Next Third Best Third

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Today we're tackling something that hits almost every guy listening: fighting the decay of your physical condition through exercise. 

Connect with Carrie: https://www.instagram.com/carrie_jensen28/

I'm joined by my dear friend Carrie Jensen, a personal trainer of 17 years with certifications in TRX, myofascial release and foam rolling, and a background that includes taekwondo, kickboxing, boxing instruction, bodybuilding, and figure and bikini competitions. These days she's an endurance athlete training for triathlon. We open by talking about something I never would have thought about on my own: rotational movement, the kind you use putting away dishes or grabbing toilet paper off the roll, and why Carrie calls those small everyday motions "movements for longevity."

From there we get into the real engine behind lasting change: consistency, not intensity. Carrie tells me you can't out-train a bad diet, that nutrition is 80 to 90 percent of the equation, and she gets refreshingly personal about her own routine, including quitting coffee cold for mushroom coffee after two decades of dependence and having zero withdrawal symptoms, plus her daily creatine and prebiotic fiber regimen. We go deep on food, and Carrie drops something that stopped me in my tracks: the standard American food pyramid most of us grew up trusting wasn't created by nutritionists at all, it came from the USDA and was shaped by the big food industry's need to sell more corn and flour. We talk through what she tells her clients to cut first: ultra-processed foods, seed oils, refined sugar, and alcohol, and I share that I made the decision three weeks ago to cut out alcohol entirely while doubling down on my own training and nutrition, and the difference in my sleep and clarity of thought has been real.

We close on training itself, starting with why so many men walk straight to the bench press when they re-enter the gym after years away, when what they actually need first is core stability and a proper push-up. Carrie opens up about her own health journey, going from 117 pounds to 180 during pregnancy, working her way back down, and later going through a hysterectomy with 200 internal stitches that required her to literally relearn how to walk. We break down her "triangle" of strength, cardio, and mobility, reference Dr. Peter Attia's book Outlive on how VO2 max may counteract dementia and early-onset Alzheimer's, and talk heart rate training zones and the book Spark. If you've been putting off getting back into shape, Carrie's closing word is simple: it's never too late to start. Please like, comment, and subscribe, and go make your next third your best third.

Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: Regrets Don't Disqualify You, They Qualify You 
04:55 – Consistency Over Intensity: The Biggest Predictor of Progress 
10:04 – Why Carrie Takes Creatine and Prebiotic Fiber Daily 
14:59 – Skip the Bench Press: Start With a Proper Push-Up 
20:01 – "I've Never Seen Satan and My Trainer in the Same Room" 
25:03 – Time Under Tension: Why Form Beats Speed in Every Lift 
30:03 – Carrie's Own Journey: Pregnancy Weight Swings and Giving Herself Grace 
35:04 – Why David Quit Alcohol Three Weeks Ago 
40:10 – The Mirror Test: Why Looking at Your Own Form Matters 
45:11 – Heart Rate Zones, the Book Spark, and Training Smarter

Welcome to Next Third Best Third! Join us for the inaugural episode of the Next Third Best Third podcast! Host David Fenwick, founder, author, and life coach, introduces the mission to inspire men over 40 to thrive in the next stage of life. Discover how to conquer life's challenges across physical, mental, relational, spiritual, and emotional dimensions. In this episode, David shares insights on:

- Physical Health: Strategies for maintaining fitness and vitality as you age.
- Mental Resilience: Techniques to stay mentally sharp and manage stress.
- Relational Growth: Building and nurturing meaningful relationships.
- Spiritual Fulfillment: Finding purpose and deeper spiritual connections.
- Emotional Well-being: Managing emotions and fostering a positive outlook.

Don't miss out on this journey towards making the next third of your life the best third!

Send us Fan Mail

Somewhere along the way, we stop dreaming about who we might become and start concentrating only on what we must do. I open by asking Taylor a question I want every guy listening to ask himself: when was the last time you actually dreamed about your future, not your business plan or your bucket list, but who you could become? 

Taylor tells me about the New Year's Eve ritual he and his wife have of dreaming together over a drink after the kids go to bed, and about a three-year bow-hunting dream he'd nearly given up on that he finally fulfilled just a month before we recorded this.

