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
Moderation With Muscle: Smarter Training After 40
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We tackle caffeine habits, realistic training for masters athletes, and why processes often beat goals when consistency matters most. The thread is accountable moderation: push just past comfortable, track what matters, and build systems that last.
• dialing back caffeine and understanding tolerance
• energy drink choices vs coffee and pre-workout timing
• processes as a foundation for sustainable progress
• realistic goals, discipline and avoiding all or nothing
• bodyweight basics for balance and fall prevention
• 80 percent training and knowing when to stop
• interval ideas, walking meetings and daily movement
• journaling, wearables and personal data for feedback
• accountable moderation as the long term strategy
• caffeine’s possible impact on blood sugar and sleep
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New episodes come out every other Thursday!
Welcome And Show Setup
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the Masters of Athletes Rebecca, 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 we're back, and unfortunately, Scott's back with me.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, I am.
Cutting Back On Caffeine
SPEAKER_02Why did you scream then? Dial it back there. Hey, you know, so here's the thing. You have to think before we get into the thing. Caffeine. I am ingesting less. What happened to him ingesting none at all? Well, because it no, because coffee and stuff. It's not it's not off the table. And I I I use energy drinks kind of medicinally. If I'm gonna go like if I'm gonna go to the out to the gym or if I'm gonna play pickleball and I'm exhausted. So it's a pre-workout. Kinda.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I can yeah, I can respect that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because in your locker at the compound, you've got one of the mega Celsius still sitting there. Well, you know, I have one in my car. I feel like they're like fire extinguishers. If I if there's an emergency. I actually did I ever show you the thing I bought, I think I bought it in Pennsylvania, the energy drink called cocaine. Yes, you do. Yeah, I still have that in the car too.
SPEAKER_01So let me get this straight. Yes, sir. That that old TV joke, the guy that is the mega alcoholic and is hiding alcohol in the soap bottle and everything else. That's that's you, except it's an energy drink.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm sort of sober curious when it comes to energy drinks. Sober curious. That's great. I love that. Karen, you're welcome. Um yeah, so I'm dialing back on caffeine, right? And and I think that just makes sense from a makes sense kind of way for from a lot of reasons. I think it's certainly less effective. I can drink all the energy drinks on earth, and I don't know, maybe I'm gonna get to some threshold where I explode, but they don't hype me up like they used to, which was the first signal that I'm abusing caffeine.
SPEAKER_01No, I think I'm the same way, but I'm at a point where I can't not have caffeine because if I tried to go a day or two without it, without any, I think I would have a massive headache.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's that's been a bit of a struggle. There is a little bit of a headache. The the coffee I got an espresso, a nespresso for Christmas.
SPEAKER_01Yes, you told me that. I saw that. That's kind of fun. That's funny. You're gonna bring it into the studio? No.
SPEAKER_02Jerk. No. Why would I do that? We have the barista over there. True. Don't have to make dude. We are like 50 episodes in. We are beneath making our own coffee. Come on now. Um but anyway, where was I going with this? Was it going somewhere with this? The caffeine? Your your caffeine sober curious. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm like, I'm like non-caffeinated adjacent. Um, it's been it's been unfun. I'm not a fan. Um, but I'm doing it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but here's the thing. I mean, we've had times when we've either had a very long training session or we've gone to a comp somewhere and we have way, way overdone it with caffeine.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think I'm gonna actually invest, I think I'm gonna go back to the other way of the pendulum and actually get like make my own pre-workout again. I think pre-workout is a little more of an efficient way to ingest it? I might even do a non-caffeinated pre-workout. Because a lot of those other ingredients offer some mitochondrial you know enhancement. Yeah, I just dude. Dude, I would I would I've still got some of your and I have all the ingredients because I'm a psychiatrist. I'm a psychopath with uh way too many like you bought it in bulk. I did. I bought chemicals in bulk. I have a lot of beta alanine. I feel like if that ever spilled in the kitchen, I might literally just vibrate for the rest of my life. And get the tingles.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's um that's one of those things that I I had like green coffee extract once. And I swear it had beta alanine in it. So I took some and my body was vibrating, yeah, and my heart hurt. And I'm like, I looked at my wife and I said, you know, probably not gonna do this one again.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I did we we did energy drinks, right? I think we need to revisit that again someday because that was kind of fun.
SPEAKER_01But I don't think we did energy drinks. We did protein we did protein drinks and we did protein bars. Ooh, ooh, yeah, but it well three to five dollars a can.
SPEAKER_02We'll do it early in the morning. What'd you guys do today? Well, I did 47 shots of energy drinks. I'm fine.
SPEAKER_01The Arnold is coming up.
SPEAKER_02Oh that might be an on-location good one. Not to mention, did you notice Armlifting has a uh energy drink sponsor? I forgot their name. I wish I could go. Yeah, they do, they do. I do. I was gonna look into it. Um, it's kind of entry-level energy drink. I think it's like 100 milligrams of caffeine. So it's like a gateway energy drink. Yeah, yeah. Oh, here, kid, you'll be fine.
SPEAKER_01Have one of these. No, so yeah, but it's a hundred milligrams for eight ounces.
