After months of research and planning, we’re revealing the 8 trials for the Super Age Games

Most fitness competitions measure performance. The Super Age Games measures how long you’ll live well.

On November 7 at The Armory Track in New York City, 960 founding athletes will move through eight trials, each built around a longevity[lon-jev-i-tee]nounLiving a long life; influenced by genetics, environment, and lifestyle.Learn MoreClose marker backed by peer-reviewed research on what predicts healthspan[helth-span]nounThe number of years you live in good health, free from chronic illness or disability.Learn MoreClose. Some of the trials you’ll recognize. Several will surprise you. All of them will tell you something about your whole human longevity potential, not just how fast you are or how much you can lift.

This is what that looks like in practice.

Why Did We Choose These Eight Longevity Markers?

We spent months reviewing mortality and healthspan data before settling on the eight markers the Games are built around. The criteria were specific. Each marker had to be:

• Testable in under five minutes, without expensive equipment;
• Supported by deep, peer-reviewed research connecting it to mortality or healthspan outcomes;
• Trainable in weeks, not decades.

The result is a set of markers that function like a system check. We took the markers to the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and to performance expert Andy Walshe, former Head of Performance at Red Bull and Performance Director of U.S. Ski and Snowboard. Both helped validate the science and shape the trials.

“The Super Age Games put all of the healthspan markers that matter in one place, on one day, so people can actually see where they stand,” says Dr. Eric Verdin, CEO of the Buck Institute.

“We wanted to give people real insight towards a better prediction of their healthspan,” says Walshe, “and more importantly, a community.”

The 8 Trials in the Super Age Games

Here is what you will compete on, why each trial was chosen, and what the science behind it says.

Trial 1 = The Over Under: Agility

How fast you can move matters as much as how far you go.

Gait speed is one of the most validated longevity metrics in medicine. A pooled analysis of 34,485 adults found a 12% reduction in mortality risk for every 0.1 meters per second increase in walking pace. But gait speed on a straight line only tells part of the story. The Over Under tests dynamic agility: the ability to change direction, shift body position, and keep moving through a course that asks the body to adapt in real time.

What you do: For the first trial, you’ll navigate a custom obstacle course of four gates set 10 meters apart, alternating between crawling under and getting over each one. Run to the turnaround point and return back through to finish.

For a deeper look at the agility research, see 8 Trainable Longevity Markers That Extend Your Life.

Trial 2 = The Synapse: Cognitive Processing

Your brain is an athlete too.

Working memory, the capacity to hold and act on information in real time, is one of the earliest markers of cognitive aging. Research from Northwestern University’s Mesulam Center identifies preserved working memory as what separates “SuperAgers,” adults over 80 whose memory matches people decades younger, from those who follow a typical decline. A 2008 analysis of more than 3,000 people in the Cardiovascular Health Study found that lower scores on cognitive processing tests predicted significantly higher mortality, and when low cognitive scores appeared alongside slower gait, mortality rates were nearly four times higher.

“One of the things that happens as you get older is your ability to perfuse oxygen into your brain goes down,” says Nathan Price, PhD, co-director of the Center for Human Healthspan at the Buck Institute. “And so it becomes harder to keep neurons alive by keeping enough energy to sustain them. I actually think this is one of the dominant triggers into dementia.”

The Synapse uses 3D Multiple Object Tracking (MOT), a research-validated method for measuring cognitive processing speed, attention, and working memory under pressure. NeuroTracker, a founding partner of the Super Age Games, powers this trial.

What you do: Coming off the agility trial, you’ll test your cognitive abilities by tracking multiple moving objects simultaneously on screen as difficulty levels increase. Your score is level-based: the further you advance, the sharper your processing.

For the full working memory research breakdown, see 8 Trainable Longevity Markers That Extend Your Life.

Trial 3 = The Tightrope: Balance

Proprioception, your body’s internal GPS, is one of the most underrated longevity markers.

Balance draws on muscular strength, proprioception, vestibular function, and neurological coordination simultaneously. A 2022 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that inability to hold a 10-second single-leg stance was associated with 84% higher all-cause mortality[awl kawz mawr-tal-i-tee]nounThe risk of death from any cause.Learn MoreClose risk over 7 to 10 years. That’s a $0 test with no equipment that carries mortality data as strong as many biomarkers you’d pay thousands to measure.

The Tightrope adds load, movement, and direction to give a richer picture of your neuromuscular health than a static standing test can.

What you do: After testing your brain power, you’ll find yourself on a 12-foot low beam, walking forward and then backward while carrying a water-filled tube in a front rack position. Falls send you back to the start. Your score is a function of the maximum continuous distance covered in the time allowed.
For the balance research and how to test your own single-leg stance, see 8 Trainable Longevity Markers That Extend Your Life.

Trial 4 = The Net: Functional Strength[fuhngk-shuh-nl strength]nounStrength that translates to everyday tasks and movements.Learn MoreClose

The strength that keeps you independent.

Raw strength in a single plane does not predict longevity the way functional strength does. The WHO’s Healthy Aging framework identifies loss of functional capacity, the ability to move through real-world challenges, as the threshold event that ends healthspan. 

The Net requires coordinated, multi-directional strength, without any single dominant muscle group doing all the work.

