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 are challenges. On this episode of Past Your Prime, we get back to the useful framework of identity, meaning, direction, and system. And we're gonna help you start your new chapter with a BANG!

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Welcome to Past Your Prime – the podcast for active adults balancing training, rehab, family, and real life.

Each episode, hosts Craig Smith (PT & coach) and Alex Keicher (pro athlete & busy dad) unpack real-world strategies for overcoming injuries, staying strong, and living pain-free—even when life gets chaotic.

💡 Learn more, access resources, and join our community:👉 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pastyourprime.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Instagram:

📲 Alex –⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@spikerkeicher⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠📲 Craig –⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@craigsmithPT⁠

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 you feel worse, not better.

In today’s episode we will dive deep into how to avoid this Hell altogether and what strategies to apply if you find yourself in this situation. But one thing is for sure: after this episode, you will be able to finally stay committed to your New Year’s Resolutions in 2026.

The goal isn’t to fall in love with exercise. The goal is to stop being punished by it and get the best bang for your buck.

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Welcome to Past Your Prime – the podcast for active adults balancing training, rehab, family, and real life.

Each episode, hosts Craig Smith (PT & coach) and Alex Keicher (pro athlete & busy dad) unpack real-world strategies for overcoming injuries, staying strong, and living pain-free—even when life gets chaotic.

💡 Learn more, access resources, and join our community:👉 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pastyourprime.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Instagram:

📲 Alex – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@spikerkeicher⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠📲 Craig – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@craigsmithPT⁠

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 or so and avoid things that cause pain but try to stay active.

Then, you go back to your original daily routine and feel good over the course of several weeks.

But then you have another lower back pain incident. This repeats over the course of weeks, months or even years, sometimes with longer gaps in between but you eventually stop lifting at higher weights or you avoid specific exercises. And that list seems to be growing!Wanna know what the hell happened?

Watch today's episode to find out!

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Welcome to Past Your Prime – the podcast for active adults balancing training, rehab, family, and real life.

Each episode, hosts Craig Smith (PT & coach) and Alex Keicher (pro athlete & busy dad) unpack real-world strategies for overcoming injuries, staying strong, and living pain-free—even when life gets chaotic.

💡 Learn more, access resources, and join our community:👉 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pastyourprime.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Instagram:

📲 Alex – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@spikerkeicher⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠📲 Craig – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@craigsmithPT⁠