From there we get into why so many men quietly let their dreams die. Taylor tells me about a 41-year-old guy from church who hasn't been on a date in nearly 20 years because one relationship ended in betrayal, and how that one wound talked him out of ever trying again. I share my own version of that, a business partner's betrayal that put me into bankruptcy and taught me to trade my dreams for roles I had to perform instead. We talk about why the real tragedy for men isn't an aging body, it's an aging imagination, and why dreaming requires a vulnerability a lot of us never want to risk twice. I bring up a quote that stopped me in my tracks: a man doesn't necessarily grow old because he stops dreaming, sometimes he starts growing old because he's stopped dreaming. We also get into comparison as a silent dream-killer, and the lies so many men believe, that they've missed their window, that past failure makes them a failure, when really failure is often just the heat metal has to go through to get stronger.

We close out with something practical: five dimensions worth asking yourself about, intellectual growth, physical vitality, emotional freedom, relationships, and purpose and legacy, plus a simple four-step framework for actually acting on a dream instead of just having one, imagine it without limits, write it down, share it with someone who'll hold you accountable, and take a real step within seven days. I tell Taylor about the moment eight years ago, in the middle of the worst season of my life, when I heard a simple phrase that changed everything, "it could be better," and how that one sentence eventually became this podcast and a reason I've impacted more lives in the last few years than in the five decades before it. If you've stopped dreaming, this episode is your permission to start again, so please like, comment, and subscribe, and let us know what you're still dreaming about.

Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: Why Men Stop Dreaming and Start Just "Doing" 
04:21 – When's the Last Time You Dreamed About Your Future? 
08:47 – Betrayal, Bankruptcy, and Trading Dreams for Roles 
13:07 – The 41-Year-Old Who Hasn't Dated in 20 Years 
17:33 – "You're Not Retiring From a Job, You're Retiring Toward Something" 
21:54 – Comparison Is a Dream Killer 
26:12 – The Lie That It's Too Late: Chaos or Opportunity? 
30:35 – Five Dimensions to Help You Dream Again 
35:03 – What If Fear, Shame, and Regret No Longer Governed You? 
39:20 – The 4-Step Framework: Imagine, Articulate, Share, Act

Welcome to Next Third Best Third! Join us for the inaugural episode of the Next Third Best Third podcast! Host David Fenwick, founder, author, and life coach, introduces the mission to inspire men over 40 to thrive in the next stage of life. Discover how to conquer life's challenges across physical, mental, relational, spiritual, and emotional dimensions. In this episode, David shares insights on:

- Physical Health: Strategies for maintaining fitness and vitality as you age.
- Mental Resilience: Techniques to stay mentally sharp and manage stress.
- Relational Growth: Building and nurturing meaningful relationships.
- Spiritual Fulfillment: Finding purpose and deeper spiritual connections.
- Emotional Well-being: Managing emotions and fostering a positive outlook.

Don't miss out on this journey towards making the next third of your life the best third!

Send us Fan Mail

The numbers are stark: America needs roughly 2.1 children per woman just to maintain a stable population, and we're now sitting at 1.6, a 25% drop, with every major demographic group below replacement level. 

Taylor and I talk through it, this isn't really a numbers problem, it's a mirror. It reflects a declining hope in men, a delayed adulthood where guys in their mid-to-late 20s are still living at home playing video games, a fear of commitment in a culture where over half of marriages end in divorce, and a real question every man has to answer for himself: do I believe the future is worth bringing children into?

Taylor and I get into why men specifically are waiting longer than ever, the average marriage age has climbed from 22 in the 1960s to over 30 today, and one in five men are still living with their parents at 34. We trace that back to men losing a clear sense of masculine identity, and to two things quietly replacing what men actually need: pornography replacing intimacy, and video games replacing adventure. I get honest about my own history here, giving up my gaming console because I was staying up playing Call of Duty until one or two in the morning while my wife went to bed alone, and later walking away from golf entirely because six hours on a Sunday was six hours stolen from my kids. Taylor shares something even harder, a season of his life when he found out through a DNA test that he had a son he didn't know existed, and the dark place he was in that convinced him he wasn't capable of being a father at all.

