The Secrets of an Aging Athlete

What do we mean when we talk about aging gracefully? I mean, most of us have a basic vision of it, but how do you achieve that exactly?

To some people, it simply means making sure that our final years are good ones. For others, it means avoiding health issues like dementia, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, or basic immobility. For me, it means maintaining a basic level of fitness that allows me to continue to do the activities I love for as long as possible. And that means being aware of where mobility deficiencies are starting to creep in and, like a game of mobility whack-a-mole, swat them as they appear. It also means that I will never allow the thought "Well, I am X years old now, so what do I expect?" to win.

It also means that I will never allow the thought "Well, I am X years old now, so what do I expect?" to win.

To discuss this idea of aging graceful in more detail, I asked my friend Brad Kearns to join me on the Get-Fit Guy podcast. Brad has managed to stay fit enough to recently set a Speedgolfing World Record some 20+ years after he retired from being a professional triathlete. 

Brad Kearns

Brad Kearns is The New York Times bestselling co-author of The Keto Reset Diet, host of the Get Over Yourself podcast, the Primal Endurance podcast, the weekly keto show on the Primal Blueprint podcast, and the Primal Blueprint online multimedia courses. He is currently a top-20 world ranked and Guinness World Record setting professional Speedgolfer, a former US national champion, and #3 world-ranked professional triathlete. He is 53-years-old and obviously still at the top of his game.

To get the full story from Brad himself, you'll need to listen to the podcast but in a nutshell, we start the conversation by discussing his life as a professional triathlete. It consisted of a lot of sleep and recovery time between each workout (and not much else). In fact, recovery played a bigger role in his life than almost anything else. He would have a custom smoothie and a nap after a hard workout, not rush off to a day job. “I was asleep for half of my life when I was a professional athlete.” And because he wasn't rushing off to a 9-to-5 every day, he experienced lower amounts of stress than a "weekend warrior."

Cut to 25 years later and Brad is still in amazing shape. How does he do it? Here are his 4 essential tips to maintain your fitness and allow you to continue to perform at your best as you age:

Tip #1: Emphasize recovery...

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