Om Ageless Athlete - Longevity Insights From Adventure Sports Legends
Uncensored and deep conversations with extraordinary rock climbers, runners, surfers, alpinists, kayakers and skiers et al. Tap into their journey to peak performance, revealing stories, hidden strategies, and the mindset that defies aging and other limits. Get educated and inspired to chase your own dreams. Come for the stories, leave with tools, tips, and motivation! Hosted by Kush Khandelwal.
📻 Siste episoder av Ageless Athlete - Longevity Insights From Adventure Sports Legends
Her er de nyeste episodene tilgjengelige via RSS-feeden:
Laster episoder...
📱 Slik abonnerer du på Ageless Athlete - Longevity Insights From Adventure Sports Legends
Young Salt At 60 — The Most Exciting Chapter Yet (01:23:22)
“When I tell people I started sailing at sixty, they’re shocked. We don’t see our sixties as a place to begin — which is tragic, especially if you’ve invested in your health. What’s the point, if not to do something fantastic?” In this New Year’s Eve episode of Ageless Athlete, I sit down with Deborah Hammett, a former school principal who did something most people never consider — she learned to sail at 60, moved onto a boat, and now lives and travels solo by sea. Deborah’s story isn’t real...
How to Stay Strong Into Your 70s — Lessons From Five Decades on the World’s Highest Mountains (01:16:38)
What does it really take to stay strong into your 70s — physically, mentally, and emotionally? In this episode, I sit down with Steve Swenson, one of America’s most respected alpinists, to talk about endurance, aging, and the habits that have kept him moving for decades. Steve has climbed Everest and K2, completed first ascents in the Karakoram, and summited Everest without supplemental oxygen — an experience that strips away ego and rewards preparation, judgment, and restraint. But this conv...
How to Protect Your Brain as You Age — Cognitive Reserve, Focus, and What Actually Matters (01:28:06)
What really keeps the brain sharp as we age — and what quietly puts it at risk? In this episode of the Ageless Athlete Podcast, host Kush Khandelwal speaks with Dr. Tommy Wood, neuroscientist, physician, and strength athlete, about the science of cognitive reserve and why long-term brain health depends on challenge, learning, and effort — not comfort or flow. Flow states feel rewarding, but as Dr. Wood explains, they don’t create the kind of stimulus the brain needs to adapt over decades. Ins...
Stronger at 47 — The Simple Practices That Are Keeping Me Healthy (01:00:06)
This week’s episode is a little different. Instead of interviewing a legendary athlete or coach, I was invited onto the Adventure Sports Podcast to talk about the questions that many of us — everyday athletes, weekend warriors, late bloomers, and lifelong learners — wrestle with as we get older. If you come to Ageless Athlete for honest conversations about aging, movement, and staying curious in a changing body, this episode is very much in that spirit. We recorded this conversation ba...
Still Performing at 66 — What Russ Clune Does Differently to Stay In The Game (01:44:49)
What happens when a life in climbing spans five decades, multiple eras, and some of the most surprising moments in outdoor history? In this episode, legendary climber Russ Clune takes us inside the world that shaped him: the Shawangunks (“the Gunks”) of the 1970s and 80s — an unlikely counterculture just two hours from Manhattan where artists, dirtbags, misfits, and pioneers built the early soul of American climbing. Russ shares rare, behind-the-scenes stories from his incredible career, incl...
How Harvey Lewis Recovers After 5 Days of Nonstop Running — Injury, Sleep, and What Breaks First (01:02:43)
What happens after you run for five straight days — 466 miles, 111 hours, two broken ribs, a torn hamstring… and then go right back to teaching high-school civics on Monday? In this rare, intimate conversation, ultrarunner Harvey Lewis shares a front-row look into his healing journey after Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra — widely considered one of the toughest and strangest endurance races in the world. This is not just a running episode. It’s about recovery, identity, and the small, consisten...
“You’ll Never Run Again.” At 70, Loree Bolin Reversed Her Arthritis, And Finished Her 11th Ironman (01:49:32)
When Loree Bolin was told she’d never run again, she didn’t just defy expectations — she redefined them. At 70, Loree completed her 11th Ironman triathlon after years of battling knee osteoarthritis. But this isn’t just a story about sport. It’s about service. A retired dentist and lifelong endurance athlete, Loree sold her practice at 60 to launch a nonprofit bringing medical and dental care to underserved communities across Tanzania. Her work now includes safehouses for girls fleeing forced...
The Hardest Lessons From Q3 — Aging, Injury, and Staying Engaged (01:53:28)
This quarter on Ageless Athlete brought together some of the most surprising and meaningful stories of the year — from record-setting endurance swimmers to rebel skateboarders, alpinists, paddlers, big-wall climbers, and athletes redefining what’s possible in their 60s and 70s. Across ten very different conversations, one theme kept surfacing: Courage in uncomfortable places. Not the loud kind — but the quiet courage that appears at the edge of uncertainty, identity, aging, and ambition...
