Ageless Athlete — Healthy Aging for a Strong, Capable Life

Allison Aubrey has spent more than two decades reporting on health and science for NPR. But when she put herself through a longevity assessment, some of the results caught even her off guard. In this episode, we talk about what she learned from that experience, why being active and lean doesn’t necessarily mean you’re as prepared for aging as you think, and the health markers that may actually be worth paying attention to. Then we get into the bigger stuff: strength, purpose, connection, reinvention, and the gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it. And later, Allison shares what she learned from spending time with 32 centenarians — including one pattern that kept showing up in people who had made it past 100. About Allison: Allison Aubrey is an NPR health and science correspondent and the author of the Book : Your Turn: How to Create a Midlife You Love . She also writes on Substack . Brain Care Score — Mass General 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Paul Pritchard is one of the most significant figures in British climbing. He became one of Britain’s leading rock climbers and mountaineers, with major first ascents across the UK, Patagonia, Baffin Island, Yosemite, Kyrgyzstan and the Karakoram. His first ascent of the West Face of Mount Asgard in 1994 remains one of his defining achievements. He was also the first author to have won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature twice — for Deep Play, and later, The Totem Pole. In 1998, everything changed. While climbing Tasmania’s Totem Pole, Paul was struck in the head by a falling rock, sustaining a near-fatal brain injury that left him with hemiplegia. He spent the next year in hospital and has described the decades since as his longest project: healing, adapting, and learning to live one moment at a time. And yet today, Paul says he gives thanks to the Totem Pole every morning. This is not simply a comeback story. It’s a conversation about mortality, fear, acceptance, freedom, identity, and what happens when the life you expected disappears. We talk about why losing choices can sometimes make us freer, why fear doesn’t need to disappear before we act, how aging changes the need to prove ourselves, and Paul’s idea of the “dignity of risk.” If none of us knows how much time we have, what are we still postponing? REFERENCES Paul's excellent books:: Deep Play | The Totem Pole | The Longest Climb | The Mountain Path on his website at https://www.paulpritchard.com.au/books Paul's Instagram: @ paulpritchard 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

We spend a lot of time preparing our bodies for the next 30 or 40 years. Strength. Mobility. Sleep. Recovery. Longevity. But almost nobody prepares for how sex, desire, intimacy, and pleasure may change over that same stretch of time. In this conversation, I speak with Joan Price, one of the best-known voices on sex and aging, about what changes, what can actually get better, and what we should understand long before we think we need to. Joan is 82, but much of what she shares may be most useful in your thirties, forties, and fifties. We talk about physical changes, why exercise matters, how desire evolves, why communication becomes more important, and how intimacy can adapt as we age. This is a conversation about the next 40 years of your body — and a part of longevity we rarely prepare for. Note: This episode includes frank discussion of sex, sexual function, grief, and intimacy. Joan’s Books & Resources Joan’s books include Naked at Our Age , Sex After Grief , The Ultimate Guide to Sex After 50 , Better Than I Ever Expected , and Ageless Erotica . Learn more about Joan’s books, webinars, newsletter, and other resources at JoanPrice.com . If you’d like to buy one of her books, consider purchasing through her website: joanprice.com/books 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 You can train hard, stay fit, and still lose physical abilities you are no longer asking your body to use. Dan Edwardes has spent more than two decades at the forefront of parkour as a practitioner, coach, and movement educator. His work has helped shape parkour into a global movement practice, with coach education programs delivered internationally through Parkour Generations and ADAPT. In this episode, we use parkour to explore a bigger question: what physical capabilities are you still losing, even if you still exercise? We talk about why fitness does not always equal capability, the movement patterns adults stop practicing, why jumping, climbing, balancing, and reacting still matter, and how parkour can be scaled for people well into their 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond. We also get into fear: when it is useful, when it becomes reckless, and why it often appears right at the edge of something you may actually