramadan).
- Take a moment to read why Autophagy is important for healthy aging in my personaltrainertoday blog, or in the valid research from “Doctor Google”.
- My quicklook?
  - Yes, I jigger my daily energy equation by missing two meals.
  - Yes, my HR, HRV and resilience are favorably changed.
  - Yes, the lining of my gut has a healing, rather than working window.
  - Yes, my “Dolphin Brain” is more engaged, and I do better on NY Times puzzles under the influence of TRE.
  - No, I do not perform heavy resistance training or HIIT when fasted, as there is a likelihood of going catatonic.
Unless your medical care team says, NO, I suggest that you give it a whirl as did I. Using the active process of autophagy (called exercise to sweat), and the passive lifestyle process of time restricted eating – you just might defer or avoid a Nursing Home. More about that is available in the podcast that Pamela Wilson and I had in CoVid days (2021)

7s.fit.com!

Be on the Lookout for our Soft Launch of my comprehensive training and education package caleed 7s.fit (for my 7-Ss for thriving and striving).

. Of course, my early adopters will enjoy significant savings and extras! I guarantee that, as you’ve earned those with your loyalty.

Adios for this month.

Do keep your cards and letters 🙂 coming my way.

If you are reading a newsletter for the very first time,

Please join the Big KAHUNA movement!

Reach out @ info@wellpastforty.com

Copyrighted by Well Past Forty ^TM
Contact me: dave@wellpastforty.com
+1 858.925.3895
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December ’25 Deals

December 10th, 2025
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.
  - Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Heart Age estimation are also vital measures for trending!
- 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) –
1. 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,
2. You will be eligible for a Buy one Get one (BOGO) Deal when our new FutureFit online training package is released in 2026,
3. 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
250 is Nifty!

October 13th, 2025

As one proud Veteran of America’s Navy, I shout out to all ~ 3.5 million living Navy and Naval Reserve veterans on this special October 13th, 2025 birthday celebration. It is no surprise to me that units of our Atlantic Fleet converged on Philadelphia, as the City of Brotherly Love, for prominent celebrations and festivities. I will be grateful if you take a few moments to read the Presidential Proclamation for the founding of America’s Navy.

Two and 1/2 Centuries

You may not recognize some names of Naval Committee principals of the Second Continental Congress: Silas Deane, John Langdon, and Christopher Gadsen. I reckon that you do recognize the name of John Adams, who later became our second president. In Fact, President Adams wrote the US Navy into Law in 1798. Get this, the original authorization was for two (2!) sailing ships to counter Britannia and King George’s armada.

[Note: Next month, I will give another Huzzah! for US Marine Corps veterans on November 10th for their own 250th birthday celebration. Then my colors will certainly be flown on Veterans’ (formerly Armistice Day) on November 11th].

A Pirate or a Sailor?

You may recall a maxim by Steve Jobs of Apple and Silicon Valley fame. He told his Macintosh workforce in 1983 that it was better to be a pirate than a sailor.

My response is that I want America’s navymen and women to be hybrid sailors and pirates. Operate with sworn tyrust and loyalty, honor, and obedience – for sure – from a sailor’s duty. Yet, I want our seaborne warfighters to be adventurous and non-traditional, while honoring the lifelines of our Department of the Navy.

Hybrid Sailors

John F. Kennedy was a 20th century profile of courage in his own right as the young skipper of PT-109 in Solomon Island waters of World War II.

We know of the unsung heroism of these two 21st-century sailors who gave their all for the country they served and loved:

Michael P. Murphy

Michael Monsoor

Both of the Navy SEAL Medal of Honor recipients now have combatant ships named after them.

Many CrossFit folks tackle a “Murph” workout on Memorial Day. I am not focusing on the tough bodyweight crucible aspect of the full-up “MURPH”.

Rather, I focus on the resilience of Murphy and Monsoor that was honed in the uncomfortable cold surf, wet Coronado sand, and the boat crew carriage of heavy inflatable rafts after crewmates rang the bell.

Is there a parallel with those of us who do uncomfotable things every day to challenge ourselves? I argue that there is.

Being STRONG TO SAVE is selfless work. Functional strengths and mental toughness are very much in the spirit of mastering oneself to better serve others. There is a very good reason wht the US Navy Hymn begins with this line, “Eternal Father Strong to Save”. Strong to Save is a very special mantra for seafarers.

