February 8, 2014
Click here for the full written transcript of this podcast episode.
Mike Greer is one bad-ass old dude.
I first met Mike at the Become Superhuman live event. The guy wandered into our morning workout and proceeded to destroy a handful of fit young guys and girls at burpees, lunges, push-ups and Turkish get-ups. With his Ironman gear and well-tanned skin, I figured he was one of these 50-some year-old triathlete workout enthusiasts.
Then I found out he was 75.
As I got to know him, one of the first things I learned about Mike Greer is this: just call him Greer.
The guy has worn many hats over the years: entrepreneur who has started over eight businesses, a military career as a retired Lt. Colonel, a football player, a seven-time Ironman triathlete, the past president of the board of USA Triathlon, the president of the board and CEO of the Obstacle Racing Association, in the Texas Triathlon Hall of Fame, a father, grandfather, and a freaking great-grandfather…the list goes on and on and on.
Greer has what he calls “Eleven Points of Healthy Ageless Living”, and in this audio podcast episode, we delve into his anti-aging tips and ageless living secrets, including:
-What Greer means when he says “healthy, ageless living”…
-How to live an active sex life as you get older, and why you need to do it…
-Greer's tips for eating to live as long as possible…
-Greer's exercise protocol for healthy, ageless living…
-Why holding a grudge is one of the worst things you can do for your longevity…
-How stress can actually make you live longer…
-Greer's biggest mistake he's made that you can learn from…
-Greer's biggest tip for achieving amazing feats of physical performance without destroying your body…
If you enjoyed this episode, you may also want to tune into:
–7 Natural Anti-Aging Strategies That Will Stop Your Body From Getting Prematurely Old And Worn-Down.
–Why You’re Aging Faster And 5 Things You Can Do About It.
–The Zen Of Aging: How To Stay Fit and Look Amazing As You Get Older.
Questions, comments or feedback about Mike Greer and his anti-aging tips? Leave your thoughts below!
Hey Fred, Greer sent his response to me via email – here it is:
Many thanks for your comments and questions relative to the pod cast concerning the "11 Points" from Greer. Your points and questions are very good and I appreciate them very much. To me if the 11 Points bring out positive thoughts and questions I accomplished my mission.
In pointing out my 11 points I always like to emphasize that I have considered my life very blessed. Sometimes I even ask "why" is it so blessed, but again I will acknowledge it and go forward with the blessing. Being an athlete all my life is a blessing to me since I have enjoyed all of the aspects of it, and the far less down sides. While I have had injuries(14 years of football including 5 years in college) they have always healed and I have moved forward. After 32 years of triathlon I have had fairly typical injuries that have healed, i.e. broken fingers, separated shoulder, broken rib, fractured pelvic, bruised hip(a bike crash with a dog at 30 mph two years ago). While I was laying in the emergency room(7 hours) for the dog/bike crash I got a triathlon calendar and set my come back for 9 weeks after this crash(the doctors said it would be 8 weeks before I could start training). In 9 weeks I competed in two sprints, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, won my age group and did both events faster than the year before. Again being blessed with a strong body that can recover like new is amazing!! The only cronic or near death disease I have had was when I was 6 years old I had nephitus(kidney infection) and was so near death that a Catholic priest came by my room in the hospital and took it upon himself(I have never been of the Catholic faith) to read me the last rites and give me a little Catholic trinket. The rest of the story is I obviously got over the infection and it never bothered my again. P.s. I did keep the trinket but never saw the priest again. On the smoking question I did for some strange reason take up smoking when I was 19 and smoked till I was 24. I even quit before it was fashionable to quit, simply because I knew it was not good for me so I cold turkeyed it from 2 packs a day to 0 exactly 50 years ago. After years of organized athletics I played 12 years of handball then took up endurance running and triathlons.
Now to your feeling on not being able to escape your family health problems, I would totally agree that this is a tremendous challenge. Since your sub-concious mind has been heavily influenced by the family atmosphere in all phases of your life it is a challenge to completely ignore it. Most people who do not know me just assume that my parents lived a healthy life and lived to be at least a 100, but that is not the case. My father had prostte cancer, colon cancer, and open heart surgery, and was a smoker most of his life, he died at 79. My mother had cronic high blood pressure, was an alcoholic, and died of a massive stroke at 65. BUT, what I did was look at them like I was looking in a mirror and decided to make sure my life style of nutrition, attitude, exercise, and philosphy of life was counter active to negatives of my parents dna. While you can never completely escape the family health problems, you can adjust your lifestyle to combat the negatives. I have watched many family members over the years do that very thing. I have two friends that come from a history of their parents passing very early in their life and with adjustments to their life style have been able to live a very healthy life. When this subject comes up I am always reminded of the great baseball player Mickey Mantle. His family had a history of early passing due to heart diseaese, etc., but in spite of the fact that he became a heavy drinker he lived longer than the family history dictated. With just a little bit of alteration in his lifestyle he would have lived much longer.
The bottom line, in my opinion, is to acknowledge the negatives, which you have done, and then establish a "LIFE STYLE" plan of attack to wipe out the negatives.
Have a great week and please send any further questions my way. Also, I would be happy to send you my book which is a great road map for goal achievement through the power of the sub-concious.
Sorry for the delay in answering, I have been on travel gig that consumed my time!
Regards,
greer
Thanks for the great interview and lots of helpful information. As Greer said, this is important both to younger folks planning ahead, and those of us who are a little older. ;-) Personally, I was an active kid into my 20s, then a sedentary lifestyle took over until my early 40s. Now I am playing catch up, and I will take all the help I can get.
I did notice a few significant things about Greer, which can affect our "mythical age": 1) He was an athlete all his life; 2) No mention of chronic disease or major injuries; 3) No mention of smoking; 4) No obesity. Looking at my parents, who adopted a healthy lifestyle in their late 30s/early 40s, I still see the effects of those things on their lives, into their 70s. I have other family members with rheumatoid arthritis, bad knees, etc. who find it difficult to get healthy. What would you recommend to someone who feels as if they can't escape their health problems?
Been reading all I can find on Mike Greer since hearing your podcast. When I was a kid I remember wanting to be the next Arnold or be able to play CF for the Yankees, now on the other side of 40, its guys like this that really inspire me. Great episode!
Shane
Ben, is Juice Plus a good product?
Juice+ is good! Not a lot of crap in their stuff. You can read more about it here https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2011/06/episo…. look for the question from Rich.
Ben, thanks for doing this show. I had never heard of Greer and this was just such a great podcast. Keep up the great work. Great to hear from such inspiring athletes like Mike with so much life under their belts.
As long as I've been listening to your show, I've never figured out where the "show notes" actually are for each show. I'm not seeing any obvious link on this page – can you point it out? Thanks!
You are currently on the show notes… which link in particular are you looking for?
Thanks, Ben. That’s what I needed to know. Have a great weekend.
Ben,
I think he was looking for the transcript, not show note. I went through the following transcript directorirs on your web site and couldn’t find it either.
https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2014/01/episo… https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2014/02/episo…
I listened to that episode back then and really liked it. Today I wanted to quickly revisit or even quote the 11 tips so I was looking for the transcript. I could go back and listen to the audio of course. It just takes more time. Thought the transcript of every episode was kept on the web site…
The transcript, if there is one, is the very top line in the show notes. Does that make sense? They are released around 2 weeks after the podcast, and the shownotes are updated with the link to the transcript. So if you can't see it at bengreenfieldfitness.com/transcripts, it doesnt mean it doesnt exist. It just means you have to look in the show notes for that podcast.