be capable of doing. Dan is amazing. Don't miss this one. REFERENCES / LEARN MORE Dan on Instagram Parkour Generations https://parkourgenerations.com Parkour Generations London https://parkourgenerationslondon.com 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 What do the world’s best athletes over 50 do differently? After more than 140 conversations with elite climbers, cyclists, surfers, runners, mountaineers, and coaches, I went back through the Ageless Athlete archive looking for the patterns. The sports are different. The principles are surprisingly consistent. In this episode: Why older athletes still need intensity and power Why recovery often has to expand with age How the best athletes reverse-engineer the exact demands of their goals Why strength training matters even if your sport already feels demanding When specialization beats variety Why community may be part of the training plan How great athletes protect continuity instead of chasing one heroic day The goal is not to train like a 25-year-old forever. It is to keep training like an athlete—while adapting the methods. Go deeper: hear the original conversations Power, intensity & continuing to improve Judi Oyama, 65: From Teenage Rebel to World Champion at 65 — How She Keeps Winning Lee Sheftel, 77: Not Done Yet — Consistency, Curiosity, and Small Wins Ned Overend, 70: How To Train To Win In Your 70s From A World Champion Hard training & recovery Bill Ramsey, 65: He Outperforms Climbers Half His Age — Still Improving at 65 Matt Fitzgerald, 50s: Stop Living in the Gray Zone — The 80/20 Rule for Training and Life Joe Friel, 82: You Start Losing Muscle After 50 — Stop Making These Mistakes Training for the actual demand Joe Barr, 67: Faster In His 60s: The Training That Took Him To A World Record Rob Matheson: When the Consequences Are Final — Climbing a Death Route at 74 Mark “Doc” Renneker, 73: Charging In His 70s — Curiosity, Career, and a Life Built Around the Ocean Neil Gresham: Lexicon, Boldness, and the Long Game — Training Smarter and Peaking Later Strength for the long game Steve Swenson, 73: Stay Strong Into Your 70s — Lessons From Five Decades on the World’s Highest Mountains Jamie Whitmore, 50: When a World Champion’s Body Betrayed Her — And What Came Next Juliet Starrett, 50s: Build the Base — Durability, Longevity, and a Body That Lasts Eric Horst, 62: Peaking In His 60s — Injury, Recovery, and Training for the Long Game Focus & community Gary Linden, 74: He Built Big Wave Surfing — And Still Charges Jim Donini, 82: What It Costs to Live Boldly — Partnerships, Sacrifice, and Risk at 82 Bob Babbitt, 73: Racing Strong at 73 — Daily Rituals For Recovery, Energy, and Clarity * Sarah Thomas: What One Impossible Swim Can Teach You About Identity, Grit, and Starting Over (Sarah is less than 50 at the time of the recording but including her as her lessons apply universally) Protecting the long game Harvey Lewis, 50: How Harvey Lewis Recovers After 5 Days of Nonstop Running — Injury, Sleep, and What Breaks First Ed Viesturs, 66: The Discipline of Not Dying — This Survival Code Kept Him Alive for 18 Years 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 If you’re over 40, one of the hardest truths to accept is that the body and training approach that got you here may not be the one that carries you forward. In this episode, Rob Lea, 45, shares what it took to become the first person in history to complete the Double Seven — climbing the highest summit on every continent and swimming the Oceans Seven — while navigating injuries, recovery, changing body demands, and everyday life. We talk about why looking fit is not the same as being capable, how Rob adapted across radically different sports, and why staying athletic for the long run may require becoming a different kind of athlete. This is a conversation about resilience, longevity, ambitious goals, and learning to change before you get stuck. If you want to stay strong, capable, and adventurous as you age, this episode is for you. Follow Rob on Instagram: @rob.lea 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 At 66, Joe Barr rode 2,448 miles along Route 66 in just over ten days and set a new world record. What makes that achievement even more remarkable is that Joe believes he became a better athlete in his sixties. In this conversation, Joe explains how experience changed the way he trains, recovers, manages fatigue, and responds when his mind tells him to stop. He also challenges the usual story about aging. Joe was told he was too old. Instead of accepting that judgment, he kept adapting, kept learning, and built a performance lifestyle around consistency, discipline, and intelligent recovery. We explore: • How Joe got faster in his sixties • Why experience can offset physical decline • The inner dialogue that keeps him moving • Why endurance is management, not macho toughness • How his training