Even in today’s modern Navy, it takes strength and stamina, plus mental toughness to peacekeep, to conduct expeditionary operations in adverse conditions, to endure lengthy deployments, and to persevere.

Credit:

Navymen and women are trained to tackle something strange, new, or uncomfortable every day. Shouldn’t you and I?

Happy 250th Birthday to America’s Navy!

Stay Well Past Forty,

DF
Your Well Past Forty Wire

August 21st, 2025
August, 2025

A big thank you

Opting in to a monthly “Wire” from Well Past Forty LLC and me is your act of trust. For that trust, I am grateful. These Wires are not marketing or sales-oriented. I’m not sellin’ nuttin’ – to coin a phrase.

I am sharing vetted information and knowledge to help you gain and sustain your healthitude. Think sweat-based and science-backed!

Peptides?!

If you are like me, you have recently seen and heard much ado about “ buzzy” Peptides as ergogenic nutrients for muscle gain, weight loss, skin support, and more.

What the heck are Peptides?

Let’s start bottom-up with four organic elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Recall that ~90 percent of our healthy bodies constituted these four elements.

With the right chemical bonds, these elements can form vital biochemical building blocks for us that are called amino acids. What is an amine, and what is an acid?

Well, an amine is a molecule that has nitrogen (N), that is it.

An acid is a molecule that can accept electrons and form “covalent” chemical bonds. An acid does not always contain Hydrogen. An acid turns blue litmus paper red, and has a pH of 7 or less. The lower the pH, te “more acidic” is the substance. An acid often can taste sour – like citric acid. Yet don’t be cavalier in tasting possible acids – trust me.

These four [C,H,O, and N] elements can form nine (9) essential and eleven 11 non-essential amino acids that scientists know of. All can be found in macronutrients, or the 11 non-essential amino acids are fabricated in our quite amazing bodies.

The essential amino acids – nine of ‘em – cannot be made in our GI system, so we need to consume complete essential amino acids from individual food items or from groups of macronutrients. Yes, it is possible for vegans to consume adequate amino acids…

The mnemonic PVT TIM HILL helps folks remember most or all of our nine essential AAs –

P – Phenylalanine

V – Valine

T – Threonine

T – Tryptophan

I – Isoleucine

M – Methionine

H – Histidine

I – LeucIne (note that this second ‘I’ in the mnemonic is stylized to make the PVT TIM HILL acronym work)

L – Lysine (We skip the last “L” in HILL 🙂)

Brick Building

From little building blocks to impressive 3-D structures, here is a physical metaphor for how amino acids, peptides, and proteins are constructed::

Amino Acids are Individual bricks: Imagine them as the individual, unique bricks you have in your bin. Each brick has a slightly different shape or “color” appendage that gives it unique properties. Let’s take Leucine as an example, with essential AA food sources like these to promote muscle synthesis and growth:

Credit: Optimising Nutrition

Sarcopenia is the result of insufficient muscle synthesis from aging, underuse, or glandular dysfunctions. Most adult Americans, particularly baby boomer women are protein (and leucine deficient).

Next, Peptides are short “2 dimensional” brick-to-brick constructs of amino acids: Peptides can be from 2 to around 50 amino acids in length. Peptides are your simpler creations. If you were using a certain Danish version of plastic bricks, you could make a railroad, or a planar surface. Peptides have specific jobs in the body, like as hormones or signaling molecules.
- An artificial sweetener – aspartame – is a dipeptide of 2 amino acids.
- Glutathione is a very important tripeptide
- Long polypeptides – or those peptide chains of up to ~ 50 amino acids then become classified as proteins. Some proteins in our bodies can be formed from thousands of peptides. Now, that is POLY! These “polygons” have folded, three-dimensional shapes instead of linear chains.
Proteins (Long, Complex LEGO Structures): Proteins are much larger and more complex structures made by linking together a lot of amino acids (usually 50 or more, sometimes hundreds or even thousands!). Crucially, these long chains then fold up into very specific and often intricate three-dimensional shapes. This folding is essential for them to do their job. Think of a protein as a highly detailed, functional LEGO castle or spaceship. These complex structures allow proteins to perform a huge variety of functions in your body, from building tissues (like collagen) to carrying oxygen (like hemoglobin) to speeding up chemical reactions (like enzymes).

