You Don't Slow Down Because You Age. You Age Because You Slow Down.

My Personal Sprinting Journey

My story really goes all the way back to my college days when I had my first lower back spasms in 1987. Fortunately, these were muscular in nature and not structural, but they were very acute, painful, and required a few weeks to rehabilitate. Unfortunately, through the years of trying to prevent these occurrences, they would always come back. I always considered myself reasonably athletic, but over my thirty years in engineering, management, international travel, and all the other normal life distractions, what started as an occasional problem became a recurring situation.

In my mid-fifties, I started walking as a consistent mode of exercise, typically five miles a day. Walking is great for many reasons, but I had a bad bout of back spasms in 2022 that finally pushed me to see a physical therapist. Rob Norton, who is a trusted voice on this site, identified a significant root issue quickly: core weakness and strength asymmetry (one side compensating for the other side). He gave me a program and recommended I do it two or three times a week. After four visits and doing the exercises each day, I was definitely on a more sustainable path. I do those core strength exercises to this day.

Along the way, I added Range of Motion work and resistance training to the routine. I was doing about 30-45 minutes of exercise every day, which is manageable for almost everyone. I then got more interested in nutrition and supplementation, which pulled me into a lot of research. That's how I found Dr. Sean O'Mara and his work around visceral fat and human optimization. He made an argument that we should all be optimizing our health, not just maintaining. What I had quietly accepted as the new normal turned out to be addressable through achievable lifestyle choices, which included sprinting.

I started sprinting just outside my house on the sidewalk at times when I was reasonably sure no one would see me. It felt wobbly, unstable, and unfamiliar. People jog and nobody blinks, but an adult sprinting at full effort looks peculiar, and I was aware of that. Part of what I hope this site accomplishes is making it normal enough that men who could genuinely benefit from it actually give it a try. I have disliked distance running my entire life, but did it for many years when I was younger because that's what fit people did. Marathons were the cultural gold standard. My body never liked it and I never enjoyed it. What the research revealed was that sprinting, and more generally high-intensity interval training, is a completely different approach with solid science, good hormonal outcomes, and time efficiency.

I got into hill sprinting impulsively, and it felt better than flat concrete immediately. I'm a believer that sprinting uphill is safer and better for older men, which research supports. Along the way I did develop some knee pain, unrelated to sprinting, but enough to get my attention. That's when I found Ben Patrick, the Knees Over Toes Guy, and his work on rebuilding strength in the connective tissue. I worked through his recommendations to avoid a potential surgery, and so far my knees are feeling great. I've thought about that since, because if I had gone the standard route of surgery with a long recovery, that may have been a significant setback. I'm a big believer in doing everything possible to avoid injury, and listening to your body and experts, including doctors, can minimize the chance of setbacks.

Maybe the biggest surprise is this: I used to dread running workouts when I was younger because I just didn't enjoy long distance running. I know jogging is great for a lot of people, but I'm guessing there are others like me who will benefit from a different approach. The hardest workout I do now is my max effort sprinting session uphill, and I actually look forward to it. It's relatively short, intense, has a clear endpoint, and I feel genuinely good when it's done. It's just what happened. I think a lot of men might discover the same thing.

I built this site to raise awareness, educate, and inspire those who this may help. Everyone starts at a different point and this isn't for everyone, but if it resonates, I genuinely hope it helps.

— Thomas Link, Founder