changed with age • What it means to protect the athlete • Why recovery becomes more important over time This is a conversation about adaptation, focus, self-determination, and how much may still be possible when we stop allowing age to define the boundaries of our lives. Connect with Joe Joe Barr on Instagram BarrUltra website Joe’s Route 66 record Route 66 film project Joe thanks his sponsor Hypershell X 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 The fittest people do not always reach the summit. Luis Benitez has climbed Everest six times and spent years guiding on the world’s highest mountains. What he learned is that success depends on more than strength. Patience, judgment, adaptability, and the ability to stay steady when the plan falls apart often matter more. But this conversation goes well beyond Everest. Luis speaks with rare clarity about aging, identity, leadership, and the role the outdoors plays in our lives. We also explore his work at the intersection of conservation, public policy, access, and the outdoor economy—and why protecting these places is ultimately about protecting hope. We discuss: • Why the strongest climbers sometimes fail • Training differently as we age • Stress, patience, and decision-making • Knowing when to turn around • The economic and cultural power of the outdoors • What we owe the places that shape us References Read Higher Ground (Luis Benitez and Frederick Reimers). Highly recommended! Luis on Instagram 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Most athletes know how to train hard. Far fewer know how to go truly easy. Matt Fitzgerald is one of the most influential writers and coaches in endurance sports. After developing severe long COVID, Matt lost the ability to run for nearly three years. Then, despite the risks, he committed to running a 100-kilometer ultramarathon through the Arizona desert. For Matt, it was about much more than reaching a finish line. It was about identity, agency, unfinished business, and refusing to put his life on hold while waiting to recover. We also explore why so many athletes become trapped in a “moderate-intensity rut”—training hard enough to remain tired, but not strategically enough to perform at their best. This is a deep and vulnerable conversation about ambition, illness, risk, recovery, and learning when to push—and when to hold back. Enjoy! In this episode: • What severe long COVID took from Matt • Why he attempted a 100K despite the risks • What happened when his body began failing • Why easy training must be genuinely easy • What 80/20 training can teach us about everyday life Matt’s latest book, Dying to Run: An Athlete’s Quest for One More Finis h , is available for preorder and will be published September 8, 2026: Explore Matt’s other books, including 80/20 Running , How Bad Do You Want It? , Racing Weight , On Pace , and Running the Dream : https://mattfitzgerald.org/books/ Learn more about Matt: https://mattfitzgerald.org/ 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Sleep is not just about feeling tired tomorrow. In this episode, Stanford sleep researcher Dr. Martin Kawalski explains why sleep often gets harder after 50, why older adults do not simply “need less sleep,” and why getting the basics wrong for long enough may affect how well we age. One of the biggest ideas from this conversation: sleep regularity may matter more than total hours . Martin explains why consistent sleep timing is linked to all-cause mortality, and why your body craves rhythm across sleep, meals, caffeine, training, travel, and daily life. We also talk about chronotypes, deep sleep, REM sleep, wearables, melatonin, alcohol, late meals, cannabis sleep gummies, naps, jet lag, and sleeping with a partner. This is a practical conversation about building a sleep rhythm that works in real life — without turning sleep into one more thing to obsess over. In this episode: Why sleep gets harder after 50 Why older adults do not necessarily need less sleep The sleep habit linked to all-cause mortality Why regularity may matter more than chasing 8 hours What wearables can and cannot tell you Caffeine, alcohol, late meals, and 3 a.m. wakeups Melatonin, cannabis gummies, naps, and jet lag Sleeping with a partner, intimacy, and “sleep divorce” How to improve sleep without becoming obsessive Subscribe and share this episode with someone who keeps waking up tired. 