In a healthy walnut shell:
- Amino acids: The individual building blocks.
- Peptides: Short chains of amino acids.
- Proteins: “Long and folded “3D” structures of 50 or more amino acids.
Danger Zone !

Prolonged use of what seems to be goodness may very well have its dark and dangerous side. Trust me.

Quoting Hone Health, “Long-term effects of many peptides remain poorly understood. Although some studies have demonstrated benefits such as increased lean body mass and improved body composition (in populations with clinical need for the drugs), these gains have not consistently translated to enhanced muscle strength, physical performance, or overall quality of life.

“Data on the safety and efficacy of such therapies over decades are lacking, creating uncertainty about their role in chronic use,” Roberts says. “while short-term outcomes appear favorable, the cumulative risks associated with prolonged GH manipulation remain a significant concern.”

Remember that I ask each committed Strong to Save person to be a true student or your endeavor, and to only take risks for which you are accountable. Period.

X Factors

As your experiential coach and operating system tester, I am inevitably on the lookout for X-Factors that I use to enhance my healthitude and to help me down-age. I do not suggest your investment in an X Factor item unless I have tried it and experienced a favorable outcome. For this month’s WIRE, I offer my feedback to you about my positive experiences with:
1. Heat, Vibration, and Red Light Therapy Device or “Sleeve”
2. TENS electrical stimulation unit and
3. Vibration Stands
Mindful of costs, I let you as an informed follower to do your own market survey for “best value” items. It is little surprise that a majority of X-Factor items are built offshore, many in a certain Asian country nicknamed “The Middle Kingdom.” Caveat Emptor.

=> A Heat, Vibration, and Red Light therapy “sleeve” or device may look like this model:

This device is great for my elbows, shoulders and ankles too. USB-rechargeable. The varied light wavelengths have different healing properties. Go ahead and make waves!

=> Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) Unit

These reasonably priced units are USB-chargeable. I have had great success in use of a TENS unit for stimulation and healing.

My acupuncturist used a TENS with her acupuncture needles to promote healing of my Medial Cartilage tear:

=> Vibration Plate or Stand

I use a Vibration Plate for my personal training with a gent who has a spastic paraplegia. I also use the plate for me 🙂 This link provides some Vibration plate models with different features and functions. I spent about $85 for the plate that I’ve very happy with.

Benefits of Vibration may include:

balance, gait, posture, and motor coordination. Muscle strength and mass may also increase. Some reports suggest that a Plate can mollify fibromyalgia.

Safety first, and don’t invest more money than you afford for perceived benefits of X Factor.

August Haiku

Dog Days of Summer

Sirius crossing our Sky

Autumn draws closer.

Benefits of Exercise

As John Wayne’s character once shared on screen, “Life is tough enough without being stupid.”

And, as I believe, our Universe doesn’t exist to do me any favors.

So, what’s a KABOOMER or GenX to do?
- Facing Cancer – Exercise.
- Facing ASCVD – Exercise.
- Staving off Dementia Related Diseases – Exercise.
- Improve Night Life – Sexercise.
- Carve out 7-12 extra healthy years – Exercise.
What’s not to Love?

It is my goal to help you learn to immerse and enjoy your “Motion as Lotion.”

Please contact me to build your habitual success to thrive and strive longer than your peers.

Stay well past forty,

Dave F.
Flag and our Fathers

June 13th, 2025
Good Vibrations

As a first Hold On matter, yesterday marked the passage of the legendary performer Brian Wilson. Brian was the father of two members of a great female singing group called Wilson Phillips.

Wait, Wait

You likely know of Brian as the creative keyboard genius for that niche group named The Beach Boys. Brian was not an ancient surfer. Yet he had health issues as many of us do as our calendar years advance. I’d love to see what Brian’s Epitaph will read… Could the etched-in-stone lesson read,

“God Only Knows”?

Date Check

Watching out for black cats, let’s converge on several calendar dates. I’ll list them and then we’ll think about those and then we’ll get to the subject of staying well past 40.

Courtesy of our Red, White and Blue

I selfishly wish that many other nations would choose flag colors that are not “our” red, white, and blue-hues. By my count, 29 nations missed the exclusitivity memo… Oh well, the Good ‘ol US of A is still numero uno as our world’s policeman and proponent of freedoms.

