Unlocking Cognitive Health: How Marbles Brain Body Fitness Is Spreading Good News about Aging

Unlock the secrets to a sharper mind and healthier body with our guest, Dr. Cody Sipe, CEO of Brain Body Fitness franchise. Ever wondered how pairing brain games with physical exercise could stave off dementia? In this engaging episode, we dive into the innovative world of Marbles Brain Body Fitness, the pioneering brain gym franchise focused on a brain-first model. Cody, a co-founder of the Functional Aging Institute, reveals how dual-task technologies and unique workout concepts can make fitness more accessible and effective in combating cognitive decline and dementia.

Discover the fascinating world of exergaming, where exercise meets gaming to boost your brain health. Explore groundbreaking equipment like the Cyber Cycle, which blends pedaling with game-play decisions, and the Dividat Senso, reminiscent of Dance Dance Revolution, that enhances balance and mobility through visual stimuli. Learn about the SmartFit system, which challenges users with LED light boards and math-based tasks to emphasize quick decision-making. This episode underscores the critical connection between heart health and brain health, highlighting how factors like high blood pressure and obesity impact both.

Marketing a brain-first fitness program to older adults presents unique challenges, and Cody offers strategies to make these dual-task exercises more appealing. We discuss how Marbles aims to break down barriers and transform traditional exercise into fun, engaging activities that attract adults aged 60 to 80. Whether you're concerned about cognitive decline or looking to maintain sharp skills, this episode offers invaluable insights into Marbles' franchise development and how you can get involved through their webinars and informational resources. Tune in and get inspired to join the brain-body fitness revolution.

Online Resources
Marbles Brain Body Fitness
Cody Sipe on LinkedIn
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:00

My mother enjoyed playing word games every day right up to the end of her life last year at age 87. Scrabble was her main jam and then apps came along and she got hooked on words with friends. She played every day. She was tough and, I'm not ashamed to say, she usually beat me. Mom enjoyed brain games, but she also believed, or at least hoped, that they were helping her brain health, lowering her risk of dementia and cognitive decline. Was she right? Can crosswords protect us from Alzheimer's disease or is there something to it, but a little more complicated than that, also involving physical movement and something called dual task training, to bring our brains maximum benefits? Brain games are good, physical exercise is good. How much more powerful are they when we put them together? These are some of the questions we'll tackle today on optimal aging, where we discuss the business of exercise, healthy living and well-being for people 50 and over.

Speaker 2: 1:06

I'm your host, jay Croft of Prime Fit Content. Each week, we explore what healthy living means for millions of people in this lucrative yet underserved market, with a focus on communications, content and making powerful connections. My guest today is a leader in bringing fitness to the quote-unquote older market and he intends his new company to bring the power of brain-body fitness to people across the country. Dr Cody Seip is a co-founder of the Functional Aging Institute, an author, a gym owner and now the CEO of Brain Body Fitness franchise. He's working with top leaders in cognitive fitness to create Marbles Brain Body Fitness as the first franchise to offer a brain-first model geared to middle-aged and older adults, using the most innovative dual-task technologies available.

Speaker 2: 2:06

Dementia is on the rise, with an estimated one in eight adults over 65 expected to develop Alzheimer's. Older adults rank declining brain health as one of their most prevalent fears as they age, and exciting new research in the last few years is revealing more and more a powerful realization that we are not helpless against the ravages of age on our brains. Exercise is a powerful tool against cognitive decline, dementia and other problems with brain health traditionally associated with aging, and the innovative approach that Marbles is promoting could be a game changer. I'm happy to have Cody explain the science, business model and key messaging he and the Marbles crew will be rolling out.

