Mid Life Athlete

In this deeply personal and moving episode of the Midlife Athlete Podcast , host Greg Ryan sits down with his regular co-host, Jason Smith, who steps into the guest seat to share the motivation behind his upcoming endurance challenge. They are joined by Dr Rupali Kulshreshtha , lead clinical psychologist at the London Clinic, to explore the intersection of physical health, trauma, and the psycholo...

Jason taps into Greg's expertise and chats about pain and injury. In this part 2 goes deeper into why injuries happen to one side, one tissue, one person — and what that means for recovery. Together they reframe how a midlife athlete thinks about pain. Support the show Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and automatically get our latest podcasts, blogs, offers etc into your inbox.

Jason taps into Greg's expertise to discuss all things pain and injury. Part 1 covers what pain actually is and how the body responds to injury. Support the show Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and automatically get our latest podcasts, blogs, offers etc into your inbox.

In this episode, Jason and Greg sit down with Dr. Sandra Kaufman , a renowned physician, anesthesiologist, and longevity researcher. Dr. Kaufman explains her "Kaufman Protocol," a scientific framework that breaks down the complex process of aging into seven distinct cellular tenets . We dive deep into how midlife athletes can move beyond standard fitness routines to optimize their cellul...

Jason (& Greg when he joins) chat to Sarah Webster, a 46-year-old veterinary surgeon, mum, and the women's 24-hour world record holder. She ran 278km — 173 miles — around a track in Albi, France, and it was only her second attempt at the distance. She didn't run her first ultra until she was 43. In this episode, we sit down with Sarah to unpack how a self-described "not particul...

Greg and Jason pick up from the creatine episode and explain why creatine is so important to mitochondria, our bodies energy cells. We also explore a classic case of social media mis-selling - 'lymphatic reset'. Something that social media excels at - taking a kernel of real physiology and inflating it into something barely recognisable. And we talk miles vs kilometres. Which camp are yo...

Greg and Jason are joined by Steve Jennings, otherwise known as the 'Creatine OG'. Steve was a former professional cyclist turned entrepreneur and innovator who’s spent over 30 years building and launching nutrition brands around the world. In this episode he tells the amazing story of how he brought creatine to the market at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. His entrepreneurial journey has e...

It's been a while....almost 2 years. Greg and Jason are back kicking off season 5.  Support the show Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and automatically get our latest podcasts, blogs, offers etc into your inbox.

Greg & Jason are back doing their own challenges. This is a short pod immediately after the guys just completed the Way of the Roses, a 275km (171 miles),  a spectacular coast to coast cycle route which passes through both the red rose county of Lancashire and the white rose county of Yorkshire. Support the show Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and automatically get our latest podcast...

Jason and Greg chat to Gavin Booker, who recently took on and conquered Patagonman. The race is not for beginners. It's  a grueling triathlon that takes place in one of the most breathtaking natural settings in the world. Starting in the Aysen Fjord, athletes must swim 3.8 kilometers, cycle 180 kilometers along the famous Carretera Austral, and then run 42.2 kilometers through canyons, next t...

Happy New Year everyone. We shoot the breeze with some New Year resolutions and future guests. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and automatically get our latest podcasts, blogs, offers etc into your inbox. Support the show Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and automatically get our latest podcasts, blogs, offers etc into your inbox.

Afer a long hiatus of 6 months where kids exams, the Summer and work/life got in the way Greg and Jason are back for a season 4. We intend to complete delving into our mid life athlete framework plus we're going back to where we all started with mid life athletes and expert guests.  Support the show Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and automatically get our latest podcasts, blogs, of...

Jason and Greg are back interviewing  amazing mid life athletes. In this episode we chat to Matthew Forgham, who was part of a team of 6 men shifting 1 million kg of weight in 24 hours. The challenge was to raise awareness and funds for endometriosis, a condition that affects one in ten women, (176 million women globally). Matthew was the only mid life athlete. The challenge involved using free we...

