Train slow to run fast
When Phil Maffetone first introduced his concept of train slow to run fast, it was received with skepticism from the endurance community. Even today his maximum aerobic heart rate method (180 minus your age equals your maximum aerobic heart rate (MAHR)) is counter-intuitive to many athletes. Many people, myself included, trained at a very high heart rate with the thinking that to run fast you need to train fast. Switching to a relatively low heart rate when training took a lot of intentional slowing down and doesnt come easy.
The theory is, to run faster you need to create a very strong aerobic engine within your body, this is done at a much lower intesity and pace. As your aerobic system develops from training at this MAHR, it will allow you to run or bicycle faster and further at a lower heart rate. Many call this “building your base”. Endurance athletes without a strong aerobic system may start out strong but after the kilometres pass so too will their ability to continue.
This has been one of the key components for me personally on my journey of getting off daily dependency of asthma medications and the connection for how I met my co-founder Magnus. This type of training has allowed my body to build my aerobic system without passing that threshold and causing too much stress on my body and leading to needing an inhaler.Because of this, I have seen noticeable strength and resilience build up within my body due to such a solid base being built.
Now, to truly become a well-rounded athlete one must go beyond just the training. Creating a balanced, holistic, and systemic lifestyle is key. Incorporating things like nutrition, low inflammatory foods, healthy mental and psychological stress and the need to have a balanced approach to life is what sustains you for the long game.
Building our base
Ok, so how does this apply to eY and building a tool to help move the needle on global issues like NCD death rates, mental health, and this feeling of a lack of fulfillment we so often feel? I think of it like this, currently, we are in this aerobic system development stage. In order to go the distance and truly impact the world in our unique way, we must build a strong base to build upon. One of Elon Musks’ criticisms of PayPal is the code they used to develop the software. In his perspective, the code is actually limiting the growth of the company, something that could have been avoided if thought through and avoiding the silicon valley approach of “go fast and break things”.
The number one killer in this world is NCD’s which is to say lifestyle-related sickness and disease. LIFESTYLE RELATED. Yes, bad habits and lack of empowerment are killer number one! So what can we do to help this? Rush to the market with the first idea we come up with? No, not our style. We could have done that but we would have been nothing more than a goal tracking/habit tracking app. Although that approach may work for some, it’s not eY nor do we see it solving the problems we are looking to address.
The roots of eY go deep into the relationship between two friends. Both Magnus and I began in September 2019 by looking at our own approach in biohacking asthma. We asked questions like: How did this affect our lives? Not just the benefits it gave us personally but are we better dads because of it? Yes. Was this good for those around us? Yes. Did we learn things that can apply to other areas in our life? Yes. With curiosity and conversation as the base for the evolution of eY, we quickly took this concept and started to ask the bigger questions. How can we do this on scale to create a world where anyone can be empowered? Empowered to take action in our lives. Empowered to shift the normative of living with lifestyle related sickness and disease. Empowered to find what brings meaning, value, and purpose to each of us, in whatever way that may look like for the individual. These are the questions we are asking ourselves daily, and by looking back at human histroy we are able to build tools for the future in this tech enabled world. But, tech can do better, much bettter.
Utilizing the oldest business model around- meeting people’s needs
You won’t see ads on our platform, nor will we sell you our programs. Again, if we rushed to market that may have been an option but it would go against everything we stand for. People are not the product! Our approach is different, we’re taking it back to a model based simply on meeting people’s needs.
Consumerism doesn’t need to be a bad thing. Take my friend for example. Lets call him Gary. Gary started running and had a goal of doing a 10k. After running for a few months he realzied the shoes he had were not proper running shoes and gave him pain in his feet. He started to go to a few stores to find what worked best for him. He finally settled on purchasing his shoes from the store that took the time to talk with him, listen to his needs and find what best would support his goal of running a 10k. This transaction came through a relationship based on meeting needs. This is what we do.
But, running a 10k is more than the shoes. You may need a coach like Gary did, or a functional medicine practitioner, or just a place for friends to cheer you on. This is what we make possible and it starts with conversations that enable.
Shifting the normative
To move a buoy you cannot just push what you see on the surface, you need to dive beneath the water and move the anchor stone. This is the approach we are taking, systems thinking. To shift the normative you cannot simply throw products at the market or address surface issues to deeper rooted problems. Again, its not just about running shoes that makes people run, thats just one piece to a very unique to you puzzle.
So whats the normative for today? Well, we can see that chronic sickness and disease are rising, unhealthy lifestyles are contributing to greater deaths, and a lack of purpose or fulfillment in life seems to be what we have settled for.
So how do we change this? To be honest, I dont know, but I think we may be able to provide one piece to this complex puzzle. We see relationships, conversations, friends, people helping people as a great start to shifting the norm. Individuals finding out what drives them forward and leaving behind the things that hold them back is a great start.