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Most people don't notice they're declining until it's too late. Bob Becker offers a very different model. He didn't discover running until he was 57. Twenty-five years later, at age 80, he returned to Badwater 135 — a brutal 135-mile ultramarathon across Death Valley in temperatures above 120°F — and became the oldest official finisher in the race's history. This is Bob's second appearance on Ageless Athlete. In our first conversation, we talked about how he found endurance sports later in life, and the unforgettable story of missing the Badwater cutoff by just 17 minutes after nearly 48 hours on the course. This time, we pick up where that story left off. We talk about how Bob came back after heartbreak, how his training changed from his 60s into his 80s, how he knows when to push through discomfort versus when to stop, and why consistency over decades matters more than any single heroic workout. Whether you're a runner, climber, cyclist, skier, surfer, or simply someone who wants to stay healthy, strong, and capable as you age, Bob's wisdom goes far beyond ultrarunning. In this episode, we discuss: Becoming the oldest official finisher in Badwater history Why most people underestimate what consistency can do over 20 years How Bob trains differently in his 80s than he did in his 60s The difference between productive pain and dangerous pain How to adapt without surrendering to decline Recovery, strength training, and staying resilient with age Why starting late may not be the disadvantage people think it is What directing ultramarathons has taught him about human potential Why one setback doesn't get to write the ending If you haven't heard Bob's first appearance on Ageless Athlete, I highly recommend listening to Episode #73 first. Search for "Bob Becker" in the Ageless Athlete feed. References: Badwater 135 Ultramarathon https://www.badwater.com Please share this conversaton with a friend who may benefit from hearing it! 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Ethan Pringle has climbed some of the hardest routes in the world. But this episode is about the kind of strength climbing does not train you for. After his father suffered a devastating stroke, Ethan found himself living two lives: pro climber on the road, and son/caregiver back home. We talk about grief, fear, failure, aging parents, turning 40, becoming a father, and what strength means when life breaks you open. Watch Strength to Weight Strength to Weight is a climbing film on the surface, but its real story is about family, grief, and love. You do not need to be a climber to feel it. You only need to know what it means to watch someone you love change. A sincere thank you to Ethan for his generosity, honesty, and willingness to share the vulnerable parts of this story so openly. Enjoy! Ethan Pringle on Instagram: @ethan_pringle Ethan's sponsors: Touchstone climbing gym, Mountain Hardwear, Madrock, DMM, Send Climbing, Gnarly Nutrition, Friction Labs 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Most of us think aging happens slowly in the background. Dr. Bill Andrews thinks we may be aging faster than we need to. Bill is a molecular biologist, founder of Sierra Sciences, and a longtime researcher in telomere and telomerase biology. He has spent most of his life asking whether aging itself can be slowed, reversed, or even cured. He is also an ultra runner. At 74, Bill still runs every day, has completed 100-mile races, and continues to test what the body may be capable of as the decades pass. This episode is a little different from a typical Ageless Athlete conversation. We talk about running and staying capable, but we also go deep into telomeres, inflammation, mitochondria, gene therapy, supplements, and the future of longevity. Some of Bill’s ideas are bold, controversial, and still early. I’m grateful to him for being open with his time, his story, and his perspective. Whether you agree with all of his conclusions or not, this is a wide-ranging conversation about aging, performance, possibility, and what it means to keep reaching for a bigger life. Important disclaimer: Ageless Athlete does not endorse any supplement, product, company, test, protocol, or therapy mentioned in this episode. This conversation is for education only and is not medical advice. Please consult a qualified medical professional before making decisions about supplements, testing, medications, gene therapy, or any longevity-related intervention. Resources Mentioned: Sierra Sciences (Dr Bill Andrews' company) Telovital / Touchstone Essentials, Life Length, the ALCAT Test, SaltStick, GU Energy, Dr. Sandra Kaufmann’s The Kaufmann Protocol , Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Floyd Chilton’s Inflammation Nation , Dr. Amy Doneen, BioViva, SynapBio, and Hemostemix. Resources are listed for transparency only and are not endorsements. 