The Masters Athlete Survival Guide
We explore thriving as an athlete after 40. Each episode, we’ll dive into tips, hacks, and inspiring stories from seasoned athletes and our personal experience. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a competitive pro, this podcast is your playbook for staying fit, strong, and motivated
The Masters Athlete Survival Guide
Redefine Greatness: Let Longevity Set The Frame And PRs Fuel The Journey
We weigh the tradeoffs between chasing lifetime PRs and training to stay strong for decades, then land on a simple rule: let longevity set the frame and let smart, contextual PRs keep you hungry. Strain becomes the guide—enough challenge to adapt, not enough to break.
• setting longevity as the framework and performance as fuel
• defining “strain” as appropriate challenge across sports and life
• redefining PRs by age, bodyweight, and context
• building capacity: gas tank, bone density, joint resilience
• warm-ups, recovery, sunlight, nutrition as longevity levers
• listening to your body and auto-regulating effort
• competing with yourself rather than chasing others
• planning seasons, stacking small wins, finding a tribe
• using coaching and accountability to sustain habits
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New episodes come out every other Thursday!
Welcome to the Masters of Athletics Remind, where we explore the secrets to thriving in sports after 40. I'm John Candelinus, and along with Scott Flick, we'll dive into training tips, nutrition hacks, and inspiring stories from seasoned athletes who defy age limits. Whether you're a weekend warrior or a competitive pro, this podcast is your playbook for staying fit, strong, and motivated. Let's get started. And I'm back. I'm not back? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:What the hell was that?
SPEAKER_03:I have decided that I am not the boss of you. If if you want to be back, you're back. If you're not back, you're not back.
SPEAKER_00:I was gonna start singing ACDC the permit.
SPEAKER_03:First of all, whatever you were about to do would not have been considered singing.
SPEAKER_01:You would have made vocal noises, but I don't I used to tell my students, one of them messaged me uh maybe six, eight months ago, and they said, Dr. Fike, how come you never sing rap to us? My my niece, her teacher sings rap to them to teach them history. And I'm like, Caitlin, if you remember, I told you if I would have sang, we'd have had the nurse because blood would have been coming out of your ears. It'd be like cats screeching.
SPEAKER_03:Nice. Do your kids call you bra? Like do your students call it, say bra. I feel like there's a lot of bra.
SPEAKER_01:No.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, because I so down down from Aurora Studios is a middle school. Yes. And I don't know if you've ever been here when it lets out. No, but clearly, okay, so here's how it goes: every boy yells bra and 6'7 as they walk down the sidewalk, and every girl screams. Screams, they're just screams. I was on a call, a work call once, and someone heard like the windows were open. Someone's like, Is everybody okay?
SPEAKER_01:I'm like, Yeah, I think so. It's middle school. This week I had uh this was what we call census week at the college, and what that is, is students have to sit in every class in order to ensure that they're attending the classes so they can get full financial aid.
SPEAKER_03:This wait, wait, well, whoa, wait. As the non-educatable, um don't they normally have to sit in classes? We're gonna forego that. Okay. Oh, what you're saying is kids that are habitual non-attendees?
SPEAKER_01:You this week it in particular it is census week. So this is also the week that I met with all our international students because I am what's called the DSO. So if a student wants to come here from like I've got students from France and from Trinidad and whatnot.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, Trinidad. Trinidad. I just wanted to also uh point out that when you said we're from France, all I could think of was 70s.
SPEAKER_01:Danny Aykroyd. Danny Aykroyd, we're from France. So I did that to the kid's name is Mateo. I did that to him. And he had no idea we were talking about. Yeah, no. So they come walking into my office. I was at the Buffalo campus that day, and they would come walking into the office and they said, Hey Dr. Scott, we're here to meet you. You know, we've got a Yes, I am just a big one. We're here to meet you so we can do the registration for our I-20s. Oh, our I-20s. Oh, I like those so much better than the I-18s. Yes, continue. One of the one of them was brand new. He had just come in. It was his first semester here. Hadn't met me before, comes in. He goes, You're bald. He goes, Hey, Dr. Scott, I'm here to to do the registration for my 20.