Energy Drinks And Pre-Workout Choices
SPEAKER_02Not that I didn't look in 32 ounces of these cans coming. It's entirely possible. It's just an energy shot. Um, but yeah, so there's my there's my footprint, there's my line in the sand about caffeine.
SPEAKER_01So, yes, sir. You know, you're talking about caffeine, we're talking about some of the energy drinks we've had where you know rain energy drinks, which are like every flavor under the sun. Did they go away? I don't think so. I think they're just not out there as much because monster and ghost are really pushing their marketing. You know, they're gonna have in that two to three hundred range, Celsius has some of the bigger ones have three hundred to three hundred and fifty. The compound is now sponsored by Dubby, which has an energy drink. Uh, it's about 150 to 200 milligrams of caffeine in it. We look at, you know, what extreme do you want? And we talk about this concept of understanding your body and and seeing where it goes. I think we need to do that same thing, but take it to the physical workout side of thing, you know, continue our sort of journey that we started last episode or two episodes ago on the weekend warrior mentality and seeing how you know, do I have to train five days a week? What does recovery look like at my age? I know we've talked about it a lot, but what are the three R's of recovery? How do we sort of work those things in?
SPEAKER_02Cool, yeah. I my college room roommate would refer to this as a discussion on moderation because he was famous for drinking way too much and then like blabbling moderation, moderation, yeah. So, but no, you're you're not wrong because I think like I've thought about this a lot, and I I recorded a New Year's Day thing about it. I don't think it's goals, I think it's processes. Because I think if you set a goal, you're either setting yourself up for disappointment. Uh if you're not a professional athlete, you may not be great at goal setting, but I'm learning more and more in 2026. Uh if you instill, I mean, some people would refer to them as habits, but I think processes make them make me think more that they're tied to also a time and a result. But I think for the everyday athlete, the not I'm not training for anything athlete, which is probably the most of the people that are currently in the gym right now, right? Like I want, you know, the goals are so nebulous. I want to look better in a bikini. I want to not die from a heart attack.
SPEAKER_01Ever want to see you in a mankini?
SPEAKER_02Well, it's because I couldn't look better in a bikini. So that's not a goal of mine. That's uh that's accomplished. Check. Done.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna disagree with you a little bit on what you just said. Okay. You call them processes, you know, you know, and so some people might call them habits. I think constantly doing a process can instill a habit. Okay, so I can see where you're at with that, and I I agree with that that mindset. I don't agree with the goal statement though. Sorry about that. I'm sorry about that too. I think you have to have a goal, but you have to be realistic. You know, in talking with my brother this week at when we were training the one night, he said, you know, he talks to because he works a lot with high school wrestlers. Okay. And Timmy will look at him and he'll say, What's your goal? And the one kid said, Well, I want to win states. Timmy goes, You're full of shit. Oh, you know, it's yeah, you have to have a realistic goal. You have to you have to know where your parameters are, right? And then push past them just a little.
SPEAKER_02That's I think why I'm anti-goal right now. I'm in my anti-goal phase. I'm basically Taylor Swift. Um, I'm in my anti-goal era.
SPEAKER_01We need a bigger studio. But John D.
SPEAKER_02Think about what you just said about the uh I want to win states. For some kids, that's probably a realistic goal.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02But like I said, for everybody currently in the gym without a without a sport, you know, especially a master's athlete who's not pursuing anything directly athletic right now, they're setting those nebulous goals.
SPEAKER_01I want to lose weight. And weight is I want to lose 10 pounds. Yeah. I want to consistently work out three days a week. Right, but what those are goals?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but what happens at 11 pounds? Where's your motivation? Do you say I'm gonna lose another 10? I think it's better to put healthy processes in place.
SPEAKER_01I think I could be wrong. But I don't think they're mutually exclusive, though, John.
From Goals To Processes
SPEAKER_02No, I know, but I think it's a healthier way for the everyday non-participating actively in a sport person to put in these things where, hey, you know, I just I wake up in the morning, I take my creatine, I go for a 10-minute walk, I get sunshine in my eyes, uh, I make Dr. B's happy. Yeah, I make I do all the things that all the product productivity people say. I make my bed, I have a decent protein laden breakfast, you know, all those things. You incorporate all those things that everybody says you should do. Um that can be a goal. What you mean putting the systems in place is the goal? Yes, okay. I hate it, but okay. I don't I I think framing it like that's not the worst thing.
SPEAKER_01That's the thing. We get so set on a goal having to be some major accomplishment. You know, a lot of times this year, and and we've traded some memes about this. You know, your new year's resolution doesn't have to be giving something up. Your new year's resolution can be doing something.
SPEAKER_02So can I drink more caffeine?
SPEAKER_01Can I open one now? You know, talk to the barista. Yeah, you know, um Vivian, you want to hook John up, please?
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's Vivian's day. I thought it was Mario. No.
SPEAKER_01Um Luigi needed him at home.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. Okay. It's a me, Mario. I got that reference. I did. Very good. Thanks. Very good.