Speaker 2: 2:58

Cody is one of the very first people I met when I started writing about fitness for people over 50. And he and FAI co-founder Dr Dan Ritchie have always been supportive of my efforts over the years and I appreciate their friendship. I'm looking forward to seeing both of them in July at the Functional Aging Summit in Los Angeles, where I'll be speaking. Oh and, as for my own mother, her brain function had been slipping in recent years, with increasing forgetfulness and trouble finding the right word, but she had not experienced dementia and she died in her sleep heart problems at home in her own bed, apparently peacefully and looking great after her regular trip to the salon that day. I hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation with Cody. Here it is.

Speaker 3: 3:46

All right, hi, cody, nice to see you.

Speaker 1: 3:48

Yeah, good to see you, Jay.

Speaker 3: 3:50

Thanks for joining me today. I'm really excited to hear about what you're doing with your new venture.

Speaker 1: 3:55

Yeah, absolutely. I'm excited to tell everybody about it.

Speaker 3: 3:59

Well, let's just dive on in then. Tell me what is Marbles, how you got to this point with it and where it's headed.

Speaker 1: 4:06

Yeah, so Marbles Brain Body Fitness franchise is really the first of its kind brain gym franchise that we've seen.

Speaker 1: 4:13

There are a number of facilities that are putting kind of a brain first approach together, but this is the first one that's franchisable and kind of on the market.

Speaker 1: 4:25

Greg Blanchard, our founder he is basically a successful serial entrepreneur and he had been serving on the board of one of the companies that we work with called SmartFit that do high-tech dual-task technologies and he saw so much the need to get this type of technology and approach out to the mass public because of the rising numbers of people with Alzheimer's disease that's expected in the future, the significant concerns people have on brain health, and he was just so impressed by the systems that he decided to get a team together and move forward with creating a model that would then bring these systems to the average everyday person around the country. So he started to put together a team and started with Dr Mike Studer, who's a dual tasking expert, and Corey Dizzler, who's been in the industry a long time and understands all the technology and equipment, and then brought Dan Ritchie and myself on board to really handle the operations to build out really the facility model and the programming model and the entire business model to kind of bring it to fruition.

Speaker 3: 5:39

As far as a franchise business goes, so you're talking about there being a marbles location in every town or in every state or something to that?

Speaker 1: 5:49

effect right, absolutely. We've created a model that's very streamlined, easy to get up and running, so low cost of entry, small footprint in a facility, easy to operate. So I joke that we're the curves of cognitive fitness. It's not that simplified, obviously, but that's the idea is to make this so that it's not a, you know, 10,000 square foot model that's complicated to run, that takes millions of dollars to get up and running. We want to see this delivered in all sorts of markets and you know big towns, small towns, it doesn't matter. You know every place really needs to have a Marbles, because that's really the only way that people are going to get access to this sort of technology and programming.

Speaker 3: 6:38

What is this technology and programming Are we talking about? Do I do a little weightlifting and then do Sudoku puzzles? Or what's the workout going to be like when I go to a Marbles? What's the concept? You mentioned dual task a minute ago. I know that's a very core component of all of this, so tell me what the workout will be like.

