What if your best climbing wasn’t behind you—even at 65?

This episode is a masterclass in longevity, discipline, and duality. Our guest is a rare figure who has spent decades pushing hard at the edge of two very different worlds: as a tenured philosophy professor and a lifelong climber still sending 5.14s.

Bill Ramsey started climbing before sport climbing existed. He trained on treadwalls before they were popular. And today, he still maps out meticulous 8-hour training days—designed not to get stronger, but to stay sharp, adaptive, and resilient.

This isn’t about avoiding aging. It’s about rewriting the rules.

🧗‍♂️ In This Episode, We Cover:

• Balancing the cerebral and the physical: how philosophy and climbing feed each other—and why he believes doing both makes him better at each
• The “Pain Box”: his metaphor for rethinking discipline, suffering, and the tradeoffs behind fulfillment
• What changes (and what doesn’t): honest insight into how the body, mind, and motivation evolve from your 30s to your 60s
• How to train in your 60s:
  → self-coached 8-hour training days
  → projecting with purpose
  → the importance of fingerboarding on send days
  → ice-cold hand tricks to climb harder in the cold
  → why he avoids certain types of dynamic board problems to prevent injury
• Redefining success: why mastery isn’t about grades or PRs—but about curiosity, adaptability, and the joy of still trying
• The inner life of a veteran athlete: what 50 years of climbing has taught him about loss, community, and legacy
• Being a mentor, not a martyr: how he shares wisdom without needing the spotlight
• Aging without apology: why aches and recovery delays are just part of the deal—and how to climb through them with grace and fire

🧠 Why It Matters:

Whether you're a dedicated athlete, a desk-bound dreamer, or someone wondering how to keep chasing meaning as the years stack up—this episode offers more than inspiration. It offers a roadmap.

You’ll walk away with:

• A mindset for long-term performance
• Tools to stay physically and mentally engaged
• A fresh way to think about identity, reinvention, and the decades ahead

🙏 Enjoying Ageless Athlete? Help keep the show going and Buy Me A Coffee! Every contribution helps keep the mic, and the inspiration flowing. Thanks for being here ❤️

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In this episode of Ageless Athlete, we dive into the metabolic engine room with Dr. Brianna Stubbs—world-class endurance athlete and leading researcher at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Brianna bridges the worlds of elite performance and cutting-edge science, specializing in how ketones, fasting, and metabolic flexibility can shape our ability to recover, sustain energy, and age well.

This isn’t about dieting fads or silver bullets—it’s about understanding how your body fuels itself, and how those energy pathways evolve over time. Whether you’re an endurance athlete or someone simply trying to stay strong into your 40s, 50s, and beyond, Brianna’s insights will give you a fresh way to think about performance and longevity.

🧠 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• What metabolic flexibility actually is—and why it matters more as we age
• The role of exogenous ketones vs. endogenous ketones (and how they’re used differently)
• Why elite athletes may be “canaries in the coal mine” for aging
• How fasting can impact energy regulation, muscle retention, and cognitive performance
• Surprising myths and truths about the ketogenic diet
• What separates “TOPe’s” (Top Older Performers) from “NOPe’s” in the Buck Institute’s MOVE Study
• How Brianna personally trains, fuels, and recovers today—backed by both experience and data

🔬 References Mentioned:

• Buck Institute for Research on Aging: https://www.buckinstitute.org
• MOVE Study (Molecular Optimization Via Exercise): Recruiting older athletes for metabolic and molecular profiling
• Ketone Ester Research: Stubbs et al. (2017), Cell Metabolism – PMID: 28399454
• TOPe’s vs. NOPe’s framework: conceptual model comparing high-performing vs. low-performing older athletes
• HVMN Ketone Ester studies – Commercial application and early human performance trials

👤 About Dr. Brianna Stubbs:
Brianna is a former world champion rower for Team GB and currently serves as Director of Translational Science at the Buck Institute. She holds a PhD from Oxford in Metabolic Physiology and has spent the last decade studying how ketones and metabolic regulation affect performance and aging. She’s also competed in Ironman Kona and multi-day ultra-endurance events, making her both subject and scientist.

🙏 Enjoying Ageless Athlete? Help keep the show going and Buy Me A Coffee! Every contribution helps keep the mic, and the inspiration flowing. Thanks for being here ❤️

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Subscribe to the Ageless Athlete newsletter — 2× a month, no spam. We share behind-the-scenes reflections, longevity tips, and athlete wisdom you won’t find anywhere else. You can sign up at https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ 📩

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Bob Becker didn’t start running until his 50s.

Today, at 80, he’s tackling some of the most brutal ultramarathons on the planet—100+ mile races across deserts, through mountains, and far beyond what most of us think is possible.

But this isn’t just a story about age-defying endurance. It’s about meaning, resilience, and the unexpected ways we impact others. In one unforgettable moment, Bob recalls finishing a race just past the cutoff—only to learn his effort may have saved someone’s life.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why Bob started running in his 50s—and never looked back
• The mindset that gets him through the darkest miles
• What it’s like to attempt the Badwater Double and other extreme ultras
• His reflections on aging, purpose, and carrying the weight of others’ hope
• How he balances racing, community, and family over decades
• Why it’s never too late to begin something extraordinary

If you've ever felt like it's too late to start, or wondered whether your efforts truly matter—Bob Becker’s story will change the way you think about aging, goals, and what’s still possible.

🙏 Enjoying Ageless Athlete? Help keep the show going and Buy Me A Coffee! Every contribution helps keep the mic, and the inspiration flowing. Thanks for being here ❤️

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Subscribe to the Ageless Athlete newsletter — 2× a month, no spam. We share behind-the-scenes reflections, longevity tips, and athlete wisdom you won’t find anywhere else. You can sign up at https://www.agelessathlete.co/newsletter/ 📩

Support the show