100 Year Athlete

This is for everyone whose bike get's a bit dusty over the winter. You are a multi-sport athlete doing some type of snow sport in the winter. With a couple of races coming up this summer how should you train? If you aren't into power meters and are more into vibes and having fun on your rides, check this out! 🎙️ Episode: Training Without a Power Meter 🚵‍♂️ A conversation for mountain bikers who w...

I had the opportunity to spend Father's Day weekend with a great friend in town, Gregory.  Gregory is a professor at THE Ohio State University and we have been friends since I was a young lad personal training my way through school. He has a cool story with fitness and athletics. He found exercise while studying for PhD. It helped his brain work better essentially. Check out our conversation and l...

The short answer is yes. Listen to the conversation with Dr. Alex Wetmore for more nuance and details.

In this episode, Ben Van Treese and Dr. Wetmore dive into the 2nd and 3rd Pillars of the Nine Pillars of Fitness: Speed and Power. They discuss the importance of these elements in maintaining overall fitness, particularly as we age. The conversation highlights why speed and power are critical for both athletic performance and longevity. Key Points: Importance of Speed and Power:  --> Speed and pow...

What's Your Excuse?  At age 56, mountain biker and skier Jay Burke, "pain master" behind the Park City Point 2 Point MTB race, is sending harder than most 20-somethings  Listen to the podcast for a contagious dose of Jay Burke – it'll get your ass into the gym or out harnessing gravity. Some highlights include: The origin story (00:00-02:04): Jay's athletic beginnings, from hurdling sawhorses to t...

Movement Skill / Mobility:  What it is:  The ability of your joints to move in ways required by your sport.   Why it matters:  If you lack mobility, you'll make compromises in technique that lead to pain, injury, or poor performance.    Blind spots:  Being "fit" doesn't matter if you blow your ACL on day #2 of skiing in November due to a lack of knee and hip mobility. Because mobility training doe...

Check out the blog Learn why the 9 Pillars of Fitness matter and how to use them. Athleticism is longevity. The 9 Pillars of Fitness ensure you maintain your athleticism for a lifetime.

Ladies, are you hoping to get more muscle "tone"?  Well for f**k's sake, don't. Lifting tiny little weights for high reps won't do diddly-squat for your fitness or longevity. "Toning" is BS. If you want to travel the world, play sports, and adventure in the mountains into your last decade of life, you need to strength train. What exactly does that mean? How is it different from toning? To find out...

Your knees are not invincible. In fact, women are 3x to 8x more likely than men to tear an ACL according to Dr. Stacy Sims, author of Roar. So, how do you prevent ACL injuries while skiing the 40+ inches of powder that just hit the Wasatch? Take your ski vacation in Colorado. It's scientifically proven to be safer there.  (just kidding)  The key is to train core strength, stability, and mobility,...

Weight is perhaps the most misleading signal about your health. Many people have a number in their head about what they should weigh, and anything heavier is "bad."  Well, screw that!  According to Dr. Stacy Sims, author of ROAR, weight isn't important if longevity, health, and wellbeing are what matter to you. Focus on gaining muscle mass, which will make it easier to lose body fat—and help you s...

Should you continue training while pregnant?  The short answer is yes according to Dr. Stacy Sims, author of ROAR: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life   In fact, training while pregnant is good for the baby's development. Listen to the latest episode of 100 Year Athlete to learn more.    Quotes: "If you're a...

Menopause. It's not what two 30-something dudes usually discuss on a podcast, but we owe it to the badass women who train with us. Menopause is intense (we have moms – we hear about it), but it doesn't have to slow you down. Join us on the 100 Year Athlete pod as we break down Chapter 3 of ROAR by Dr. Stacy Sims. We'll discuss her recommendations for menopausal nutrition, sleep, fitness, and hydra...

"As a man, I learned a lot of stuff I didn't know." -Ben Van Treese, Founder of OTM, on Chapter 2 of ROAR It turns out that OTM's Ben Van Treese and Dr. Alex Wetmore didn't know much about menstruation (shocking). Unfortunately, this is a blind spot in exercise science and the fitness industry more broadly. In their second discussion about ROAR, Dr. Stacy Sims' book about training and nutrition fo...