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Beth Rodden is one of the most influential climbers of her generation—known for major Yosemite free climbing, multiple free ascents on El Capitan, and routes that helped push standards forward. I came into this conversation expecting more about training, aging, and climbing goals. Instead, Beth took us somewhere rarer: the inner work behind the highlight reel. She speaks with a kind of directness that’s almost unfamiliar—about self-doubt, insecurity, injury, and what it feels like to be seen as “strong” while still living a very human life. This episode is about the essential skill most people avoid: telling the truth clearly, dropping the performance, and letting your real experience be part of the story—not just the version that looks good from the outside. Kyrgyzstan context (mentioned later in the episode): In 2000, Beth was kidnapped at gunpoint in Kyrgyzstan with Tommy Caldwell and two other climbers and held for six days before escaping. In this episode, we talk about: The “superhuman” myth in climbing—and why it never matched Beth’s lived experience Self-doubt and excellence living in the same body Injury, identity shifts, and what happens when you can’t rely on performance How honesty changes relationships (and what it costs) Why Beth’s story resonates beyond climbing Beth's authenticity is rare in this world. Don't miss this one! Don't miss Beth's memoir - A Light Through the Cracks . Highly recommended ! Beth on Instagram . 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Some guests make you want to train harder. Mike Wardian makes you want to live wider — and stop postponing the things that matter. Mike is 52, a runner, adventurer, and lifelong “yes” person. What stood out here wasn’t a race résumé. It was how he builds a life where training fits inside the day, curiosity stays lit, and progress keeps happening even when time is tight. Mike’s story has that real-life Forrest Gump energy — he ran 3,200 miles across America on Running Home . But the reason he belongs on this show is the off-camera stuff: burpees while the toast cooks, workouts folded into errands, and the willingness to be a beginner again — whether that’s pickleball, chess, or whatever comes next. I’m grateful to Mike for the clarity and humanity he brought to this episode — ambition without bravado, urgency without panic. In this episode, we explore “Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed” philosophy Training inside real life constraints The 4-part playbook: mindset / planning / strength / integration Humility as a longevity skill Starting > gear, hacks, perfection Links: Mike on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikewardian/ Mike’s website: www.mikewardian.com Mike’s partners (mentioned): Gear: Teva (https://teva.com) • Suunto (https://suunto.com) • Injinji (https://injinji.com) • T8 ( https://t8.run ) • Bakline (https://bakline.nyc) Fuel: Big Spoon Roasters ( https://bigspoonroasters.com ) • Squirrel’s Nut Butter ( https://squirrelsnutbutter.com ) • South Block (https://southblock.com) Health: MedStar (https://medstarhealth.org) 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Two weeks ago, I attended Vitalist Bay in Berkeley, surrounded by scientists, doctors, founders, and researchers exploring the future of longevity. A few days later, I was in the Eastern Sierra, recovering from ankle surgery, mountain biking instead of climbing, soaking in hot springs, and thinking about a different side of healthspan: the lived side. In this solo episode, I share 7 lessons from 70+ athletes on what it really takes to stay strong, curious, and capable over decades. I also included one athlete in his 60s — Greg Benning — because his marginal gains system was simply too useful to leave out. We talk about: why small gains compound better than giant reinventions why rest is not weakness why curiosity beats comfort how community supports long-term health why strength training becomes foundational as we age what injury teaches us about resilience and identity how purpose creates energy and vitality later in life Featuring lessons and stories from Greg Benning, Doug & Joan, Jock Sutherland, Bob Babbitt, Steve Swenson, Jack Tackle, Loree Bolin, and more. Related episodes: Still Getting Faster in his 60s — The Marginal Gains System | Greg Benning, 64 Winning in Their 70s — What Most Athletes Learn Too Late | Doug & Joan, 75 At 77, He Still Chases Big Waves — Why Curiosity Beats Comfort as You Age | Jock Sutherland Racing Strong at 73 - Daily Rituals For Recovery, Energy, and Clarity | Bob Babbitt, 73 Why Some People Stay Capable Into Their 70s — And Others Don’t | Jack Tackle, 72 “You’ll Never Run Again.” At 70, Loree Bolin Reversed Her Arthritis, And Finished Her 11th Ironman Stay Strong Into Your 70s — Lessons From Five Decades on the World’s Highest Mountains | Steve Swenson, 73 Warm thanks to Vitalist Bay for allowing me to join and contribute to your community! 