What we land on is that responsibility doesn't steal a man's freedom, it's actually where meaning comes from, and that fatherhood develops qualities in a man that you genuinely can't learn anywhere else, patience, humility, and the willingness to just keep showing up. Whether you're a dad, a grandfather, or not a father yet at all, the real question isn't about money or how ready you feel, it's about availability, because your kids are never going to remember what you earned, only whether you were there. Thanks for joining us on Next Third Best Third, like, comment, and subscribe so we can help more men make their next third their best third.

Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: America's Declining Birth Rate 
04:58 – The Birth Rate Numbers by Culture: 1.6 and Falling 
09:50 – What Children Really Represent: Joy, Growth, and Hard Days 
14:42 – Masculinity, Confidence, and Why Men Are Waiting Longer to Marry 
19:40 – Responsibility Doesn't Steal Your Freedom, It Creates Meaning 
24:41 – "It's Just Different Hard": Money, Debt, and Taking Responsibility 
29:35 – Giving Up Video Games and Golf to Show Up for His Family 
34:31 – Taylor's Hidden Story: The Son He Didn't Know Existed 
39:24 – What Fatherhood Teaches You That Nothing Else Can 
44:21 – Legacy, Availability, and Why Your Kids Won't Remember the Money

Welcome to Next Third Best Third! Join us for the inaugural episode of the Next Third Best Third podcast! Host David Fenwick, founder, author, and life coach, introduces the mission to inspire men over 40 to thrive in the next stage of life. Discover how to conquer life's challenges across physical, mental, relational, spiritual, and emotional dimensions. In this episode, David shares insights on:

- Physical Health: Strategies for maintaining fitness and vitality as you age.
- Mental Resilience: Techniques to stay mentally sharp and manage stress.
- Relational Growth: Building and nurturing meaningful relationships.
- Spiritual Fulfillment: Finding purpose and deeper spiritual connections.
- Emotional Well-being: Managing emotions and fostering a positive outlook.

Don't miss out on this journey towards making the next third of your life the best third!

Send us Fan Mail

At 46, Seth Dah lost 35 pounds by turning every bathroom break into pull-ups and squats. Here's the full habit system that worked.

David Fenwick sits down with his friend Seth Dah, who at 46 realized that raising three kids, ages 14, 12, and 8, meant he needed energy and strength he no longer had. Seth wasn't drinking to excess, just slowing down on whiskey and beer with friends, but he felt sluggish and overweight. He hired a health coach, started by changing how he ate, and what began as a goal to lose 10 pounds turned into 35 pounds gone for good. The real shift wasn't the diet, it was realizing that once a person hits 35, up to 95% of what they do all day is pure habit, so Seth started stacking tiny habits onto habits he already had, putting a pull-up bar by the bathroom so every trip became three pull-ups and a couple of squats, which quietly turned into 22,000 kettlebell swings and 2,200 Turkish get-ups over a year and a half.

Seth also overhauled his sleep, cutting his phone off at 8pm and reading by candlelight or on a blue-light-free Kindle instead of scrolling before bed. He and David talk through Peter Attia's book "Outlive" and its concept of building a physical "decathlon" for every decade of life, concrete goals like being able to get down on the floor and back up at 80, or walk a flight of stairs in your 90s, the way their 91-year-old neighbor still replaces church floors and shows up for hurricane relief work. David shares the blunt line he gives guys at the gym who say they can't lift weights because of arthritis: you have arthritis because you don't lift weights, pointing to his own 80-year-old father, who still trains with resistance bands and can out-move men half his age.

They also get into why this matters for more than muscle. New research keeps linking VO2 max and heavy lifting to preventing the cognitive decline now sometimes called "type three diabetes," meaning the single best thing a man can do for his brain in his 40s, 50s, and 60s is exactly the thing most men quit doing. For anyone feeling behind, Seth's advice is to start absurdly small, just walk, get sunlight, use resistance bands before weights if you're worried about injury, because motion is lotion and movement itself is the medicine. He also opens up about "functional patterns" fascia work, and the day he broke down crying mid-session as it released stored emotional trauma he didn't know his body was holding.

