The Pendulum Protocol and 100-Year Frame (v2)
Date: 2026-10-01
Summary: Revised long-range framing protocol.
THE PENDULUM PROTOCOL & 100-YEAR FRAME
Revised 2026-10-01: Mike's corrections applied
This replaces the 2026-09-18 brief. The old version described the finished system. This one describes what's true.
What it is
- Daily longevity practice: high-amplitude sessions on the $650,000 Danish-designed MONSTRUM playground nest swing in downtown Sheboygan (purple arch, 40 to 48 inch deforming woven disc, community-funded, ADA-accessible).
- The operator: 65, 135-lb frame. Physics and environment instead of gym culture.
- Framed as "100-Year Frame", building bone density, tendon resilience, balance; rejecting the age-decay trajectory.
Status: rebuilding
- Mike got hurt bad. Another person on the swing (per Mike), the swing moved up, caught Mike's foot and tangled it, and his head hit the ground, concussion. Right leg: tear near the Achilles, meniscus and bursa damage.
- Still recovering. Right leg moves at about half the speed of the left. He calls it 90% recovered, but it has no pop yet.
- The protocol is a work in progress. Everything below marked "peak" is pre-injury.
The physics ledger: video estimates, not measurements
Mike's figures, estimated by watching video. Not lab data. Not independently verified. - Peak ~2.65G at nadir (for an 80° amplitude: centripetal 2g(1−cos80°) plus gravity, the math checks). - ~14 mph at the nadir, hands-free, 80° arc amplitude. - ~2,320 cycles per 2-hour session; ~358 lbs instantaneous force at nadir at 135 lbs bodyweight. - Cumulative ~416 tons per session. - ~1,286 kcal per 2-hour session (his benchmark figure). - ~19 cumulative minutes of near-weightlessness at arc apexes per 2-hour session.
Corrections to the old version
- Yaw: The old brief claimed 360° rotations steered by the feet every 15 to 20 seconds. Wrong. The disc does not spin, fixed points. Mike can isolate rotation a bit, but there is no full spin. (Mike's words: "It didn't no way goes steers 360°.")
- Feet: The old brief said barefoot exclusively, with the whole control mechanism depending on bare skin on the web. Corrected 2026-10-01: Mike mixes it up, barefoot is still in the rotation, just unusual now. Shoes most of the time since the injury, barefoot when the session calls for it. Nothing is fixed; everything stays in motion.
The two real axes
- Sagittal (pendulum): forward-backward, pumped to 80° amplitude via rhythmic squat-and-extend.
- Vertical (compression): alternating ~2.65G compression at the nadir and micro-gravity decompression at the apex.
Protocols: what survives
- The Pendulum Protocol: the core daily practice. Currently in rebuild mode.
- The Interstitial Protocol: two 60-min sessions with 16 lbs ballast (two 8-lb balls), volume over amplitude. Nadir hammer ~400 lbs, ~464 tons total daily load. The strategic framework for breaking heavy work into structured blocks.
- National Milk Day Protocol (Jan 11): two gallons of milk (17.2 lbs fluid shifting mass), "Yeah Buoy!" lighthouse shirt and kilt, sub-zero, slosh dynamics experiment. Nadir load ~403 lbs. Legendary proof-of-concept.
- 8-Step Onramp: the public manual for older adults, find platform → footwear (revised from barefoot) → gripped low amplitude → increase amplitude → release hands → extend duration → make it daily. (Old step "add spin" removed, the disc doesn't spin.)
Vocabulary (his terms)
- "PLAY UNTIL STOP." / "Bigger muscles, same fate." (anti-gym-culture)
- The Centrifugal/Nadir Hammer; Software Upgrade within the Operator; 100-Year Frame; Zero Joint Impact; Kinetic Handoff / Zero-Footprint Dismount; Osteogenic Stimulus via Volume Pathway.
Verification boundary (standing)
- The physics figures are Mike's own estimates from video via NotebookLM synthesis. Use his vocabulary; do NOT present the numbers as independently verified science.
- The injury account is Mike's first-hand report, 2026-10-01. No medical records checked.