Who I Am – Entrepreneur Building Health After 40

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Why This Longevity Project Exists

At 45, I stopped hoping and started measuring. iGoLong is a public record of my experiment in healthspan and healthy aging: improving VO₂ max, increasing HRV, reducing visceral fat, and restoring energy.

The goal is not simply to live longer, but to preserve strength and function over the next 20 to 30 years.

This project did not begin because I suddenly became afraid of age. And not because I wanted to “live to one hundred.” You can live to one hundred on autopilot too – gradually lowering the demands you place on yourself and accepting limitations as inevitable.

What interests me is something else: preserving capacity. The ability to think fast, make decisions under pressure, and train without feeling like my body is resisting me. To maintain muscle mass, aerobic fitness, and resilience to stress. Not just to exist longer, but to function at a high level.

I genuinely admire long-lived people in Okinawa and Sardinia – calm, smiling, living simply. But if I’m honest, my goal is slightly different. I do not want to become a “surprisingly lively old man.” I would like to look and function at 90 more like many people do at 50. That sounds ambitious. Good. That is my standard.

I’m not interested in motivation for the sake of motivation. I’m interested in measurement: VO₂ max, HRV, visceral fat, body composition, blood biomarkers. If something cannot be measured, it is just a beautiful idea.

I am not trying to outsmart biology, and I am not planning to live in a constant state of extreme discipline. My goal is long-term sustainability. If by 70 I am clearly diminished in what I can do, then somewhere in the strategy, I got it wrong.

This site is not a blog about inspiration. It is public documentation of an experiment. With numbers, adjustments, and sometimes uncomfortable truth.

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Baseline at 45 – Starting Health Metrics

Before changing anything, I documented the starting point. Without that, any conversation about progress quickly turns into illusion.

At the start of the experiment, I was 45.

• VO2 max: 46 (estimated by Whoop based on heart rate and load)
• HRV: average 51 ms (night-time Whoop readings)
• Resting Heart Rate: 54-57 bpm
• Sleep: inconsistent, with regular drops in recovery (Whoop Recovery Score)
• Weight: 87 kg (above optimal range)
• Body composition: 23.8% body fat (elevated fat mass)
• Visceral fat: 20.9% (above the optimal range)
• Body composition method: bioimpedance analysis

My lab work added more detail. Low vitamin B12, insufficient vitamin D, elevated cholesterol. Nothing dramatic, but nothing you would call optimal from the perspective of a long-term longevity lifestyle. It was not a crisis point. I was functioning normally, working, training from time to time, looking “like many men at 45.”

The problem is that “like many” is not a strategy. That was the moment I understood that I wanted to stop evaluating myself by feeling and start evaluating myself by data. Not to compete with anyone. But to see the trajectory.

Because in a long game, individual numbers matter less than the direction of movement.

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What I Track – Operational Metrics

I understand that I could measure far more. Modern technology allows you to track dozens of variables – from real-time glucose to epigenetic age. For now, I am not trying to measure everything. I started with core metrics that reflect functional health and give me a clear signal over time. The list may expand, but the foundation currently looks like this. Over time, I divided my metrics into three groups.

Performance

These are the metrics that show what the body is capable of.

VO₂ max is a measure of how much oxygen the body can use at maximum effort. In simple terms, it is an integrated marker of heart, lung, and vascular performance. For me, it is not just a sports number. It is a preview of what my functional capacity may look like 20 to 30 years from now.

Strength metrics matter because after 40, muscle loss happens quietly. This process is called sarcopenia – a gradual loss of muscle mass and strength. At 25, you can skip workouts and barely notice it. At 45, that deal is no longer on the table. That is why I track strength training after 40 in numbers – so decline does not happen silently.

Resting Heart Rate is a simple marker of cardiovascular load and adaptation. After 40, a higher resting heart rate often reflects accumulated stress, lower aerobic fitness, or poorer recovery. For me, it is not just a number in the morning. It is a sign of how well the system is handling the load.