They close on "kedging," an old nautical term for how sailors used a small rowboat to drag a stuck ship slowly into port, and why that's exactly what setting a real physical goal looks like: something concrete, like being strong enough to lift your grandchild onto the Christmas tree, pulled toward one small habit at a time. If this episode gave you a place to start, subscribe to Next Third Best Third, hit like, and leave a comment, it genuinely helps more men find the show.

Chapters: 
00:00 - Intro
01:20 - Seth's Wake-Up Call at 46 
02:32 - Hiring a Coach and Losing the First 35 Pounds 
03:56 - The Habit-Stacking System: Pull-Ups Every Time You Pee 
07:43 - "Younger Next Year": Why Small Steps Beat Big Goals 
09:44 - Sleep, Blue Light, and 22,000 Kettlebell Swings 
11:33 - Peter Attia's "Decathlon": Training for Every Decade 
13:00 - The 91-Year-Old Neighbor Who Never Stopped 
17:56 - "You Have Arthritis Because You Don't Lift Weights" 
19:48 - VO2 Max and Lifting Weights
21:25 - Where to Start: Just Walk, and Bands Before Weights 
25:42 - Fascia, Trauma, and the Day Seth Wept on the Floor 
28:07 - Kedging: How to Actually Set a Goal and Stick to It

Welcome to Next Third Best Third! Join us for the inaugural episode of the Next Third Best Third podcast! Host David Fenwick, founder, author, and life coach, introduces the mission to inspire men over 40 to thrive in the next stage of life. Discover how to conquer life's challenges across physical, mental, relational, spiritual, and emotional dimensions. In this episode, David shares insights on:

- Physical Health: Strategies for maintaining fitness and vitality as you age.
- Mental Resilience: Techniques to stay mentally sharp and manage stress.
- Relational Growth: Building and nurturing meaningful relationships.
- Spiritual Fulfillment: Finding purpose and deeper spiritual connections.
- Emotional Well-being: Managing emotions and fostering a positive outlook.

Don't miss out on this journey towards making the next third of your life the best third!

Send us Fan Mail

Connect more with us!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nextthirdbestthird/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/next3rdbest3rd
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1KUn8wgqTPxEQo9ejFi01g?si=33932e0993a24d18
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/next-third-best-third/id1752200976

Today I'm talking about something that affects absolutely everything else in your life, your physical well-being, your cognitive health, your relationships, your emotions, even the way you see yourself. And yet we're in the middle of a real epidemic, diabetes has climbed from just 2% of Americans in 1974 to 15.8% in 2024, an eightfold increase in 50 years, and dementia and Alzheimer's are now being called "type three diabetes." Obesity has jumped from 15% of adults in 1974 to somewhere between 40 and 44% today. I was looking back recently at old photos from Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field, and Yankee Stadium, and noticed something striking, in the old crowd shots, almost nobody was overweight. Look at a stadium crowd today and it's the opposite. Something changed around the 1970s with the food pyramid, the explosion of ultra-processed food, refined sugar, and soda, and it's been assaulting our health ever since. My own goal isn't just to add years to my life, it's to add life to my years, I want to be the 80-year-old still running, still getting down on the floor to play with my great-grandkids, not the guy who's barely getting around on a handful of medications.

✅ "DIABETES IS UP 8X SINCE 1974. I'm not going to be a statistic."
✅ "I looked at old stadium photos. Almost nobody was overweight. Today? Almost everybody is."
✅ "MY RULE: If I can buy it at a gas station, it's not real food."
✅ "My joints don't hurt because I'm getting older. They hurt because I stopped moving."
✅ "I stop eating at 7PM. I don't eat again until 8 or 9AM. That's it. That's my fast."