Pushing Strong at 77 — Why Curiosity Matters More Than Comfort as You Age (01:35:42)
What happens when you mix psychedelics with some of the most fearsome waves on Earth? What does it take to stay curious, joyful, and deeply alive—well into your 70s? In this wide spanning conversation, legendary surfer Jock Sutherland joins Ageless Athlete to talk about the radical experiences, deep values, and spiritual practices that shaped his life—from surfing Pipeline in the 1960s to climbing mango trees and sharing fruit with neighbors at 77. Raised off-grid on Oʻahu, Jock came of...
Stronger for Life: The 5 Strength Markers That Matter Most After 40 (01:54:08)
After 60 years in the weight room, Dan John has distilled fitness down to its essence: Move well. Lift often. Walk every day. Recover deeply. In this conversation, Dan joins host Kush Khandelwal to share the universal rules for staying strong and mobile through every decade — especially for climbers, runners, and outdoor athletes looking to balance performance and longevity. They unpack how fit literally means “to knit” — body, mind, and life woven together — and how that philosophy can guid...
From the Deep South to the Himalaya — A Life Built on Discipline and Focus (01:50:11)
Imagine growing up in the conservative Deep South, where young women were expected to play it safe Now imagine trading that world for Himalayan storms, frozen walls, and a seven-year stretch of living out of a Subaru to chase something bigger. Kitty Calhoun did exactly that. She became the first North American woman to summit Dhaulagiri and the first woman to climb Makalu’s West Pillar—two of the hardest, highest peaks on Earth. Along the way she’s survived avalanches, eight-day storms, and t...
Fuel for the Long Haul — EC Synkowski on Simple, Science-Backed Nutrition (Rebroadcast) (00:54:05)
Nutrition advice is everywhere — and most of it overcomplicates what should be simple. In this replay, EC Synkowski, founder of Optimize Me Nutrition and creator of the 800-Gram Challenge, shares a refreshingly practical approach to fueling performance, recovery, and longevity. She’s coached CrossFit athletes, corporate teams, and everyday movers — and she’s one of the most grounded, science-based voices in nutrition today. 🧠 What You’ll Learn The 800-Gram Challenge: a data-driven, no-B...
The Longest Battle: Hard-Earned Lessons from Crossing the English Channel at 59 (01:30:56)
At 59, Charlotte Brynn has swum across some of the world’s most punishing channels — in pitch black, in near-freezing water, and even after being bitten by a shark. But her story is more than toughness. It’s about what happens when you don’t reach your goal — not once, but five times. It’s about staying in the fight for 12 years to complete the English Channel. And it’s about discovering that real strength isn't just physical — it's the willingness to try again, and again, and again. In this ...
Everest, Whitewater, and Aging Boldly — The Outdoors Is His Greatest Teacher (01:36:03)
What does it take to climb into the unknown — when you can’t see the way forward? Erik Weihenmayer is one of the most accomplished adventure athletes of our time. The first blind person to summit Mount Everest, he has since climbed the Seven Summits, led expeditions around the world, and kayaked the full 277 miles of the Grand Canyon. Now 56, Erik continues to seek awe and discomfort — from the storm-battered granite towers of the Bugaboos to the whitewater chaos of the Colorado River. But th...
Out of the Box at 75 - Doug and Joan Changed Their Story And Kept Winning Races (01:43:07)
What does it look like to age curiously, train smarter, and build a life of meaning—together? Meet Joan Weisberg-Beyerlein and Doug Beyerlein: partners in life, love, and adventure. At 75, Joan is training for a 10-mile open water swim in Vermont. Doug is still running ultramarathons and logging 3-hour trail runs for fun. Between them, they’ve overcome addiction, burnout, injury, and the daily cultural script that says we should be slowing down by now. In this lively, thoughtful, and often hi...
Going All In — Reverse-Engineer the Goals You Will Risk Everything For (01:28:40)
What does it take to bet everything on a dream? To live out of a van before it was fashionable, to commit to hard lines with no guarantee of success, and to walk away from risk when the stakes are too high? For Canadian climber Sonnie Trotter, it has always come down to conviction. From iconic ascents like Cobra Crack and The Path to bold multi-pitch routes on El Capitan, Sonnie has built a career — and a life — around the power of desire and the art of going all in. In this episode, Sonnie o...
