Glossary

Longevity exercise glossary

Plain-English definitions of the terms that come up most in longevity training, each linked to a deeper guide.

1RM (one-repetition maximum)

The heaviest weight you can lift once with good form for a given exercise. Trainers use it, or an estimate from a lighter set, to set training loads as a percentage, though many older beginners are better guided by effort and form.

30-second chair stand

A test of lower-body strength: the number of full sit-to-stand repetitions you can complete from a standard chair in 30 seconds, arms crossed. Lower-than-average counts for your age and sex flag a higher risk of falls.

ADL (activities of daily living)

The basic self-care tasks people do each day: bathing, dressing, eating, toileting and getting in and out of bed or a chair. Being able to do them without help is the practical definition of independence.

Aerobic base

The foundation of cardiovascular fitness built through high-volume, low-intensity exercise (mostly Zone 2). A bigger aerobic base lets you do more, recover faster and protect heart and metabolic health.

Anabolic resistance

The reduced muscle-building response to protein and training that develops with age. It is why older adults need more protein per meal and consistent resistance training to maintain muscle.

Andropause

The gradual, age-related decline in men's testosterone from around the 30s and 40s. Unlike menopause it is slow, and resistance training, sleep and protein help support healthy levels.

Anti-rotation

Core training that teaches the trunk to resist twisting forces instead of creating them, as in the Pallof press or a suitcase carry. It supports spine stability during everyday tasks like carrying shopping.

Aquatic exercise

Exercise done in water, where buoyancy reduces the load on painful joints while water resistance still works the muscles. It suits people with arthritis, joint pain or poor balance, and is a good option in Malaysia's heat.

Atrial fibrillation

A common irregular heart rhythm that raises the risk of stroke and can cause palpitations or breathlessness. Regular moderate exercise is usually encouraged, but the plan should be agreed with your doctor, especially if you take blood thinners.

AWGS 2019

The Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia's 2019 consensus, which sets Asian-specific cut-offs for diagnosing sarcopenia. It includes low grip strength (under 28 kg for men and 18 kg for women) and slow gait speed (under 1.0 m/s).

Balance training

Exercise that challenges your stability, such as single-leg stands and heel-to-toe walking, to reduce fall risk. It is one of the most protective forms of training for older adults.

Biological age

An estimate of how old your body is functioning, versus your calendar age, based on markers like fitness, strength and sometimes lab tests. Trainable markers matter more than expensive epigenetic tests.

Blue Zones

Regions of the world with unusually high numbers of people living to 100. Their shared habits, constant natural movement, community and simple diets, offer practical lessons for longevity.

Blueprint protocol

Bryan Johnson's intensive personal anti-ageing regimen. Its exercise principles, consistent strength, cardio and balance work, are sound and mainstream, even though the overall protocol is extreme and costly.

Borg scale

The most common RPE scale: the original runs from 6 to 20, roughly matching heart rate divided by 10, and the CR10 version runs from 0 to 10. A rating of about 11 to 13 on the 6 to 20 scale is described as fairly light to somewhat hard.

BPPV

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: brief spells of spinning triggered by head movements such as rolling over in bed. It is caused by tiny crystals displaced in the inner ear and is usually treatable with a repositioning manoeuvre.

Cardiac rehabilitation

A supervised programme of exercise and education that safely rebuilds fitness after a heart event or diagnosis. Carefully dosed training restores capacity and lowers the risk of future problems.

Cardiorespiratory fitness

How well your heart, lungs and muscles use oxygen during sustained effort, best captured by VO₂ max. It is among the strongest predictors of how long and how well you live.

Caregiver strain

The physical, emotional and financial load that builds up when caring for a family member, often showing up as back pain, poor sleep and burnout. Short, regular strength sessions and proper lifting technique help protect the carer.

Centenarian Decathlon

Peter Attia's idea of choosing the roughly ten physical tasks you want to still do in your final decade, then training backwards from them. It turns 'staying capable' into concrete goals.

Chin tuck

A small exercise where you draw the chin straight back, as if making a double chin, to wake up the deep neck muscles. It is usually done for several slow repetitions a few times a day.

Clinical exercise physiologist

An allied-health professional who prescribes and supervises structured exercise to prevent and manage chronic disease, such as heart disease, diabetes and lung conditions. Their intervention is exercise itself, delivered with clinical understanding.

Daily step count

The number of steps you walk each day, an easy longevity marker. Much of the benefit appears by around 6,000 to 8,000 steps for older adults, and any increase from a low baseline helps.