Chapters:
00:00 – The Epidemic
01:26 – Diabetes Is Up 8x Since 1974. Here's the Data. 
02:56 – What Old Stadium Photos Reveal About Us 
04:31 – Action Step 1: The Brutally Honest 3-Day Food Log 
05:55 – "If You Can Buy It at a Gas Station, It's Not Real Food" 
07:29 – I Eat Pizza and Burgers, But I Never Touch Soda 
08:54 – Why Your Joints Hurt Isn't What You Think 
10:24 – The Dr. Peter Attia Connection: Exercise and Dementia 
11:56 – Smarter Snacks: What to Eat Instead of Junk 
13:25 – Set Realistic Goals, Not Unrealistic Ones

Welcome to Next Third Best Third! Join us for the inaugural episode of the Next Third Best Third podcast! Host David Fenwick, founder, author, and life coach, introduces the mission to inspire men over 40 to thrive in the next stage of life. Discover how to conquer life's challenges across physical, mental, relational, spiritual, and emotional dimensions. In this episode, David shares insights on:

- Physical Health: Strategies for maintaining fitness and vitality as you age.
- Mental Resilience: Techniques to stay mentally sharp and manage stress.
- Relational Growth: Building and nurturing meaningful relationships.
- Spiritual Fulfillment: Finding purpose and deeper spiritual connections.
- Emotional Well-being: Managing emotions and fostering a positive outlook.

Don't miss out on this journey towards making the next third of your life the best third!

Send us Fan Mail

📌 Dano's Resources:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danomccollam/
Website: https://www.propheticcompany.com/

Today I'm talking about a subject I think a lot of my listeners get nervous around: can you actually hear the voice of God? I believe everybody can, and I brought on my friend Dan McCollum, who runs a company called The Prophetic Company and teaches on this full-time. Dan starts at the root of it, God didn't make man as a pet, a servant, or an experiment, he made us for relationship, because love needs an object to love. The very first lie in the Bible wasn't a command, it was a question, "did God really say," and that single seed of uncertainty is still why so many of us doubt we can hear from him at all. Dan points out something wild, the Bible records God speaking over 1,200 times, and even creation itself is designed to reveal him, which is why he loves the science of biomimicry, the solution to velcro came from a guy who got burrs stuck on his socks, and the shape of wind turbine blades came from the fins of giant whales. If creation can mimic the genius of its Creator, Dan says, it's also pointing back to him the whole time.

Then we get practical. Dan breaks down three common ways God speaks to the average person, dreams, intuition, and thoughts, and he's not talking theory. He works with police agencies who use this exact skill to rescue missing children, and he's never met an officer who hasn't had a moment of gut intuition that solved a case or saved a life. He tells one of my favorite stories ever, a young man who feels inexplicably directed to buy a gallon of milk at a 7-Eleven, then told to knock on a stranger's door with it, only to find a mother in tears because she'd just prayed that if God was real, her babies needed milk. I share my own version of ignoring that same voice, a gut check telling me to avoid I-35 driving home one night, which I overrode, and ended up stuck in traffic for an hour instead of the usual thirty minutes.

So how do you know it's really God and not just you? Dan lays out the test, does it match God's character, is there an internal witness, and most importantly, the counsel of loved ones and leaders, because plenty of people have "heard God" and done something stupid. I tell my own costly lesson here, I once bought a coffee shop against the advice of the one friend who actually had experience in food service, and I lost more money in four months than I thought was humanly possible before giving it back. Dan calls being teachable in moments like that "bending time," taking someone else's forty years of hard-won experience and compressing it into a thirty-minute conversation. We close talking about daydreaming with God, creativity as one of the clearest signs we're made in his image, and why looking back at your own highlight reel, the good calls and the bad ones, is how you start recognizing a God who's been a strength-finder, not a fault-finder, the whole time. Thanks for watching, like, subscribe, and share this one, we'll see you next time on Next Third Best Third.

🎯 Timestamps: 
00:00 - Welcome to Next Third Best Third
00:11 - Can YOU hear the voice of God? (Debunking the myth)
01:26 - Why God wants to speak to you personally
02:48 - The first lie: "Did God really say…?"
04:03 - 1,200+ times in the Bible—God is ALWAYS speaking!
07:04 - The language of creation: How nature reveals God's voice
10:05 - The 3 ways God speaks: Dreams, Intuition, and Thoughts
15:10 - Practical ways to recognize God's voice daily
19:04 - The power of wise counsel (Why you shouldn't rely on gut feelings alone)
27:00 - How creativity unlocks your connection with God
31:06 - Reflecting on your past: Recognizing where God has already spoken

Welcome to Next Third Best Third! Join us for the inaugural episode of the Next Third Best Third podcast! Host David Fenwick, founder, author, and life coach, introduces the mission to inspire men over 40 to thrive in the next stage of life. Discover how to conquer life's challenges across physical, mental, relational, spiritual, and emotional dimensions. In this episode, David shares insights on:

- Physical Health: Strategies for maintaining fitness and vitality as you age.
- Mental Resilience: Techniques to stay mentally sharp and manage stress.
- Relational Growth: Building and nurturing meaningful relationships.
- Spiritual Fulfillment: Finding purpose and deeper spiritual connections.
- Emotional Well-being: Managing emotions and fostering a positive outlook.