SPEAKER_03:And we're talking, he goes, I just gonna say, you're hot, you're big. Oh, oh. I knew it was gonna be self-grandizing, but I was hoping it was gonna be in a weird way. Like, you have the best nostrils I have ever seen. I was hoping it was gonna be creepy. That was a bad story. We're talking about my nostrils, not yours. Yours are just beautiful. They are pretty epic. You want to you want to do an actual like topic where we should probably talk about the I-20 and all that. No, let's not ramble. You know, just for just because just I will indulge you.
SPEAKER_01:What's an I-20, Scott? An I-20 is the form that students who are on an F-1 visa, okay, which is a student visa to come into the country. Okay, they have to have an I-20. It's uh it's three pages of paper that lists who they are, what their foreign address is, what their home address is, that they're registered, that they have the ability to pay for said education because foreign students cannot receive financial aid. It just keeps on going. Oh, well, there you go, folks. You've you've already learned something.
SPEAKER_03:You might as well just tune out now because it's all downhill from here. Well, as long as John's talking, you should tune out. Wow.
SPEAKER_01:That's for talking about my nostrils. I know, I know. What are we talking about today? What? You know, we've had a lot of guests and we've sort of gone in different directions, and we've got some guests coming up that I think are gonna our our subscribers are really gonna like. But tonight, you and I talked previously, and I I think that we said we wanted to get into sort of that are we training for longevity or are we training for sort of personal bests and the that sort of performance thing? So longevity versus performance. Okay, especially as a master's athlete.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:So what do you think? Okay. My here's here's the first thing that comes to mind. There's two things that come to mind. First thing is that there's probably a balance between the two, and we can circle back on that. And I apologize for using the business term circle back. Well, at least you didn't table it. Yeah, I I put a pin in it. No, but the I think as far as performance, I think the definition of performance changes across your career. Uh, you know, 25-year-old John's performance and 58-year-old John's performance are different goals of performance. Oh, yeah. Yeah, sadly. But I think they're approached differently. I think 25-year-old John's like trying to improve was let's step on the gas, pick up every heavy thing we see, uh, train until it hurts, and then train a little more. Uh 58-year-old John puts a little bit more thought into it.
SPEAKER_01:But compare 25 and 58, where are you at in terms of mental acuity when it comes to You're adorable. Do I need to define that for you? No, well, you I don't know I've ever had mental acuity, but continue. Where are you in terms of your mental acuity when it comes to thinking about PRs? Because that's if you I mean, any given Saturday or Sunday when we have large groups in the compound, you know as well as I do that that's a that's a warm-up PR, that's a competition PR, that's a that's a lifetime PR. Where are you with sort of thinking about those things? Because let's be honest, every male and maybe every female out there, at some point they want to know, like Toby Keith said, I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was. I can still hit those heavy weights. R IP, Toby.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I think here here's my new thing because it's evolving. So when our current guest Doc was in, I think he was our last guest. The most recent, not our current. Oh, yeah, he's not here. Hi, Doc. Hi Doc. I hope you're listening. You're a guest in spirit, apparently. Yes. No, he brought up the constant the the concept of strain. I love the concept of strain because I think to some degree the the pursuit of strain has been consistent across the decades of my silliness of lifting things.
SPEAKER_01:But now let's talk about strain for just a quick second. Strain, I mean, it like we were talking before we walked into the studio today, the workout that I did this week from Tony, the first workout, my trapezius and the upper part, upper middle of my back are smoked right now.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And it's that was strain.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, it the the attempt to make them feel that way certainly was.
SPEAKER_01:So I guess the question is is it strain when you were straining previously at 25? Yes. Okay. Were you more worried about large muscle groups, i.e. dude, calves, quads, chest calves? Let's not go there. Nobody has seen, nobody wants to see. You were the winner of the smallest calves in the world at the Arnold.
SPEAKER_03:That's me. Um, no, I see what you're saying. And yeah, at 25, you think you're gonna live forever, and you are literally just chasing, like, oh, maybe I could be on world's strongest men. Maybe I could be an Olympian. You know, I think I could do back-to-back iron men. I mean, that's the kind of idiot mentality 25 has because you don't you haven't hit those physical boundaries that are kind of forced upon you when it's like, I'm kind of tired. I mean, work sucked today, and this trip, this, this workout is rough.