SPEAKER_01There you go. But process can be part of a goal. I mean, you know, for me personally, I set I want to do X, and I have to put processes in place to do that. For some of our folks, some of our friends, the process is the goal. They want to be healthier. Okay, so we help them set up certain processes to get there. So they've got the nebulous goal of be healthier, but we're trying to get them to see doing X, doing Y, cutting down on you know, saturated foods, cutting down on sitting so long. Those can be goals as well, I think.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I don't here here's where I'm coming from. And I maybe I just haven't framed this correctly, but like like three, I think three people have asked me New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, New You kind of questions uh recently. And the one I was not one of them, by the way. No, because your goals are obvious. So obvious. Um but yeah, ladies and gentlemen of the video. For the video podcast group. Apparently, this apparently this podcast is brought to you by the number one, or at least that's what Scott's showing me right now. Um yes, yes, he is. No, but the the problem, especially if you don't know what you're doing, is that uh the flip side of goals is failure, right? Like I never met my goal, I missed my goal. I set an unrealistic goal. I you know, I'm afraid to say it out loud because it seems ludicrous. That that's that's my aversion to goal.
SPEAKER_01All right, two things with that. Number one, and we've said this for 50 odd episodes talk to somebody. It's a community. You have to have somebody to help you understand you. Okay, so that's number one. Number two, and I just I sent out to my students because our students come back next week, send an announcement and it said blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Can't wait to meet you, yada yada yada. Remember this we don't judge ourselves on how many times we fall, but in how many times we get up from the fall. Did you send your students a Rocky quote? No, it's actually a Confucian quote.
SPEAKER_02Oh, is it? Yes, it is. It's not Mick from Rocky. Get up. Yeah, Mickey loves you. Yeah. No, look, I learned stuff. Confucius may have come slightly before Rocky III, but whatever. I don't know. I think Mickey might be older than Confucian. That's possible. That's possible. Oh, and on our next episode is Mickey actually Confucian, or at least of the Confucian school of thought. Oh wow, the silence was deafening there, folks. I guess I'll take that as a no. No, but I I I like that. I like that mentality for sure. I just I don't know. There's so much like the content that this this is all dovetailing, and I use dovetailing a lot on this, by the way. I was listening to a couple of our episodes. Dovetailing is definitely something I need to take out of my my lesson.
SPEAKER_01What's better than dubstep?
SPEAKER_02Oh, I was gonna bust out some dubstep, but I shall not. I shall thank you. Um it just comes down to everything. If you don't know, like you said, ask somebody, and a lot of people don't ask anybody, they go on Instagram and that's the problem, I think. Yeah, and the comparison of of that is definitely the thief of joy because you're you're looking at David Goggins, right? Like, oh, I didn't run 240 miles this weekend. I suck.
Realistic Targets And Discipline
SPEAKER_01But we we and we we really beat up the whole social media thing in a couple of different ways. Yes, it's got its benefits, but there's just so much BS out there on social media. I just you know, yeah, in a really bad Shakespeare pun. To goal or not to goal is what's bouncing back and forth in my head. For me, that was awesome. That was awesome. I am in the presence of the barred people. There was a D at the end of that, right? Not just bar. Yeah, well, you know to me, I personally need a goal, and I need and I I just watched a YouTube video on this that uh the Stoltman brothers had out. Do you have the discipline that nobody wants to talk about? So you've set your goal, and again, I'm leaving goal incredibly nebulous here. For me, you know, it's podium for you know one of our friends. It's I want to lose some weight, I want to be healthier. For other people, it's this, you know. You and I have bounced back and forth about uh uh a manhood stone that we want to lift.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god, I thought you were bringing up nationals again. I was gonna poo-poo you.
SPEAKER_01No, you're going to nationals, you just haven't admitted it yet. Karen has already signed you up, by the way. But it it's leave it as nebulous as you want. Yep. How are you getting there? What are you doing? You know, is it the mediocrity of it? And and like I said, with the Stoltman video that I watch, do you have that discipline? And I find myself, who's usually pretty annual retentive about things like this, questioning the discipline that I have as well. Because it's it's processed now to get to what you started this whole sort of section with.
SPEAKER_02That's true. But see, you you definitely you embody the champions are made in the dark kind of person. Like you don't need I really hope you're gonna explain this well because you don't need the room full of people pulling all you know, rowing in the same direction for you to actually put in like a good workout or be disciplined or you know, not eat like an asshole. Or oh, there's there's the checkbox.
SPEAKER_01And thank you.
SPEAKER_02It wasn't who had John costing us a dollar at 1718. Yeah, you're welcome. You're welcome. But you know what I mean? So I get that. Um, again, to bring it back to you know, everybody just trying to be better. Um it's hard. Like it's it's like the things that you inherently have, not everybody has.
SPEAKER_01No, and and we've talked about this, and you know, some of the strong men that we follow, they'll say, like, oh, autism is superpower. For me, being OCD is my superpower. It's wanting to do better myself, and it and it is a difference, and as much as it drives me nuts, it it does help me. It drives us nuts too, if to be truth be told. I'm well aware of that.