In this episode, Jason and Greg discuss the importance of strength training in maintaining health and athletic performance, and provide advice on how to create a structured strength training program. We talk about the need to have specific goals and how understanding the principles of specificity, overload, and progression are important in creating an effective program. We outline seven steps to c...

Listeners may have heard Greg talk about his latest challenge - an attempt at the 24 hr team relay burpee world record.  Instigated by Nick Gibbins a team of 3 men and 3 women will attempt to do over 12,000 burpees in a 24 hr period to raise funds for Motor Neurone Disease. Three of the team are mid life athletes and fair to say exploring the boundaries of what we think is feasible for those of us...

This is part 1 of a 2 part chapter on anaerobic training. Anaerobic training is important for mid-life athletes to combat muscle loss, strength loss, and loss of power as they age. It involves high-intensity, intermittent bouts of exercise that require the regeneration of ATP at a much faster rate than aerobic exercise. Anaerobic training uses the phosphagen and glycolytic system, while the aerobi...

Aerobic and VO2 capacity training is important for mid-life athletes as aerobic capacity decreases after the age of 40 years and VO2 max decreases gradually with age. These declines can be slowed down by aerobic exercise, done correctly. The ideal training is a mix between "zone 2" training and high-intensity workouts like interval training. "Zone 2" is moderate intensity chara...

Jason and Greg discuss the respiratory and circulatory systems and how they work together to support the body. The circulatory system, made up of the heart and blood vessels, brings blood to and from the lungs to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the body's tissues and organs, while also removing carbon dioxide and waste products. The respiratory system, which includes the lungs, alveoli, and d...

In this episode, Jason and Greg tackle the basic tenants of the bodies energy systems. Show notes The energy systems represent the body’s ability to convert chemical energy stored in food into mechanical work. There are three main energy systems that the human body uses during exercise. The phosphagen system is the primary energy system used during short-term, high-intensity exercises such as spri...

Before we delve into one of the main parts of the Mid Life Athlete framework - exercise - we thought we’d tackle some foundational topics, starting with muscles and how they work.  In this episode we cover: Three types of muscle Switching on the muscle Activation Recruitment patterns Levers Biomechanical factors & force Basic types of action If you would like to access the detailed notes behin...

After 2 years of interviewing mid life athletes and experts, we've learnt a heap of things and are taking a slight change in direction. During our Summer break we started drawing on that knowledge to work on a framework for mid life athletes. After a few tweaks we are ready to share our work with listeners.  This prompted us to think about changing the podcast slightly, to move away from inte...

We've mentioned many times on this podcast the benefits of exercise on health. With significant behaviour change could we rethink healthcare as more of a prevention as a service rather than sickcare which is what we've got today. Dr Ramin Rafei thinks we can.  Jason and Greg chat to Ramin about how he came to rethink healthcare and what his interesting approach is via his start-up Unleas...

Jason and Greg chat to JC Cangilla, a listener & mid life athlete who reached out with some questions following us publishing a newsletter on a draft mid life athlete framework: https://open.substack.com/pub/midlifeathlete/p/mid-life-athlete-framework?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web JC's original questions were how do you balance short term vs long term  goals coupled with balancing...

Greg and Jason chat to Stefan van der Fluit, Founder and CEO of FlowBio and 2018 Netherlands age group ironman champion. Who would have thought of our sweat as data. Well that’s exactly what FlowBio does. Through its innovative Flowpatch it measures our sweet in real time enabling athletes to understand their hydration and sodium levels. It’s a breakthrough piece of tech that is currently being be...

Mildly enraged by a few articles that came across Greg's screen this week, we unpick the central messages behind these articles and call out what we think are alternative truths.  Extending these themes we talk about Stephen Seiler's recent interview with Kilian Jornet, which you can find on our substack:  https://midlifeathlete.substack.com/p/training-lessons-from-the-lover-of?r=rxa77&a...