SPEAKER_01:John, that was just tying your shoes.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, well, you know, there's the bending over, the attaching the velcro, the detaching the velcro, the the making sure that your white new balance aren't getting scuffed. I mean, come on, I got a lot, there's a lot going on down there. Um yeah, I I mean, as a personal I know my personal answer, but I think the reality is that I think longevity is could could I think it could be considered a byproduct, at least in the gym aspect, not the the kitchen aspect or any, you know, anything else, any of your bad habits. I think longevity can be uh whether it be purposeful or accidental outcome of getting personal records. And I think the only thing that you need to challenge is the personal records, you know. I'm never gonna do an 800-pound squat ever again. I can you know, so I mean, I'm not gonna set a squat personal record, but I might set a squat personal record for the last couple of years.
SPEAKER_01:So it's redefining what those PR P Ps's PRs are. I'm not a doctor, not a doctor.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, now a sponsor. That was a double. Yeah, because here's the deal. And I this is what brings me back to Eric Jensen's concept of strain. I think we're just gonna call it the Eric Jensen rule, like strain. Oh, good with that. Okay. Um, I think that's the value. I think that's if I going forward, if anybody's gonna ask me what should I do in the gym, how should I train, how should I pursue a new sport, anything, I think it's strain because trying your hardest in the framework of who you are, what you can, what your mental like ability is, right? Because there's that. Some people can push their foolish bodies harder than others. What? No. Scott raised his hand, like, I'm I'm like Mr. Mentality. No, I had a question. He's Mr. Mental. Um, I legit had a question. Oh, yeah. The the white new blanket the one the white new balance that I wrote the L on goes on your left foot, and then the other one goes on your foot.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, oh, thank you for that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't put an R. I figured you would have figured that out process of elimination. Well, you know. Okay, what is your question? So we keep saying strain.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:We should probably define strain.
SPEAKER_01:I have a hard time defining strain because you can strain a muscle, and that's the strain that most people sort of consider. Yeah. I mean, are we talking just when you're done, you feel that sort of good lactic acid sort of burn in there?
SPEAKER_03:I think it's that Goldilocks spot of putting in effort to the point that it's taxing. And that the if you use taxing and strain sort of interchangeably, you can be slightly straining, right? Like I'm going for a, I don't know, a 10-mile walk. It's not easy. I mean, it takes a long time to walk, but it's not a lot of strain. Uh I'm gonna pick up a Buick. That's a lot of strain in in a shorter time. I think strain uh it just it applies to whatever you're doing. Uh I'm I'm golfing. How do I apply strain in a round of 18? Well, I I walk, I don't ride a cart. I walk. Uh I stay focused. I'm not drinking beers with the boys. I mean, that's fun. Uh I've I've done it. But I think if you're really looking to approach it for, again, if you're talking about performance, you know, golf has a lot of mental strain associated with it. Being, you know, involved in where my shot should land, where it does land, where I go next. Uh you know, there's a lot of that going on. And I think that improves that game through that mental strain. If you're doing mutton-headed things like you do, it's like strain is well. I pick things up and put them down. Yeah. And and not being me and getting lazy and like, eh, that's kind of heavy. Um, just you know, picking it up, putting it down, and then doing the Scott thing where, yeah, we said we're gonna do five, but I think I'm gonna do seven. Which uh for our uh listeners at home, I hate that so much. I hate it, I hate it. It's the worst part of the workout. Hey, we're done, except Scott's still going, and I have too much pride to let him outdo me. Damn it.
