PODCAST · health
Past Your Prime
by Craig Smith - Pain Expert; Alex Keicher - Athlete; Smith Performance Center
WELCOME TO PAST YOUR PRIME!The podcast for active adults balancing fitness, family, and real life.Each episode, hosts Craig Smith (Physical Therapist, Strength Coach & Life Professional) and Alex Keicher (Pro Athlete, Busy Dad & Physically Broken) unpack real-world strategies for overcoming injuries, staying strong, and living pain-free... even when life gets chaotic!
Episodes
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How To Return to Running (Especially After An Injury)
Getting back to running after an injury is frustrating. You take time off, feel better, lace up your shoes, and suddenly the exact same pain flares back up. The problem isn't running itself: it's jumping back in without understanding tissue capacity, tolerance and force absorption. In this…
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Why You're Still in Pain: A Hard Truth | PYP Comment Section #4
Join us for an audience Q&A session on Past Your Prime to discuss injury recovery, chronic pain management, and physical therapy tips. In this episode, we address specific viewer questions ranging from humorous training inquiries to serious discussions about living with hemiplegia and managing a...
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The Real Reason You Can't Learn New Skills as an Adult
Today, let's break down the science of skill acquisition and how active adults can master new sports or other activities without hitting frustrating plateaus. In this episode of the Past Your Prime Podcast, pro volleyball player Alex Keicher and physical therapist & strength coach Craig Smit...
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Why Your Ankle Sprain Isn't Healing (And How to Fix It)
Stop icing ankle sprains and learn how to manage acute ankle injury recovery using evidence-based rehab strategies for active adults. In this episode, professional volleyball player Alex Keicher joins Dr. Craig Smith to break down the shift from passive rest to active rehabilitation, focusing on...
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The TOP 5 Vertical Jump Factors for Active Adults | Aging Athlete Performance Training
Build explosive power and jump higher as an active adult: without knee pain or recovery breakdown. In this episode, pro-volleyball player Alex Keicher and physical therapist Dr. Craig Smith analyze 30 science-backed factors behind vertical jump performance for aging athletes and active adults…
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Jumper's Knee: How Active Adults Overcome Patellar Tendinopathy
Jumper's Knee, also known as patellar tendinopathy, plagues active adults: but weeks of rest often makes it worse. In this episode, physical therapist Craig Smith and pro volleyball Alex Keicher explain why complete rest actually lowers tissue capacity, how glute and quad inhibition overloads…
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Foot Pain Solved: Why Calluses Form & How Active Adults Recover Fast
Most podcasts focus on callus as a cosmetic issue… and now it is time to reframe this as a biomechanical signal. In this episode of Past Your Prime, we’re diving deep into a topic that most people find a little "weird" but is actually a goldmine of information for active adults: foot calluses.…
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Will AI Turn Physical Therapists Obsolete? The Future of Athlete Health & Active Adults Fitness
For active adults and athletes managing injuries, AI-powered training apps and chat bots promise personalized recovery... but pro volleyball player Alex Keicher's wrist injury tells a different story. In this episode, Alex shares his personal experience using AI to manage a wrist injury…
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DO NOT Stretch Your Neck | Stiff Neck Rehab for Active Adults
"Stiff neck" rehab for active adults goes way beyond ineffective stretching. In this episode, Craig Smith and Alex Keicher expose why common "quick fixes" lock you up even tighter. If you’ve ever woken up with a stiff neck or felt like a "Lego mini-figure" unable to turn your head, this tactical...
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7 Years of Shin Splints Solved | Recovery for Active Adults and Athletes Beyond Rest
Athlete injury recovery doesn't mean stopping activities for long periods of time. In this episode of the Past Your Prime Podcast, we unpack why a 20-year-old athlete battled chronic shin splints for seven years despite orthotics and other treatments. Physical Therapist Craig Smith and pro...
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Ending Elbow & Lower Back Pain for Good | Osteoarthritis Tactical Guide for Active Adults | PART 2
Lower back pain and elbow issues plague active adults, but the real culprits often hide in plain sight. Here’s Part 2 of our Osteoarthritis Tactical Guide, physical therapist Craig Smith and pro volleyball player Alex reveal how daily habits, sleeping positions, and movement patterns trigger...
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Overcoming S.I. & Shoulder Injuries | Osteoarthritis Tactical Guide for Active Adults | PART 1
Overcoming shoulder joint pain and S.I. joint issues don't require surgery or couch rest. Following the success of our osteoarthritis episode, here's the Part 1 of our osteoarthritis deep-dive and tactical guide. Physical Therapist Craig Smith and pro volleyball player Alex Keicher map the...