"Women are not small men. Stop eating and training like one." -Dr. Stacy Simms, author of ROAR Off The Mountain's Ben Van Treese and Alex Wetmore, PhD are not experts on any aspect of womanhood (just ask their wives). That's why they're reading the new edition of ROAR by Dr. Stacy Sims, a renowned exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist. The book is about how to match food and fitness to fem...

"I think everyone's on this journey to become the best version of themselves."  - Lt. Col. Sean Carano, Marine Raider and Program Director at The Honor Foundation From chubby sixth grader to high school wrestler to Marine Raider to triathlete, Sean Carano has put his body and mind through a lot. In this episode of the 100 Year Athlete podcast, we learn what "wellness" really means from the perspec...

If you wear running shoes to the gym, stop – and then listen to this episode of the 100 Year Athlete Podcast. It's time to invest in a pair of trainers and maybe weightlifting shoes too. You might even want to train barefoot for certain movements.

Are you too old to lift heavy and train plyometrics? Hell no. #100YearAthletes who want to ski, board, bike, climb, and hike into their golden years need both. Check out our latest podcast episode for more on how to lift heavy and train plyometrics – safely – and why you don't need Olympic lifts and high-volume gym work.   

You probably HIIT it too hard and too often. Yep, you can overdue high intensity interval training, especially if you're a mountain athlete who gets it in just by doing your sport. It feels good to sweat truckloads and/or feel like you got hit by a truck after your workout. But HIIT does not cover all the pillars of fitness you need to ski, bike, climb, and run into your golden years. HIIT up the...

VIDEO A lot of mountain athletes join Off The Mountain because they're experiencing joint pain while doing the sports they love. Often, they chalk it up to "old age."  In reality, most of them have been neglecting  mobility  – which is about actively moving your joints through their full range of motion. It's  not  flexibility, the ability to passively lengthen soft tissues.  The big payoff of mob...

Creating your own workout programs can be intimidating, especially if your purpose for training is to keep doing mountain sports like skiing, biking, running, and climbing. How do you know which exercises to include? What rep and set counts make sense? How do you avoid causing imbalances or missing important muscle groups?  Behold: this graphic has some answers. Listen to "DIY Programming" on 100...

Want to ski, bike, and hike (or play pickleball) into your 90s? Start eating your body weight in grams of protein. Check out the latest episode from the 100 Year Athlete Podcast with Ben Van Treese to learn why protein matters, the difference between animal and plant sources, and how to eyeball your daily protein intake.     #100yearathlete #Longevity #Protein #Nutrition #Aging  

"Every time I ski, my knee hurts. What should I do?" I get that question all winter long. If you are playing and training through joint pain, you are making that pain worse and ensuring it'll stick around. Stop doing whatever hurts—but keep playing.  How? That is the subject of today's podcast and blog post.  #100YearAthlete #JointPain #Skiing #KneePain #GetOffTheCouch  

Learn the pre-ride routine that my personal training client Mark uses before every ride. Mark has been working with me to overcome sciatic issues when hitting race pace, especially on his mountain bike. Together we have dialed in a pre-ride routine that has him feeling great and racing like he was before his injury. Mark is a 40 year cyclist with a full time career that gets in the way of his ridi...

"I can be at home and hurt and be weak, or I can be at the gym and hurt and be strong."  -Sherry Walsh, 72 years old Sherry Walsh is not your average 70-something. While most people her age worry about falling and breaking a hip, Sherry is out on her mountain bike 5-7 days a week. She enjoys climbing 2,600+ feet up to Shadow Lake here in Park City, Utah. Her mental game is next level, and once you...

After suffering a concussion at Mt. Hood, slopestyle skier and Olympic hopeful Andre Hamm withdrew from sports and life. Breathwork brought him back. Today, Andre is a professional coach who teaches athletes how to train their breath for peak physical and mental performance, in the gym and outdoors.