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Joe Friel is 82, still training, and still paying attention. In the last five years, he felt the shift—power fading on climbs, muscle disappearing even with a lifetime of lifting—and he’s not sugarcoating what that feels like. This episode is about the mistakes that quietly accelerate decline after 50: training like your recovery is unchanged, letting ego run the plan, and waiting too long to adjust. Joe’s approach is simple, honest, and earned—adapt early, stay consistent, and keep your identity bigger than your numbers. We talk about The first “rules changed” moment: getting dropped on climbs Muscle loss—even with decades of strength work What adaptation without ego actually looks like in real life How to keep training for capability, not nostalgia Joe, thank you for your time, generosity, and invaluable wisdom! References Fast After 50 (2nd Edition) https://joefrieltraining.com/book/fast-after-50/ 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Caroline Paul has spent decades doing things most people stop doing after 50 — flying experimental planes, surfing, skateboarding into Yosemite at 57. Her new book, Why Fly , is built around a question that follows her everywhere: what changes in us when the world suddenly feels bigger than our problems? Astronauts call it the overview effect — that strange shift that happens when you're suddenly confronted with scale, beauty, and fragility all at once. Caroline has spent years chasing a version of that feeling closer to home, through awe, attention, and adventure. In this conversation: how to practice presence without turning your life into a self-improvement project, why awe acts like a mental reset, and how adventure — done thoughtfully — helps you move through hard seasons with more clarity and courage. Caroline’s work is a gift. Enjoy! Why Fly: https://www.carolinepaul.com/why-fly 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Ed Viesturs was a childhood hero of mine. When I was younger—dreaming about mountains—his story helped shape what I thought “greatness” actually was: more than bravado, but also patience, judgment, and the discipline to come home. In this episode, Ed takes us inside an 18-year mission: climbing all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks without supplemental oxygen —with Annapurna as the final, most dangerous obstacle. We talk about the real risk near the end of any long goal: when attention, pressure, and expectations tempt you to break the rules that kept you safe in the first place—and the one rule Ed used to survive. What we cover The “long game” mindset that lasts decades Why Annapurna was “off the charts” dangerous How pressure (fame/sponsors/ego) makes people “step over the edge” Why the summit isn’t the finish—getting down is References No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks — Ed Viesturs (with David Roberts) 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Ageless Athlete Newsletter . Weekly longevity insights + behind-the-scenes. No spam ever. 🚨 Greg Benning is a masters single sculler outside Boston — and at 64, he’s still finding ways to get faster. I came into this conversation not knowing much about rowing, but that’s exactly what made it powerful: once Greg translates the sport, what emerges is a universal framework for longevity performance. For the last 15 years, Greg’s question has been simple: can marginal gains in efficiency offset age-related decline? In this episode, he shares the practical systems that keep him sharp — from how he thinks about “power leaks” in the kinetic chain, to how he refined fueling around hard sessions, to the daily logistics that make consistency possible in a real adult life. In This Episode, You’ll Hear The mindset shift: treating aging as a problem-solving game , not a verdict A simple “1% method” for identifying the small changes that compound over years Why rowing is a power-endurance sport (and how it compares to running/cycling/swimming) The hidden performance trap Greg discovered: under-fueling hard days — and how changing it improved how he felt and performed How technical execution gets harder under high exertion — and why cues matter most when it “hurts” The environment side of longevity: designing mornings so training is frictionless (and traffic-free) Why equipment and connection points matter — where speed gets “lost” before it ever reaches the water Resources Mentioned / Related Joe Friel’s Training Bible (referenced in discussion) Shimano Rowing Dynamics / footwear and “power leak” discussion (related article/background) 💜 Want to stay strong, mobile, and capable for decades? Join the Ageless Athlete newsletter — one useful email a week on how to build and protect strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, and the physical capacity to keep doing what you love as you get older. Join here → https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Get up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE 🚀 Love the show? Here’s how to support it If something you’ve heard here has stayed with you, made you smile, or helped you keep going , I’d be honored if you’d consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older. Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.