Why evidence-based lifestyle interventions are shaping the future of primary care.
Dr. Andrew Mock has spent more than two decades bridging two worlds that most people assume sit far apart:
a physician trained in family, preventive, and lifestyle medicine — and a four-time California’s Strongest Man who has competed at World’s Strongest Man in the 105-kg class.
Across both fields, one principle has remained constant:
long-term health and capability are built on consistent, evidence-based lifestyle practices.
A Real Origin Story: Lifestyle Habits as the Foundation of Health
Long before he competed at World’s Strongest Man or won his first California’s Strongest Man title, Dr. Mock faced significant health struggles growing up. By early adolescence, he had undergone four abdominal surgeries and lived with chronic symptoms that disrupted daily life, schooling, and any sense of normalcy. These challenges ultimately led him to drop out of high school.
Lifestyle habits became a turning point.
Movement, nutrition, structured routines, and restorative sleep were not hobbies—they were the tools that helped him regain control of his health and rebuild his life.
“The structure that lifestyle habits provided is what allowed me to thrive—they’re what made living the rest of my life possible. And one of the things I love most about lifestyle medicine is that the same strategies are effective no matter when someone begins.”
Those evidence-based habits carried him into medicine and into carrying 400-pound boulders in strongman—both rooted in the same principles that helped him reclaim his health as a teenager.
From Strength Sports to Clinical Care: A Consistent Philosophy
With more than 20 years of disciplined practice behind him, Dr. Mock brings a unique athlete-physician lens to patient care. The long-term habits that support his academic and athletic success are the same evidence-based lifestyle practices that support longevity, metabolic health, function, and independence in every adult—regardless of experience level.
These foundational habits include:
- Consistent physical activity appropriate to one’s goals and abilities
- Progressive development of strength and functional capacity
- Sleep routines that support recovery and cognitive performance
- Nutrition patterns that enhance energy, cardiometabolic health, and body composition
- Stress-management techniques that support resilience
- Ongoing monitoring of lifestyle behaviors that matter
The science supports this: evidence-based lifestyle interventions—across physical activity, nutrition, restorative sleep, and stress management—are among the strongest predictors of long-term health, metabolic function, mobility, and independence.
Strength as a Clinical Priority
At Hoag Compass, strength is understood as whole-person capability—supporting physical health, mental resilience, emotional stability, and overall quality of life. Strength is not a fitness trend or an athletic niche. It’s a fundamental part of long-term health.Strong whole-person care supports:
- Cardiometabolic health
- Bone density
- Fall and fracture prevention
- Cognitive and emotional resilience
- Independence and confidence in older age
- Chronic disease outcomes
- Energy, vitality, and quality of life
Improving strength—across the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of health—is a central part of helping patients maintain capability and independence throughout life.
Inside the Hoag Compass Longevity Gameplan
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Baseline: “Where am I, really?”
Patients begin with a lifestyle-medicine-based evaluation that includes:
- Health history and personal goals
- Current physical activity and functional strength
- Sleep timing and quality
- Nutrition patterns
- Stress and recovery
- Clinically appropriate biomarkers
The purpose is to create a clear, shared understanding of each person’s starting point.
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The Gameplan: Small moves, big payoff
Patients receive a personalized plan designed around high-value lifestyle domains:
- Sustainable physical activity and strength routines
- Sleep strategies that fit real schedules
- Nutrition approaches that support cardiometabolic health, energy, and body composition
- Stress-recovery tools that integrate into daily life
These evidence-based lifestyle interventions function as clinical care, supporting the prevention, treatment, and reversal of chronic disease.
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Digital check-ins: You’re not doing this alone
Compass integrates digital tools to help patients monitor and maintain progress:
- Wearable data for activity, sleep, and recovery
- Habit tracking
- Nutrition logging
- Lifestyle trends over time
- Meaningful metrics that guide conversations with the clinical team
Technology supports consistency—but does not replace clinical judgment.
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Re-evaluation: Adjusting the plan as you age
Just as lifestyle needs change with age, the Longevity Gameplan evolves with the patient:
- Updating goals
- Reassessing functional strength and mobility
- Adjusting physical activity, sleep, and nutrition strategies
- Biomarker retesting when indicated
The plan adapts as life changes.
What This Looks Like in Real Life
To protect privacy, names and details are changed. The themes are not.
“Mark,” 36 – The high-performing, low-sleeping parent
Mark ran teams, not marathons. His days were back-to-back meetings, late emails, frequent travel, and “I’ll start taking care of myself after this quarter.”
His Longevity Gameplan focused on:
- A 20–30 minute exercise routines he could do in the hotel gyms
- Using light therapy to manage his jet lag and be energize for those East Coast meetings
- Practical food shifts that worked with business travel instead of fighting it
Over time, he noticed:
- Less afternoon crash
- More energy on weekends
- A growing sense that he was finally investing in his future health, not just reacting to problems
“Elena,” 61 – The almost-retired adventurer
Elena loved the idea of hiking trips. She loved them less when the trail sloped downward.
Her Longevity Gameplan honed in on:
- Strength, power, and balances exercises so she felt safer on uneven ground
- A walking habit that incorporated the trails she loves hiking with her grandkids
- Simple recovery strategies so active days didn’t knock her out for the rest of the week
Months later, she wasn’t chasing a “before-and-after” photo. She was booking trips with more challenging hikes.
Where Advanced Tools Fit
Once foundational lifestyle habits are in place—movement, sleep, nutrition, and stress management—many patients are interested in exploring tools that can help refine their long-term plan.
Compass integrates these options thoughtfully:
- Wearables to track activity, sleep, and recovery trends
- Digital tools to support habit consistency and insight
- Clinically appropriate laboratory testing to personalize nutrition or metabolic decisions
- Optional genetic and nutrition testing, used selectively, to guide conversations about tendencies or nutrient-response patterns when helpful
These tools add context and support shared decision-making without overshadowing the lifestyle interventions that drive meaningful, long-term change.
Is a Longevity Gameplan Right for You?
The Hoag Compass Longevity Program is designed for adults who want to be intentional about their long-term health, capability, and independence. Because the core pillars of lifestyle medicine benefit people at every age and stage, this approach can support anyone looking to strengthen their healthspan.
You may find the Longevity Gameplan especially valuable if:
- You want to stay strong, capable, and energetic for decades to come
- You’re ready to move from “I’ll get to it someday” to a structured, evidence-based plan
- You value a clinical team that focuses on long-term function, metabolic health, and quality of life—not quick fixes
- You want a clear, personalized roadmap to guide your lifestyle choices over time
- You want your primary care experience grounded in lifestyle medicine
The program may not be the right fit right now if:
- You’re looking for an overnight transformation or guaranteed outcomes
- You expect a single test—genetic or otherwise—to tell you exactly what to do
- You need urgent medical evaluation or time-sensitive diagnostic decisions
Most people fall somewhere in between: curious, motivated, and ready for clarity.
That’s exactly who the Longevity Gameplan is designed for—anyone who wants appropriately dosed lifestyle interventions to be the basis of their healthcare as they train for age 100.
