Strong After 50 Podcast

SummaryRod and Patricia talk about building strength that lasts, especially if you’re starting or returning to training after 50. Start small, learn the basic movements, respect recovery, and train for the life you want to be living in 10 or 20 years. Key topics* Starting out: If you’re new or coming back, Pat recommends two 20-30 minute strength sessions a week. Add short walks and stand up every 30 minutes if you sit most of the day.* Keep it basic: Simple, scaled exercises beat complex movements. Go too hard too soon and you’re either overwhelmed or too sore to come back.* Coming back after a break: Drop the ego. Your brain remembers what you used to lift, but your body isn’t there yet. Warm up properly and build back gradually.* Recovery: Sleep, hydration and how you feel on the day decide whether you train as planned, modify or skip. Don’t push through fatigue.* Training for real life: Push, pull, squat, carry, get up off the floor and keep your balance. That’s what keeps you independent.* Bone health: DEXA scans, menopause, and following up with a health professional after any fracture.* The deadlift: Pat teaches the hip hinge first with a PVC pipe and everyday cues. Load comes only after the movement is right. Barbell or dumbbells both work. If you have a pelvic floor condition, pay extra attention to pressure management.Chapters* 00:00 Why internal motivation beats competition* 04:20 How to start strength training after 50* 07:53 Two short full-body sessions a week is enough* 11:46 Coming back after a break: drop the ego* 15:10 Sleep, recovery and when to modify or skip* 19:11 Train for real life: balance, carries, getting off the floor* 22:08 Muscle, body image and why bone health matters* 25:19 DEXA scans, fractures and advocating for yourself* 27:56 Deadlift basics: learn the hip hinge first* 31:21 Safer progressions and carry variationsFollow Patrica @ Menopause Training BlueprintStay Consistent - Rod Get full access to Strong After 50 at strongafter50.substack.com/subscribe

Machines or free weights? They both have a place, and the real goal is to get in the gym and stay strong. In this episode I cover why whole-body gym sessions are working so well for me right now, and how a few sessions with a personal trainer can take the intimidation out of the gym. I also break down why ultra-processed food labels are so misleading, and I tackle the deadlift: the risks and the alternatives worth using instead.Key Takeaways* Learn both machines and free weights. You don’t have to pick a side.* After 50, the priority is maintaining strength.* Whole-body workouts are simple and effective.* A personal trainer can show you how to use unfamiliar equipment.* There are plenty of deadlift alternatives that build the same strength with less risk.* Ultra-processed food labels are often misleading, learn to read past the front of the pack.* Keep your routine flexible.* You’ll train harder on equipment you’re comfortable with.* Strength training is the foundation of long-term health.Stay consistent Rod Get full access to Strong After 50 at strongafter50.substack.com/subscribe

This week I’m joined by Patricia Siegel, of the Substack Menopause Training Blueprint - Patricia is a sports scientist/coach who helps women train through perimenopause and menopause.We get into what actually changes in your body during this stage: fatigue, shifting hormones, and fat moving to new places. Patricia breaks down why strength training matters more now than ever, why lifting heavy won’t make you bulky, and why your bones need impact to stay strong.She also shares how often to train and how hard, plus one of the simplest fat-loss tools there is: walking after meals.If you’re a woman in midlife, or you train with one, this is a practical, no-nonsense listen. Stay consistentRod Get full access to Strong After 50 at strongafter50.substack.com/subscribe

We have more health and fitness information available than ever before, yet staying healthy often feels more complicated than it needs to be.In this episode of Strong After 50, I sit down with Chris Deavin of the Substack - The Resilient Life, to discuss why getting back to basics might be the most effective approach to improving our health, fitness and longevity.We explore the importance of eating natural, nutrient-dense foods, reducing ultra-processed foods, moving consistently and building simple habits that fit around everyday life.Chris shares his experience experimenting with keto, why he believes in doing something challenging every day, and how small, non-negotiable habits can build resilience over time.We also discuss why consistency matters more than perfection, particularly as we get older, and why something as simple as a 10-minute walk after dinner can make a difference.The takeaway? You don’t need another complicated diet or training program. You need a handful of good habits you can stick with for years.Confused about what to eat? Not sure which gym program to follow?Start here: 14 programs and counting, with a new one added every month.Paid members also get the members-only chat, where you can ask me your health and training questions directly. Stay consistent. Rod Get full access to Strong After 50 at strongafter50.substack.com/subscribe

