The only problem with all the active pursuits you love? You know you can’t do them forever. But what if you could do them longer and maintain a higher level of performance now and for years to come?
Enter Eternal. The company is reimagining health care for people who care about staying active, bringing the kind of obsessive, athlete-focused attention the pros get to the rest of us. It’s a radical new approach, and it’s changing the equation when it comes to aging and athletic performance. As the company’s chief medical officer, Dr. Desmond Wilson, puts it, “I want you to be able to do what you love in some form for the rest of your life.”
What Makes Eternal Unique
Extending your “athleticspan” requires a new, high-performance health care program unlike anything seen before. Here’s how it works.
Comprehensive Tests
The diagnostics go way beyond the basic blood labs and assess for whole-body, sport-specific fitness. Doctors look at more than 195 biomarkers related to health and athletic performance, including hormone levels, bone density, blood sugar, and body mass. There are tests for VO2 max and lactate threshold, a DEXA scan for body composition, and sport-specific strength, power, mobility, and stability tasks. “I had never undergone such an extensive workup,” says a runner who joined Eternal in the fall of 2024.
Expert Team
Eternal assembles an integrated team of advisers and practitioners that might include doctors and experts in performance medicine, nutrition, behavioral health, sleep, coaching, and women’s health. And these experts actually talk to each other, so the whole team is evaluating your situation. That means, for example, the trainer who is considering your joint pain is talking to the doc reviewing the endocrinology results. And the term “experts” is not used loosely. Member advisers include high-caliber specialists like female physiologist and nutrition scientist Stacy Sims and Golden State Warriors vice president of player health and performance Dr. Rick Celebrini, PhD.
Personalized Plan
Everything is designed to address your particular needs and real-life changes. Injuries to manage? A race coming up? Hormonal shifts in perimenopause? Whatever your goals, from completing a fun run to winning a century ride, your team takes it all into account to form a complete picture. “We take in all this data in the context of you as an athlete and a person and where you are in life, then we come up with strategic priorities,” says Wilson, an internal medicine physician and dedicated trail runner himself.
The Member Experience
For the past 25 years, Kim Gaylord and her husband have built their summers around trail running. For six weeks, they drive their camper van from their Northern California home to their favorite trails across the West, from the Sierra Nevada to the Rockies. “Those are the happiest times,” says Gaylord, 54, who runs every week, year-round. “I want to continue having an active, healthy lifestyle, to be able to still go on these van trips, running up mountains.”
But as she’s entered her sixth decade, the former competitive ski racer has faced new struggles, from symptoms of menopause to waning energy. Gaylord’s primary care doctor didn’t help. “The general health system is extremely frustrating,” she says. “You tell your doctor that you’re a runner, and they think it’s too extreme.” She needed a support system that understood running isn’t just a hobby, but a key piece of her identity.
That’s when Gaylord decided to try Eternal. Like all members, Gaylord started with a thorough in-person physical assessment. Then her personalized care team convened to crunch the numbers and build a personalized blueprint encompassing training, nutrition, sleep, behavioral science, medicine, and more.
For example, Gaylord’s results showed her aerobic fitness markers were excellent, but she lacked the strength and durability she’d need to maintain her trail running for the long haul. Knowing Gaylord’s aversion to working out in a gym, her care team designed an at-home routine tailored to her weak areas. “They listened to me,” she says. “I’m doing a very personalized strength workout for me.”
Ongoing Support
That initial blueprint is just the start. Through regular video check-ins with doctors and coaches, members stay accountable and fine-tune their programs. Experts are available for consultation anytime. At six months, members repeat biomarker and performance tests to measure improvement and update their action plans.
This kind of personal attention might feel like it belongs only to the realm of elite or professional athletes, but Eternal caters to anyone who values an active, healthy lifestyle. Current members’ goals run the gamut from getting on the podium at an ultramarathon to simply extending the pleasure of hiking. One member hopes to beat his 5K personal record from a decade ago; another was recently diagnosed with Lyme disease and wants to continue running while managing her condition. Eternal also helps people going through physiological changes, like women who want to ease perimenopausal symptoms.
“You can come to us in any form,” Wilson says. “You do not need to be a professional or ex-college athlete. You just have to be somebody who’s passionate about staying active and we will support you.”
Founded by Alex Mather, co-founder of The Athletic and a founding member of Strava’s product and design team, Eternal is dedicated to extending the “athleticspan” and performance of passionate athletes, from lifestyle to elite. By combining cutting-edge diagnostics, expert coaching, and personalized concierge care, Eternal empowers people to stay healthy and active for life. Eternal is now accepting members and has locations in San Francisco and New York. To learn more and join the waitlist, visit Eternal.co.
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