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

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 capacity really works, why it matters, and how misunderstanding it leads to recurring injuries, chronic setbacks, and getting stuck in the doom loop. Alex runs through his growing inventory of braces, and together they walk through how to actually use these tools intelligently — from diagnostics, to load management, to performance.

We also cover one of the most misunderstood running injuries: plantar heel pain that’s actually coming from the flexor digitorum brevis (FDB), and how artificial capacity fits into diagnosis and treatment.

Topics:• What artificial capacity actually is• The five correct ways to use these tools• Load management vs full unloading• Why a crutch is not the same as a boot• How runners underuse and overuse the wrong tools• A full FDB case example using taping, load management, and progression• How artificial capacity fits into the SPC Phase System

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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

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 down how the doom loop forms, the subtle signs you’re in it, and—most importantly—how to get out before your world shrinks into compensations, bracing, KT tape, and frustration.

You’ll learn:

• Why high performers are more likely to fall into the doom loop

• How tissue, physical, and energy capacity interact

• The hidden triggers you’re missing every day

• Why treatments alone don’t get you out

• The role of the therapeutic gap in escaping the spiral

• The biggest mistakes that keep people stuck for months (or years)

If you’ve felt like you’re doing less and less but hurting more and more, this episode is your roadmap 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

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 is, why strong and motivated people are the most vulnerable, and how hidden triggers, delayed feedback loops, and high tolerance can mask the problem until it becomes a flare-up cycle.

We cover:

• Why you feel strong but keep getting hurt

• How physical capacity (skills, strength, coordination, mentality, habits) develops faster than your tissues can adapt

• How delayed symptoms trick you into thinking workouts were “easy”

• Why injections, rest, and symptom-masking treatments don’t fix the root issue

• Mechanical capacity vs the body’s threat-detector system (threshold & tolerance)

• The classic pattern of people who fall into this mismatch

• The real signs you’re in the mismatch—even if you think you’re “training smarter”

• The four-step process for actually fixing it

• How this mismatch leads directly into the Injury Doom Loop

If you’ve ever felt like you’re one workout away from another setback, this episode will finally explain why—and what to do next.

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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

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 one. They cover how to tell the difference between a joint issue, a tendon problem, or patellofemoral pain — plus why co-contraction and glute inhibition can make your knees feel tight even when nothing’s torn.

You’ll learn:

• The key differences between knee joint, tendon, patellofemoral joint, and meniscus pain.

• Simple self-tests to narrow down which structure is irritated.

• The best interventions for each:

  • Traction for the joint

  • Cross-friction and load for the tendon

  • Isometrics or pain-free zones for patellofemoral pain

  • Heel lift and temporary extension limits for anterior horn meniscus irritation

• How to fix “tight” squats caused by co-contraction and gamma-loop dysfunction.

• How to reset glute activation and rebuild smooth movement patterns with sit-to-stand drills.

• Craig’s four-step framework to eliminate knee pain and reload your system safely.

If your knees ache every time you squat, this episode gives you the roadmap to understand what’s really going on — and how to move pain-free again.

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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

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 load again.

They cover:• The real cause of recurrent low back pain (tissue capacity mismatch)• Hidden triggers like sitting, exercise timing, and regional weakness• Why “feeling better” isn’t the same as healing• How to use traction, soft tissue work, and coordination training safely• The difference between activation, strength, and endurance• How to maintain your progress using the “therapeutic gap”

If your back keeps flaring up no matter what you do, this episode will finally help you understand why—and what to change for lasting relief.

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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

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 main causes—medial tibial stress syndrome and posterior tibialis overload• Why “overpronation” isn’t the problem (it’s pronating too fast)• How force absorption errors lead to recurring pain• The role of taping, bracing, and load management• When to use tools like orthotics—and when they become crutches• How to actually fix the root cause and get back to running pain-free

If you’ve dealt with shin splints that never seem to go away, this episode will finally make sense of why.

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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 and Alex Keicher dive into 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