Here’s a stat that stopped me in my tracks the other day. In Australia, 42% of our calories now come from ultra-processed food. The US is at 59%. The UK at 57%. Canada at 48%. Even Japan, a country we think of as eating clean, sits at 38%.Close to half of what we eat isn’t really food. 🤦‍♂️In this episode* The label test. I stumbled across a review of the best Greek yogurts in Australia, and it surprised me. The good ones have only two or three ingredients: milk, live cultures, sometimes cream. The rest add milk powder, starch, gums, gelatin and sugar. Once you get to the fruit-flavoured ones, it’s barely yogurt anymore. It’s a sugary dessert we think is healthy because of the name.* Bread is the same story. A proper sourdough is flour, water, salt and starter. Some of the soft, long-life supermarket breads have up to 15 ingredients, most of them there to keep it on the shelf longer.* The rule I keep coming back to. A doctor friend who worked on the Australian Biggest Loser would say: if it comes in a can or a packet, it’s probably not food. There are exceptions, like tinned tuna, but as a rule of thumb it’s hard to beat.* Ultra-processed food and the ageing brain. Researchers are looking at whether ultra-processed food is contributing to the rise in Alzheimer’s. I’ll dig into that research properly in a future newsletter.* Count your calories for two weeks. This is worth doing for everyone. Don’t change your eating, just track what you normally eat with an app. Most people will be genuinely surprised by what they find.* What bodybuilders get right. I learned a lot about food at a very young age when I coached my best friend for a bodybuilding competition. I read Arnold’s Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding and The Scientific Approach to Bodybuilding. Bodybuilders understand how food affects their body better than most people.* How I actually eat. Same breakfast every day. Two or three lunches on rotation. Food prep on Sunday afternoon. The same shopping list every week. And no planned cheat meals, because life always throws one at you anyway.Key takeaways* Read the ingredient list. Fewer ingredients usually means less processing.* Pick plain over flavoured. Add your own fruit.* Swap soft supermarket bread for real sourdough.* Track your food for two weeks without changing anything. Awareness comes first.* Build a routine: a set breakfast, a shopping list and a Sunday prep session.* Don’t schedule cheat meals. They’ll find you anyway.Coming up on the podcast* Chris is back this week to talk about the clients he’s training and how he coaches different groups.* Patricia, a US-based personal trainer, joins me to talk about training through menopause and perimenopause.* Anna will be back to talk about the injuries she’s seeing in clinic.* Mick is coming on after two knee surgeries in quick succession, to talk about what went wrong and what he’s learned.If you’ve missed the podcast, let me know in the chat. It’s good to be back.Join the Strong After 50 Members Hub for a library of training, eating and recovery programs. New programs added every month. Everything included for only $7US per month. Stay consistent,Rod Get full access to Strong After 50 at strongafter50.substack.com/subscribe

Prepping a few meals on the weekend got me thinking about how much easier eating well becomes when you have a little structure to your meals for the week.In this episode of the Podcast, I share what works for me: a shopping list on my phone, weekend meal prep and a handful of meals I enjoy on rotation. It means fewer decisions during the week and lunch ready to take to work when things get busy.But there’s room for flexibility. Dinner with friends or an unexpected meal out is part of life. I don’t plan “cheat days” because those occasions tend to find their own way into the week.My takeaway? Keep your meals simple, prepare a little ahead and cut back on ultra-processed food. Find a routine you enjoy and can keep coming back to.Click on the full episode above if you want the whole ramble — Episode 39.Stay Consistent Rod Get full access to Strong After 50 at strongafter50.substack.com/subscribe