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Hip Flexors In Active Adults: The "Squat Pain" That Stretching Can't Fix
Are you an active adult struggling with that "hip pinch" during deep squats? Most people blame "tight" hip flexors and then stretch them aggressively every week... but if stretching worked, you wouldn't need to repeat it. In this episode of the Past Your Prime podcast, physical therapist Craig...
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Osteoarthritis Isn't a Death Sentence | Joint Pain-Free Living for Active Adults
Is Osteoarthritis really a death sentence for athletes and active adults? In this episode, pro-volleyball player Alex Keicher and physical therapist Craig Smith debunk the myth that an Osteoarthritis diagnosis ends your athletic life. We expose the gap between what MRI imaging shows and how you...
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Knee Surgery vs Physical Therapy for Active Adults | Overcoming Meniscus Injuries
Meniscus tears and overcoming knee injuries does not necessarily mean surgery. In this episode of the Past Your Prime Podcast, physical therapist Craig Smith and pro volleyball player Alex debunk the myth that a "degenerative meniscus tear" on an MRI exam is a career-ender for athletes and active...
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Rest Doesn't Work For Athletes | Recovery & Fatigue for Active Adults Explained
Active adults blame lack of rest for their constant exhaustion, but the real culprit is misunderstanding fatigue. In this episode of Past Your Prime, physical therapist Craig Smith and pro-athlete Alex Keicher break down the science-backed Fatigue Model: explaining why recovery strategies for...
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Why Cortisone Injections Backfire for Active Adults: Pain-Free Living Gone Wrong
For active adults, cortisone shots feel like a magic solution: but they're a ticking time bomb for joint degradation. In this episode of Past Your Prime, pro volleyball player Alex Keicher and physical therapist Craig Smith pull back the curtain and expose the "doom loop" of steroid injections…
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From Broken to Peak: How Active Adults Perform Like Champions | ft. Kenny Sewall
Active adults often hit a plateau after injury or midlife transition: stuck managing pain instead of pursuing real performance. In this landmark episode of the Past Your Prime Podcast, hosts pro volleyball player Alex Keicher and physical therapist Craig Smith welcome their very first guest:...
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Why Isometric Exercises Beat Surgery For Active Adults | Pain-Free Joints and Tendons
Knee and Achilles pain don't always need surgery: they need the right stimulus. In this new episode of the Past Your Prime Podcast, Craig and Alex reveal why isometric exercises (static holds like wall sits) trigger rapid pain relief and joint stability for active adults. Discover how staying…
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Movement Deficits: Stop Recurring Injuries | Pain-Free Living Framework
Recurring injuries sabotaging your active lifestyle? Discover why stretching or ice miss the real problem. In this episode of the Past Your Prime Podcast, Craig and Alex break down the exercise deficits keeping you injured: and share the exact assessment framework (local, regional, central...
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The Athlete's Workout Strategy: Pain-Free Living Through Smart Training
Pain-free living starts with understanding your tissue capacity. In this episode of Past Your Prime, our performance experts Craig Smith and Alex Keicher break down the "Risk vs. Benefit" analysis that every active adult needs to know in order to build a smart workout strategy. Learn why…
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Never Quit The Gym Again: How To Stay Active (Even With Injuries)
The crushing guilt of missing a workout. Tonight, we dive deep into the psychology of active adults and the 'slippery slope' that turns one missed session into a year on the couch. Whether you're focused on overcoming injuries and pain free living or simply maintaining fitness as an active adult:...
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Your Lower Back Pain is Secretly Sabotaging Your Performance | Unlocking Athletic Potential
Let's explore the intricate connection between lower back pain and athletic performance in this insightful new episode of Past Your Prime. Join hosts Craig Smith, a Physical Therapist and Strength Coach, and pro volleyball player Alex Keicher as they unravel how hamstring tightness and lower back...
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Effective Warm-Ups Can Bring Peak Athletic Performance
In this episode of the Past Your Prime Podcast, dive into the science of effective warm-ups and how they play a crucial role in sports injury rehab and athlete injury recovery. Hosts pro volleyball player Alex Keicher and physical therapist Craig Smith reveal why traditional stretching might be...
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Jump Like A Ninja: Mobility Training & Landing Techniques for Aging Athletes | Sports Injury Rehab
In this episode of the Past Your Prime podcast, pro volleyball player and pain-free living activist Alex Keicher and physical therapist Craig Smith delve into an essential sports movement for aging athletes and active adults overcoming injuries: jumping and landing. Today, athletes and busy…
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Stretching Myths & Fitness Strategies for Active Adults
Are you an active adult striving for pain free living while juggling a healthy lifestyle? In this comment section episode of Past Your Prime, we tackle essential fitness strategies and pain management techniques specifically designed for active adults. Wondering if stretching truly helps or if...