Flag Day is this Saturday, June 14th. Please put out your Colors, or other flags like a Gold Star flag if you had a heroic member of your family die in the service of our country.

Or perhaps you and I hoist the state of California flag for those of us living in the Golden Bear state.

But Wait

Also coming up is the 250th anniversary of our US Army’s founding. Yes, I tip my cover, yet the US Navy is mentioned in the Constitution while no other branch of our wonderful armed forces is.

Huzzah! For our US Navy with its own 250 years of loyal service that good ‘ol Navy George Washington insisted upon.

The Whites of Their Eyes!

We celebrate the 250th anniversary of that gallant yet losing stand on Bunker Hill and Breeds Hill against British invaders on June 17th, 1775.
- I do not work for either the Charlestown or Boston Chamber of Conmerce, so this is an unbiased suggestion:
On your next trip to the great city of Boston please visit Bunker Hill and Breeds Hill. Our National Park Service has a magnificent display in Charlestown. Count your steps as you climb the famous Bunker Hill obelisk :). Your heart will acknowledge your aerobic efforts!

FREEDOM TRAIL provides a great stroll if the Baaston weather isn’t too hot or rainy in the summer season. Don’t forget your SPF-15 or 30 when you do.

June is Men’s National Health month

What better time is there to talk about the tragedy of American males committing suicide at a lofty and higher rate than do women.

Perhaps our new Health and Human Services folks will figure out some magic to deal with this wastage of American talent. As we hope – please say something if you see something amiss with someone near you!

Summer’s comin’

We’re approaching the summertime. I can tell because our local sunset is now at 8:00 pm, pacific time. In fact, some of you may have taken a walk under the beautiful Strawberry Moon that just graced our June skies. Those of us in the Northern hemisphere’s mid- latitudes start to see longer days for another week until the Summer Solstice.

Let’s be mindful of hydration – like 8×8 consumption – meaning at least 8-8 ounce cups a day. Enjoy appropriate vitamin D exposure too. Being in nature a very healthy thing for heart, mind and body.

Now I do know that folks in the Upper Midwest are experiencing poor air quality due to terrible Canadian wildfires and prevailing winds that are pushing those airborne fire residues southward. Take care of your pulmonary tissues!

However…

I still encourage folks to figure out a way to safely exercise your body even if you step back on aerobic practices to protect your lungs I encourage you to work inside for your resistance training. And always, always work toward better flexibility and stability as part of your no fall insurance policy rider.

If you thought I was going to gloss over that great American holiday – Father’s Day – on Sunday June 15th in the United States – ha, you’re wrong.

Kudos to perhaps the 100 million American males who are called Dad or who are in a position to be a Dad one day.

It’s not an easy job being a dad. This we know in any day and age. But particularly today it seems that dads have to be Masters of so many things in parallel fashion.

Dads. get in a wonderful workout. I suggest that you don’t wash the car. Don’t do any big chores on your special day. Just my counsel…

Self Care Reigns

Rather, loosen up that Bod with a World’s Greatest Stretch, or WGS for short. Here’s a depiction of an uber-fine movement!

Then, I recommend a long slow distance swim in the pool, or a spin on the exercise rower or on a bike. Or take a long walk, perhaps as a little ruck up a hill to get that heart rate elevated. Then, Dad, you can come back down to your surprise gifts from your kids or main squeeze.

Stay well past forty,

DF

ps. See – I did not offer a dad joke or a dad bod joke. There are certainly many out “there” for you to consider – with or without AI help.

df
Our June Gloom Newsgram

June 5th, 2025
Well, May Gray days have passed for those of us in Southern California. And, with our May flowers brought to bloom, some of those allergenic (achoo) histamines that hit folks like me are lessening.

You won’t get complaints from me for that seasonal advancement, nor for the added “eco” presence of bees and monarch butterflies…

June Gloom in my San Diego region is upon us.

When we wake up to dog day summer mornings in July and August we can reflect that cool and gray days of May and June were appreciated.

About the only downside at our home is lesser power generation and energy storage in our solar panel roof system.

Odds Are

Our newsgram addresses what I call our 1-3-5-7 Summer Span Ex. And yes, I hope that we committed folks will make the most of our longer days in the northern hemisphere to thrive and strive a little bit extra. Even for vacation or staycation time… We have more daylight hours to take charge and move out after a rise and shine and of course making our bed. Do contact me if you want more rationale or context for these Odd number Challenges for June.

