Your muscles’ retirement plan
When was the last time you moved fast?
I mean the kind of fast that happens when you trip on a curb and your body catches itself before your brain has time to panic. Or when you reach out and grab something before it hits the floor.
If it’s taking you a while to think about it, that’s already a bit of information. According to a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, your ability to move quickly might be the most important physical quality determining how long you live.
And most people are losing it without even realizing it.
Researchers followed 3,889 adults aged 46–75 for nearly 11 years. They measured two things: muscle strength (how much force you can produce) and muscle power (how fast you can produce it). Then they watched to see which one predicted survival.
The answer wasn’t subtle.
Men with the lowest power levels were almost 6 times more likely to die than those with the highest. Women in the lowest group faced nearly 7 times the risk. And muscle strength, measured on its own? Not statistically significant.
Power won the longevity contest by a landslide — and it wasn’t even close.
Your body runs two types of muscle fibers. Type I fibers are your slow-burn workhorses — built for endurance, posture, and the long haul (think holding a deep Horse Stance or doing a slow Tai Chi form). Type II fibers are your explosives — fast, powerful, and built for moments that require immediate action (think jumping, throwing a fast punch, or a snapping kick).
Type II fibers are also the first ones to disappear, and we lose power at a faster rate than we lose strength. Age and inactivity, accelerate their decline. You can maintain a respectable amount of strength for years while your fast-twitch system quietly goes away.
Until a stumble that should have been a quick save becomes something much worse.
The researchers called this loss of power “powerpenia” — a word that sounds made-up but represents a very real, measurable decline that most standard fitness programs simply don’t address.
The good news? Power is trainable at any age. And you don’t have to become an Olympic athlete to develop it. You just have to ask your muscles to move quickly — on purpose, consistently, and with intention.
This is exactly why the right type of training is so vital. We don’t just lift heavy things slowly. We want to train our bodies to be explosive.
Here is how you can ensure you are keeping those Type II fibers alive, whether you are training Kung Fu or Tai Chi.
- Strike with intent (Kung Fu): When you practice your forms, don’t just go through the motions. Find time to move with sudden, explosive speed.
- Intent (Tai Chi): Tai Chi is famous for slow movement, but advanced practice requires Fajin—the sudden, explosive release of power. Even if you aren’t jumping, a quick, intentional shift in weight, a fast block, or the rapid kick in Part 3 trains your nervous system to fire instantly.
- Lower weights, higher speed: Power doesn’t require lifting 300 pounds. Moving your own body weight or light resistance bands at speed is surprisingly effective and keeps your nervous system sharp.
- Aim for consistency over intensity: Even one power-focused session per week creates meaningful adaptation over time.
The goal isn’t to be the most explosive person in the room. The goal is to maintain the biological quality that determines whether your body can respond when life gets unpredictable — because it will.
Strength is the foundation. But power is the thing that shows up when you actually need your body to work. The research is now telling us — with nearly 4,000 people and a decade of data — that the ability to move fast is the fitness quality most closely tied to survival.
Train your muscles to move. Train them to fire. And do it before your fast-twitch fibers get the memo that they’re no longer needed.
See you in training,
Sifu Oscar
P.S. Make movement a value. People often fail to start training because they think they need a complicated system to begin. You don’t. You just need to show up. If you are ready to build a new habit, here are 2 ways I can help:
- See it for yourself: The best way to understand Wah Lum is to see it in person. Reply with OBSERVATION and we will set up a time for you to come visit a class.
Start from home: Reply with FOUNDATIONS and I’ll send you the details for our 21-day remote prep program.
