Ageless Athlete - Longevity Insights From Adventure Sports Legends

“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 a...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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 Tanzani...

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 appear...

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 ...

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, ...

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. Alon...

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.

🧠 W...

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 —...

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 B...

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 ...

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 ...

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...

Last week in Part I, we began our journey with legendary alpinist Jim Donini — exploring his surprise cancer diagnosis, his early days in Yosemite, and the philosophy that has defined his career: “Getting to the top is optional. Getting back down is mandatory.”

In this second part of our conversation, we turn from the mountains themselves to the human side of Jim’s story. At 82, Jim reflects on:

• The partnerships that shaped his g...

For more than five decades, Jim Donini has defined what it means to be an alpinist. Not by chasing the tallest mountains or summit glory, but by seeking out the hardest lines in the world’s most remote ranges — places where storms, hunger, and survival itself are never guaranteed.

Now at 82, Jim is still climbing, still dreaming, and still teaching us what resilience looks like. In this first of a two-part conversation, he opens up ...