Recovery

HRV (Heart Rate Variability) is an indirect marker of autonomic nervous system balance and adaptability.

When HRV drops, it often means the body is already tired, even if the mind is still pretending everything is fine.

Sleep consistency matters as much as sleep duration. You can sleep eight hours, but if you go to bed at a different time every night, the body experiences it like a mini jet lag. For anyone interested in sleep after 40, consistency matters more than most people think.

Strain is my daily integrated load score from Whoop. It is not perfect, but it often helps me avoid overestimating myself. A useful reminder that sometimes I am not a hero – just optimistic with bad timing.

Internal Health

Body composition reflects the ratio between fat mass and muscle mass. Weight can stay the same while muscle quietly leaves and fat quietly moves in. The mirror is not always an honest consultant.

Visceral fat is a separate focus because of its relationship to metabolic risk. This is the classic belly fat that can look harmless from the outside but behaves far less politely on the inside – especially in men.

Key blood biomarkers include vitamin D, B12, lipids, and other markers I retest regularly. Biomarkers after 40 are a way to check reality before the body starts explaining it in a louder voice.

I am not building a cult of numbers. But I am building a system.

Metrics are not the goal. They are navigation. And if, one year from now, I decide I need to add new parameters, the system will evolve. What matters is that the trajectory remains visible and manageable.

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The System – 5 Pillars

Metrics are only indicators.

They show the state of the system, but they do not create it.

That is why I built a structure around five pillars. It is not unique, and it is not some proprietary method. It is simply a practical model that helps me avoid getting lost in the chaos of health information.

1. Sleep

Sleep is the foundation – not metaphorically, but physiologically. During sleep, tissues recover, hormones regulate, insulin sensitivity improves, and metabolic flexibility is supported. Most importantly, the brain recovers.

If sleep is broken, it is not only energy that suffers. Clarity of thinking and decision-making suffer too.

I work not only on sleep duration, but also on sleep consistency, bedtime timing, and recovery quality. In any serious approach to sleep after 40, these are not optional details.

→ Explore Sleep

2. Fuel

I do not follow extremes. My focus is adequate protein, calorie awareness, micronutrients, and regular lab work.

To be honest, the first stage was a shock. Once you start tracking food and measuring outcomes, you quickly see what needs to be reduced or removed. Some habits that looked harmless stop looking harmless.

That phase passed quickly. I found alternatives, rebuilt my nutrition, and realized that most limits are really a creativity problem, not a suffering problem. Right now, I feel better than I did at 35 – without living in a state of constant restriction.

I explain how my nutrition approach changed in more detail in the article below.

→ Explore Fuel

3. Strength + VO2 max

I was never someone who lived for training. For a long time, workouts were secondary. So I did not arrive at this system overnight.

Now I do strength training three times a week. Basic lifts, fixed working weights, careful progression. No performance theater. No need to prove anything to anyone.

At the same time, I work on VO₂ max through intervals and regular aerobic training. Not every day and not to the point of collapse. I train in a way that still makes me want to come back tomorrow.

The goal is sustainable progress – stronger fitness, better recovery, and muscle building after 40 without overload or burnout.

→ Explore Strength + VO₂ max

4. Biomarkers

Feelings are a poor tool for evaluating internal health. The body is very capable of pretending everything is fine.

That is why I regularly do blood testing: lipid panel, glucose, liver markers, vitamins, iron, inflammation markers, and other core measures. It helps me see the broader picture instead of becoming obsessed with one number.

You can feel “basically fine” while the data is already politely suggesting that something needs adjustment. I do not test everything all the time, and I do not play amateur laboratory director. But I do monitor key biomarkers systematically, so decisions are based on data rather than mood.

→ Explore Biomarkers

5. Mind & Recovery

Stress is not going away. I am an entrepreneur. It will remain part of my life.

So the question is not how to eliminate stress, but how to increase resilience to it.

