#178 | Athletic Longevity isn't Easy | Brendan Egan, PhD

Feb 15, 2026

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Brendan Egan, PhD

Associate Professor of Sport & Exercise Physiology at Dublin City University
Associate Dean for Research (Faculty of Science & Health)
Current research investigates skeletal muscle function and adaptation across the life course, with special interest in the synergy between nutrition and exercise interventions ranging from athletes to older adults.
Nutrients investigated include caffeine, creatine, omega-3 fatty acids, resveratrol, leucine, protein hydrolysates, beetroot juice, and exogenous ketones.
Outside of academia, through his sporting career as an Gaelic footballer, Brendan has had a lifelong association with sport, training and performance at all levels of competition from grassroots to elite level, and also practices in the field as a performance nutritionist with emphasis on intermittent field-based team sports, and endurance athletes, most recently with the Dublin Hurlers and the Irish Paratriathlon team.
Find Brendan's work here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brendan-Egan and contact info here: https://www.dcu.ie/researchsupport/research-profile?person_id=35443
https://sigmanutrition.com/episode591/

Discussion Points

Personal Peak & Glide Path— peak as high and as late as possible, then hang on baby.
“Use it or lose it”. It’s an old thing but now we lose faster and it’s harder to get back. Consistency is the name of the game now. Spikes in training load and intensity lead to injury which leads to inconsistent training. DO NOT GET INJURED!
“I’m not what I was” — so true. I can't train like I used to because I can’t recover as quickly. (And don’t have as much time?)... and my body doesn’t respond to stimulus as well as it used to either...ergo, I'm not what I was.
What to consider for improved recovery? Sleep, adequate protein, adequate carbohydrate fueling, hot/cold exposure, hydration, hypoxia exposure. Dr Egan likes a hot bath (me too).
Testosterone falling? What else isn’t what it was? How important to get back to more youthful function of the body?
Balancing calories surplus against calorie deficit. Keep fat and protein steady; ramp carbs to match activity (“fuel for the work required")
Protein load: active older athletes probably don’t have anabolic resistance. May not need extra protein for age but probably do need extra for extra exercise. (1.5-1.6g/kg per day). It’s not a silver bullet of course.
Collagen for tendons? It can t hurt. Get collagen into bloodstream right before (30 min?) workouts. Wallsits might help.
Periodization of training. (3-5 weeks cycles). Keep it fun. Cover your bases. Build in time for recovery day to day as well as deep recovery every few weeks.
Minimum effective dose? What is the least attention I can put into an area of fitness to keep it alive. Is there Inverted U shaped curve for fitness. More is better but too much is possible. Is that true? Too little time in other key elements of fitness?
Performance vs. health and athletic longevity: with time and recovery constraints, older athletes in particular have serious limitations. If you put too much into one area of athleticism, you necessarily have to neglect others. What don’t you care about losing?
What is happening beyond Use It or Lose It?
- gradual loss of recovery / healing / muscle growth ability
- declining growth hormone / sex hormones (anabolic resistance?)
- declining melatonin (sleep quality?)
- poorer blood flow (lower NO, damage to blood vessels)
- gradual increase in metabolic dysfunction
- less autophagy/ mitophagy (senescence, aging blood factors, ROS, lower cellular energy)
- higher insulin resistance
- higher chronic inflammation (over active immune function, visceral fat, viral load)

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