You can be the fittest man on your street and still be the first one to lose your independence. You have never tested your balance, your flexibility or your reaction time, so you do not know which one is already the weak link. Most men find out the day it matters. Scott Fulton calls himself a research engineer. He troubleshot complex systems for a living, chaired the National Aging in Place Council in the US, then turned the same eye on ageing: 700,000 participants, over 10 million person-years of data. His book Function went to number one. Health span, he found, gets dictated by your weak link. Some of this declines whatever you do, and the later you start the lower your ceiling. The fix is smaller than you expect. Walking 0.1 metres per second faster is worth about ten years of health span, and it is mostly intention. Find your blind spot, then decide what to do about it.
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Scott Fulton
Scott Fulton describes himself as a research engineer rather than a research scientist, focused on what holds up in the real world. He spent his career troubleshooting complex systems across industries, and in 2016 turned that work towards ageing. He chaired the National Aging in Place Council in the US and teaches healthspan and ageing courses at colleges across America. His book Function: Turn Your Blind Spots Into Strengths draws on longitudinal studies covering more than 700,000 participants and over 10 million person-years of data. It sets out more than 40 self-assessments across five domains: strength and power, cardiovascular recovery, mobility and balance, flexibility and structure, and neuromotor and cognition. He also runs the Whealthspan education program and a biological age calculator. He came to endurance sport with no athletic background and completed his first Ironman at 47. Connect with Scott Fulton Whealthspan (website) LinkedIn Books and products Function: Turn Your Blind Spots Into Strengths (book) FUNCTION healthspan assessment WHEALTHSPAN education program WHEALTHSPAN Transition Series Biological Age Calculator Whealthspan podcast
