Set meaningful, yet achievable goals with specific measures to trend and celebrate!
Physical fitness is not just about lifting weights or running marathons; it’s about discipline, resilience, and continuous self-improvement. Fitness champions help coach and inspire others to achieve their fitness goals. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Dave Frost — founder of Well Past Forty LLC.
David Emerson Frost (Dave or Frosty) is an acclaimed non-fiction specialty author of practical fitness manuals. He leverages his three score and ten years of lessons learned from elite rowing championships, effective fitness regimens, plus injury and disease to educate his clients and readers. As a Master Fitness Trainer and mentor, Koach Dave walks the talk of KABOOMER life to help people thrive and strive into their nineties.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
Though my fitness endeavors and championships began in college years, my PHOENIX moment rose in September 2001. As our nation was reeling from terrorists attacks, I was personally reeling from a herniated spinal disc. My pre-habilitation and post-habilitation of L5-S1 spinal fusion was my chance to rise again. A literal backstory 😊
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
Yes. As a College Freshman in early days of crew practice, my Plebe coach took me aside and counselled me that I might be a better fit for other extracurricular activities at the Naval Academy. I respectfully requested a lifeline to be re-evaluated for form, fit, and function in the grueling sport of rowing. Coach did give me a second chance, and I got my act together to rise and become the Captain of the Navy Crew and co-recipient of the Rusty Callow Leadership award.
- My first takeaway is that second chances can and do work. There is a pointed stanza in the Midshipman’s Prayer that “if I miss the mark, give me the courage to try again.” As a billionaire and world-changer named Bill Gates offered, success is not a very good teacher. It is okay to miss the mark, yet do not toss in the towel prematurely.
- A second lesson for me was that effective communications are needed in good times and bad, like my almost-exit interview with my Coach. To stay with the banking metaphor, think of C-O-I-N to champion a way ahead…
- What is the context of an issue?
- What opportunity might be present?
- What is an intended way forward that is specific, measurable, and timebound?
- What is the noteworthy payoff — if our intended way forward indeed generates a return on investment?
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Autonomy, mastery, and purpose are my triad of character strengths.
1. While I advocate that a successful 21st century worker, and/or an athletic champion should surround herself/himself with great resources, fitness is all her or him. Others cannot do the work for you! Period. I do my best to walk a talk of self-care for down-aging and living one’s life to its fullest. This is my version of autonomy.
2. Mastery means that I need to make the best possible decisions to gain high returns on investment [ROI or return on my invested capital — ROIC] for my physical bank. I continually seek best and brightest practical approaches to outlive, outlast, and out-think others of my demographic by about 7 years. Can I master what it takes for another 2,557 sunrises of a down-aged healthy, strong span? Time will tell as I master my own fate. There are many factors that I cannot control, like genetics. Yet, I certainly try to master positive epigenetics to express myself as an aging elite rower. I also what to master what my forebear, Ralph Waldo Emerson lectured as :the Felicities of Age.”
3. As for Purpose, there is a reason why I titled my second fitness manual STRONG to SAVE. I reflect on the purpose of Stoical counsel to be the master of myself to serve others. I am a guardian by personality typing, so I purposefully tailor my suggestions and lead-by-example exercises to help others.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
Yes I am. I am honing my manuscript for a third fitness manual in my trilogy. Its title will be, or resemble “Your Ticker Tape: Deny the top and preventable killer.” Our global community’s top killer is cardiovascular disease, or CVD. Research experts and the practiced and practical “me” are convinced that this shameful statistic needs to change. Carefully designed and conducted motion is a powerful medicine to counter CVD.
Stay tuned…
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview. What inspired you to pursue a career in fitness?
My third act as a master fitness trainer, coach and author was enabled by my Crew Coach at the US Naval Academy, Carl Ullrich in the early 1970s. I cannot count the ways that Coach favorably impacted my life.
- I learned that doing the work and overcoming most of what life tossed in my path was doable. Yes, I could!
- I gained an appreciation for what I now call mind-body-gut alignment for healthy living.
- I learned to try and emulate my Coach to extend his principled living to others.
What unique strategies do you use to keep your clients motivated and engaged in their fitness journeys?
I share this walk-the-talk mantra to:
Do what you love, and love what you do to extend your strong-span and healthspan by 7–10 down-aged years.
Can you share a particularly memorable success story of a client transformation that you’ve helped achieve?
Gladly!
As a rowing coach, I mentored a successful “Generation X” business woman who was going through family hardships. She has shared that “rowing and your coaching saved my life.” She did the good habitual work to reduce stress, raise her heart rate variability (HRV), and appreciate ways to make lemonade when handed a life lemon.
How do you stay updated with the latest fitness trends and incorporate them into your coaching?
As a student of my chosen endeavor, I tap mountains of credible and published research. My deep dive into “CRAAP-tested” research [CRAAP is an acronym for Current, relevant, authoritative, accurate, recent, and published] is on Dose-Response curves for aging masters athletes like me. Despite what Mae West advised, too much of a good thing, like exercise, is not always wonderful.