1 – Move 15% more each day to get ready for the pool or beach.

3 – Make it a 3-D day!

Move in all three of our body planes daily –

a. Front to back (sagittal movements)

b. Side to side (frontal plane movements) and

c. Twisting / Corkscrew (transverse plane efforts.)

5 – Move your body isotonically with 5 types of resisted movements
1. Lift things
2. Push Things
3. Pull Things
4. Twist while holding things and
5. Carry things.
7 – No, I don’t ask you to pursue extra METAs on all seven days of the week, or on the Beatles’ 8 days a week 🙂

I do suggest that you and I take a META holiday one day each week. (I use the term META to mean Metabolic Equivalent of Tasks and Activity.) I made a separate post that details this caloric accounting system for our physical banking.

Again, I don’t mean total skipping of motion on your “off day.”

I do mean a taper day with some stretching, plus balancing acts, so to speak, for spatial awareness/fall prevention, and perhaps a little bodyweight work in your activity of daily life (ADL).

When you resume your HEALTHITUDE movements on the following day, you will be revitalized.

Rest and Restoration are important at any any, yet more so when those calendar years creep up on us. Trust me…

Span Ex

7. And, the last entry in our 1-3-5-7 Rubric is a combination of Upgrade and X-Factors in my new book, Burden? Or Banish!

Are you ready, Healthituders?
1. Mentalspan (yup – Mind-Body Alignment or MBA reminder to treat your hippocampi well.)
2. Socialspan (No man or woman is an island – right? The social aspect of pickleball is nearly as important as the physical activity.)
3. Strongspan (Commit to 2 or 3 dedicated sessions of moving stuff or isometric muscle contractions every week. I do 2X/week, at my calendar age of 72. Gen X or younger may do nicely with 3 resistance workouts weekly.)
4. Windspan (strive for at least 15% more aerobic motion above our Government’s guidelines). And I quote, “Adults who sit less and perform any amount of moderate to vigorous activity achieve some health benefits.”
5. Gutspan (treat your microbiome well and use respect the undeniable linkage of food and vitality since antiquity. Don’t contibute to our Inflammation Nation!)
6. PNSspan (enhance parasympathetic feed and restore efforts including restorative sleep, as opposed to chronic fight or flight stressors)
7. Safespan (Remember that your living to 100 calculator highlights proper use of seat belts, dental floss, and sunscreen. Limit your exposure to forever chemicals, plastics, blue wavelength light, and beware of electronic radiation (5G EMF).
Here’s to your and my daily progress for HEALTHITUDE.

As a refresher, I use eleven (11) HEALTHITUDE letters to encapsulate enablers to Keep America’s Healthspan UNAbated – yup – the big KAHUNA:

Heart

Endocrines (Hormones)

Adaptation

Lungs (Cardiovascular Health and mindful breaths) and Liver function

Transcend for that “lil bit extra” –

Hormesis and Homeostasis

Investment in our physical portfolios

Training

Upbeat Attitude

Desire to move past glothic ways (of sinful gluttony and sloth)

Exercise efficiently and effectively

Stay well past forty,

Dave

Postscript. Here is my “gloomy” humor of this June day to help with our weather-guessing:
- “I’m pretty sure the fog is just jealous of how beautiful and sunny our neighborhood is supposed to be.”
Fifty Years of Making Waves

June 4th, 2025

Today, in addition to being a ‘ol college roomie’s birthday, marks the 50th anniversary of my Graduation from America’s Naval Academy.

We were sailors then, and are salty veterans now. We had 801 Graduates in our exceptional class on June 4th, 1975. Four years earlier, 1330 young men raised their right hands and made their solemn oaths to protect and defend.

Yes, that is an uncovered me at the right side of this polaroid picture, with a botttle of bubble in my right hand, and with “Ensigns’ “butter bars” on my shoulders. As a newly commissioned officer, I had a monthly pay of $666.00. Those were different days, with Vietnam just evacuated and with a Red Storm Rising in the Cold War. I was in love, yet not yet married to a saint who has tolerated me for 49 years of marriage.

