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Summary
On episode 600 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan steps away from the usual guest interview format to mark a milestone and pull back the curtain on how the show actually gets made, from finding guests to publishing an episode.
He traces the origin story: an earlier failed podcast about internal audit, an intentional launch on December 6, 2015 timed to land on Apple’s New and Noteworthy list, and the shift from five short solo episodes a week down to one longer interview episode, a change that actually grew listenership per episode rather than shrinking it.
He also walks through the full production pipeline, sourcing guests from Amazon’s upcoming-books filter and publicist relationships, recording on Zoom, building the show with an outside audio team, transcribing with an AI tool, and publishing through Libsyn and WordPress, plus the running totals: over 600 episodes, more than 385 guests, and roughly 3.6 million downloads.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- The podcast exists because nothing like it did. When Allan searched for online personal trainers or podcasts built specifically for people over 40 back in 2015, he found nothing, so he built it himself.
- Launch timing was deliberate. He released the show on December 6, 2015 specifically to have enough episodes banked to land on Apple’s New and Noteworthy list by January 1, which drove early discovery.
- More episodes per week did not mean more listeners per episode. Publishing five 15-minute solo episodes a week produced more total downloads that year but fewer listens per episode than dropping down to one well-produced weekly interview.
- Guests mostly come from Amazon’s upcoming-books filter, not inbound pitches. Allan gets over 100 pitches a day but finds his best guests by filtering Amazon for unpublished, hardbound books and reaching out directly to the publisher’s publicity department.
- Every guest gets a show plan in advance. Sending bullet points ahead of the interview keeps guests prepared and avoids a guest going in unsure what the conversation is supposed to cover.
- Producing one episode takes about 10 hours of his time. Between reading the book, recording, reviewing the transcript, writing show notes, and publishing, Allan estimates over 6,000 hours invested across 600 episodes and seven and a half years.
- Rachel joined as co-host in September 2020 to add balance. Bringing on a female, differently-credentialed trainer was meant to widen the perspective on interviews, and listener feedback confirmed it worked.
- Podcast hosting and website hosting should live on separate platforms. Allan keeps his audio files on Libsyn, built specifically for podcasting, and his website on separate hosting, so one never bottlenecks the other.
- The show has reached about 3.6 million downloads across more than 385 guests. Most episodes land 5,000 to 6,000 downloads within the first two months, then keep accumulating a long tail of roughly 10,000 downloads a week across the full back catalog.
“Progress over perfection.”
Coach Allan
Another Episode You May Enjoy
Episode 643 – Three reasons we fail to reach our health and fitness goals (part 2)
Episode Notes
Podcast: 40+ Fitness
Episode: 600
Published: 2023-07-25
Host: Allan Misner (aka Coach Allan), author of The Wellness Roadmap
Guest(s): —, our co-host, Coach Rachel
Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube (audio only)