ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Nobody gets stronger forever, yet most fitness advice acts as if we will. Cliff sits down with Darren "Daz" Ellis, founder of New Zealand's first CrossFit gym, former Masters CrossFit Games athlete and his co-author on Awesome After Forty, for an honest conversation about training when you're past your peak, short on time and carrying a few old injuries.
Read Awesome After Forty (Cliff Harvey and Darren Ellis): https://books2read.com/u/mBpNKR
In this episode we cover
- Why Daz now puts mobility under strength at the base of his training pyramid
- The "glide path": accepting decline and working to flatten the curve
- Residual activity, and why less training volume can also mean less mobility
- Why "good enough" form is good enough for most lifters
- Progressing without adding load: range, tempo, reps, density
- Choosing exercises that suit a busy season of life
- Sport as cardio, daily steps, zone 2 and where VO2max fits
- Why some ageing athletes get better results by doing less
- Talking about wear and tear without making it your identity
- What both would tell their 25-year-old selves
Chapters
00:00 Intro
02:18 Training around family life
04:20 Seasons of life and the best time to train
08:33 Shorter, more focused sessions
09:24 How Daz has stayed fit into his 50s
14:23 The honest side: tendons, niggles and old injuries
17:08 The glider analogy: flattening the decline
17:37 The "age is just a number" myth
21:21 Mobility moves to the base of the pyramid
23:23 Residual activity and lost mobility
27:38 Form: good enough is good enough
31:09 Decline, comparison and the pull-up reel
36:31 Progression beyond adding load
37:53 Skewed strength standards online
41:15 Picking exercises for busy seasons
43:03 Autoregulation and training to failure
47:21 Cardio: sport, steps and zone 2
52:26 VO2max and Norwegian 4x4s
54:37 Cyclic cardio vs lifting
58:12 The optimisation fallacy: big rocks first
1:01:07 A 10 bpm drop in resting heart rate
1:04:03 Subtracting junk volume
1:06:27 Diminishing returns and athletic identity
1:11:42 You at 48 is not you at 24
1:13:12 Injuries, wear and tear, and identity
1:18:32 Reasons vs excuses: it's never too late
1:21:01 Advice to your 25-year-old self
1:25:47 Peaking early and youth specialisation
1:27:56 Where to find Daz
About Darren Ellis
Darren "Daz" Ellis (MSc Exercise Physiology) has coached for more than 20 years. He opened New Zealand's first CrossFit gym, qualified for the 2015 CrossFit Games Masters (40-44) division, and now coaches strength, mobility and movement for people over 40. He is Cliff's co-author on Awesome After Forty.
Links mentioned in this episode
- Darren Ellis Coaching: https://www.darrenellis.coach
- Darren on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrenellis.coach/
- Awesome After Forty (Cliff Harvey and Darren Ellis): https://books2read.com/u/mBpNKR
- Fiatarone et al. (1990), strength training in nonagenarians: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2342214/
- Helgerud et al. (2007), the 4x4 interval study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17414804/
Holistic Performance Institute
- Roadmap: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/roadmap
- Podcast page: https://www.holisticperformance.institute/pages/podcast
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- LinkedIn: https://nz.linkedin.com/company/holistic-performance-institute
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@holisticperformance
Thinking about coaching people through this stage of life professionally? Grab the free Practitioners Roadmap above: scope of practice at each level, career pathways and what practitioners charge in NZ and Australia. If this episode helped, follow Translating Nutrition and share it with a mate who still trains like they're 25.