Deconditioning

The loss of fitness, strength and stamina that follows a period of inactivity, illness or bed rest. It is largely reversible, but the return needs to be gradual and monitored.

DEXA scan

A scan that measures bone density and body composition, including muscle and visceral fat. Useful for tracking sarcopenia and osteoporosis risk over time.

Eccentric loading

Training the lowering phase of a movement, such as slowly lowering a heel off a step. It is widely used in tendon rehabilitation because muscles can handle more load eccentrically, and slow lowering builds strength safely.

Epley manoeuvre

A sequence of head and body position changes used to move displaced crystals out of the affected inner-ear canal in the common type of BPPV. It should be taught by a clinician first, since the wrong side or wrong type will not work.

Exercise physiologist

A professional who uses structured, progressive exercise to manage chronic conditions and rebuild long-term function. Exercise-focused rather than hands-on, they overlap with physiotherapists in the shared work of exercise prescription.

Exercise snacks

Short bursts of movement, a minute or two of stairs, squats or a brisk walk, scattered through the day. They break up prolonged sitting and add meaningful activity without a formal workout.

FRAIL scale

A five-question screening tool covering Fatigue, Resistance (climbing stairs), Ambulation (walking a block), Illnesses and Loss of weight. A score of 0 is robust, 1 to 2 is pre-frail and 3 or more is frail.

Frailty

A state of reduced strength, endurance and resilience that raises the risk of falls, illness and lost independence. It is one of the most reversible conditions when training is dosed correctly.

Frailty phenotype (Fried)

A widely used definition of frailty from Linda Fried's research, based on five features: unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, weak grip, slow walking and low physical activity. Having one or two features means pre-frail, and three or more means frail.

Frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis)

A condition in which the shoulder capsule thickens and tightens, causing pain and a marked loss of movement. It tends to pass through painful, stiff and recovery stages over many months, and gentle, regular movement helps.

Functional age

How your strength, balance and capacity compare to the average for your years, rather than the number on your birthday. A 'younger' functional age tends to mean a longer independent life.

Gait speed

How fast you walk at your usual pace, measured in metres per second. It is often called a vital sign for older adults, and speeds below about 1.0 m/s are linked with higher risks of disability and hospital admission.

Goblet squat

A squat holding a single weight against the chest, which helps you sit back and keep an upright trunk. It is a beginner-friendly way to train the thighs and hips and to practise getting up from a chair.

Grip strength

A simple proxy for whole-body strength, measured by how hard you can squeeze. It is one of the cleaner predictors of longevity and independence in the research.

Healthspan

The years you live in good function, strong, mobile and independent, as opposed to lifespan, which is simply how long you live. Longevity exercise targets healthspan first.

Heart failure (HFrEF/HFpEF)

A condition in which the heart cannot pump enough blood for the body's needs. HFrEF means a reduced ejection fraction and HFpEF a preserved one, and in both, supervised, gradually progressed exercise is recommended once the person is stable.

Heart-rate variability (HRV)

The variation in time between heartbeats, reflecting the balance of your nervous system. Higher HRV generally signals better recovery and cardiovascular health, and it can guide how hard to train on a given day.

Heart-rate zones

Bands of exercise intensity defined as percentages of your maximum heart rate. Zone 2 (roughly 60 to 70%) is the key longevity zone for building your aerobic engine.

HIIT

High-intensity interval training: short bursts of hard effort with recovery between. It improves VO₂ max efficiently and, dosed sensibly, is safe for many older adults.

Hospital-associated deconditioning

The rapid loss of muscle, strength and stamina that follows days of bed rest or low activity during a hospital stay. Older adults can lose a noticeable amount of leg strength within a few days, so early, safe walking and strength work matters.

Metabolic syndrome

A cluster of conditions, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess waist fat and abnormal cholesterol, that together raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Exercise is one of the most effective ways to reverse it.

Mitochondria

The tiny 'engines' inside your cells that turn fuel into energy. Zone 2 training increases their number and quality, which underpins endurance and metabolic health.

Mobility

The ability to move a joint actively through its full range with control, which is different from passive flexibility. Good mobility keeps everyday movement easy and pain-free.

Norwegian 4x4

A well-studied VO₂ max interval session: four bouts of four minutes near-maximal effort with easy recovery between, usually once or twice a week.

Osteoporosis

A condition of weakened, brittle bones that raises fracture risk, especially after menopause. Resistance and weight-bearing exercise help build and protect bone.

Otago exercise programme

A home-based strength and balance programme developed in New Zealand to prevent falls in older adults, usually taught by a physiotherapist. It combines leg-strengthening and balance exercises with a walking plan, ideally done three times a week.

Pallof press

A core exercise where you press a band or cable straight out from your chest and hold, resisting the pull that tries to twist you sideways. It trains the trunk to stay still while the arms and legs move.

Parkinson's (LSVT BIG / amplitude training)

A progressive movement disorder that causes tremor, stiffness and small, slow movements. LSVT BIG is a physiotherapy programme that trains large, deliberate movements to counter this, and regular exercise is part of standard care.

Peripheral neuropathy

Damage to the nerves in the feet and hands, often from diabetes, causing numbness, tingling or burning and poorer balance. Exercise can help symptoms and balance, but foot checks and good footwear are essential.

Plantar fasciitis

Pain under the heel, often worst with the first steps in the morning, from overload of the thick band along the sole of the foot. Calf stretching and progressive strengthening of the foot and calf are the mainstay of treatment.

Post-exertional malaise

A marked worsening of fatigue and other symptoms that appears hours to a day or two after physical or mental effort, seen in ME/CFS and some people with long COVID. It calls for pacing rather than pushing through, so standard progressive training can backfire.

Power training

Training that develops the ability to produce force quickly, not just how much you can lift. Power fades faster than strength with age and is closely tied to catching yourself in a fall and staying independent.

Pre-frailty

An early stage between healthy and frail, where one or two frailty features are present. It is the best time to act, because strength and walking training can often turn it back around.

Progressive overload

Gradually doing a little more over time (more weight, reps or a harder variation) so the body keeps adapting. It is the core principle behind getting stronger safely.

Proprioception

Your body's sense of where it is in space, which underlies balance and coordination. It can be sharpened with balance and stability work, lowering fall risk.

Rapamycin

A drug studied for its ability to extend lifespan in animals by acting on the mTOR pathway. Promising in the lab but unproven for longevity in healthy humans, and unlike exercise it carries real trade-offs.

Resistance training

Training muscles against a load (weights, bands or bodyweight) to build strength and muscle. It is the single most important pillar for staying independent with age.

Resting heart rate

Your heart rate at complete rest, a simple marker of cardiovascular fitness. A lower resting heart rate usually reflects a stronger, more efficient heart, and it tends to fall as your fitness improves.

Rheumatoid arthritis

An autoimmune condition in which the immune system inflames the joints, causing pain, swelling and morning stiffness. Exercise is a standard part of management, with strength and aerobic work adjusted around flares.

Romanian deadlift

A hip-hinge exercise where you push the hips back with soft knees and lower a weight along the thighs, then stand tall. It strengthens the hamstrings, glutes and back muscles used for lifting and bending.

RPE (rate of perceived exertion)

A simple way to rate how hard an effort feels, rather than relying on a heart-rate reading. It is useful for people on medications that affect heart rate, and Zone 2 sits at a level where you can still talk in full sentences.

Sarcopenia

The age-related loss of muscle mass and strength that begins around 40 and accelerates after 60. It drives frailty and falls, and is largely reversible with resistance training.

Sciatica

Pain that travels from the lower back or buttock down the leg, usually from irritation of the sciatic nerve root. Most cases settle with time, staying active and graded exercise rather than prolonged bed rest.

Sit-to-stand test

A simple field test of lower-body strength and function: how many times you can stand from a chair in 30 seconds. It tracks closely with independence and fall risk.

Tech neck

Neck and upper-back strain from long periods with the head tilted forward over a phone or laptop. Regular posture breaks, chin tucks and upper-back strengthening usually ease it.

Vestibular rehabilitation

An exercise-based therapy that trains the brain to compensate for inner-ear and balance problems. It uses gaze, head-movement and balance exercises to reduce dizziness and unsteadiness.

VO₂ max

The maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during hard exercise, and one of the strongest single predictors of mortality. It is trainable at any age.

Walking aid (cane/walker)

A device such as a cane or walker that improves stability and takes load off a painful or weak leg. It must be the right height and type for the person, and a physiotherapist can fit and teach it.

Zone 2

A low-to-moderate aerobic intensity where you can hold a conversation but not sing, roughly 60 to 70% of maximum heart rate. It builds the aerobic and metabolic base of longevity.

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