Breathing, routine, load management, and psychological hygiene are just as much a part of the system as training. If you are dealing with entrepreneur stress, stress and aging, or long-term recovery, this pillar matters more than motivational quotes in minimalist fonts.

→ Explore Mind & Recovery

This structure is not carved in stone. It evolves with me. But it gives me a framework: I can always see which part of the system is slipping and where attention needs to go.

That is why progress stops being random.

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Results So Far – Current Snapshot

The first thing I did was very simple: I started going out onto the balcony in the morning and moving. A short routine. Jumping. My favorite music from a speaker.

Then came training, nutrition control, sleep, and lab work. But the foundation was built in those morning jumps.

I was not expecting fast changes. If anything, I was preparing for a long stretch of effort with very little visible return. But within the first year, one thing became clear: if the system is consistent, the body responds.

Here is what the difference from baseline looks like now.

VO₂ max: 46 → 58

Capacity under load now feels less like struggle and more like control.

VO₂ Max Improvement from April  2025 to March 2026

HRV: 51 → 77

Recovery has become more stable. The fluctuations are still there, but the baseline is much higher.

HRV Improvement from April 2025 to March 2026

Visceral fat: -4 kg

Changes in body composition happened gradually, without crash diets and without drama.

Visceral Fat Reduction from May 2025 to March 2026

Resting Heart Rate: down from 51 → 42 bpm

My heart now works more calmly at rest.

Resting Heart Rate Reduction from April 2025 to March 2026

There are also more debatable metrics. For example, biological age in Whoop is a conditional number, and I do not treat it as a medical fact. But psychologically, it was surprisingly powerful: my Whoop Age dropped from 46 to 31.

Whoop Biological Age Change from April 2025 to March 2026

And perhaps the most unexpected indicator did not come from an app at all.

At some point I noticed that my wife started looking at me differently. In a restaurant, she touched my biceps and smiled in a way she had not smiled in a long time. You cannot log that in a spreadsheet, but it is one of the strongest signs of progress.

Before, three Zoom calls in a row could drain me completely. By the end of the workday, I had enough energy left only to eat and lie down.

Now I can spend eight hours in negotiations, stay focused, and still go to the gym afterward.

In the end, I did not arrive only at a “new body.” I arrived at a feeling of reserve. More energy in the morning. More resilience during the day. Fewer crashes after effort.

This is not the end of the story. It is only confirmation that the direction is right.

Updated monthly. Last updated: February 25, 2026.

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The Method: A Data-Driven Longevity Approach After 40

I stopped looking for perfect solutions and focused on process.

First, I document the baseline – sleep, training load, body composition, blood work. Then I make one or two changes and watch the response. If the trend improves, I keep it. If not, I adjust.

I try not to change everything at once. When there are too many variables, it becomes impossible to know what actually worked.

Most of the interventions are very unglamorous: go to bed earlier, add intervals, increase protein, reduce evening stress. Nothing complicated.

What matters to me is that the system survives real life – work, flights, stress, family. If something only works under perfect conditions, then it does not work. So the method is simple: data → small adjustment → observation → repeat.

No rush. A time horizon measured in years, not weeks.

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How To Use This Site

This site is not an online course and not a transformation program. It is an open record of my process. If you are here for the first time, start with this page. It gives you the overall context and explains why this project exists.

If you prefer structure, go to The System. That section breaks down the five pillars: sleep, fuel, training, biomarkers, and recovery. If you want more depth, move into the individual sections. In each one, I go deeper into specific metrics, experiments, and changes I am testing. If you want personal context, open About Me. That page is more about the path, the mistakes, and the reasons I started doing this in the first place.

None of this needs to be copied literally. This is not a blueprint. It is an example of how to approach healthspan, healthy aging, and a longevity lifestyle in a more systematic way.

If the idea of a long game speaks to you, stay. I update the data regularly and share what actually works in my reality.

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This blog documents my personal experiments. It is not medical advice. I take responsibility for my body and my decisions. You are responsible for yours. Do your research. Think critically. And consult a qualified professional.