E35 - Train for your goals, not your ego.

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

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

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

Episode Summary Health 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 Exercises Stay Consistent. Rod

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 Consistent Rod