Episode SummaryHealth and fitness is changing quickly. Every week there seems to be a new wearable, recovery tool or training trend promising better results. The challenge is knowing what is genuinely useful and what is simply adding more noise.In this episode, I discuss some of the biggest trends I’m seeing in health and fitness, from the growing popularity of recovery tools and health tracking to why strength training remains one of the best investments you can make after 50.I also share my recent experience managing quadriceps tendinopathy, the loading approach that has dramatically improved my symptoms, and why tendon injuries often require ongoing management rather than a quick fix.We also talk about the changing role of personal trainers, why flexibility in your training becomes more important as you get older, and why consistency will always beat chasing the latest fitness trend.If you’re trying to stay healthy, strong and active after 50, this episode will help you focus on what matters and ignore what doesn’t.Dr Keith Baar - * Tendon Rehab * Isometric ExercisesStay Consistent. Rod Get full access to Strong After 50 at strongafter50.substack.com/subscribe

Fitness after 50 isn’t about doing less. It’s about becoming smarter about how, when and why you train.This week, Chris and I sit down for a wide-ranging conversation about how our approach to training has changed as we’ve got older, and the lessons we’ve learned from decades of coaching, competing and making plenty of mistakes along the way.We discuss whether you can train too much after 50, the importance of recovery, and why rigid training programs don’t always survive contact with real life. Consistency matters, but so does learning how to adjust your training when work, travel, fatigue or injury gets in the way.We also explore the growing role of technology and training data. Wearables and training apps can provide valuable insights into recovery and performance, but they should support your judgement rather than replace it.Chris and I share exercises we’ve changed our minds about over the years, how our training priorities have evolved, and why knowledge and confidence are particularly important for people starting strength training later in life.We also get into the mental side of training: ego, competition, setting meaningful goals and learning to enjoy movement without constantly chasing another PB.Finally, Chris shares his experiences with ultra-endurance events, the camaraderie and mental challenge of pushing beyond perceived limits, and how setbacks can force us to reconsider why we train in the first place.If you want to keep training, progressing and enjoying fitness for decades to come, this episode is a conversation about adapting your training without lowering your standards.Stay ConsistentRod Get full access to Strong After 50 at strongafter50.substack.com/subscribe

Podcast SummaryFrozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) is far more common in women over 50 than most people realise, and menopause is a big reason why. In this episode, we unpack the link between hormonal change and shoulder health, and what you can actually do about it.We cover why declining estrogen matters: it reduces collagen, which affects the connective tissue in your shoulder and makes it more prone to stiffening and pain. We walk through the early warning signs, how a diagnosis is confirmed (including when imaging like MRI is useful), and the typical stages a frozen shoulder moves through, from freezing to thawing.On treatment, we go through the full spectrum, from gentle movement and physiotherapy through to injections and, as a last resort, surgery. The key message: early, consistent, gentle movement matters, and conservative approaches come first. We also talk honestly about the timeline, because recovery can stretch out to two years or more, and how to stay active and motivated when progress feels slow.If you’re over 50 and dealing with unexplained shoulder stiffness, this one’s worth your time.Key takeaways:* Gentle movement early on is critical, don’t let the shoulder go completely still* Menopause-driven collagen loss makes shoulder tissues more vulnerable* MRI can confirm the diagnosis when it’s unclear* Patience matters: recovery can take up to 26 months* Surgery is a last resort, only after conservative treatment failsWant more from Strong After 50?Paid members get access to training programs, practical guides and deeper resources designed to help you stay strong, fit and capable after 50.Stay ConsistentRod Get full access to Strong After 50 at strongafter50.substack.com/subscribe

Episode SummaryThis week I talk about one of the most important lessons I’ve learned over decades of training: your path is your own.I share a couple of observations from the gym that reminded me why comparing yourself to others is one of the biggest barriers to long-term progress. Whether you’re building strength, returning from injury or simply trying to stay active after 50, I believe the best training program is the one that fits your body, your goals and your lifestyle.I also discuss how our bodies change as we age, why recovery should be personal rather than compared, and why leaving your ego at the door can help you make better progress and stay healthier for longer.To finish the episode, I explore an new development in wearable technology and discuss why I believe the future of fitness is about improving the quality of the way we move.Key Takeaways* Everyone’s body responds differently to training and recovery.* Build your training around your current stage of life, not your past.* Use technology as a guide, but always listen to your body.* Focus on movement quality, not just activity levels.* Own your path and trust the process.Enjoy the episode Rod Get full access to Strong After 50 at strongafter50.substack.com/subscribe