Speaker 1: 6:57

So adult tasking in general is just performing some sort of physical activity while you're performing a cognitive activity, and those two things can be related to one another or they can be rather unrelated to one another. But we know that this is sort of the holy grail of neuroplasticity and the research is really showing that when you combine these two elements together you get kind of a one plus one equals three effect. It's kind of a synergistic effect on the brain. So this technology is a way to do that in very specific and robust manners, so where you can target many different aspects of the brain and the functions of the brain while simultaneously targeting many different physical aspects, whether that's balance, strength, cardiovascular capability, et cetera. So you can consider this extra gaming. That's what a lot of people kind of, the title that a lot of people will use when we're talking about this high-tech approach. But an example would be one of the pieces of equipment that we're using. One of our partners is called a cyber cycle, and on the cyber cycle it's either a seated or recumbent cycle and you're getting on and you're pedaling, but while you're pedaling you have a screen in front of you and you're playing a game and so you are making decisions and you're reacting in order to play the game, while you're also pedaling. So it may be something that's similar to cycling. For example, you might have an avatar that's cycling down a path and as it goes up and down hills, the resistance of the pedals actually change and you have to shift gears, just like you were on a normal bike, but you're also steering. You're steering to avoid obstacles or to choose different pathways that you could follow and then, when you're on that pathway, there might be things that you will pick up or the things that you will discard or throw it at somebody else if you're racing against somebody. So that's more of an activity where it's related to what you're doing. Right. It's a cycling activity. But other games may be completely different. For example, one of their games is called number crunching and you've seen those kind of app-based games where you've got these blocks that will fall and they've got numbers and you have to combine the numbers right. Combine two sixes to get 12. Combine two 12s to get 48. It's a similar type of game, but now you're cycling at the same time, so you're exerting yourself physically. The faster you go, the more points you get. So if you exert yourself more, you get a better score. But then you're also using the handles to make the blocks shift in different directions in order to combine the numbers that you want to combine. So it's a really highly engaging but also high cognitive activity where you're looking at this board, you're making decisions, you're thinking about your strategy and you're cycling at the same time. So that's just kind of one example of what asking or extra gaming is all about.

Speaker 1: 10:05

Other systems require you to sit stand. So, for example, the Dividat Senso is similar to that old Dance Dance Revolution game and you might see old video game arcades right, where you're standing on a platform and, based on what's happening on the screen, you're having to step in different directions and in different patterns. So it's that idea where you're working on your balance, you're working on your mobility, you're working on your weight shifting, but you're responding to the different elements that appear on the screen and that might be things where you react to it, or also inhibition activities, where you don't react to certain stimuli. So that's kind of that game, that system. And then the SmartFit system is you have a board with all these LED lights on it and again you have to respond appropriately.

Speaker 1: 10:57

So maybe you are doing a single leg balance activity but the board is lighting up and you have to find the A. As it lights up on the board and you hit the A, all the lights change and now there's going to be a B somewhere. But you've got to find the B. So you're trying to go as quickly as you can. But you're also responding to the stimuli. You're having to make decisions and they get more complicated than that. They even have multiplication or math-based games. So a formula will appear in the middle and the answer will appear somewhere on the perimeter and you've got to do the math in your head, find the correct answer and tap it, and then it changes. So again, you're trying to respond as quickly as possible so we can really match any type of physical movement with the cognitive task and we can put those two things together for an individual to really promote neuroplasticity.

Speaker 3: 11:53

Neuroplasticity is. Tell people in plain English what that is.

Speaker 1: 11:57

Absolutely so. One of the most exciting discoveries, really, in the past 20 years, is the revelation that you can actually grow new brain cells and you can connect those brain cells to other brain cells to create new brain networks, and therefore your brain is plastic, right? So, instead of this old approach that we used to think that well, the older you get, you lose your brain cells and there's only so many of them, so be careful, because once they're gone, they're gone, which is really interesting, because that's the same idea that we had about skeletal muscle before that was proven wrong.

Speaker 1: 12:35

Right, oh, you're going to lose your muscles. You get older. You can't get it back. We know that's wrong. The same thing occurs with your brain cells. We know that's wrong. The same thing occurs with your brain cells. So there are three very simple processes that really regulate this. One is new blood vessels, angiogenesis, and so stimulating new blood vessels then helps to lay the foundation for stimulating the growth. Of new brain cells start to grow. You have to connect them to other brain cells, and that's synaptogenesis. And once all that occurs, then you create basically called new brain networks or new neural networks, and that is where you can do your higher order cognitive thinking, your processes, your strategic planning, all these complicated things that we do, and so all three of those are really important and create what we call neuroplasticity.

Speaker 3: 13:26

And neuroplasticity is really key in preventing or dealing with or understanding cognitive decline and dementia and Alzheimer's and all these brain health issues that we face as we get older right?