SPEAKER_02Oh, good. As long as you're aware, I'm well aware of that. Self-awareness is the first key towards uh improvement. But you know, I think in the beginning, and I'm I'm gonna God created man. I'm gonna contradict myself for a minute. I don't think there's anything wrong with going out there somewhere and getting a plan. Like I have this goal, like I I would I would not fault anybody for going into chat GBT and saying, I'd like to lose 10 pounds in three weeks, what do I do? And just blindly following that. But it's a start. Yeah, I think the I think the the thing that needs to come out of that is an understanding of why did I take those steps to achieve this goal and how do I apply what I've learned to the next goal? I mean, we're I mean, you are doctor adjacent. Um that's what the paper on the wall says.
SPEAKER_01I am doctor adjacent.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I mean, I I've I've been in this sphere for a while, but I mean I I don't have any training. I don't know anything. It's just I listen to people smarter than me. Everybody. But I I think through those things we've been able to apply tools towards things that come up. Right? Like, I mean, ten years ago you didn't know you're gonna go to strong man nationals and you didn't know how to do it.
SPEAKER_01No, agreed. So But one of the strengths that I also have, I think, is knowing what I don't know and going to people who are much better than me at it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I and that I don't know what the I don't know what the whole range of Of the word arrogance is because there's probably arrogance light where you're not really being arrogant, but you're you're not admitting to yourself. Like I don't know what that word is. I can't think of it right now. But that was the most complimentary insult you have ever given me. Well, no, what I'm thinking is it is important to know to know what you don't know. But it's also like new person in the gym, that that's probably terrifying. Like I mean, I've been it's been a lot of years since I've been new person in the gym, but I don't know. I I would I walk up to me now and be like, excuse me, Mr. Bald old man, that seems to be lifting a reasonable amount of weight with some purpose. Uh, I have some questions.
SPEAKER_01You know what I love about Sunday? Sunday. No, we're not singing this again. I heard me sing this before in another one. It was terrible.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, oh yeah. We we know.
Getting Started Without The Gym Ego
SPEAKER_01John, you're number one again. One of the memes that I'm reading in its reading, it's not a visual meme, is this person, and I purposely say person because sometimes you see it's a man, sometimes you see it's a woman. They are morbidly obese, they go into the gym, and they're very self-conscious. You know, we've talked about the hardest step is that first step through the door. Yep. Okay, so they've taken the step and they're like, all right, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna lose weight. And they're in there and they're they're lifting next to nothing. And the it looks like they just walked out of a shower and they're going through everything and they're breathing like bellows from a forge. Something like that. And as they're you know, they're very self-conscious about themselves. But you know, the the biggest monster walks up to them as they're about to leave, and the person who's very self-conscious says, Oh, great, someone's gonna pick on me, I'm never coming back. And this, you know, this muscle monster says, Hey, I've been watching you. Great job. I love what you're doing. Don't ever stop, no matter what anybody says. And you know, you get this sort of Disney-esque, oh, they became training partners and this and that. True sometimes. Are there bluebirds involved? There's usually bluebirds involved. Blueberries. No, that's one in the protein shake. Oh, okay. But all kidding aside, you know, I've I've found in a lot of the competitions, and you and I have had this conversation when you used to bounce, that the guys who are the biggest, the guys who are you know, usually the strongest and whatnot, they're relatively calm and they're pretty supportive and they're nice people. Okay, so I'm sure I'm seeing that happen more and more in in gyms and competitions and whatnot. And I I think that's a great sort of step for it. But you know, what you were hitting on earlier, and I talk about this concept with some of my students. This is what ChatGPT said, and I sort of reflect on it after a couple of days. That's metacognition. I mean, it's the thought of thinking about what metacognition, it's the process of thinking. Is that a language about thinking? So you are examining what you did.
SPEAKER_02You said that those gummy bears were just like raspberry flavored. What do you it's metacognition? Suddenly, wow, dude. It's my inner doctor coming out. Yeah, great, great. Are you cheech and chong or chong in this scenario? I don't understand. Probably way as much as both of them.
SPEAKER_01So cheech and chong.
SPEAKER_02I feel like I need to think about this.
SPEAKER_01You know, here's the other thing. So you're metacognitioning. Oh, I'm thinking about thinking. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02But I mean, John, and I'll and I'll What if I was drinking while thinking about thinking? That's different. How? Okay. I don't know. I just like the rhyme.
SPEAKER_01But that's literally why I think in all seriousness, that's what we're talking about. Is okay, you've made a decision. You've taken the first step. Now, you know, okay, I want to be more than the weekend warrior. I want to do something during the week. Do I go all out every time I enter the gym? The answer is no.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I don't disagree that going all out doesn't make any sense, especially out of the box, right? Like if you haven't done anything in a while. That's a great way to find yourself back on the couch eating cheetos. Not a sponsor. Um, I I think the reality is, you know, we refer to the gym because we like the gym, but the reality is you could jump rope at home. You probably could like like when's the last time you sprinted or jumped or like sat up and down in a chair ten times. What is what is the name? I can't even think of it. Uh they're not burpees. Before burpees were burpees, there was that squat thrust. There you go.
SPEAKER_01Like that. Like we used to do those in wrestling in high school.
SPEAKER_02I think everybody did that because there was only 11 things you could do back in the day. And that was one of them. But you know, stuff like that. Before, you know, can you do 20 of those in a row?
