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by dangwhy 1178 days ago
I've been listening to peter attia's new audiobook too. solid stuff.

But where exactly do i find these 'medicine 3.0' doctors. My pcp still uses 'misguided' tests like LDL for cholesterol, serum creatine for renal function ect. Doesn't do host of other tests that he recommends doing by saying insurance won't cover it.

I don't even know where to get my vo2 max tested. I have apple watch which gives me wildly different number than my garmin ( 32 vs 49). I am pretty sure both those numbers are wrong. I am not paying $300 to get my vo2 max tested privately.

2 comments

The reality is that unless you can afford to pay for high-end concierge medicine you're going to have to manage most of it yourself. Regular primary care physicians don't have time to deal with non-standard preventative care for people who are basically healthy. You can order many blood tests directly from reference labs such as LabCorp without a doctor but you'll probably have to pay out of pocket.

You don't need any fancy equipment to get an accurate VO2 Max estimate. Just do a Cooper test by running as far as you can in 12 minutes and then plug the distance into a formula.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_test

Modern fitness trackers such as recent Garmin watches can also make fairly accurate VO2 Max estimates but you have to give them enough raw data to work with. That means recording several running or cycling (with a power meter) activities of varying lengths at maximum effort. If you don't hit it hard then the device will still make an estimate but it's likely to be way off.

https://www.firstbeat.com/en/science-and-physiology/fitness-...

thank you. I will try the cooper test this weekend in the gym.
I think I would set a budget aside for those sort of things. Accumulating 25 dollars a month to get a vo2 max test isn't as painful as spending 300 dollars of money you don't have. That comes to exactly once a year.

I already spend 300+ dollars a month on health insurance, and I already see how much hospital bills was already costing me(I was hospitalized twice in the same year). I rather spend them on tests which are much cheaper in comparison.

That being said, it's sure a good idea to get one's finance in order, which is what I am working, to facilitate important purchases(such as a foldable bike).