Wayback then, I had just received two awards in addition to my B.S. Diploma. I was a co-recipient of the Rusty Callow Award for Navy Crew. I was one of 7 recipients in my class for “Outstanding Student Athlete” status.

Those were meaningful service recognitions that stick with me to this day.

What does the next half-century 🙂 look like for this 1975 college graduate?

Heck if I know. After all, predictions about the future are hard to make, according to Yogi Berra.

I intend to keep on truckin’ as long as I am able.

A third non-fiction book, to be released this year, is one goal that I will crack a bit more bubbly over.

Stay tuned for more sharings of my big KAHUNA effort – to Keep America’s Healthspans UNAbated. Yes, we can. There is no affordable alternative. TINA.

Stay tuned, keep using motion as your very good medicine, and commit to a thriving and striving campaign as did I.

Stay well past forty,

Dave F.
Metabolic Equivalent Tasks and Activities

May 17th, 2025
In the beginning, there was change

META: Did you know that our valuable term, Metabolism, comes from a Grecian word metabole that means “to change” ?

Well before a Harvard dropout named Zuckerberg changed the name of the social network corporation he leads to Meta, this multi-purpose word had philosophical and self-reflective meaning.

Then along came a Monarch butterfly

Metamorphosis – such as the life cycle from a caterpillar to its chrysalis to a butterfly is a dramatic change of shape. Well, we certainly don’t change our shapes as radically as a butterfly, yet we can transform our body composition and shape to healthier profiles – can’t we?

Be or transform to a healthier pear-shaped profile rather than a relatively unhealthy Apple profile, please!

Just One

In a science quiz, one MET is measured as 3.5 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. Whew, that is a breathful.

For a 70 kilogram person, one MET equates to a total of 1/4 liter of O2 per minute (70 times 0.0035 liters/kg/minute) .

METs quantify the energy expenditure of an activity relative to resting metabolism, with one MET equal to the energy cost and oxygen demands of sitting quietly. The higher the MET value of an activity or exercise, the higher the demand placed on one’s metabolism. And, we’ll delve into the key VO2 Max measure too, so stay tuned!

Incidentally, scientists do adjust the MET standard for age with a breakpoint at age 65. With lower heart rates, a bit of sarcopenia and slightly smaller lung capacity associated with aging, one MET_olderis about 20 % lower than the MET_youngerstandard for a younger individual. For your quiz, that is 2.7 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute.

3 Key Components of a MET Table:

You may see a matrix or table that lists 3 components:
- Activity: ranging from light to vigorous.
- MET Value: The numerical value representing the energy expenditure of the activity, relative to resting metabolism.
- Intensity Level: Categorized by their intensity level (e.g., light, moderate, vigorous) based on their MET value.
Three Levels of METAs with example activities are:
- Light Intensity: Strolling at conversational pace, washing dishes, yoga, fishing (sitting).
- Moderate Intensity: Brisk walking, bodyweight training, yard work, swimming laps.
- Vigorous Intensity: Singles tennis, shoveling, competitive soccer, running, rowing, and rucking in hilly terrain.
I want us to understand the intensity of different activities so that we can tailor our workouts at this stage of our periodization, and in line with our performance goals.

Example:

Weightlifting effort “generally” is in a moderate intensity range, with MET values between 3.0 and 5.9. A MET value of 6 or greater is considered “vigorous” or high intensity.

Moderate weightlifting for maintenance and tone, or nominally >12 repetitions exercises in a set with light resistance, is around 3.5 METs. Heavier weight or resistance training with 8-12 repetitions can reach 5 METs. Vigorous weight lifting, such as circuit training with minimal rest, or power lifting (3-6 repetitions with heavy weights) can reach 8 METs.

This Figure illustrates a Met and Time process calculation:

Using this illustrated walk example, a reasonable Daily META for us is based on our government’s recommendation of 90 Met minutes or 1.5 MET Hours daily – 5 times each week.

This totals 7.5 Met Hours per week to meet our Government standard – which is actually fairly low.

Remember that this ½ hour walking activity is in addition to the basic metabolic rates that are equated to sitting quietly or sleeping. Those sedentary or still “low level” MET hours far exceed the activity or exercise MET hours we just considered.

Next, let’s relate MET minutes / hours to the second half of our Government’s activity recommendation per week.