SPEAKER_01Right now? Yeah. I think the first time I dropped down to the ground, my left shoulder would say, Here, hold my beer.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. So I mean You're done. I I worry about those that are going into the you know big box gyms and sitting in a machine that that you know pretty much cradles them, except for the motion they're doing. When I I just I just had a conversation with someone talking about one of their parents fell.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02And the nightmare, because it was one of those deals where you know mom fell and laid there for eight hours, nine hours.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. One of Jean's neighbors growing up, same thing, fell down the stairs.
SPEAKER_02Man, that freaks me out. Ugh, it gives me the willies. But how do you combat that? I think you need to do something in the privacy of your own home. I think it's a great place to start where you get on the ground and get up and get on the ground and get up.
Bodyweight Basics And Fall Prevention
SPEAKER_01But that that goes to a lot of what I've tried to talk to with athletes and just people in general. Yeah. There's a big difference between a machine, free weights, and just body motion.
SPEAKER_02I think body, I think body motion, body weight stuff is completely underrated.
SPEAKER_01Well, that goes to what Adrian said. Um what about a month ago?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Where it's this is what I do for my warmups. Well, her warmups as an elite, elite athlete. Look lame.
SPEAKER_02I look like I didn't get elite enough in there. Yeah, do another elite. Elite. Okay, there you go. Thanks.
SPEAKER_01But you know, it's we did some of that not too long ago, and we used to do that quite a bit. Yep. Drop down to one knee, put the second knee, get back up, but get back up, you know, or stand on a six-inch box and lower yourself down so one heel touches the ground and come back up. Those type of things are a hell of a lot more difficult than people give it credit for. And I think there is more benefit for masters athletes, especially senior masters athletes, that silver sneaker type of thing, where they they need those awarenesses. It might be just carrying around two 10-pound dumbbells or two bags of flour, one in each hand, that type of thing. Just squeezing, just walking. I have a friend who, you know, he wanted to get back into the gym, and I said to him, Let's start simple, let's do some easy things. Every time you walk past the kitchen chair up to 10 times over the course of a day, I want you to sit down and stand up in that chair 10 times. So sit down in the chair, stand up from the chair without grabbing the handles or pushing off of anything.
SPEAKER_02So, as a master's athlete, as a gentleman of 58 wonderful years, I have to ask the question do I have to do it noiselessly?
SPEAKER_01Well, we can't control the snap, crackle, and pop that's going through your knees.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's two things. I'm worried about the snaps and the crackles.
SPEAKER_01I'm also worried from the buttons, it's going to get less. Yeah, I know. I mean, I noticed when I first turned 50 that I was not in the best place physically with where I wanted to be. When I started doing more of that physical, just day-to-day goofy body awareness stuff, like I would park farther away from the grocery store, something like that in the parking lot. Walking back and forth, my knees didn't hurt anymore. Yeah, I mean those type of goofy things. And as first time masters athletes or just getting back in, getting out of the weekend warrior mentality, I think that's important.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I I mean I hate that weekend warrior thing. I know we beat it to death in that episode, but because I mean, if you if you look at it in one direction, we you and I are just really good weekend warriors. I mean, we're not getting paid for all the crazy crap we do, and the piles of medals and trophies mean nothing to 99% of the universe. So, I mean, we're just really good at. But I would like to see people like it's it's gotta be about your health or fun. I think that's it, right? It's it's either fun or it's your health, or God bless you if you can figure out how to do both.
SPEAKER_01Because I think in our age it is altruistic. I would agree with that.
SPEAKER_02I think that's where we are, and I think the health side is let's not fall, let's sprint, let's let's deal with that, you know, that nagging knee, ankle, wrist, neck, whatever issue.
Intervals, Walking Meetings, And Daily Movement
SPEAKER_01You know, one of the things that I I saw elite Olympic athletes doing that I tailored way, way down to my fat old body was this almost um Tabata-like training where they would sprint for 30 seconds and then walk for 30 seconds, and then keep going back and forth in three-minute intervals. Do it for three minutes, they'd walk for three minutes, like just walk. If I started doing the same type of thing, I would do it on an airdyne bike, or I might do it in the gym where I would walk super fast because I can't sprint for 30 seconds without you know having a heart attack at that point and then walk or lightly bike. Or if I was on the bike, I would sprint on the bike for 30 seconds and then I'd hop off for 30 seconds and walk the uh the turf. I think those type of things people can start doing for health right away. Don't know that it's very much fun, but the health benefits are going to allow for longevity.
SPEAKER_02Well, this is sadly the age at which we're at, although sort of the venue has gone away. Mall walking.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Mall walking. I don't know if that even still happens because I don't know that malls care I think there's only one area in English. Yeah, I yeah, whatever. But I mean, the the concept of going together in a group and like basically talking while walking, right?
SPEAKER_01I mean Well, that's the work concept, you know, walking meetings. Yeah, what was it? Uh what was the TV show? Um West Wing. No, West Wing. I like MASH better. Well, yeah. West Wing, that was the big thing. They would have walking meetings for that very reason. Because we sit. I mean, at our age, you know, masters athletes, you're pretty well established in your career. So unless you have a physical type of job, you're sitting for maybe six out of an eight-hour day, five out of an eight-hour day. I know when I sit too long in meetings, my knees start to hurt. You know, and and I'll say, Oh, sorry, student came and I will turn the camera off on my my Teams meeting and turn the microphone off, and I'll walk around the building once.