Speaker 1: 13:42

Yes, I want you to think about your brain in kind of two different aspects, kind of have the hardware, software approach that we often think about when it comes to the brain. The brain is an organ, right, that's the hardware. It needs to be healthy. So when we think of like Alzheimer's disease or even cognitive impairment, part of it is dependent on how healthy your brain is. We know that brain health is very closely linked to heart health. So all of the risk factors for heart disease you look at high blood pressure, dyslipidemias, insulin resistance, obesity all those are the same risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, right? Because if your brain cannot stay nourished, if you start to develop plaques and blood flow starts to decline, then that's going to impair your brain health. So that's kind of one side of it. The other side of it is kind of the software side, and that's where we get start talking about the brain nerves and the neural networks that are developed. So both of those are really important.

Speaker 1: 14:45

We want to do things that are going to keep our brain healthy, but we also want to do things that are going to really stimulate new nerve growth, those new brain cells, connect them and use them in meaningful ways. So if you are just physically active, you're helping to create a healthy brain, but you're not necessarily stimulating the neuroplasticity right, that neural growth. And if you're playing brain games all the time or you're doing high cognitive activities, you're trying to work on the software, but the problem is you might not have the healthy hardware to support cognition over time. So you're almost fighting against yourself. You're trying to grow a garden in soil that isn't fertile and it's not fertilized and it's not ready to grow and to support those crops. So we need both aspects to really promote positive brain health and to stimulate high cognition and to maintain it as we get older.

Speaker 3: 15:40

And this is all pretty new stuff this way that we're looking at brain health now and that we don't have to just roll over and get old and lose our cognition, lose our memory, lose our executive function, these kinds of things. There's something we can do we can't just there's more than just letting our brains decline. It's a pretty revolutionary idea.

Speaker 1: 16:04

It is, and we have learned so much really about the brain over the past. You know 10 to 20 years and more information continues to come out and so, like when we think about dual tasking, this approach, it really appears to be the best way to stimulate your brain, and that actually tracks back to some of the previous data that is very similar that we could really call dual tasking. For example, we know that sports participation is awesome for your brain, right? So playing sports, if you maintain sports participation as you get older, those people tend to score really well on cognitive tests as they get older.

Speaker 1: 16:45

What are sports? Sports is dual tasking. Right, I mean, you're being physically active but you're making all sorts of decisions, right, you think about you're playing soccer. You've got to think about where you are on the field as opposed to where the ball is at the time, and how you're moving appropriately and where your teammates are and what the situation is. So you're constantly moving and thinking and strategizing, even when you don't have the ball, and so that's very high cognitive demand stuff. So we know that sports is a great way to maintain cognition, but a lot of people it's difficult to play sports or maintain it at a high level, which is where kind of the dual tasking approach comes in.

Speaker 3: 17:25

Okay, so the intention, then, of Marbles is to really bring this to everybody. Okay, right, where is Marbles in the process as far as the franchise development and getting studios up and running? I know you're very early in it, but tell me where you are with all of that.

Speaker 1: 17:42

Yeah, so, as of right now, we're about to kind of finalize what we call our FDD or franchise disclosure document, and we are starting to really raise awareness of Marbles, get interest and then pursuing some of our first locations around the country. So we're looking for some innovative individuals that are wanting to, that really understand what we're doing and how valuable it's going to be, and get in, might call it on the ground floor and be one of our first franchise models to launch. So we're looking for those individuals right now.

Speaker 3: 18:16

Okay, and then the avatar of the customer for Marbles is very old people, people who are young adults and are thinking about being old someday. People have had brain injuries. Like who are we talking about? Who are you going to be marketing this to?

