In a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, nutrition researcher Dr. Chris Masterjohn shared findings that challenged popular assumptions about exercise and longevity.
While discussing athletic performance and lifespan, Masterjohn revealed surprising data from a comprehensive 2024 study examining elite athletes’ mortality rates compared to the general population.
The research found that professional cyclists live only approximately 3.3 years longer than average, a figure that visibly surprised Rogan. This stands in stark contrast to other athletic disciplines: gymnasts gained 8.2 years, pole vaulters 8.4 years, while sumo wrestlers actually lost 9.8 years of life expectancy. The modest benefit for cyclists seems counterintuitive given their exceptional cardiovascular fitness and rigorous endurance training regimens.
Masterjohn highlighted just how wildly different longevity outcomes can be between sports. “In the male athletes, you had gymnasts and pole vaulters with eight years on the population… cyclists only have two years on the general population… and sumo wrestlers are 10 years below.”
Masterjohn explained that the disparity likely relates to the type of physical training involved. Cycling primarily develops aerobic capacity through endurance work, which benefits cardiovascular health but provides limited stimulus for other physiological systems.
Meanwhile, gymnastics and pole vaulting incorporate explosive movements, diverse ranges of motion, coordination challenges, and both aerobic and anaerobic elements that train muscle, bone, and neuromuscular systems more comprehensively.
Rogan was particularly intrigued when Masterjohn noted how much longevity messaging comes from endurance-based experts: “A lot of people in the longevity space are taking most of their information about how they should train for longevity from people who specialize in cycling.” But when gymnasts and pole vaulters gain “six extra years on the cyclists,” he concluded, “it’s not all about cardiorespiratory fitness.”
Instead, Masterjohn believes the key lies in movement diversity and full-body function: “Functionality of movement throughout the whole body… is training at things that are getting left out when you just make sure your heart and lungs are able to support your running or cycling.”
The discussion highlighted that exclusive focus on cardiorespiratory fitness may miss crucial components of healthy aging. Masterjohn emphasized the importance of training multiple physical qualities including strength, power, mobility, agility, balance, and coordination across different movement patterns and planes of motion.
He suggested that functional movement diversity—the kind demanded by gymnastics—may provide protective benefits against cancer and neurological disease that pure endurance training cannot match.