Sixteen Knee Surgeries — And a Return to Skiing When It Should’ve Been Over (01:51:10)
What does it take to come back after a body-breaker of an injury—not once, but sixteen times? Chris Anthony is a legendary ski athlete, filmmaker, and adventurer who has stared down more than his fair share of wipeouts, surgeries, and life-altering setbacks. But instead of fading quietly from the spotlight, Chris rebuilt. Physically. Mentally. Spiritually. In this episode, we explore what it really means to recover—not just to return to sport, but to reinvent yourself in the process. You’ll h...
#90 Survival Is Not Assured (Part II): The Human Cost of Bold Alpinism (01:15:30)
Last week in Part I, we began our journey with legendary alpinist Jim Donini — exploring his surprise cancer diagnosis, his early days in Yosemite, and the philosophy that has defined his career: “Getting to the top is optional. Getting back down is mandatory.” In this second part of our conversation, we turn from the mountains themselves to the human side of Jim’s story. At 82, Jim reflects on: The partnerships that shaped his greatest climbs — and what makes someone a great partner in the m...
#89 Survival Is Not Assured: An 82-Year-Old Alpinist Who Chooses The Hardest Lines (00:50:13)
For more than five decades, Jim Donini has defined what it means to be an alpinist. Not by chasing the tallest mountains or summit glory, but by seeking out the hardest lines in the world’s most remote ranges — places where storms, hunger, and survival itself are never guaranteed. Now at 82, Jim is still climbing, still dreaming, and still teaching us what resilience looks like. In this first of a two-part conversation, he opens up about receiving a surprise cancer diagnosis, how he approache...
Whales, Bears, and the Will to Return — Lessons in Survival From Two Solo Voyages Through Alaska (01:47:44)
At age 49, Susan Marie Conrad paddled 1,200 miles—alone—through the remote, storm-swept waters of the Alaskan Inside Passage. Twelve years later, at 61, she went back and did it again. In this powerful conversation, Susan shares what it means to return—not just to the same wild coastline, but as a different person. We unpack what changes when you chase something bold later in life, how nature reshapes your mindset, and what happens when you open yourself up to synchronicity, generosity, and ...
#87 From 1970s Skate Rebel to World Champion at 65 — How Judi Oyama Keeps Winning (01:09:30)
At 65, Judi Oyama is still lining up at the start gate — not in a “Masters” category, but shoulder-to-shoulder with athletes half, or even a quarter her age. She’s a World Champion slalom skateboarder, a Guiness record holder, a Hall of Fame inductee, and a pioneer who’s been breaking barriers since she first picked up a board in Santa Cruz in the early 1970s. Back then, women’s divisions barely existed. Prize money was unequal. Media crews left during women’s finals. Judi skated anyway — pus...
#86 The Movement Optimist Returns: Strong Hips, Stable Ankles, Happy Feet—Extending Performance and Moving Without Fear (01:28:59)
Physiotherapist, coach, and lifelong climber Andy McVittie is back for the final chapter of our three-part deep dive into aging well, moving well, and living without fear of injury. If you haven’t listened to Part I (The Movement Optimist: Knees, Shoulders, Elbows, Hips, Bulletproof Yourself! Never Late to Get Strong!) or Part II (Aging Joints & Grateful Bodies: Elbows, Fingers, Sleep, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves), I highly recommend going back. In those episodes, we tackled the myt...
#85 No Finish Line in Sight: On Pain, Joy, and the Lifelong Pursuit of What Matters Most - Best of Q2, 2025 (01:36:54)
Every few months, I pause to reflect on the conversations that left a mark—ones I keep thinking about long after the recording stops. This episode is a curated collection of those moments from Spring 2025. You’ll hear stories that go beyond performance. These are reflections on resilience, identity, aging, and the human drive to keep exploring what’s possible—physically and emotionally. In this episode: Sarah Thomas reflects on childhood, potential, and joy after record-breaking swims and can...
#84 The Deep End: Cold Oceans, the Edge of the Map, and the Mind’s Breaking Point (01:07:49)
In Part II of our deep conversation, Andy Donaldson takes us into the heart of open water swimming—where the body aches, the mind wanders, and sometimes… things go wrong. We pick up the story after his return to the sport. But this time, it's different. Andy isn’t chasing medals—he’s chasing meaning. And the path leads him through shark-infested waters, swollen throats, and swims so long and cold they push his body toward shutdown. In this episode, Andy shares: What happened during his 15-hou...
#83 The Comeback: From Accountant to the Pinnacle of Open Water Swimming (01:11:00)
What does it take to walk away from something you’ve trained for your entire life… and then find your way back — stronger, wiser, and with a whole new purpose? In this two-part conversation, we sit down with world-record-holding swimmer Andy Donaldson. But Part One isn’t about records. It’s about the reset — the season of burnout, career shifts, mental struggle, and the slow, imperfect process of coming home to yourself. Andy was once on the edge of elite swimming. Then he left the sport enti...