SPEAKER_01:So I think that though, John, you're talking about strain, and I see where you're going, I agree with it. What about the longevity side of it? How much strain, how much exertion, I guess, is a better way of saying it, do we put into this? Because you know, I'm 55 years old, and I want to lift at 65, 75, 85. I mean, you and Doc were battling each other last week or when he was here about who is going to set the Deadlift world record at 80.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, that's me, by the way. I've decided. I've decided. Screw him, I got this. Um You know, that's an excellent question. I think I think this whole performance versus longevity, I think you need to look at the factors that go into longevity. I mean, longevity is staying disease-free, right? So that's not necessarily the gym that could be in the kitchen. Uh you know, according to Dr. Bill Briarly, it's getting you out in the sun early in the morning. Uh, those kind of things contribute to longevity. When it comes to actual physical gym labor, I think longevity is am I putting enough load on my bones so that I have, you know, bone density and bone strength. Right. Uh, am I taxing I I saw something Mike Ezra Tel put out the other day. Um, like there's the right amount of strain. You can have too little. And we've all seen those people in commercial gyms that are, you know, I I I don't know what they're there for, but I'm sure the gym thanks them for their money. And, you know, and I think all of us, especially Scott, will will do too much and and over tax uh a ligament or a tendon.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, and it's when we first opened the compound, I think that was a given. What's that? Uh that I would overdo and there was that sort of ability to walk it off pun intended. Now it's it's a fight to not do that because that's what sort of built into my my mental sort of drive. But you have to do it.
SPEAKER_03:Well, here we go. As a what is it what was your birthday in? 360 367 days.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Um you I mean you're a nationally ranked strong man. Do you think about performance or longevity? I guess both.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you can't have both. I guess maybe you can have both. Can you have both? You can, and I this is the way I sort of equate that. We had a member at the compound, strong, strong guy. Was it me? We had a member at the compound, strong, strong guy. It wasn't me. No, it wasn't you. And he was in there one day, and he's doing some work, and I mean, this guy, 400 pound overhead, you know, according to him, seven, eight hundred pound squat, these types of things. Okay. So I walk in one day and he said, you know, one of these days I'd like to work out with you because you know, you can go forever. I said, Okay. I said, What are you doing now? He says, Oh, nothing. I haven't started yet today, so let's do it now. Like, all right, let's grab a keg and let's just keep going back and forth. John and I did this during COVID. We called it back at you. You just keep going until one person's dead.
SPEAKER_03:All right. Detail that that was what, a 230-pound keg? Yeah. Yeah. Just it's not just an empty keg.
SPEAKER_01:No, it's a 230-pound keg. So you pick it up off the ground, you bring it to your chest, you put it over uh a bar that's 50 inches high, and then the next guy returns it to you. So keep going back and forth. This is one of those exercises that John and I suck at? This is one of those exercises that John sucks at. This is one of those exercises that really builds your gas tank. No, John does not suck at that.
SPEAKER_03:No, we we we dust that off every now and then because it there is a whole ego aspect to it of who's gonna stop first. It's me, by the way, spoiler alert.
SPEAKER_01:And but it's it's such a great cardiovascular sort of whole body build. Yeah. We were 10 reps in and he was done. He's I can't I can't go anymore. And this is this guy who, you know, like most people, like he said earlier, he's like, I can be one of the strongest 30 men in the c in the world and beyond this. And no, it wasn't you. This this time it wasn't your ego. Okay, but this is where I kept going. And I looked at him and I said, You're done.
SPEAKER_03:I'm like and Scott urinated on him.
SPEAKER_01:No, I did another 25 reps. But I looked at him and I said, Dude, you want to do strong men, and and you're a strong guy, but you can't be done. I mean, 10 reps, this was you know, a couple 30 seconds, 45 seconds worth of work. What the hell did you do? Yeah, but again, it depends. That's that longevity side of it, though, is where I was going with that.
SPEAKER_03:No, it and I don't disagree with you, but think about it this way with the strain equation. Um, I I bet if you guys did like one rep maxes on something, he'd crush you.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, because he's uh you know probably uh 99 out of a hundred lifts.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and I think maybe that's the shift is you know, like as you were talking about Keg over bar, I was thinking like burpees. I think I think they're very much like burpees, they're bending over, doing something, doing it, repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating and also repeating. Except your shins don't get beat up quite as bad in burpees, yeah. Um but yeah, I think that's where the longevity versus performance curve kind of crosses, is where you need to do things for a longer duration, maybe at a lighter weight or you know, lighter exertion. Because again, it's this isn't all gym stuff. I mean, if you're looking for longevity and you play volleyball in a rec league every week, uh, you know, I think you have to have that strain thing in the back of your head where you need to push yourself, you know, especially anybody that does that kind of stuff usually has a little bit of a competitive streak in them.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:Um you need to balance that strain versus the you know strain as is an effort as opposed to strain as in a muscle, which is a real possibility if you just go all out like you were 25.
