Claim OwnershipAgeless Athlete - Longevity Insights From Adventure Sports Legends
Subscribed: 46Played: 1,061
Subscribe
© 2026 Ageless Athlete - Longevity Insights From Adventure Sports Legends
Description
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.
109 Episodes
Reverse
This episode brings together moments from conversations recorded across the first half of 2025 — voices from different sports, environments, and stages of life, each describing how they continue to train, move, and stay engaged as conditions change. These clips span endurance running, climbing, paddling, cycling, swimming, and exploration. What connects them is more than performance level or accomplishment, but also the way each athlete thinks about adaptation — physically, psychologically, a...
What does “use it or lose it” actually mean after 60 — when recovery slows, strength is harder to regain, and stopping even briefly can change what’s possible? Buzz Burrell is one of the quiet architects of modern mountain and trail culture, to talk about consistency — not as motivation, but as survival. Buzz ran his first ultramarathon nearly six decades ago, long before endurance sports had language, infrastructure, or spectators. Since then, he’s lived a migratory life shaped by mountains,...
What do world-class athletes actually eat — not in theory, not on Instagram, but in real life, day after day? After more than 100 conversations with elite climbers, ultrarunners, surfers, and endurance athletes, I started noticing a pattern I didn’t expect. It wasn’t about optimization. It wasn’t about trends. And it definitely wasn’t about eating something new every day. It started with breakfast. On nearly every episode of Ageless Athlete, I ask a simple question: “Where are you...
“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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States