Ageless Athlete — Healthy Aging for a Strong, Capable Life

Joe Friel is back.

At 82, Joe is still training, still lifting, and still paying close attention to what aging actually does to an athlete’s body. In our first conversation, we talked about the moment the old rules stop working. This time, we go deeper into what to do next.

Joe explains why sleep may be the first place to look, why consistency in the gym matters more than heroic workouts, why fast-twitch power fades, and why VO2 max is not just about racing — it is about staying capable for life. This is a practical conversation about training after 50, but it is also a warning: the mistakes you could get away with in your 20s and 30s start costing more as you age. Joe’s upated book, Fast After 50, is one of the essential reads for athletes who want to keep training and racing strong as they age. 

Joe dispenses so much wisdom with candor and clarity. Don't miss this one! 

For more conversations and essays on strength, recovery, longevity, and staying capable after 40, subscribe to the free Ageless Athlete newsletter. 

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A.  Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

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.

📺 Watch on Youtube! 

Twenty years ago, Kit DesLauriers skied from the summit of Everest, completing her goal of becoming the first person to ski the Seven Summits. Today, at 56, she’s still asking a compelling question: how do you stay strong and capable enough to keep doing the things you love as you get older?

A two-time World Freeskiing Champion, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Famer, Kit joins me to talk about strength, fear, big goals, parenting, non-attachment — and why she believes her best decades are still ahead.

Kit:
Website: https://kitdeslauriers.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kitdski/

Read Kit's wonderful memoir: Higher Love: Skiing the Seven Summits

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A.  Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

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.

📺 Watch on Youtube! 

Dr. Belinda Beck has spent much of her career studying a part of the body most active people barely think about until something goes wrong: bone.

We train our muscles.

We train our cardiovascular systems.

But are we actually giving our bones the stimulus they need to remain strong across decades?

In this episode, Belinda explains why simply “being active” does not necessarily mean you are training your bones effectively.

Dr. Belinda Beck is a professor at Griffith University and Director of The Bone Clinic in Australia. Her research and clinical work focus on bone health, osteoporosis, bone stress injury, and the effects of exercise.

Explore The Bone Clinic, ONERO® Academy, The Bone Clinic on Facebook

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A.  Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

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.

📺 Watch on Youtube! 

Dean Potter once called Timmy O’Neill his “secret weapon.”

With Dean back in the spotlight through Dark Wizard, I went back to this conversation with Timmy — and realized how much of it deserves to be heard again.

Timmy shares stories from their extraordinary years climbing together in Yosemite, but this conversation goes somewhere deeper: how our relationship with risk changes as we age, why Timmy fears not living more than dying, and his idea of cultivating a “life wish” — even if you’re not a climber or adventure athlete.

We also talk about aging, play, family, loss, adaptive climbing, and finding the things that make you feel truly alive. One of my favorites. Enjoy! 

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A.  Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

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.

📺 Watch on Youtube!

At 82, Cherie Gruenfeld is still racing IRONMAN. She’s a 14-time world champion and is considered a GOAT of the sport. Wildly, she didn’t even start running until 42 or triathlon until 48. 

Her lesson after four decades of training: if you want to preserve strength, power, and muscle as you age, you can’t keep training the way you did when you were younger. We talk about what Cherie does differently now and, the mindset behind performing into your 80s 

More about Cherie: https://cheriegruenfeld.com/. She also founded Exceeding Expectations, which uses triathlon, mentoring, and education to help at-risk kids build a different future. Consider supporting their excellent work: Exceeding Expectations

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A.  Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

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.

📺 Watch on Youtube!

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. 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

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A.  Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

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.

📺 Watch on Youtube!

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.

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.

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

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A.  Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

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 

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A.  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, please consider supporting the show. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

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

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A.  Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

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

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A.  Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

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.