What you do: Next, you’ll crawl across a 40-foot horizontal cargo net suspended a few feet off the ground. No rolling allowed. Your entire body stays engaged from start to finish. Your score is based on how quickly you reach the other side.

For the functional strength and muscle mass[muh-suhl mas]nounThe total weight of muscle in your body, critical for longevity.Learn MoreClose research, see 8 Trainable Longevity Markers That Extend Your Life.

Trial 5 = The Hang: Grip Strength[grip strength]nounA key marker of strength and predictor of longevity.Learn MoreClose

Four fingers. Four decades.

Grip is not just about forearms. It is a window into total-body muscular health, cardiovascular status, and neurological function. The PURE study, which followed 139,691 participants across 17 countries, found grip strength was a stronger predictor of mortality than systolic blood pressure. Every 5 kg reduction in grip strength was associated with a 16% increase in all-cause mortality risk. A February 2026 study in JAMA Network Open of 5,472 women found that the strongest grip group had a 33% lower mortality risk than the weakest, even among women who were not meeting aerobic exercise guidelines. In other words, strength confers protection that cardio alone cannot.

David Stewart knows this one from experience. “At 30 seconds, I’m like, ‘I can do this all day,'” he said on the AGEIST podcast when we chatted about the Games. “And at about close to a minute, I’m like, ‘Huh, this is starting to become uncomfortable.’ And like at a minute and a half, I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t know if I can do this.'”

What you do: Next, you’ll dead hang from a bar with controlled form. No movement, no kipping. Your score is based on how long you can hang, your time ends when you let go.

For the full grip strength research and how to train it, see 8 Trainable Longevity Markers That Extend Your Life.

Trial 6 = The Inferno: Aerobic Capacity

Your lungs do not lie.

VO2 max[vee-oh-too maks]nounA measurement of how much oxygen your body can use during exercise.Learn MoreClose is the single strongest modifiable predictor of longevity we have. A 2022 analysis of more than 750,000 people in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that each one-MET improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness was linked to a 13 to 15% lower mortality risk, regardless of age, sex, or BMI. Dr. Eric Verdin, CEO of the Buck Institute, put it plainly: if there is one thing to focus on, it is hard cardiovascular exercise. VO2 max training drags everything else with it, from blood sugar to LDL to cellular energy production.

“If you have a high VO2 max, you exercise a lot, you exercise intensely, and you’ve been doing it for a long time,” says Nathan Price, PhD. “You can’t gimmick it. You can’t take a pill and see it shoot up. So it shows a lifetime of discipline.”

The Inferno does not ask you to run a treadmill test in a lab. It asks you to push as hard as you can for four minutes on a bike, and calculates your estimated VO2 max from there.

What you do: Then you’ll hop on a bike for four minutes, and pedal at your strongest sustainable effort. Your estimated VO2 max is calculated from your body-weight-adjusted power output.

For the VO2 max research and how to test and train it, see 8 Trainable Longevity Markers That Extend Your Life.

Trial 7 = The Sync: Relational Capacity

Connection is a longevity marker.

Julianne Holt-Lunstad’s meta-analysis of more than 308,000 people found that strong social relationships were associated with a 50% increased likelihood of survival, an effect size comparable to quitting smoking. Most fitness events ignore this marker entirely. The Super Age Games does not.
Relational capacity starts with the ability to read and respond to others accurately. The Sync measures emotional awareness at the level of micro-expressions and nonverbal cues, the perceptual foundation of human connection. The trial methodology is based on the research of Eve and Paul Ekman, whose micro-expression research and training tools are used by clinicians, researchers, and organizations worldwide.

What you do: After testing your aerobic capacity, you’ll move into our relational skills test where you’ll read and respond to a series of images of facial and emotional expressions. Your score is based on accuracy and response time across increasing levels of complexity.

For the relational capacity research and how to train it, see 8 Trainable Longevity Markers That Extend Your Life.

Trial 8 = The Super Age 800: Endurance Under Load

Eight hundred meters. Your choice of weight.

The ability to sustain movement while bearing a load is a direct measure of functional independence and one of the most clinically validated predictors of long-term health outcomes. UK Biobank data from more than 50,000 participants confirms that walking pace independently predicts mortality regardless of total physical activity volume. The Super Age 800 adds the weight variable: you carry a sandbell for the full distance, and your adjusted finish time reflects both speed and load.

What you do: Finally, you’ll run (or walk) 800 meters carrying a sandbag at your chosen weight (10, 25, 40, or 50 lbs). Your finish time is adjusted by a weight multiplier. Heavier load, better adjusted score.

For the full endurance research and how to train it, see 8 Trainable Longevity Markers That Extend Your Life.

What You Leave With

Every athlete at the Super Age Games will receive a Super Age Longevity Report: per-trial scoring, peer-ranked results, a healthspan forecast, and a personalized action plan. The score you get is not a judgment. It is a map.

“The gap between healthspan and lifespan in America right now is about 14 years,” Stewart says. “So it’s 14 years of either horrible decline, or that can be 14 years of vitality. We have a choice.”

The Super Age Games is built around that choice. Eight trials. One day. November 7 in New York City. Be there.

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