Peter Attia
Physician · The Drive · author of Outlive
A physician focused on healthspan, best known for Outlive and The Drive podcast. He frames training around "the Centenarian Decathlon": stability, strength, zone 2 and VO2 max, backed by aggressive measurement of blood markers. He is a careful, frequently skeptical voice about supplements and longevity drugs, including ones he takes himself.
- Entries
- 20
- Does
- 13
- Recommends
- 4
- Discusses
- 3
Gear
3 pieces of gear in this stack
- GearDoes it$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Continuous glucose monitor
Has worn a glucose sensor for extended periods, and uses it with patients to show how individual the response to identical meals is.
Source: peterattiamd.com: my view on wearablesView item: Continuous glucose monitorOn record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 4 do it, 2 have discussed it - GearDoes it$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Oura Ring
Tracks sleep with a ring in phases, and cautions against treating any single night's score as meaningful. He discloses that he is an investor in and adviser to Oura.
Source: peterattiamd.com: my view on wearablesVisit ouraring.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 5 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it, 3 have discussed it - GearDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Weighted vest or rucksack
Walking and hiking carry a weighted pack, tied to the specific tasks he wants to still manage in his eighties.
Source: CBS News: 60 Minutes report on Peter AttiaView item: Weighted vest or rucksackOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
Supplements
3 supplements in this stack
- SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Protein powder
High-quality whey after training is the practical way he hits a high daily protein target.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #661 transcriptView item: Protein powderOn record from 18 of 62 tracked people: 13 do it, 3 recommend it, 2 have discussed it - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Magnesium (threonate or glycinate)
Evening magnesium sits on a short list of supplements he considers worth the money.
Source: The Drive podcastView item: Magnesium (threonate or glycinate)On record from 11 of 62 tracked people: 8 do it, 1 recommends it, 2 have discussed it - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA)
EPA and DHA are in his own stack, and he recommends testing the omega-3 index rather than guessing at a dose.
Source: The Drive podcastView item: Omega-3 (EPA/DHA)On record from 9 of 62 tracked people: 8 do it, 1 recommends it
Books
2 books in this stack
- BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Outlive
Lays out the Medicine 3.0 framework in his own book, alongside the Centenarian Decathlon approach to training for the life you want at ninety.
Source: Outlive (official book page)View item: OutliveOn record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 recommend it - BookDiscusses$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Why We Sleep
Pushes back on some of the book's stronger claims while taking the sleep case seriously, and has hosted the author at length.
Source: The Drive: episode with Matthew WalkerView item: Why We SleepOn record from 8 of 62 tracked people: 5 recommend it, 3 have discussed it
Protocols
12 entriesStructured routines and practices with a defined method.
Strength training several times a week, on the framing that muscle and bone are assets you bank decades before you need them.
Source: Outlive (official book page)Targets roughly a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight spread across meals, and argues most people badly undershoot it.
Source: Outlive (official book page)In the sauna regularly, citing the Finnish cohort data on cardiovascular and all-cause mortality alongside the immediate effect on sleep.
Source: The Drive podcastSeveral hours of steady aerobic work a week form the base layer he says everything else sits on.
Source: Outlive (official book page)Foot mechanics get dedicated time. So do spine and breathing mechanics. The argument is that stability is what lets you express strength without injury.
Source: Outlive (official book page)One hard interval session a week goes on top of the easy cardio, because peak aerobic capacity is among the strongest predictors of mortality.
Source: Outlive (official book page)55 to 60 pounds for about an hour at a time gets him aerobic volume and load-bearing in one session.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #661 transcriptSleep ranks alongside exercise and nutrition for him, and the starting point is pinning bed and wake times to within fifteen to thirty minutes.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #661 transcriptApoB and Lp(a) rather than a standard lipid panel, he argues, because the standard test misses the risk.
Source: peterattiamd.com: cardiovascular disease risk and the importance of ApoBLean mass, visceral fat and bone density get scanned a couple of times a year, rather than tracked by weight.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #661 transcriptMarkedly more skeptical than most, he warns that cold immediately after resistance training can blunt the adaptation you trained for.
Source: The Drive podcastEarly on he advocated prolonged fasting, then publicly stepped back, concluding it cost him muscle without a clear payoff.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show: Peter Attia transcript, 2021
In their own words
Checked word for word against the linked source
“If we’re going to just talk in magnitude, VO2 max and muscular strength stand in a league of their own. There’s really nothing that’s within the ZIP code of those two metrics.”
The Tim Ferriss Show #661 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 17 Mar 2023 “So the protein basically went to a very conscious and concerted effort to increase protein to one gram per pound of body weight.”
The Tim Ferriss Show #661 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 17 Mar 2023 “I think for zone two, we think minimum effective dose. … Then I think we start to get into three hours being the MED. That might be three 60-minute sessions or four 45-minute sessions.”
The Tim Ferriss Show #661 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 17 Mar 2023
Episodes from the feed
Show archive, The Peter Attia Drive (opens in a new tab)Last fetched . A title without a link is an episode the feed publishes no page of its own for.
- Blood pressure: how to measure, manage, and treat high blood pressure (AMA #48 rebroadcast) (opens in a new tab) · 1h 17m
- #406 ‒ Migraine, cluster headache, and tension headache: symptoms, causes, prevention, and treatment | Brian Grosberg, M.D. (opens in a new tab) · 1h 56m
- #405 ‒ AMA #88: Metabolic liver health: how to assess risk, catch dysfunction early, and prevent or reverse liver disease (opens in a new tab) · 39m
- #404 ‒ Mental health beyond neurotransmitters: the role of hormones in psychiatry, why symptom reduction isn't enough, and the future of psychedelic therapies | Linus Abrams, M.D. (opens in a new tab) · 2h 18m
- #403 ‒ Peptides: separating scientific promise from marketing hype (opens in a new tab) · 53m
Stack notes are paraphrased. Anything in quotation marks is a short excerpt copied from the transcript it links to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.