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Summary
On episode 579 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Dave Asprey, the father of biohacking and founder of Bulletproof 360, a four time New York Times bestselling author and host of the podcast Bulletproof Radio, to discuss his book Smarter Not Harder: The Biohacker’s Guide to Getting the Body and Mind You Want.
Dave argues the body doesn’t respond to how much work you do, it responds to the rate you spike effort and the speed you return to baseline, what he calls slope of the curve biology. Layered on top is the laziness principle: your body is wired to conserve energy, so framing a workout as time saved rather than effort spent gets it done.
The conversation covers the two foundational supplements missing from most people’s routines (minerals and Vitamin DAKE), how REHIT beats longer interval training, how unresolved trauma keeps the body reacting to threats that no longer exist, and why Dave’s “You Do You” philosophy means picking techniques that match your own goals instead of chasing someone else’s routine.
Links
- https://daveasprey.com
- https://sleepwithdave.com
- https://dangercoffee.com
- https://ownanupgradelabs.com
Key Takeaways
- Your body responds to the rate of change, not the total workload. Dave calls this slope of the curve biology: a brief spike in effort followed by a fast return to calm sends a strong “adapt now” signal, while grinding at a moderate pace for a long time convinces the body the threat is still there, so it never lets go of resources to improve.
- The laziness principle isn’t a character flaw, it’s biology. Your body defaults to conserving energy because burning calories unnecessarily was dangerous during famines throughout human history. Motivating yourself with “how much time this saves” works better than “how hard this is,” because the body responds to savings more than effort.
- Remove friction before you add more effort. The first step in Dave’s six-step energy framework is identifying what’s slowing you down (bad sleep, missing nutrients, wasted time) and eliminating it, rather than just pushing harder against those obstacles.
- Two foundational supplements are missing for most people: minerals and Vitamin DAKE. Modern soil is depleted by industrial agriculture, so food no longer delivers the macro and trace minerals the body needs. Vitamin D needs its partners, vitamin K2, A, and E (DAKE), to actually get calcium and other minerals where they belong.
- REHIT (reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training) can outperform standard HIIT. A five-minute protocol with just 20 seconds of hard effort produced better results in studies than a longer 10-minute, 40-second version, more volume past a certain point actually gets worse results because the body stops treating it as a distinct signal.
- Unresolved trauma keeps your “meat operating system” reactive to false threats. A person or situation that resembles an old trauma can trigger a fight-or-flight response before you consciously register why, and every one of those reactive patterns drains energy you could use elsewhere.
- “You Do You” means picking your own goal and your own path, not someone else’s. Whether the priority is being present for family or chasing peak performance, the right techniques depend on what you’re actually trying to achieve, not what looks impressive to somebody else.
- Dave’s three strategies to get and stay well: define what wellness actually means to you using his five goal categories (muscle, cardiovascular function, brain function, energy, stress resilience); find an objective way to track it over time instead of trusting how you feel in the moment; and cover the foundational basics, trace minerals and vitamin D, plus learning to sleep well (his free training is at sleepwithdave.com).
“I am not ashamed to be lazy. I am lazy, and it’s made me profoundly powerful, and it’s let me change the world.”
Dave Asprey
Another Episode You May Enjoy
Episode 708 – The first principles of starting (or restarting) a fitness program
Episode Notes
Podcast: 40+ Fitness
Episode: 579
Published: 2023-02-28
Host: Allan Misner (aka Coach Allan), author of The Wellness Roadmap
Guest(s): Dave Asprey, the father of biohacking and founder of Bulletproof 360, Smarter Not Harder
Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube (audio only)