SPEAKER_02Oh, see, I'm old. I turn the camera off and go pee. It beats the alternative being while you're exactly. Although if you're ever in a meeting with me and I'm smiling and my eyes are crossed, well, sorry. Um, you know, the other thing, I remember the concept of the walking meeting, and the other thing was it did keep your attention because it was a more active, dynamic thing. I I it's funny, I had flashbacks to I had I'd forgotten I had done that in the past. It's it's a good thing. I'm for it. So I mean, I guess you know that I guess the overarching concept there is to you know work in what you can when you can. But here's the other side of that coin. Okay. Here, here's where here's where if I if I could reach through whatever device you're listening to and lightly pat your head and tell you if you listen to anything right now, rub my tummy at the same time. I cannot um listen to this. I think you it's as important to know when to stop for the day. So moderation. Yeah, I I think that yeah, definitely. Because especially when you're new and you just go into the gym thinking, okay, I gotta do five sets of ten squats, and I pick some random ass number that I used to be able to do, you know, in college. Um I'm I'm gonna die tomorrow, and there's not a lot of value in dying tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01No, I think that's where we get into a discussion on do I need to go a hundred percent when I start doing this, or in my 40s, 50s, 60s, will 80% give me the results I'm looking for. Physiologically, we are not going to build a lot of new muscle as we get older. We can get stronger, yeah. We can tone well, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Okay, Suzanne Summers.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, grip. Wow, was that a reach back?
SPEAKER_02You said tone, I thought Thigh Master.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you see, and I went to Richard Simmons.
SPEAKER_02Oh, did you? Yeah, well, you know, let it go. Let it go, let it go. Yes, sir. Do you want to hide a body? Is that a thing? I did not see that version.
SPEAKER_01It is now. I mean, with the exception of like grip, yeah, because grip you can actually get quite strong as you get older. But I think one of the things that we need to look at is okay, so let's say when I start this process, I'm benching 200 pounds. I might get myself up to 250 pounds if I'm really crazy, maybe 300 pounds if I'm a blessed, gifted athlete. But again, it's got to be done intelligently. You can't, like you just said, jump in some random ass number, five by five, or a five by ten.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01And oh, wait a minute, muscle and fitness says German overload method. I've got to do a 10 by 10.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01Okay. From somebody who's done 10 by 10s for a long part of my career, don't. Yeah.
Knowing When To Stop And Train At 80%
SPEAKER_02I mean, they suck. When I was 25, uh, that would be no problem. Now I would probably I should probably just leave the gym and go right to the emergency room.
SPEAKER_01Yes, because we have no AED at the compound.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, I I that is absolutely true. Um But that's that 80% mentality. Yeah. I I think that's important. I think I think. Maybe maybe lesson one is you need to realize, and I don't think I realize this. Um, you can make significant benefit and or gain in whatever your athletic pursuit is without killing yourself. Well, go back to Eric Jensen, Doc.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. What's the Doc rule?
SPEAKER_02I want to be the world record holder with the 80-year-old deadlift. Yes.
SPEAKER_01No, he is going to, and he's gonna crush you on it. How old is he? He's younger than you. Shit. Well, no, don't say that because you can set it first. Nice. Well, you're not gonna set it because I guarantee Ode's gonna get it before you. Well, maybe he won't deadlift. But here's the thing he said just push past comfortable. If you think about it this way, if you're walking or if you're on a bike, and I remember this in like it was yesterday when I read this when I was in my 20s. If you're biking or you're jogging on a treadmill, or you're on an elliptical, or whatever, you should be able to hold a conversation, but it should be like this, and there's some breathing in there in the middle of you know, it because you're just past comfortable. Yeah, if you can hold a regular conversation like you are right now with me, there's you're not doing anything. You know, there's there's no gain that is happening.
SPEAKER_02Wow, that was Stark. I just had to take a moment and think about thinking. Tony Stark? Yeah. What is think about thinking called again? Metacognition. I am I can't believe it's Friday because I can't wait. Monday, I am working in that into a work meeting somehow. I'm gonna use the word synergy and circle back, put a pin in it, and metacognition. A dovetail, we're we're we're trying to move away from uh how about dubstep? Stop. All right, this is I've lost Scott. Folks, I've lost Scott. Um so all the all the I see your copious notes here. So you've you did a lot of a lot of research on this, and I I wanna I I'm a new man, we gotta find new words. We gotta find new words for weekend warrior, new words for athlete, because they're blanket stadiums that feel exclusive, like they exclude people. Um, I'm new to moving my body. How do I body? How do I know when to stop? Like, how do I know?