Speaker 1: 18:33

The target clientele for a Marbles franchise is going to be, in general, adults anywhere from the age of 60 to 80 who are concerned about their brain health, their cognition. And we know from survey after survey that brain health is one of the top concerns that older adults have and that that concern goes up the older they get. So people understand there is a coming Alzheimer's epidemic, right, the data is out there. People are very well aware of it. They're seeing older individuals or loved ones and their friends develop Alzheimer's and I'm telling you, nobody wants their bodies to outlast their minds no one, right. So this is a primary concern. They see that. But they also want to maintain, even if they don't think that they're going to develop Alzheimer's. They don't even want to develop kind of the cognitive impairment that they see in some seniors right, where they're just not sharp and they're losing their memory and they're kind of going downhill. So they don't want that either. They want to maintain kind of their sharp cognitive skills. So in general, it's for anyone that is concerned about this. However, what we know and how we kind of devise our model is that from people that are kind of already experiencing some level of cognitive impairment, or what we call subjective cognitive decline and that is, you know, I feel like my brain is not working as well and I'm really concerned about it and I don't know what to do. All the way up to people that are still very sharp and they have high levels of cognition and maybe they're in positions, all right, or jobs, where they're having to use that a lot but they want to maintain it for as long as possible, so that whole spectrum of individual will be able to serve Individual.

Speaker 1: 20:24

In addition, when you look at the physical capabilities right, because it's brain, body fitness people are having to do physical activities and both from kind of the equipment we've selected, the programming that we've developed and put together, we're going to be able to serve individuals that have lower levels of function. Maybe they're fallers, their balance isn't so good, their gait isn't so good, they're not active, they don't go to a gym, they don't really work out. This will be a really easy entry point for them, because what we know is, while everybody should be working out right, every older adult should be going to a gym the vast majority don't, and they don't because they look at gyms, the typical gym, and they're scared. Right, the biggest, the number one barrier for an older adult to enter a gym is fear of injury. They look at all that stuff. They go. I've never done that. I don't know if they're going to take care of me. It looks tough, it looks intense. I don't want to get hurt so I'm not going to do it.

Speaker 1: 21:24

So the activities that we're doing because they're focused on, you know, balance and coordination, some like cardiovascular activity, they're not on your typical, you know, in your typical weight room lifting weights. They're going to, they're going to look at this and go, oh well, I can do that, right. And so we're really wanting to tap into that market. But, at the same time, people that are again at a higher level and they're active and they're fit, they're going to look at this. They're going to say, wow, that's something new, it's something different, it's targeted for my brain, something I can't do anywhere else. I can't even do it on my own, I can't do it at my normal gym. So we're going to really attract those individuals as well so they can maintain high levels of both cognitive and physical performance.

Speaker 3: 22:15

And those people can continue to work out at their quote unquote normal gym Absolutely To get their muscle strength training and other athletic training that they want to pursue, and then still come to marbles and get the brain health training. It's great. That really seems to cover both segments of the population, because a lot of people our age are very comfortable in the gym, but most of them just aren't. Most don't do anything and they are intimidated by a gym. This can be fun. I've seen the videos the giant light boards that light up and the bikes and the. It's interactive, it's fun, it's not intimidating. So it's interactive, it's fun, it's not intimidating. So it's an environment that says, hey, come in and check this out.

Speaker 1: 22:59

Right yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:00

And even though everybody is going to be working out on their own, so to speak, right, so they're going to have a program that they're going to go through. We've built in lots of competition that's friendly, but also lots of court, lots of kind of competition that's friendly, but also lots of cooperation. So when you are using some of the equipment, you can get on with somebody else and you guys can play the same game head to head right in a friendly competition or even in a cooperation mode. So couples or friends or even just absolute strangers, right, can get on, get on the same equipment. We can say, hey, why don't you guys play this together, right? It's fun, and encourage that social interaction, create those relationships.

Speaker 3: 23:44

Do you have any personal stories yet of people who have improved their lives or have seen changes in their brain health or anything like this, yet maybe from the vendors that you're?