Based on your research or experience, can you please share your “5 Things Anyone Can Do To Improve Their Fitness Routine”?
You betcha.
1 . Begin with your bottom-line up front [ BLUF]. I am not bluffing…Commit to down-aging by 7–10 extra healthy years.
I am now honored to train a Gen X professional who is taking an anti-obesity drug — Mounjaro™ — to shed body mass. Yet, he doesn’t want to take high doses for his lifespan, nor lose inordinate muscle mass. We are working to make his next years his best years for health and strength. And, to walk that talk as naturally as possible.
2. Set meaningful, yet achievable goals with specific measures to trend and celebrate!
I often share with my many clients, readers, and listeners to situationally settle for singles and doubles rather than swinging for the fences. The motion is lotion and good medicine mantra takes time for an athlete of any caliber to adapt to imposed demands. Success and goals can be as simple as learning one’s temporal aspect for muscle soreness after exercise to build restoration into a periodization and to keep exercise as fun as possible.
I am honored to train a gent of my calendar age (71) who has a genetic kryptonite of hereditary spastic paraplegia. This rare disease compromises the neuromuscular signaling in lower bodies. We are not setting sights of lower handicaps for 18 holes of golf. Yet, we are working his Berg Balance Assessment and Functional Gait Assessment checklist to do everything he and we can do for him to stay mobile and avoid faceplants.
3 . Do the Work. I equate each of our $10 Million physical portfolios to fiscal retirement accounts. What specific steps will you take to mitigate risks, and generate a return on your sweat equities?
The gent I cited in #2 above is such a stalwart for doing the work that I choose to repeat his efforts. He is better than many for his ardent work ethic, though he has to work so much harder to do what comes naturally for most of us. He is a KABOOMER by my standards.
As Derek Sivers offered in Tim Ferriss’ Tools of Titans, “it is not what you know, it is what you do consistently.”
4 . Repeat after me — — — It is never too late to build your physical portfolio.
I have worked with nonagenarians who needed functional strength and mobility to hang onto their quality of life (QoL). So many folks think that resistance training is time-consuming and “just for others — not me.” That is a shame, as neither assertion is true. Yes — you can, at any age. After all, who wants to die earlier and easier? Sure, it is far better to start earlier. Yet, do or do not, there is no try as Yoda professed.
5 . MORNINGs are vitally important to most anyone to establish and maintain successful fitness habits. Perhaps many folks recall what Navy Admiral McRaven said about making your bed. Whatever the rest of the day brings you, you had an early success in that habit.
Thus, I share my MORNINGS acronym as a X Factor to help folks keep on keeping on into their nineties:
M — Make your bed for that early success.
O — Observe your vitals and trends– e.g. resting heart rate, HRV, stress level, body temperature, and urine clarity (no kidding.)
R — Reflect on yesterday’s specific gains, and on today’s achievable objectives.
N — Nutrients. Unless you are fasting or doing time-restricted eating, eat the colors of the rainbow. Enjoy clean anti-inflammatory macronutrients and do not neglect proper hydration.
I — Invigorate with a cold shower, or perhaps a salutation series. And hum to invigorate your vital Vagus nerve pathways from brain to gut.
N — Note one resource or person to help you on today’s progressive journey.
G — Express Gratitude to keep stressful cortisone levels at bay. Give others or yourself a big hug to trigger your happy hormones.
S — Jot a Sign or two to affirm and reinforce your role in the world. Are you going to be a bug or the windshield as you speed along?
You might consider mornings as your best work-and-play windows if your fitness goals are to:
1. Lose weight
2. Boost your mood
3. Keep to your routine, or most poignantly for this segment
4. Build functional strength.
And finally, consider the tongue-in-cheek observation of my distant uncle Robert Frost:
A brain:
“starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until …you get into the office.”
What role do you believe mental health plays in physical fitness, and how do you address this with your clients?
Absolutely I believe on the inarguable linkage between the capabilities and capacities of both mind and body! And, as I just mentioned, tret your informational Vagus nerve well. I encourage clients to invest in regular, quiet body scans for effective communications. I often chat about their very own “MBA” degree in Mind Body Alignment. I encourage my clients to engage in immersive challenging exercises. Why run around a track when you can forge a new trail?
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I “move” that each of us serve as a human “sense and respond” messenger. If you see something, please say something to help a somebody or somebodies thrive and strive. Naturally, this is underwritten by a fit messenger’s autonomy, mastery, and purpose that we considered earlier. Yes, you can serve as a positive role model and counsel to help others thrive and strive. Our sick care system needs more like you!
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
- My Facebook presence is @ https://facebook.com/wellpastforty
- Some of my legacy Instagram posts are at https://www.instagram.com/kaboomerkoach
- My Twitter (:X:) posts can be viewed at https://x.com/defptrainer
- Strong to Save blog posts can be read @ https://strongtosave.blog/
- Some of my numerous professional articles about personal training can be viewed @ https://personaltrainertoday.com/author/davefrost
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
Many thanks! I hope that methods I champion can enable others to thrive and strive… to die harder and later.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com.