SPEAKER_01You're getting a little sore. Yeah, you're you know, you're just you're just a little bit out of breath. Yeah. That's that's the way I do it with people. Like when I'm we had a young man who came to the gym the other day, and I and when I say young, I think he's 18 years old, turning 19 this month. Okay. So by no means I know you see those slippers are older than this. I think these slippers are older. Um, the ring on my finger is older than yeah, exactly. But it's it's one of those things that I said to him, all right, and he is a type one diabetic. Okay, okay, strong, strong kid. Really, really nice kid. Home from college. His mom said, Hey, you know, he saw the gym. Can he come? Yeah, come on out. So I put him through his pace a little bit. We did uh a push-pull on the sled. Okay, and he weighs maybe 200 pounds and he got up to 300 pounds. Okay, it's good to be young. Wait, no kidding. But he got to the point where he's breathing heavy, and I'm like, all right, we're done. Yeah. You know, you can see the strain, you can see it, and it's easy when somebody else is looking at it. If you have to do it yourself, this is where it becomes difficult. But you know, the rule of thumb that I tell people, if you're breathing heavy, if you can't turn to the person next to you and hold a conversation, a steady conversation, you need to back off.
SPEAKER_02For some reason, this rule doesn't apply to me because I can think of ten times that Scott and I work together where we're both lying on the floor, like trying not to die.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think that has something to do with your training partner.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, my training partner's a jerk. He's the worst.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, when you say, Oh, all right, last one, best one. Yeah, and then you go walking away and I grab. It again and go. Your ego won't let you, your hubris light won't let you say, alright, yes, I'm gonna let Scott do another set without embarrassing myself.
SPEAKER_02He's not wrong, folks. I wanted to go John was speechless there. I was waiting. I was, I was gonna call some zinger. There's nothing because you're just you're right. Um but to get back to the moderation thing, yeah. There's nothing wrong. I mean, we're doing I'll bring it back to this process thing, right? We're we've established these things that we're gonna do. Tuesdays at 7 p.m. We go to a big box gym and we do something, right? We've established that. That's our process. In the beginning, we need we need to treat ourselves with a lot of grace because I think there's nothing wrong with getting two, three, four, five workouts wrong. And I don't mean too hard, I mean too soft.
Journaling, Wearables, And Accountability
SPEAKER_01John, we still do that. Yeah, I mean we've been training for what I'm delicate because I'm delicate. John, I still do that, and I've been training for what, 30 odd years, almost 40 years now, and you still screw things up. Yep, they're not a lot winners. When Tony will give me my program for the next two weeks, I'll look at it and the first time through, I'll pull the weights and I use the whiteboards that we have at the gym and I'll write my numbers down and I'll also journal a little bit on them and take a picture of it and say, need to do more. This hurt here. Yeah, that type of thing. So yeah, I mean, part of the process is a learning process. You were always examining what you're doing.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you you just skid it across. I think what's a pretty important concept that I did most of my career. It was re-cemented by Judd Logan, the Olympic, four-time Olympic hammer thrower, um, who passed away, RIP, good dude. Um, journaling, writing stuff down. You think you'll remember, you won't. I created my journal had a header that was probably six or seven variables. Uh how you feeling, how much sleep did you get, all that kind of stuff. And it was just a one to ten scale. Wasn't super scientific, but it gave me sort of the the repeatable thing. Like I think when I bring up journaling, I always say um that uh my biggest thing is I this is how scientific it was. I figured out that I shouldn't have three plates of food at the Chinese buffet near work. What about at Schmidt's? Yeah, that's a different story. Um, but so I think journaling, you know, it gives you the opportunity to to create that header with some with some variables. How did you sleep? What did you eat? How are you feeling? How much uh, you know, how how hard was work? How stressed out are you, how sore are you? Then I would write down the workout, and then in the bottom I'd just throw some notes.
SPEAKER_01Here's where I'm gonna dovetail into Oh, are you stealing dovetail?
SPEAKER_02Ah yes. Oh man, I can't use dovetail anymore.
SPEAKER_01Here's where I'm gonna dovetail into a previous episode where we talked about Christmas gifts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Remember, we talked about some of the programs and some of the this the apps that are out there.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you mean like buy like the buying guide? Yeah, okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I think that's where journaling has gotten to, and it makes it easier.
SPEAKER_02That's true.
SPEAKER_01Because I look at it and like I've got a a step counter on my phone.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01And if I wanted to, I could put down how much water I drank, how I slept. And I mean, some of these things now, like Jean has a watch that she wears, it'll tell her how she slept. Yeah, yeah. And you know, I you don't need to do it, you know, the old-fashioned way with uh, you know, a feather and an ink quill and everything else like that, old man.
SPEAKER_02You're getting powder all over the floor with your wig. Um no, and it's funny because I just I just tripped into this. There are a lot of wearables out there that aren't necessarily the$800 Apple Watch or the$1,000 Garmin or the$400 aura ring. I mean, there are$40 things that do most of it.
SPEAKER_01That's what that's what genius.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. If basically if you don't need to if you don't need nor want to make phone calls from your wrist, you can do all that tracking pretty efficiently and cheaply.
SPEAKER_01And I think that's important because that gives you the sort of if you don't have the network that I am blessed to have, you know, you, Mark, some of our other friends that keep me on track with things. Okay, right. You know, call my bullshit, you know, as Eddie Hall would say, back up your bullshit. Those watches, those rings, those everything, that's that accountability piece. Because, you know, the running joke, oh, they're coming. What what is it's January 1st next week, and all the new year, new me BS people are gonna say, I'm starting in the gym. Yeah, I want you to start, I don't want you to stop. Yeah, that's when it becomes BS. Is you're there for a couple weeks or even a month or two, but then in February, you've basically given some gym 600 bucks and you've been there a dozen times. Yeah, great. You just paid$50 for a workout. Yeah, if you're gonna do that, come and see me, I will train you. Will you? Yes. For a year?