SPEAKER_01:But John, I'm gonna, and we're at 20 minutes into this podcast, and I'm gonna bring a pickleball for you. All right, thanks, man. You think about it, and that is that golf, uh, bowling, these are things that can be done in groups that allow you to sort of continue for a longer period of time. Yes, there's strain in it, depending on how competitive you are or whatnot, but that's where that longevity gets built in. It's that group exercise where you're pushing yourself above, you're you know, you're you're getting yourself a little winded, but you're not shooting for, you know, like you said, an 800-pound squat. Right. Now I wonder who wrote the book of love?
SPEAKER_03:Wow. So welcome to to K Dude. I was gonna bust out some of K Aurora Studios. Yeah, K Aurora Studios. I'm Wacky John and it's 1105. Yeah. Um, no, but you just got really 1950 on me there. Um well, I lost my train of thought because we we transported to the 50s. No, it with this longevity, right? So if if longevity is your pursuit, right you need to listen better to your body.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, very much so.
SPEAKER_03:Because like I don't know, I know people with shoulder injuries.
SPEAKER_00:Um why are you staring at me?
SPEAKER_03:Well, you're one of them. But you know, uh, I I was talking to Mark Phil, who was on the podcast a long time ago, and he's he's having a little like shoulder, he's aware of his shoulder, let's put it that way. Doesn't hurt him, but he's aware of it. He's immediately going into the what can I do to sort of grease that joint.
SPEAKER_01:I recommend CBD.
SPEAKER_03:I was thinking more of a movement and exercise, not just I can recommend some of those too. Not just drugs. God, cheech. I mean, come on now. Nice dreams. Yeah, but but seriously, I think if if you if where the longevity and performance curve crosses, I think it's really that listening to your body knowing I have to push it because without some strain, you you're not you're not backwards. Yeah, you're not in you're not contributing to your longevity. I I don't think. I mean, yeah, you're being social, and yeah, it's better than sitting on a couch eating Cheetos. Not a sponsor. Thank you. Well um, but you know, if you're gonna expend the effort, expend the appropriate effort.
SPEAKER_01:But John, two things there. Number one, I think what helps contribute to longevity as you get older is your warm-up. And I think that goes to where your, you know, Mark Phil that you just mentioned, there's things you can do to help protect those joints. Because if we get older, I mean, naturally, you've been walking, moving, pushing, pulling for 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 years. The joints get worn out. I don't care how healthy you are. So you just it takes longer. The other thing I want to bring up, and I'm dealing with this with a master's athlete that I know, is the mental side of it. Going into a competition, like we're going, uh, one of our members, Ryan and I are going out to watch a bunch of our members compete out at uh 315 the gym out in Syracuse tomorrow. And there's a master's athlete going out there to compete that he just he wants to compete because he wants to beat other people. He wants to lift heavier weights and and whatnot. And I talk to him and I tell him, you know what? Be the better version of yourself, do the right things. You're strong as hell. You're going to do it. Just worry about yourself at this point.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think you know, that's a lesson you can't teach 25-year-olds, but that's true back then too. Oh, agreed. I'm gonna c I'm gonna cough now. There you go. Cough button. Oh, yeah, we have a cough button.
SPEAKER_01:Sorry. So and I I'm gonna make your point for you there.
SPEAKER_03:When I was younger, I never needed anyone. Oh my god, this is Mike and Love just for fun.
SPEAKER_00:Those days are done.
SPEAKER_01:John is all by himself.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, all right. Alright, we need to stop. We do.