Don't miss out on this journey towards making the next third of your life the best third!

Send us Fan Mail

I’m thrilled to dive into this deeply practical episode with nutritionist and personal trainer Stephanie Rounds. We unpack how men can proactively care for their health in four decades of life: 38, 48, 58, and 68 years old. Whether it’s navigating stress, aging, family life, or purpose, Stephanie maps out intentional next steps to thrive physically, emotionally, and cognitively.

I share my own experiences from marathon training to midlife setbacks, and Stephanie weaves in guidance on goal setting, mindset, community, nutrition, and movement. She breaks down realistic, measurable steps—like body-weight circuit breaks during TV time or walking goals—and emphasizes building momentum through small daily habits. We debunk the myth that age traps us and show how consistent, smart choices now create resilience for later decades.

By the end, you’ll come away with an action plan—no fancy diets or extremes—just honest self-assessment, “find-your-why” motivation, and adaptable tools for every stage. Whether you’re a new dad, climbing the career ladder, entering empty nest season, or preparing for your 90s, this conversation is a toolkit for healthier, happier reconnections with yourself and loved ones. Hit subscribe and get ready to start reshaping your current chapter into the best version of your life.

Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction: Meet Stephanie Rounds, nutritionist & trainer  
01:05 – 38-Year-Old Dad: Stress, sleep loss & lifestyle challenges  
02:49 – Intake Process: How to start effective, lasting change  
04:16 – Assess & Goal-set: Strength testing & optimistic objectives  
06:31 – Short vs Long-Term Goals: Avoiding comparison traps  
11:07 – Discovering Your ‘Why’: Motivation that sticks  
15:08 – Family Nutrition Hacks: Meal prep with purpose  
20:23 – 48-Year-Old Peak Dad: Community & hormone support  
32:39 – 58-Year-Old Midlife Reset: From couch to movement  
41:10 – 68-Year-Old Wisdom: Functional fitness & anti-aging  

Welcome to Next Third Best Third! Join us for the inaugural episode of the Next Third Best Third podcast! Host David Fenwick, founder, author, and life coach, introduces the mission to inspire men over 40 to thrive in the next stage of life. Discover how to conquer life's challenges across physical, mental, relational, spiritual, and emotional dimensions. In this episode, David shares insights on:

- Physical Health: Strategies for maintaining fitness and vitality as you age.
- Mental Resilience: Techniques to stay mentally sharp and manage stress.
- Relational Growth: Building and nurturing meaningful relationships.
- Spiritual Fulfillment: Finding purpose and deeper spiritual connections.
- Emotional Well-being: Managing emotions and fostering a positive outlook.

Don't miss out on this journey towards making the next third of your life the best third!

Send us Fan Mail

Americans are living longer than ever, the average life expectancy today is 78, nearly a quarter of us will reach 90, and if you're a man who makes it to 65, there's a 31% chance you'll get there too. But on this episode I ask the question nobody wants to sit with: do you even want to live that long? Because obesity among Americans 65 and older has nearly doubled in twenty years, from 22% in 1998 to 41% in 2018, and I tell you about a colorized documentary I watched of street footage from 1930s and 40s New York, Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, packed with people and almost nobody overweight. Go to those same stadiums today and you'd see the opposite. So if a man hits 65 and lives another 13 years, what do those years actually look like?

That question is the whole episode. I break down why modern medicine might just be delaying death instead of extending life, and why the real goal isn't adding years to your life, it's adding life to your years. Only 13.9% of Americans 65 and older actually meet the basic physical activity guidelines, and I walk through exactly what regular movement protects you from: cognitive decline and dementia, which is projected to double in the next 30 years, poor sleep, anxiety and depression, and falling, which is the leading cause of injury-related death for seniors, with a quarter of people 65 and older falling every year and fall deaths up 53% over the last decade. I get personal here too, I share how walking and doing push-ups pulled me out of a season of depression in my own life, because this isn't theory for me.

