#178: 💪 My Accidental Workout Stack
How I Built A Near-Perfect Longevity Training Protocol By Just Doing What Felt Good
Hey friends,
Did you know I’m curating a Longevity Stage within the NFC Summit in Lisbon on June 4, 2026?
It’s going to be 8 hours of dedicated longevity talks, panels and workshops.
I’d love you to join if you are in town.
Nina
💬 In this note:
💪 My Accidental Workout Stack
📚 The Hallmarked Man
⚡️ Robots Are Running Half-Marathons
#178: My Accidental Workout Stack
Nobody handed me this workout routine, I ended up building it by following what felt right to my body. And…somewhere along the way, I accidentally ticked almost every box the longevity research says matters.
I’ve been active my whole life, cheerleading and track in high school, cheerleading in college. I fell off when I no longer had a coach pushing me, then found my way back in grad school through CrossFit-style workouts and dance classes.
After that I had to figure out how to sustain it on my own, which took a while. What I learned about myself: I like being told what to do. I want to show up, do the workout, and leave without having to think too hard about it. That’s not laziness, that’s knowing yourself.
So I chased classes. OrangeTheory, hot yoga, power pilates in San Francisco and Berlin, Beat81, Barry’s Bootcamp.
As I learned more about longevity, I got more intentional about balance. The research is clear: you need strength training, cardio, and mobility work, ideally all three, consistently.
Which meant I was trekking all over Berlin or San Francisco to hit different studios for different things.
When I landed in Lisbon in the winter of 2022, I found Amplify. And I’ve been going ever since.
In the beginning of my time in Lisbon in that winter of 2022, I was living in Baixa, so getting to the Amplify studio meant a 20-minute uphill walk. I’d do a bootcamp class and walk back home. Between the walks, the workouts, and eating well, I genuinely think I was the healthiest and happiest version of myself that winter. I came back to Berlin tan and fit, having lost about 10 lbs, and tried to carry that momentum forward.
When I moved to Lisbon permanently in 2023, I signed right back up to Amplify. The bootcamp classes became my anchor - 10 minutes on the treadmill, 10 minutes strength, repeat. I did this three or four times a week, no question.
Resistance training is one of the most important things you can do for longevity. After 40, you lose 1-2% of muscle pass per year if you’re not actively fighting for it.
Muscle is protective, metabolically, structurally and for independence later in life. Bootcamp class is my prescription for that.
Then a friend told me I hadn’t even scratched the surface of Amplify if I hadn’t tried Miki’s cycling class. I went. The man has a gift.
It was the hardest class I’d ever done, the energy was through the roof, and at one point Miki was literally on the ground with his fist down, giving us a full motivational monologue about being in our bodies, becoming our best selves. You walk out of that class feeling like you can do anything. I was hooked.
Cycling at that kind of intensity is exactly what longevity literature calls for.
Your VO2 max, your body’s capacity to use oxygen, is one of the strongest predictors of all-cause mortality. The research shows that moving from “low” to “above average” VO2 max cuts your risk of dying more than quitting smoking.
For me, that means Miki’s cycling class is basically a longevity drug.
After a bad ankle injury eventually took running off the table, I went deeper into cycling and then yoga. A year or two in, Amplify opened a new location in Santos, where they have a bigger studio and added Barre classes.
Now my routine is a mix of everything: two or three bootcamps a week, one cycling class, and barre or yoga on top of that.
Flexibility and stability work isn’t just recovery, it’s core to your longevity too. The ability to balance on one leg for 10 seconds is an independent predictor of survival in your later years. Barre and yoga are my way of working on that.
I’m at Amplify four times a week. I hit 250 classes recently, and I’m still going. One thing nobody tells you about Amplify: people bring their dogs. This is, objectively, one of the best parts of my day.
Post-workout, I grab a smoothie. My order: the Boogie Matcha. Everytime. This helps me get my protein in right after a hard workout. Protein matters more than most people realize, and your muscles are most receptive to protein in that window right after training. Getting protein in after a workout is one of the easiest optimizations you can make.
Beyond Amplify, I dance. Pop dance once a week at Jazzy Saldanha, and high heels dance twice a week, which is as much work as it sounds and connects me to something completely different.
In 2017, researchers found that dance was more effective than traditional exercise at reversing brain volume loss in the hippocampus. This is because dance requires constant new learning, new choreography, new spatial awareness, and new timing.
That’s a cognitive challenge on top of a physical one. High heels specifically trains proprioception and balance in ways that flat-footed dance training doesn’t.
I also play padel once or twice a week for the social aspect. Longevity research has also identified social connection as a strong predictor of a long, healthy life - equally powerful to exercise and diet. Padel is a great way for me to get in extra movement and my social time.
My workout framework, if you want to steal it:
- Amplify is where I build the foundation: strength, cardio, mobility, all under one roof
- Dance is for my brain: neuroplasticity, body awareness, learning something new
- Paddle is for my social health: connection, fun, lateral movement
I designed it by following what I enjoyed. The fact that it maps almost perfectly onto what the research recommends is either a coincidence or proof that your body knows something.
Either way: it’s a life I love.
📘 Thinking of diving deeper? Check out my guidebooks.
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Age-Fighting Drugs Guidebook
Breathwork for Longevity Guidebook
Exercise for Longevity Guidebook
Men’s Health After 40 Guidebook
Nutrition for Longevity Guidebook
Sleep for Longevity Guidebook
Stretching for Longevity Guidebook
Supplements for Longevity Guidebook
Thermal Therapy for Longevity Guidebook
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📚 Book of the Week
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
You may have noticed there wasn’t a book of the week the last two weeks. One reason was…I’m still reading this long damn book. Another reason was #176 was an emotional essay that needed to stand alone.
While I’m still not done with this book, I’m ready to rate it, or give it up.
It’s an 18 hour read according to my kindle, and I’ve dragged myself through over 50% and I can say that it’s a frustrating amount of “Cormoran loves Robin, and Robin loves Cormoran” but neither of them have the confidence to say so and are therefore living unfulfilled lives.
The main plot line moves along at a glacial place - Cormoran and Robin are investigating a mysterious body found inside of a silver shop’s vault. Meanwhile, balancing a few other clients and Cormoran has to face a public scandal.
I’ve read all seven books in this series so I feel I owe it to myself to finish this one too, but it’s truly the most boring one thus far, and it only gets 2 stars.
⚡️ Check This Out
A humanoid robot just ran a half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, a new robot record.
The human half-marathon record, on the other hand, is ~57min held by Jacob Kiplimo.
The 2025 half-marathon robot winner finished the race in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.
I’m not going to lie. I don’t really want us to make them any faster, it’s starting to feel a little to I, Robot to me.
But although the winning robot from Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Honor, is faster than the humans…another robot started the race by falling on its face.
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Edited by Wright Time Publishing