SPEAKER_01:So one of the things that sort of drove me mentally when I was lifting and doing different sports and whatnot in my 20s and 30s was I always knew there was somebody out there that was better than me. I wanted to be better than them. So I would push harder. Now I want to be better than I was yesterday. So it's sort of doing the different motions that to the point that follow the Jensen rule and go to that strain and you feel it. Yep. And then maybe you push it a little bit more, depending on how you feel that day. But you don't push like we used to, where you would do 25 repetitions on this, and then as soon as you finish the 25th, you immediately jump to the next machine and did another 18 repetitions or whatever, and then you tried to stand up and you'd literally collapse in the gym. I don't do those things anymore.
SPEAKER_03:No, my my my story. So high school shout putter, you know, we had like that uh nautilus weight thing with like a leg press on one side and a big square square thing? Yep. I loved that thing. Yeah, everybody did. So I mean that was the limit of my physical training. I get to college and my roommate is very bodybuilder-esque. So jacked. Yeah, Dan was very fit, and we did the the day before my first collegiate track practice, I did arms with him, which was I'm gonna I'm gonna exaggerate just a bit here, but I think it was like a million preacher curls and like a billion reverse hammer curls and eight hundred thousand tricep push downs. And I think you would still be doing those reps. I worked really quick. Actually, I mean we just I've heard that about you. I just hit I just hit arms way harder than I ever had before. So I go to my first practice, and I like I my arms are L-shaped because I can't completely straighten them out because my biceps are like screaming, and they were screaming for days. And your coach said to you, Catalinas, why did we bring you here? Yeah, basically, I'm sure he had questions, but it just came down to I I think that for me is one of those watershed moments where you know my body was capable. I I did every rep. Uh, I I don't I probably didn't improve, I may have gotten worse because I'm sure I did all sorts of weird damages and text all sorts of little mini things, but yeah, dumb.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but back then you could get away with that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's another thing for a few days. That's another thing. If I did that today, oh yeah, no, we'd be doing live from St. Joe's Hospital. This is the Masters Athlete Survival Guide. Today we're talking about ibuprofen. Yeah, yeah, no, so uh I don't know. I still want to perform.
SPEAKER_01:There's nothing wrong with performing though, but it's it's performing what are the expectations that you have. You know, I mean, you and I did a couple of Oktoberfest shows with Sean Urquhart, and those shows we got into them and we performed, and I mean perform physically as well as for the crowd to the best of our ability. But part of the thing that the announcer was talking about is give it up for Scott, he's 52 years old, give it up for John, he's 55 years old, you know, these types of things that they were saying. Everybody that was in that competition for the most part was 20s, 30s, couple of 40-year-olds. You know, there was you and me, our buddy uh Jeff and Josh Beatty, who, you know, were close to our age, maybe a little bit younger. But it's the expectation of what your performance is going to be. You know, when we compete now, like we're going to a competition in the middle of October, and it's going to be with people who are our age. Oh, are there people our age? Well, yeah, you and me. Oh, okay. There's people our age. I think there's two others in our group right now.
SPEAKER_03:You know, I mean, the thing is, I mean, I'm not gonna lie. You know, constant reader, I'm gonna tell you the truth right now. I have unrealistic performance um goals. I do. You mean like who's a 26? Yeah, exactly. Like I'm gonna I'm gonna pick up a rock that's twice my weight and walk around it in a frozen like wasteland of an island.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, we're going in August or something like that.
SPEAKER_03:We go in in January. You know, based on my limited knowledge, I don't think it matters. It's like going to the Arctic Circle in in August doesn't really
SPEAKER_01:Change much. Iceland is not the Arctic Circle. No wonder you went into hard sciences. You would just fail geography. No, that's fine. That's what the GPS is for.
SPEAKER_03:No, but I I mean I think I don't think there's anything completely wrong with unrealistic performance goals. It's just the mindless pursuit of them may be the road to injury.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so mindless or perpetual?
SPEAKER_03:Hmm. That's an excellent question.
SPEAKER_01:Every once in a while.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. What do you think? You can have mindless pursuit of a goal. Yeah, but I'm thinking unrealistic goal. Like they're, you know. I don't know. Does that make any sense to to like an expectation that you're never gonna like I'm I'm okay with it because I always have always set ridiculous goals.
