Masters Athlete

The sports world was shocked to its core this past weekend. As a Celtics fan, I was never the biggest cheerleader for Kobe, but relentless pursuit of greatness was something to behold and extremely inspiring. This episode talks about the mentality he had, along with athletes like Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, and others, to become the incredible athletes they became and how the masters athlete can absorb that mindset for sports, finances, and relationships.

We've all read what Men's Health and Muscle & Fitness magazines have told us regarding strength training. But the reality is that our training programs need to mimic EXACTLY what it is we are looking for in terms of our goals towards performance. This week I touch base on the basic concepts of strength training and will build to more advanced concepts in the upcoming weeks.

We've all done it. We've done 30 minutes on the treadmill and then headed off to our strength training session and pumped out some squats, pull-ups, bench press, whatever (or strength THEN cardio...whatever). Well, science shows this isn't the best way to attack your training and in today's episode I'll discuss why you should do these on separate workouts rather than in the same session. This is my first of a series of episodes dedicated to strength training.

In part three of my series on aerobic endurance, I wanted to talk about the types of aerobic endurance needed for performance and the fuel needed for long slow distance events.

I ran into a situation this past week where being prepared for a health emergency was of the utmost importance. I talk about that along with a recent study regarding shoes on this week's episode.

2019 was a banner year for being a masters athlete. With the launch of this podcast, running at the Masters National Championships, and coaching several athletes, I’ve learned a ton throughout this year. This week’s episode i talk about what I’ve learned along the way and what to look forward to for next year.

And we're back with another episode dedicated to aerobic endurance. This week I touch base on long-distance versus short distance endurance training and when it's appropriate to use HIIT as a training tool. I talk about using heart rate as an indicator of fat utilization and to focus on long steady increases rather than fast improvements.

Aerobic endurance has many different aspects and types of training associated with it. It can be anything from a 1-mile run to a full marathon. But the training for those two events, while both being aerobic endurance, is not the same. Today I give a high-level overview on why the concept of specificity is extremely important when programming for this type of competition.

It's no secret that our healthcare system is broken. From the education that physicians receive to the care plans insurance allows, to the fact that the allied health field is completely shut out from working alongside MD. The entire system is broken and today I go into detail about how this directly affects the masters athlete.

We've all seen and heard of What the Health and Forks over Knives. Pro-vegan movies that promise everlasting life and make you scared to ever eat another hamburger again. Unfortunately, though, they have little to do with actual science and more to do with tugging at your emotions. There's another movie out now that does exactly the same and it's called Game Changers. This time the vegans are attacking animal-based proteins and how it affects athletes. In this episode, I talk briefly about...

We'd like to think we can do everything ourselves but sometimes we just need a coach to help us get through the madness of what it takes to be healthy. Whether it's fitness, nutrition, or health coaching, we all need a coach at some point and this episode is dedicated to guiding you to the right coach for the right...

Martial arts isn't something that's only performed in an octagon. It's also a lot more than learning how to do various forms to get the next belt. Martial arts is a means of survival and a way to protect yourself against danger. My guest this week is a martial art and exercise science guru and is the owner of Valhalla Academy in Frankfort, Kentucky and is a professor at a liberal arts college in Kentucky as well. He also runs the online community Old School Jujitsu and provides self-defense...

Tell me you've heard this before...a friend/relative/client/coworker has justified their poor decision making regarding nutrition with the term "everything in moderation". Maybe you've even used it yourself. Or how about this one...the same friend/relative/client/coworker has told you they started a workout regimine and they are looking forward to "toning up" their arms or hips. When I hear both of those phrases, it makes me want to crawl into bed and cry. In this week's episode I discuss...

This week I delve into some of the articles I'm reading again and talk at great length about how they tie into what the masters athlete has to deal with and ways they can help the masters athlete...

We all have a drop in motivation. Whether it's family related, or injury, or financial stress, it's there. So this week I wanted to talk about why we have those drops in motivation and how we can move forward to getting past them.

I thought I'd try something a little different today and review a few of the articles I've read over the past week that I've found interesting. Below are the links to these articles and I highly recommend you read them for...

Last week's episode questioning the application of Olympic lifting, and to a lesser degree, power lifting, into the strength training program of a masters athlete generated quite a bit of discussion. I wanted to revisit the subject this week clarifying some of my stance and offering a further explanation on why I feel that Olympic/power lifting MIGHT not be necessary for the goal you're trying to accomplish.

There's a lot of controversy surrounding the topic of just how much a masters athlete, or any athlete for that matter, requires the use of Olympic and power lifts incorporated into their training program. Yes, there are definite benefits associated with all of the lifts, but not every athlete requires this type of training as the benefits of this type of weight training simply aren't there when you are wanting to run/swim/cycle as fast as...

We all have stressors. As masters athletes we may deal with them a little more than those younger athletes. Today we talk about the stressors in our life and ways to deal with them. https://www.environmentalhealthproject.org/health-issues/stress https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3894304/ https://chriskresser.com/9-steps-to-perfect-health-6-manage-your-stress/ https://www.marksdailyapple.com/10-actions-for-an-anti-stress-protocol/

We are all walking around in an inflamed state. Whether it's from poor nutrition, decreased quality sleep, increased stress, or poor gut health, we all have our reasons for being inflamed. This week's episode I want to discuss those reasons, the problems they may cause, and what we can do to help decrease the amount of inflammation in our bodies. We might not be able to eliminate inflammation, but we have to do what we can to help decrease the preventable amount. As masters athletes, we have...