SPEAKER_02No, it's not. What are you gonna train me to do?
SPEAKER_01Uh eat or you don't want my diet.
SPEAKER_02I don't want your diet.
SPEAKER_01I don't want my diet. No one wants your diet. Um, yes, sir. But you know, again, it's part of that is and one of the things that I've lucked into with my trainer, Tony, is he tailors programs and he'll this is what you need to do. Make sure you send me the numbers. I want a video. Uh I think full of it. Yeah, that accountability side of it sucks. And those watches are there, you know, those type of things because when you look at it, it's always there. Yep. And let's face it, you don't want to feel bad about yourself. And yet I do. Well, that's because I make you do that. Okay. But I mean, I think that's part of what those no, that's fair.
SPEAKER_02Because my Garmin watch every morning basically shames me about how I slept. There's it like pops up with like six variables like how was your heart rate variability? Uh how many hours did you sleep? How much REM did you get?
SPEAKER_01Some of that though is some of the health issues that we deal with as uh as we get older.
SPEAKER_02And it's usually okay, but it does shame me every now and then. Like, oh, you got like five hours sleep. What the hell are you doing? I'm like, well, too much bourbon. No, usually it's like, well, you know, I posted something on Instagram for the for the podcast, and then it led me down this rabbit hole. And next thing I knew it was midnight.
SPEAKER_01And your friends were sending you meme after meme after meme.
Accountable Moderation As A Framework
SPEAKER_02I need friends with different shift work because the three o'clock in the morning ding, every now and then I actually will look like, uh-huh, that's funny. Why am I looking at this at three o'clock in the morning? All right, so in moderate collusion. Uh collusion? Conclusion. So we have moderation, we've talked about today. Yes, I think that I think that's the key. I think if I wanted to give this thing a title, it would be moderation.
SPEAKER_01I think that's gonna I would say accountable moderation.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, okay. I will add that, I will add that adjective. Cool. Yeah, because I think that's it, right? We want you to achieve your goals, and the only way you're really gonna get there is buckle up for the long term.
SPEAKER_01You know what? What if you want to reach out to us on the on our Instagram or whatnot? We are more than happy to pester you to make sure that you stay on track. Or point you to someone way smarter than us.
SPEAKER_02Oh, oh, oh, oh, I can't let anybody go because uh this is ladies and gentlemen. This is a master's athlete podcast, and therefore old people remember things in the 11th hour. Caffeine. We started with caffeine. I know, let's end with caffeine. Here's what I learned that two monsters a day is too much? It affects my blood sugar. Really? Yes, how so? Caffeine, or at least caffeinated liquids, will spike my blood sugar. And I say that because it is not just the weird chemical, like a cup of coffee, which I guess probably has natural chemicals in it as well. But it doesn't affect my blood sugar.
SPEAKER_01I don't understand the medical side.
SPEAKER_02I literally have uh, and I can never think of the name of the diabetes doctor. What's thank you? Uh I have an appointment, I think, in February. I I just discovered it by paying attention, and I'm flabbergasted because I've been chasing this whole why is my blood sugar high when I eat the same things very responsibly. This also speaks to why I say that exercise spikes my uh Well, that I understand. Well, it's I sort of does, but it it it would spike my it wouldn't spike that's a lie. It wouldn't spike my blood sugar, it would pin my blood sugar on my uh glucose monitor for a couple hours. But if I'm having a monster before I'm exercising, I I think I'm exacerbating the whole thing. I am I'm very excited about this this this whole discovery.
SPEAKER_01I think though, John, and I I had a conversation with somebody not too long ago about this. When you exercise, if you are diabetic, even if you're not, if you're not fueling the work that you're doing, your body's gonna release the sugar to try to get it. So I understand right, I don't like, but I understand the blood sugar going up while you're working out.
SPEAKER_02But mine never came down, and I was always like, why? And I'm seeing caffeine has got some effect, and I don't understand it. I've course, you know, me. I'm on the internet reading PubMed stuff, and they're in the web.
Caffeine, Blood Sugar, And Takeaways
SPEAKER_01He said that you had brain cancer, right? Oh, gonorrhea. Okay, good. Yeah, um, so we always see the the things on Facebook that say paying attention, watching for results. So, folks, you're hearing it here for the first time. Scott is paying attention to watching for results as to what the endocrinologist tells John as to why.
Closing And Listener Support
SPEAKER_02Damn it. Should I ask for thoughts and prayers? People do that, thoughts and prayers. That that that annoys me a little bit. Oh, you know what that does to me. Thoughts and prayers. Yeah. Help send me a dollar. At least somebody's got a dollar. I just gave you a dollar. You did give me a dollar. I gave you a bunch of dollars. He did. He did. Uh are we done? I think we're good. Yeah, you think we're good? I'm still Scott. Oh no, I'm still John. Thanks, folks. Have a great night. 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 Master's Athlete Survival Guide. Thanks again. Now get off our lawn, you damn kids.