SPEAKER_01:Right, but there's ridiculous and then there's it's never going to happen. When you say mindless pursuit of an unreachable goal, that to me is never gonna happen. It'd be like me saying I'm gonna deadlift 450 kilos. It's never going to happen.
SPEAKER_03:Can we use freedom freedom units on this, please? Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:You're welcome.
SPEAKER_03:I thought there was 505 kilos or something like that.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, 510 is a new world route. Oh, that's right. Okay. But 450 is 990 something. But I mean, that's the that's the way I look at it. Do I think that you and I have the ability to lift that stone? Yes. How far are we gonna go with it? I think that's gonna be a day of thing as to how much blood is pounding in our heads, you know, the sort of adrenaline that that jumps it that day.
SPEAKER_03:Are there are there TSA rules as to how much pre-workout you can bring in your carry-on? Dude, Half Thor's gym is there.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, okay. I'm sure there is pre-workout.
SPEAKER_03:Excuse me, Mr. Mountain. Um, do you have any beta-alanine, please?
SPEAKER_01:John wants to white line it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, basically. Oh, yeah, stone. I got this. Cool. Let's go.
SPEAKER_01:But I mean, there's that, but I but yeah. If you if it's a perpetually going after it, that I think is a recipe for disaster. If you are always shooting for something that is ridiculous. And yeah, we gotta push ourselves, but there's pushing yourself and then there's pushing yourself off a cliff.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but okay, let's let's let's back this down to our listeners that are like can contemplating the gym maybe as a master for the first time, maybe since they were 20, maybe since ever. Um I think that unrealistic goal could be one of the biggest boat anchors to your success in in longevity.
SPEAKER_01:But John, the question we've already we've asked in many previous episodes what's your goal? What's your goal? What do you want to do? How much eventually? Do you want to just get off the couch? Do you want to eventually compete in something? Do you want to get back to cycling? You know, I mean, you've got all these different things. Setting your goal is a personal thing, but you have to have the people around you to make it a realistic goal.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, I accept that.
SPEAKER_03:I'm down with that. That seems to make sense. Down with the sickness? Maybe. So where are we currently? Longevity versus PRs. As masters athletes. Do we focus on one?
SPEAKER_01:Can we focus on both? I think if you have realistic expectations, you can focus on both. And you sort of brought it up before when you said, I want to set a PR for my 50s. I want to set a PR for, you know, this body weight. We we've been to a lot of events where somebody said, uh, this is a PR for my body weight. I mean, we were just at um the arm last year when Tammy came in and she really she she stripped a lot of body weight. She was the first person ever to in arm lifting to triple her body weight in a deadlift. That was insane, by the way. Yeah, that was good. Yeah. But I mean, that's you can have those goals as you get older, they just have to be realistic. Because I in my mind, I train for longevity while setting goals. But my goals are realistic now. At least realistic for me. Okay. And I don't want that to sound as arrogant as it's no, no, no.
SPEAKER_03:I was I was I wasn't listening to you. You can be as arrogant as you want. You don't. Um so it sounds like are we at the point where like longevity is kind of the framework and PRs are kind of the fuel? Like, here's the things I'm gonna do to excel at whatever I want, or to make myself life-proof or you know, whatever. But if there's any sort of pursuit, I I I think and i again, I think you've seen people in the gym that have probably been doing three sets of ten forever. Are you gonna fart?
SPEAKER_01:No, I'm moving my leg without trying to do that.
SPEAKER_03:I thought, ladies and gentlemen, if you saw his face, you would have asked the same question. No, you wouldn't have. You absolutely would have. And I and that would have been led by me dropping the microphone and running to the far edge of the studio because Captain Protein over there. Um this is where this is where it degraded to today. This is not this podcast, it is fraught with peril. Yeah, yeah. Sorry. So are you trying to get us back on the rails?
SPEAKER_01:I am, but normally I'm the one that pushes us off the rails. No, I appreciate this. I I like the way you framed that pun intended, where longevity is the framework that we're trying to operate within. And those PRs, those small micro goals are the things that sort of keep us going. Because you have to have something that keeps you going, otherwise, you are gonna go back to sitting on the couch. It you've got to have some reason to want to do it, and the goal can be because you know, like you and Doc were arguing, I'm gonna set the deadlift world record in 80.