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Is Your Muscle Soreness Actually Helping You? | DOMS - Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness Full Breakdown
Are you struggling with intense muscle soreness after training? Today we are breaking down Pro Volleyball player Alex Keicher’s favorite physical experience (allegedly): DOMS - Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. Does it truly hit harder as you get older? Is the famous “No Pain, No Gain” a lie all...
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Feeling Pain Is Not What You Think
When we talk about “pain”, everyone has that “oh, crap” moment at least once in their lifetime. The moment where that excruciating pain takes over and everything feels that it is about to break. However, “feeling hurt” doesn't automatically mean “being harmed”. Experiencing pain does not...
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Your Feet Are More Important Than You Think
Today, we are talking about the body's foundation: the feet. Your feet don't care what sport you play or what activity you do. It cares if it can handle the load. Once again, it's all about physical capacity. This episode is for those keep taping their ankle and pretending everything is fine; for...
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The Myth of "Muscle Tightness" And What Actually Is
Tightness. Stiffness. Inflexibility. Or some other loss of motion might be the most common complaint Craig hears after pain. But tightness is a description, not a diagnosis. So, if you came here hoping Craig would give you a new stretch for your ‘tight’ hamstrings… sorry, today, you will have the...
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How To Return to Playing Sports Consistently in 2026
Today we’re talking about returning to playing sports. Most people don’t quit because they’re lazy, they quit because something keeps breaking, hurting, or derailing them. And, most importantly, they don’t know how to develop a better standard, realistic timelines or a plan that doesn’t assume...
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Why Rehab Feels Like Chasing Injuries
Why every time one thing starts to feel better, something else decides to hurt? Is that bad rehab? Or is that actually how bodies work? Because if you’ve ever felt like rehab turns into "injury whack-a-mole", where you fix one problem and another one pops up... well, this Past Your Prime episode…
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Debunking the 5 MOST CONTROVERSIAL exercises in 2026
Alright, folks: you know the drill. You are scrolling through YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, YouNameItNewSocialMediaHere and what not. Then, you see the shiny and new fitness influencer of the hour telling what exercise you shouldn’t do in fifteen seconds or so. No context, no explanation, no nuance...
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How to start 2026 with the BEST strategy
Craig often thinks about the New Year as another point in time to analyze, commit, and change his current system. At this time of year, he spends about 50% of his time discussing goals. Alex, on the other hand, spends 90% of his time getting hurt. Most New Year's resolutions are not goals - they...
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Avoid EXERCISE HELL In 2026
It's the holiday season and your New Year’s Resolutions are that you are going to be more active in 2026. But you have done this a million New Year’s before, haven't you? And being more active felt worse… until you eventually quit, anyway. This is Exercise Hell: when movement consistently makes…
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How That First Injury Can Change You Forever
Imagine the following scenario: you are someone who likes to lift and/or exercise. One day, you have a mild lower back pain and it is not even clear which exercise did this to you! After two weeks you notice more symptoms with higher-intensity exercise. You reduce your activity for about a month…
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Artificial Capacity: The Tools Keeping You Moving (or Keeping You Injured)
Artificial capacity is everywhere — shoes, braces, taping, sleeves, supports, straps, and all the tools we slap on our bodies to perform, recover, or just survive daily life. The problem isn’t the tools. It’s using the wrong one at the wrong time. In this episode, Craig breaks down how artificial...
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The Injury Doom Loop: Why You Keep Getting Hurt (and How to Break Out)
Most active adults don’t break down because of one bad workout or a single unlucky twist — they get trapped in a doom loop, a cycle where tissue capacity slowly drops below daily intensity. Once that flip happens, even “normal life” keeps making things worse. In this episode, Craig & Alex break...
