Uphill Athlete Podcast

Scott Johnston is once again joined by Phil Maffetone as they discuss  over training — particularly the common misconceptions, and social factors that perpetuate this unfortunate phenomenon.

In this episode, Steve House is joined by his longtime friend and climbing parter Barry Blanchard. As they exchange stories about coping with the aftermath of tragedies amongst the peaks they reflect on the ways specific events have shaped their experiences moving forward, and how they, and others they know, have worked through these events as individuals. For more information on Mountain MuskOx, please visit:https://www.mountainmuskox.com/

Steve House and Sky Yardeni, therapeutic director of the Climbing Grief Fund, explore the process of living with grief,  integrating the new reality of life that comes after the loss of a friend, partner, or loved one.  In conclusions they summarize their discussions around loss, trauma, and grief within the mountain community.  Thank you for being a part of this important conversation.

Steve House and Sky Yardeni, the therapeutic director of the Climbing Grief Fund continue their discussion about integrating stress, and most often how that relates to risk-taking and grief. Specifically how grief is not necessarily linked to loss and death, but may come from other forms of loss. This conversation traces an arc which moves towards creating and manifesting an attitude of wholeness, as individuals and as a community. Integrating the good and the bad. Lastly we discuss the stress continuum, PTSD and it's context, and the spiral of guilt that is so common in accident survivors and responders.Links we reference:https://www.responderalliance.com/https://americanalpineclub.org/grieffund

Mental health challenges, particularly the areas around trauma, loss, grief, and depression are a part of life for many mountain athletes.  Steve House begins this much-needed discussion with Sky Yardeni, the therapeutic director of the Climbing Grief Fund. The two share their personal experiences and Sky shares insights from his extensive professional background in working as a psycho-therapist as well as his time in, and after,  combat as Special Forces solider.This is the first of a multi-part series addressing our shared mental health challenges head-on as we explore strategies to help us navigate this landscape as individuals and as a community. Today's episode sets the stage for the topic and dives deeper into an exploration of resilience. Specifically the how to nurture and prepare your personal reservoir of resilience for the times you need it most.

Scott Johnston is joined by Doctor Jesse Charles, M.D. Jesse is a rural medical doctor and longtime adherent to the Uphill Athlete training methods. As a general practitioner in a rural setting, Jesse sees a wide variety of patients, from those at peak health, to the infirm. In this episode, Scott and Jesse discuss changes that take place as the result of regular exercise; exercise as a ‘phase change’ in the functioning of the body; how exercise facilitates learning; responses of the heart to exercise; nervous system changes and loss of motor units through time; the importance of balance practices in aging populations; the evolution of mitochondria; gut bacteria as a health indicator throughout life; dietary considerations for gut health; training progressions and adaptations for increasing vitality; and thoughts on arthritis prevention.References:Exercise promotes the expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) through the action of the ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate https://elifesciences.org/articles/15092Molecular Choreography of Acute Exercisehttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32470399/Hyperglycaemia is associated with impaired muscle signalling and aerobic adaptation to exercisehttps://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-020-0240-7Physical activity offsets genetic risk for incident depression assessed via electronic health records in a biobank cohort studyhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/da.22967MAP training: combining meditation and aerobic exercise reduces depression and rumination while enhancing synchronized brain activityhttps://www.nature.com/articles/tp2015225Exercise Alters Gut Microbiota Composition and Function in Lean and Obese Humanshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29166320/Meta-omics analysis of elite athletes identifies a performance-enhancing microbe that functions via lactate metabolismhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0485-4Blood factors transfer beneficial effects of exercise on neurogenesis and cognition to the aged brainhttps://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6500/167Studies of a targeted risk reduction intervention through defined exercise (STRRIDE)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11581566/BDNF polymorphism predicts the rate of decline in skilled task performance and hippocampal volume in healthy individualshttps://www.nature.com/articles/tp201147Is Your Blood Sugar Undermining Your Workouts?https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/well/move/blood-sugar-diet-foods-workouts-exercise-muscles.htmlFiber-Mediated Nourishment of Gut Microbiota Protects against Diet-Induced Obesity by Restoring IL-22-Mediated Colonic Healthhttps://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(17)30497-3Association Between Dietary Fiber and Lower Risk of All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies.https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/181/2/83/2739206

In this episode coach Sam Naney talks with his athlete, professional free skier and ski mountaineer, Cody Townsend. Cody has had a long and illustrious career in free skiing and has been featured in many ski films. Cody’s most recent project is “Chasing The Fifty Classics” — the classic ski descents of North America. The two discuss this project, and in particular, Cody’s training as he chases these lines.

Backcountry skiing is experiencing a huge surge in popularity. Scott Johnston discusses the implications, and the issues, with Larry Goldie, an AMGA-IFMGA-Certified Mountain Guide based in the North Cascade Mountains.

Director of Sports Performance at UC Davis,  Judd Van Sickle,  talks about metabolic testing, fat adaptation, and aerobic deficiency with Scott Johnston.

Phil Maffetone could well be called the "prophet of Zone 2".  He's been writing, speaking and coaching the importance of aerobic base since the early 1980s.  During  a chance meeting with Phil in 1984 Uphill Athlete co-founder Scott Johnston was first exposed to the importance of low intensity training.  In this episode, Scott talks with Phil, originator of the concept of aerobic deficiency. In this discussion they trace the arc of Scott’s training philosophy from that chance meeting in 1984 to the current Uphill Athlete training methodology.