I close with something practical, Dr. Peter Attia's idea of a "decade decathlon" from his book Outlive, the specific physical things you want to be able to do in each decade of your life, and I share my own goals for my 80s and 90s, running a mile, getting up off the floor without help, still climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Whatever age you are right now, you're investing in a future version of yourself whether you realize it or not, so start now, go for a walk, do a few push-ups, hire a trainer, take a class, find a partner who'll hold you accountable. I'm 66 years old and I've never felt better, and I want that for you too. If this hit home, like it, subscribe, comment, and share it, that's how we help more people make their next third their best third.

Chapters:
00:00 – The Real Question Behind Living Longer 
02:21 – The Obesity Numbers That Doubled in 20 Years 
04:38 – 13 Years Left: What Will They Actually Look Like? 
06:55 – Why Building Muscle Gets Brutally Hard After 60 
09:14 – The Danger of "I've Lived My Life, Now I'll Coast" 
11:38 – How Exercise Fixed My Sleep and Pulled Me Out of Depression 
13:53 – The Falls Epidemic: Up 53% in a Decade 
16:19 – Investing in Your 80-Year-Old Self, Starting Today 
18:37 – Start With One Walk. It's Not Complicated. 
20:56 – Find a Partner: Why Accountability Beats Willpower

Welcome to Next Third Best Third! Join us for the inaugural episode of the Next Third Best Third podcast! Host David Fenwick, founder, author, and life coach, introduces the mission to inspire men over 40 to thrive in the next stage of life. Discover how to conquer life's challenges across physical, mental, relational, spiritual, and emotional dimensions. In this episode, David shares insights on:

- Physical Health: Strategies for maintaining fitness and vitality as you age.
- Mental Resilience: Techniques to stay mentally sharp and manage stress.
- Relational Growth: Building and nurturing meaningful relationships.
- Spiritual Fulfillment: Finding purpose and deeper spiritual connections.
- Emotional Well-being: Managing emotions and fostering a positive outlook.

Don't miss out on this journey towards making the next third of your life the best third!

Send us Fan Mail

I'm getting personal. I'm filming this right before September, heading into the last third of 2026, and I want to be honest with you about where I've really been. Back in March I walked away from a position that had been both a calling and an income stream to focus fully on this show and on real estate, and in the months since, I've found myself quietly struggling with depression. I've put on weight, I've procrastinated, I've felt myself spiraling, all while sitting here encouraging you guys to make your next third your best third. A few weeks ago I hit a wall and decided it was time to take my own advice and go back to the five pillars this whole show is built on.

I walk you through exactly what that's looked like pillar by pillar. In my thought life, I'd fallen into aimless scrolling, so I've committed to putting my phone away earlier and challenged myself to read eight books by the end of the year. Physically, I'd let myself get out of shape, so I removed alcohol from my evenings, added daily intentional exercise, and started eating more protein. Emotionally, I had to get my hands dirty and dig into where my fear and anxiety were really coming from, which for me traced back to watching my own father pass away with no real financial foundation, and I talk about why shining light into that darkness, the same way I used to check the closet for my scared kids, makes all the difference.

The pillar that surprised me most was relationships. I'm a deeply relational guy, but I realized I'd been quietly isolating myself, not reaching out, just responding when others called. So I've started making the calls again, meeting friends for lunch and coffee, and investing more in my kids and grandkids. And finally I get honest about the fifth pillar, the lies I've believed about myself since childhood sexual abuse, lies about not deserving anything good, and how those lies never fully go away but can be recognized and replaced. I'm asking you to join me in revisiting your own five pillars this next third of the year, because a better version of you isn't just for you, it's for the legacy and the people in your sphere of influence. Thanks for joining me, and I'll see you next time on Next Third Best Third.

