Articles on what comes before.
Clinical notes, excerpts from the book Antes and short essays on preventive nephrology, longevity, and integrative functional medicine. Content originally published on the Plenya blog, mirrored here in full.
Training to age well — the formula is Zone 2 and strength
Most people train inverted — too much medium effort, little low-intensity aerobic base, poorly directed strength. The recipe the literature supports is simple: 80% Zone 2, 20% high intensity, strength two to three times a week. It makes a difference in who you will be at 75.
The inverted pyramid of longevity — strength matters more than aerobic after 40
Most people train the body inverted — too much aerobic, too little strength. The mortality data of the last two decades say the opposite: strength and lean mass predict how long you will live with more precision than running 10 km.
Supplements that make a difference after 40 — and the ones that don't
The supplement industry in Brazil grows double digits per year, but the fraction with robust evidence fits in one hand. Four substances pass the randomized-trial filter; the rest is mostly marketing — and expense.
Protein: the target you're not hitting
Most Brazilian adults consume 0.8 g/kg of protein per day — survival RDA, not health RDA. To preserve lean mass after 40, the literature points to 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg, distributed across three to four meals of 30 g each.
Intermittent fasting: who benefits, who is harmed
Intermittent fasting is not a universal diet. For the 45-year-old man with insulin resistance, it usually helps. For the perimenopausal woman, the strength athlete, the sarcopenic elderly, it usually makes things worse — and the difference lies in details few people look at.
Training a lot and aging wrong
Volume is not virtue. Whoever trains 10 hours a week without a panel, without structured Zone 2, without adequate strength, and without recovery reading is building wear — not longevity.
The drug that cuts mortality by 80% — and no one prescribes
If a medication with that effect existed, humanity would pay any price for it. That medication exists — and the patient is rarely told about it.
Content originally published on Plenya Blog. Each article here is a faithful version of the original, with canonical pointing to the source.
This content is educational and does not constitute medical prescription. Each case is unique — for individual evaluation and care, consult a physician.