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Why You Keep Getting Hurt: The Physical vs Tissue Capacity Mismatch
Most active adults think recurring injuries mean they’re “getting old” or “overdoing it.” But the real problem is almost always the same: your physical capacity has outpaced your tissue capacity—and the mismatch keeps blowing you up. In this episode, Craig breaks down exactly what that mismatch…
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Why Your Knees Hurt When You Squat (and How to Fix It)
Knee pain during squats and lunges isn’t just “getting older” — it’s usually a specific structure or control problem that can be identified and fixed. In this episode, Craig Smith, PT, and pro volleyball player Alex Keicher break down the most common causes of knee pain and what to do for each…
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Why Your Low Back Pain Keeps Coming Back (and How to Fix It)
Most people think back pain means something is “out of place.” But recurrent low back pain isn’t a structural problem—it’s a capacity problem. In this episode, Craig and Alex dig into why back pain keeps coming back, why stretching often makes it worse, and how to rebuild the ability to handle…
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Why Your Shin Splints Keep Coming Back (and What’s Really Causing Them)
Most people think shin splints are just part of running. But “shin splints” isn’t a diagnosis—it’s a location. In this episode, Craig and Alex break down what’s really happening when your shins hurt, why rest rarely fixes it, and how to rebuild the ability to absorb force. They cover: • The two...
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Comment Section 2 | Fiber, Joint Replacements, and Why Reverse Shoulders Are Wild
Our second Past Your Prime comment section is here — where we take your comments from Spotify and YouTube and turn them into full conversations. In this one, we cover everything from dietary fiber to what actually happens when tissues are injured, joint replacement training tips, and even the…
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Why Challenges Like 75 Hard Actually Work (How to Stress Test Your System)
Most people think challenges like 75 Hard are just about willpower or discipline. At Past Your Prime, we see them differently: they’re a way to stress test your system—to find out if your daily habits, identity, and direction actually hold up under pressure. In this episode, Alex and Craig break...
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Why Your Muscles Still Shut Off After Rehab (Muscle Inhibition Explained)
Most people think once they’re pain free, the problem is solved. But pain free doesn’t mean inhibition free. Muscle inhibition—the silent limiter that keeps certain muscles from firing—can stall your progress, cause recurring flare-ups, and make workouts feel harder than they should. In this...
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Triggers Hiding as Therapy: Why Feeling Better Isn’t Always Getting Better
Some treatments feel amazing in the moment—but are they actually helping you recover, or just keeping you stuck? In this episode of Past Your Prime, Alex and Craig dig into “triggers hiding as therapy,” the hidden danger of unverified treatments that mask symptoms without building capacity. From...
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Why Rest Doesn’t Fix Recurrent Injuries (and What to Do Instead)
Most people believe rest = healing = problem solved. But if you’ve dealt with the same injury over and over, you already know the truth: taking time off usually makes things worse. In this episode of Past Your Prime, Craig Smith (PT & life professional) and Alex Keicher (pro athlete & busy dad)...
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Why Your Injuries Keep Coming Back (and How to Break the Cycle)
Old injuries that never seem to stay gone? Taking time off, stretching harder, or grinding through ibuprofen won’t break the cycle. If you keep re-irritating the same spots, it’s not because you’re weak or unlucky—it’s because your programming isn’t addressing tissue capacity and you’re ignoring...
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When to Push, When to Pull Back: The Skill of Autoregulation
“Ever pushed through a workout just because it was on the plan—only to pay for it later? Most athletes and lifters know the trap: the program says one thing, your body says another. That’s where autoregulation comes in. In Episode 35 of Past Your Prime, Alex and Craig break down how to adjust a...
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Fix Your Knees Before They Fail: A 5-Level System for Active Adults Who Still Want to Jump
Still jumping, landing, and lifting—but your knees don’t feel the same? In this episode, Craig and Alex break down the 5-Level Framework for keeping your knees healthy, strong, and pain-free—especially if you’re an active adult dealing with old injuries, stubborn swelling, or a history of…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
WELCOME TO PAST YOUR PRIME!The podcast for active adults balancing fitness, family, and real life.Each episode, hosts Craig Smith (Physical Therapist, Strength Coach & Life Professional) and Alex Keicher (Pro Athlete, Busy Dad & Physically Broken) unpack real-world strategies for overcoming injuries, staying strong, and living pain-free... even when life gets chaotic!
HOSTED BY
Craig Smith - Pain Expert; Alex Keicher - Athlete; Smith Performance Center
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Past Your Prime have?
Past Your Prime currently has 84 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Past Your Prime about?
WELCOME TO PAST YOUR PRIME!The podcast for active adults balancing fitness, family, and real life.Each episode, hosts Craig Smith (Physical Therapist, Strength Coach & Life Professional) and Alex Keicher (Pro Athlete, Busy Dad & Physically Broken) unpack real-world strategies for overcoming...
How often does Past Your Prime release new episodes?
Past Your Prime has 84 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Past Your Prime?
You can listen to Past Your Prime on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Past Your Prime?
Past Your Prime is created and hosted by Craig Smith - Pain Expert; Alex Keicher - Athlete; Smith Performance Center.
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