Chapters:
00:00 – Getting Personal 
02:26 – Admitting the Struggle
04:48 – Pillar One: Reclaiming My Thought Life Through Reading 
07:06 – Pillar Two: Cutting Alcohol and Rebuilding My Body 
09:33 – Shining Light Into the Darkness of Emotions 
11:52 – Pillar Four: Breaking Out of Self-Isolation 
14:15 – Pillar Five: The Lies I've Believed for Decades 
16:35 – Your Challenge
19:01 – Examine Your Relationships and Make the Call 
21:18 – Building a Legacy, Not Just a Better Version of You

Welcome to Next Third Best Third! Join us for the inaugural episode of the Next Third Best Third podcast! Host David Fenwick, founder, author, and life coach, introduces the mission to inspire men over 40 to thrive in the next stage of life. Discover how to conquer life's challenges across physical, mental, relational, spiritual, and emotional dimensions. In this episode, David shares insights on:

- Physical Health: Strategies for maintaining fitness and vitality as you age.
- Mental Resilience: Techniques to stay mentally sharp and manage stress.
- Relational Growth: Building and nurturing meaningful relationships.
- Spiritual Fulfillment: Finding purpose and deeper spiritual connections.
- Emotional Well-being: Managing emotions and fostering a positive outlook.

Don't miss out on this journey towards making the next third of your life the best third!

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More info about Justin: https://cornerstoneclassicalschool.org/

I'm digging into the fourth pillar of this show: relationships, specifically the relationships men have with other men. The Bible talks about iron sharpening iron, and I'm joined by my good friend Justin Drummonds, father of five, to talk honestly about why so many men, myself included at different points in my life, struggle to have relationships that go beneath the surface. We open up about our own friendship and how the Lord brought mutual friends into both our lives at just the right time, and why isolation, not a lack of acquaintances, is the biggest stumbling block most men face.

Justin and I unpack what I call the "lily pad" problem, the way men hop from work relationships to church relationships to neighborhood dads without ever really landing anywhere. We talk about how most guys, when you really ask them, have fewer than five real friends, and maybe only one or two they could actually tell you anything meaningful about. We get into what it looks like to sit with another man's pain instead of rushing to fix it, the way Job's friends sat with him in silence before they opened their mouths and ruined it, and how I had to confront the fact that for years I was using people to feel liked instead of seeing them as image bearers God placed in my life to edify and be edified by.

We close out talking about the exhausting weight of wearing a different mask for every room, as a dad, a husband, a leader, a church member, and how that mask has to come off before anyone can really love the man underneath it. Justin shares the three categories of men every guy needs in his life: mentors who you look up to, brothers who sharpen you like iron, and younger men you're pouring into, and we talk about the difference between building a life focused on money and accomplishment versus building a legacy that impacts generations. If you've been coasting on surface-level friendships, I hope this conversation pushes you to take honest appraisal and go deeper. Thanks for watching, guys, and here's to making the next third of your life your best third.

Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: The Fourth Pillar 
04:08 – The "Lily Pad" Problem: Surface-Level Male Friendships 
08:16 – Most Men Have Less Than Five Real Friends 
12:22 – Sitting With a Friend's Pain Instead of Fixing It 
16:33 – From "People User" to Seeing Friends as Image Bearers 
20:45 – Living Coram Deo: True Humility Before God 
24:55 – The Exhausting Weight of Wearing a Different Mask for Everyone 
29:04 – You Only Have So Much Time: Choosing Your Inner Circle 
33:09 – The Three Men Every Man Needs in His Life 
37:26 – Building a Legacy, Not Just a Life

Welcome to Next Third Best Third! Join us for the inaugural episode of the Next Third Best Third podcast! Host David Fenwick, founder, author, and life coach, introduces the mission to inspire men over 40 to thrive in the next stage of life. Discover how to conquer life's challenges across physical, mental, relational, spiritual, and emotional dimensions. In this episode, David shares insights on:

- Physical Health: Strategies for maintaining fitness and vitality as you age.
- Mental Resilience: Techniques to stay mentally sharp and manage stress.
- Relational Growth: Building and nurturing meaningful relationships.
- Spiritual Fulfillment: Finding purpose and deeper spiritual connections.
- Emotional Well-being: Managing emotions and fostering a positive outlook.

Don't miss out on this journey towards making the next third of your life the best third!