Speaker 1: 23:55

working with. Yeah, the vendors have done numerous studies for one on the efficacy of what they're doing right, and so they have a lot of data related to it. It's very effective. They've also collected a lot of testimonials showing that this is amazing right, it works. I'm feeling better. I feel sharper. I never thought I would kind of be active. Now I'm active and working out. The overall comments are just so positive that everybody loves it. They enjoy it. Doing it, you know the time kind of flies by. Plus, you don't have to spend hours to do it, and that's the great thing. Studies show that even as little as two 20-minute sessions per week can move the needle significantly on their cognitive abilities. So when you're talking two to three 20 to 30-minute sessions a week now, you're really starting to see improvements and people feel that they experience it.

Speaker 3: 24:53

I'm thinking about my mother and her husband. They both died within the last five or six years. She was in her eighties, he was in his nineties and this was on their minds a lot. You know their brain health and they would do crossword puzzles and they would play Scrabble and do all of these things, but they weren't physically active. So I'm wondering what kind of key messaging are you developing that's going to engage people like them who want this protection and health benefit, but they've got to overcome this lifetime of wait? What can't I just do the crossword? Isn't that good enough? I go for a walk twice a week, or isn't that enough? Twice a week, isn't that enough? How are you going to move? You've got to advance that message for them. How are you going to do that? What's the attack there for marketing this idea?

Speaker 1: 25:42

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, there are several different approaches that we're going to need to take when it comes to really getting this idea across to people. But one is just playing on the concerns that people have about their brain and saying this is a brain first program, and even language, right, the messaging that's used there, that's going to spark that interest of, oh, a brain first program, a brain gym, what does that mean Like? What does that look like? So that's kind of the first thing that we have to do is kind of approach that A lot of individuals think that doing those crossword puzzles and Sudoku and other things, that that's what they need to do. That that's what's effective, Even though from the research we know it has a very limited effectiveness.

Speaker 1: 26:32

Right, it's not ineffective, but the effect is very limited. It doesn't appear to do anything to curb the decline that we see as people get older and especially not to do anything to prevent Alzheimer's disease. So we've got to address that right. We've got to say that's great that you're doing that. But here are things that are way more effective, that are really going to move the needle, that are really going to improve your brain health and your cognitive performance. We're glad you're doing that, but bring that in Same thing with kind of the physical activity component. A lot of people think their little you know stroll that they do occasionally is, oh, I'm active and I walk, and again, that's good, we're glad they're doing that. But we want to capitalize, okay, now that you've started, that this is really going to be the next step, because that is insufficient, right, it's an insufficient stimulus. We want you to keep doing that, but this is going to be much better for you.

Speaker 3: 27:30

And you've said throughout this conversation, physical activity. That's something that I've got to wrap my head around. We're not talking about how maybe we are, maybe it's just a semantic distinction, but we're not talking about exercise. We don't want to tell people hey, go exercise. We want to tell people get in this physical activity while you're playing these games. Is that more the approach to engage the minute, that it's activity, not so much exercise, which has this negative connotation for a lot of people?

Speaker 1: 28:01

yeah, well, we we are. We're going to hit kind of both sides of things because people, it is exercise right so we don't want to it's not cock-a-bait and switch that we're trying to say, ah, so yeah, you really are exercising.

Speaker 1: 28:13

But you're right, it's the language that you're using to say, hey, we're engaged in activities or we're engaged in games or whatever it might be, so that they don't formally look at it as a traditional exercise. That's just what we don't want them to say. Oh, they're going to pigeonhole it. They're going to have me do this. Right, you have them do that at all. But you know, they are going to be like biking and doing stepping and squatting and lunging and balancing and doing agility exercises according to their capabilities and according to their needs, Right? So we're not going to necessarily shy away from it, but we are.

Speaker 1: 28:52

We know that in people's minds there's kind of some different barriers when you think about exercise. I mean, this is in our name, right, Brain body fitness. So you got to know there's something in there related to exercise. What does that look like? What exactly are you going to have me do? And the best way to do that is really to show individuals using the equipment. Right, we show these bits and pieces of like oh, that's completely different and that looks fun and I can do that. Right, Just to get them in the door, because once they're in the door and they experience it, we know they're going to stick with it.

Speaker 3: 29:28

Yeah, you've mentioned some phrasing in our conversation today one and one makes three, that it's more like sports, because sports is dual task training. These are things that I think people will really relate to. Everyone played a sport at some point, or golfed, or even if it's something on gardening or sewing, they still can probably relate to the idea that I'm doing something physically while thinking about it and that one plus one equals three is a really clear way to express that, I think. Anyway, it works on my big head put it that way?

Speaker 1: 30:02

Yeah, well, I guess that's how I think about it, because I think that's kind of the reality. Is that that synergy that happens?

Speaker 3: 30:07

So what's next, cody? We're here in May of 2024. And tell me, how's the next few months looking for all of this and how can people get involved at this point?

Speaker 1: 30:20

Yeah, so we are starting to basically launch this, meaning we're starting to let people know this is here, it's available, we're moving forward. We want to get people involved, so we're doing a number of webinars. People can go to our website and sign up for more information and get in touch with us to learn more. So the process is we're kind of out there promoting it. If people are interested, we set up a phone call with them to tell them a little bit more about it, answer their questions, and then we just go from there Then just becomes a one-on-one conversation for a person to decide is this something that they want to get involved with and have the capability to get involved with as far as becoming a franchisee?

Speaker 3: 31:06

So where do they go to find that and to be in touch? Marvelsfitnesscom Dot com. Okay, and in the meantime, while all of this is baking, do you have any resources that, either for the public or for a fitness professional, about things that they can do before a marbles comes to town for their dual test training or for their brain health? Maybe they can do at home or do at a gym, or that a gym owner can suggest his members do.

Speaker 1: 31:35

Anything like that yet, yeah, so part of our model is that we're also going to incorporate some low-tech dual tasking exercises, and these are, then, things that you know any gym can do and can incorporate, especially in a group program, but you can do it also one-on-one, and so those don't require the technology. Right? We've taught about this for years. Because we know that brain health is such a concern. We think all fitness facilities, all trainers who work with older adults should be integrating some sort of dual tasking exercises into the programs.

Speaker 1: 32:10

So a classic example of there's a timed up and go test, right, you stand up, walk to a line, turn around and come back.

Speaker 1: 32:17

You do that, see how long it takes, but then you do it, and the second time you count backwards from 100 by sevens, and what you see is typically there's this interference, right, because they're thinking they slow down, right, and so that's an indicator that, all right, you probably need to work on some dual tasking because you want to be able to think and perform simultaneously at a high level. So anything that you can do that has people performing some sort of cognitive task it can be counting in different ways, spelling in different ways, skip counting, skip spelling, doing math, answering questions, telling stories like there's. It's just wide open all the things that you could do and you take that and you match it up with any sort of physical task, right, so it could be a gait related task, balance, a strength related task, a cardio, it doesn't matter. Match those things up so that they're having to think and respond while they're doing some sort of physical activity or task simultaneously.

Speaker 3: 33:22

Got it. That's great. It's very helpful because you know people are going to hear this and get excited and want to learn more about it, so they're going to go to the website. They're going to do that and they're going to learn more about this in the coming months. It's very exciting, and thanks for coming on the show and telling us all about it, cody. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 33:40

Absolutely yeah, thanks for having me.

Speaker 4: 33:42

Thank you for listening to Optimal Aging. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you'll subscribe, tell a friend and write a review. All of that helps me grow my audience. You can learn more about me and my content business at primefitcontentcom. You can send me an email at jay at primefitcontentcom. That's jay j-a-y at primefitcontentcom. I'm also on Facebook, linkedin and Instagram so you can find me anywhere you like and be in touch. And again, thanks for listening. Join me next time.