SPEAKER_03:No argument, it's me.
SPEAKER_01:The goal can be I want to be a cowboy, I want to be around in my 60s. There's a commercial that's at Christmas time. There is a uh an older gentleman who he he goes into this sort of closet basement area and he starts looking around and he sees a bowling ball, and that's what he's looking for. So he grabs a bowling ball and he sort of lifts it up to his balls. And he keeps doing that. And then, you know, people are looking through the windows at him and you know, shaking their head and everything else, and then it gets a little bit heavier, and then eventually it turns into a small kettlebell, and and it just keeps on going. And ultimately, his goal was for Christmas the following year, he wanted to pick his granddaughter up to put the star in the tree. Yep. So whatever your goal is, it's one of those Christmas chorus. Whatever your goal is, set it, but then use those small steps to get to it. I think that's where the PRs come in.
SPEAKER_03:You know, if you pull one non non-nonsical nonsensical thing out of this out of this mess that I've created today, it it sounds like you need a plan, right? I mean, I I think we've sort of inadvertently pointed out the fact that if longevity is your is you know the framework, and if increased performance is the goals along the way, the stepping stones, you you gotta sit down and and give that some thought, or download a something from somebody that you know you admire, or reach out to a gym buddy, or go get a trainer, or I think that's where coaching come into it, John.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Whether it's uh a personal trainer or a life coach or something along those lines that helps you sort of map those steps out. Do they have life coaches? Is that a real thing? They do have life coaches.
SPEAKER_03:Do they work with old men? They do work with old men. Yeah, I think I need a I think I need a life coach, but coming soon to the Masters athlete's private, right? I need a life coach. I don't I it's a little late. I probably needed a life coach when I was 11, but whatever. You had them, they were your parents. Oh. Oh. You mean I was supposed to listen to those people? It helps. It does help. Man, man. F that up, didn't you? A little bit. Oh well. Anything else you want to say about this? I think I think we got some value out of this one.
SPEAKER_01:We got some value out of it. We had a little bit of fun with it. Um I do agree that as you get older, you start looking more at that longevity thing because as you were younger when you were a kid, you're invincible.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah. There was no concept. First of all, 58, I would have been like, You're not gonna make that that old man, ew.
SPEAKER_01:Ew. You know, somebody told me something the other day, and I sort of looked at it, I'm like, oh shit. Uh oh. So I was born in 1970, and so let's say that was 50 years ago. We know it's 55 years ago. Let's say it was 50 years ago. If you go 50 years before 1970, you're in 1920. World War One had just ended. Oh, I hate Great Depression. I hate those things. So I mean, yeah, we don't sort of think about that. Yeah. And you're right. You have to have a plan. You've got to have those steps in there. So truly start thinking about your first step is I want to do something. Once you've made that decision, figure out what that something is, and then reach out to somebody to help you put the plan together. You know, whether it's us on Instagram, you know, and all joking aside, we can help put some sort of thoughts together with you if you you're truly interested. Or, you know, if you've got other folks that you work with, have somebody work with you because doing it by yourself is so, so difficult. What you want to do is bring a tribe into it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I I listened to uh a podcast on habits the other day, and they say that there's like five ways to mod to moderate your habits, and the number one one is tell someone else you're gonna make a change.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's what I did.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, you know, and then I spent the next four or five years just making fun of you for failing miserably every time. Yep. Every time. Um, you know another good thing to increase your longevity? Hold a world record. Subscribe to the Masters Athlete Survival Guide. No. Oh, yeah, tips and tricks on how to live forever, basically.
SPEAKER_01:I like that. Yeah, I do too. I think that's a good place for us to end. Okay, I'm fair with that. Who are you? I'm Scott. That's not John because of the way he started this whole message.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I it was messy, and I apologize. And to everybody on the couch eating Cheetos, this one was for you. You can have half a sponsorship now. I'm sorry, I wanted to use that button. Bye, folks. Bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post it on your social media, or leave a review. To catch all the latest from us, you can follow us on Instagram at Masters Athlete Survival Guide. Thanks again. Now get off our lunya, damn kids.