Seventy-five (75) minutes of MET level 6 – per week – are our Government’s suggestion for more intensive activity. These higher intensity efforts require more oxygen, and higher lub dub beats of our working hearts. See my blog article for more details of interval or higher intensity training.

Note that this alternate channel for activity also tallies 7.5 MET Hours per week, just as the lower intensity option did.

This too is a fairly low bar. Yet too many Americans do not get enough META, as the obesity and sickness of our unfit society shows in mortality statistics.

Those of us who strive to be better than decent may double, triple or triple- double the META recommendation (MET Hours).

For example, in this phase of my fitness periodization, I log 6-8 hours of low intensity exercise, and 1 to 1.5 hours of higher intensity and interval sessions each week. For this case, my low intensity is 7 hours x MET Level 3, or 21 MET Hours.

And, my higher intensity work per week (which I limit to about 20 percent of my total training time) results in level 7 x 1.5 hours for another ~10.5 MET Hours.

The Goverment suggests 7.5 MET Hours per week, and my investment average of 31.5 MET Hours is 4 times our Government’s minimum. Parenthetically, my weekly workload is about average for competitive rowers of my age.

Do I suggest that more folks raise their MET Hour bars? You betcha.

That is, of course, with medical approval, plus sense and respond awareness of exercise-induced stress and recovery needs.

I do acknowledge, and will delve into the uniqueness of exercise Dose-Response for “proper” metabolic effort. Too much of a very good thing, like exercise, is not wonderful when it is toxic or harmful.

This graphic shows a “safe range” between no-good risky, and good healthy exercise doses for an individual:

Citation: Borodulin, Katja, Anderssen, Sigmund. Journal of Food & Nutrition Research. 2023/06/26.

As we wind up this META overview, I virtually shout out to our down under Health professionals who kindly document how much exercise Medicare-aged folks (in any country) should pursue.

A ‘lil bit extra ?!

Just a slight increase in activity each day can improve our health and well being. Our revved-up metabolism at work and at rest can help:
- reduce the risk of health issues, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, bone and joint problems, heart disease, and some cancers
- maintain a healthy weight
- reduce the risk of falls and injury
- give you more energy
- improve your sleep
- reduce stress and anxiety
- improve concentration
- improve your mental health. (citation Ibid)
Who doesn’t talk about, or try to walk the talk of a booster like this?

Credit istock

I hope that I piqued your interest about the quantity and quality of META to perform at a good or great level for many years to come.

Be strong to save,

Dave Frost
2024 Flashbacks

January 1st, 2025
Was not 2024 a fascinating lap around the sun?

Before we reflect on our Christmases Past, have you been to your home-gym, or Big Box to work those sarcomeres?

Credit Cartoon Stock

If you, dear Viewer, were like me in that latest Leap Year, you had both Highs and Not-so-High experiences.

These FROSTY post mortems are evidence of my fascination for a year’s worth of healthspan and vitae:
1. Our amazing bodies are prone to niggles, conditions, and injuries that come with ages and miles.
2. My unhealthy Kryptonite explains the coronary artery calcification of a 92-year-old male. (Spoiler alert: Lipoprotein(a))

3. God is great, Microbrews are very good, and some people are zany.

4. It Depends.
- Eating my own V I T A* dog food, so to speak, my enduring quest to thrive and strive needs adaptations. [*V I T A represents Volume, Intensity, Tempo, and Adaptions in my STRONG to SAVE model.]
5. Researchers need more time, perhaps a decade, to better grasp the complexities of atherosclerosis cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) for 2024’s baby boomers and Kaboomers (like me.)

6. Lives, that can be terse, are enhanced by episodes and encounters.

7. Don’t take your body’s “shock absorbers“, like knee cartilage, for granted.

8. I have one or more healthspan/lifespan tomes left to launch.
- Yes, my #3 libro – YOUR TICKER TAPE – may launch in the new year.
9. Comedy and death are easier than book branding and marketing 🙂

10. The Obstacle can be your better way , so man up, like Marcus Aurelius.
- Thanks to author Ryan Holliday for coalescing stoical practices that I embrace.
Adieu 2024

We bid adieus to many good folks – like Toby Keith, centenarian Jimmy Carter, my college classmate, CC Adams, and these luminaries:

I am blessed to keep on keepin’ on.

God Bless this Republic, and do stay well past 40,

Dave

mailto: dave@wellpastforty.com