The Society's program model is built on real studies. Below are the papers we cite most often, with direct links to the originals and plain-language summaries of what they actually found.
Cardiorespiratory fitness
The fittest adults live measurably longer — and the gap is enormous.
Mandsager K, Harb S, Cremer P, et al. Association of Cardiorespiratory Fitness With Long-term Mortality Among Adults Undergoing Exercise Treadmill Testing. JAMA Network Open. 2018;1(6):e183605.
Retrospective cohort study of 122,007 patients at the Cleveland Clinic over 13 years. Researchers tracked all-cause mortality against cardiorespiratory fitness (measured directly via treadmill testing — not self-reported activity).
What they found
Cardiorespiratory fitness has a graded inverse association with all-cause mortality — meaning the more fit you are, the lower your risk of dying from any cause — with no apparent upper limit. The difference between the lowest-fitness and highest-fitness groups was larger than the well-known mortality difference between smokers and non-smokers. The authors concluded that being unfit carries a risk equivalent to or greater than smoking, hypertension, or diabetes.
Why it matters for the Society
Programs that improve cardiorespiratory fitness — running, cycling, hiking, sustained activity of any kind — are among the most consequential things adults can do for their long-term health. The dividend compounds most steeply in the 30–50 window, exactly when most men's fitness quietly declines.
Measure it yourself
Estimate your VO2 max — four methods from home.
The research above is striking, but it stays abstract until you know your own number. A proper VO2 max measurement requires a lab, a treadmill, and a mask collecting exhaled gas. Four at-home methods get within reasonable range — useful for tracking change over months, not for clinical precision. Pick the one that fits how you train (or don’t) right now.
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Pick your method
Read the four options below and choose the one that suits how you train (or don't train) right now. You'll only enter the inputs for the method you pick.
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Enter your numbers
Only the inputs for your selected method are shown.
About you
Method 1 inputs
Method 2 inputs
Method 3 inputs
Method 4 inputs
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Calculate
The grid below will highlight where you sit based on your age, sex, and result.
Your estimated VO2 max—mL/kg/min
Where do you sit?
Standard age-graded ranges from the Cooper Institute / ACSM norms. The Cooper test result above is more accurate, so it’s used to highlight your cell when both methods are filled in.
Age
Very poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Excellent
Superior
20–29
<38
38–43
44–50
51–56
57–62
>62
30–39
<34
34–39
40–46
47–52
53–58
>58
40–49
<30
30–35
36–42
43–48
49–54
>54
50–59
<25
25–30
31–38
39–44
45–50
>50
60–69
<21
21–26
27–34
35–40
41–46
>46
70+
<17
17–21
22–29
30–36
37–44
>44
Age
Very poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Excellent
Superior
20–29
<31
31–34
35–40
41–46
47–51
>51
30–39
<28
28–32
33–37
38–42
43–48
>48
40–49
<25
25–29
30–34
35–39
40–44
>44
50–59
<21
21–25
26–29
30–34
35–39
>39
60–69
<19
19–21
22–26
27–31
32–37
>37
70+
<17
17–19
20–24
25–29
30–34
>34
All numbers are mL/kg/min. These are estimates from indirect methods — a direct lab test (treadmill or cycle ergometer with a mask measuring exhaled oxygen) is the only way to get a true reading, with error in the 1–2 mL/kg/min range. The at-home methods carry roughly ±3–5 mL/kg/min uncertainty. For tracking your own change over months, either method is consistent enough to be useful.
Norms drawn from the Cooper Institute / American College of Sports Medicine, as compiled in ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (10th ed., 2018) and Heyward’s Advanced Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription.
Social connection
Strong social ties rival exercise as a predictor of how long you live.
Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB. Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review. PLOS Medicine. 2010;7(7):e1000316.
A meta-analysis of 148 studies covering more than 308,000 participants, examining the relationship between social relationship quality and quantity and risk of mortality.
What they found
People with stronger social relationships had a 50% greater likelihood of survival over the study periods than those with weaker ties. The magnitude of the effect was comparable to quitting smoking and exceeded the impact of many other well-known risk factors, including obesity and physical inactivity. The conclusion the authors drew: weak social connection should be treated as a serious health risk, not a soft concern.
Maintaining strong social ties is one of the most consequential modifiable factors for adult health. It ranks alongside regular exercise. A reliable weekly program where men show up to be with one another isn't a nice-to-have — it's a measurable health intervention.
Group exercise
People stick with exercise more reliably when they do it with others.
Burke SM, Carron AV, Eys MA, Ntoumanis N, Estabrooks PA. Group versus Individual Approach? A Meta-analysis of the Effectiveness of Interventions to Promote Physical Activity. Sport & Exercise Psychology Review. 2006;2(1):19–35.
Davis AJ, MacCarron P, Cohen E. Social bonded individuals exercising together exhibit greater exercise adherence. Royal Society Open Science. 2021;8(2):201620.
Multiple studies, summarized across these and other meta-analyses, show that exercising in a social context — especially with people you know — substantially improves the likelihood of sticking with an exercise program. Group exercisers report higher enjoyment, higher commitment, and meaningfully lower dropout rates than solo exercisers, even when the prescribed exercise is identical. The 2021 Davis et al. study specifically found that the more socially bonded the group, the stronger the adherence effect.
Why it matters for the Society
Programming exercise as a regular social event isn't only about the friendship benefits. It also makes the fitness benefits more likely to actually be realized. The combination — same activity, same group, same time, every week — is what produces both kinds of dividend at once. It's why a Wednesday ride that runs every week for two years matters more than a one-off retreat that nobody continues.
A philosophy worth knowing
Ikigai — a reason worth getting out of bed for.
Beyond controlled studies, there is a longer tradition worth naming. In Okinawa, Japan — one of the regions with the world's highest concentration of centenarians — the concept of ikigai (生き甲斐, "reason for being") describes a combination of small daily purpose, strong social ties, and consistent movement. Researchers studying Okinawan longevity (Dan Buettner's "Blue Zones") and a long-running Japanese cohort (Sone et al., 2008) have linked a strong sense of ikigai to lower mortality and better long-term health outcomes.
Ikigai is not directly measurable like VO2 max. But the principles map almost exactly onto how the Society is designed.
The popular Western framing: ikigai sits at the intersection of love, talent, purpose, and livelihood. The traditional Japanese understanding is closer to "the small joys that make life worth getting out of bed for" — daily meaning, not necessarily career fit.
The five pillars (García & Miralles)
Start small.Find satisfaction in modest, repeatable practices — not grand gestures. A weekly walk that happens every week matters more than a quarterly retreat.
Release yourself.Let go of the need to control, impress, or perform. Show up as you are.
Harmony.Live in tune with the people around you. Belonging is built through repeated, low-stakes time together.
The joy of little things.Savour what is already near — a coffee after the walk, a fire after the hike, a quiet moment by the lake.
Be here now.Full presence in this moment matters more than distant goals. The walk is the point.
Why we cite it
The Society's programs were designed against the evidence on cardiorespiratory fitness and social connection. The ikigai framing arrived afterward and described what was already there. A first-Sunday cold plunge at Cultus Lake is a small daily-ish joy. A Wednesday ride and a Friday run are starting small. An overnight in May around a fire is harmony. Living in a Fraser Valley with mountains in every direction makes "be here now" easy.
We do not claim to deliver ikigai. But we think the philosophy is a useful frame for the kind of life the Society's programs are quietly designed to support.
García H, Miralles F. Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life. Penguin Books, 2017.
Sone T, Nakaya N, Ohmori K, et al. Sense of life worth living (ikigai) and mortality in Japan: Ohsaki Study. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2008;70(6):709–715.
The Society's program model is evidence-informed, not invented. The mission isn't "men should connect more" as a feeling — it's that, in the literature, social connection and cardiorespiratory fitness sit close to the top of the list of modifiable factors that determine how long and how well men live.
We point to the original sources because we want the reader to be able to verify the claim and read the nuance.
Further reading
· Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines — the official Canadian physical activity recommendations from the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology