Summary:
This week, Michael Dermansky sits down with Jackie Kenny, a 66-year-old triathlete and martial artist, to explore how staying active, strong, and purposeful can transform the way we age.
Jackie reflects on her rich athletic journey—from her first triathlon in 1984 to her dedication to karate—and the challenges she’s overcome with injury and recovery. A key part of her comeback was training at MD Health, where a personalised program helped her rebuild strength, improve mobility, and return to doing what she loves.
Together, they discuss how the right mindset, structured strength training, and recovery practices can support longevity in sport and life. Jackie’s story is a testament to the idea that it’s never too late to start—and that quality movement, connection, and joy should guide every stage of training.
Tune in to be inspired by Jacqui’s journey, her practical insights on aging well, and how living with purpose can shape a confident, active life at any age.
CLICK HERE to read the full transcript from episode 38 of The Confident Body Show
Jacqui Kenny – triathlete, scientist & lifelong advocate for purpose
Born in Melbourne in 1958, Jacqui is a proud Collingwood supporter (despite being married to a passionate Hawthorn fan!).
At 17, she moved to Canada, where she lived until age 34 and completed her university degree in Biology. A scientist at heart, Jackie spent six years in research before transitioning into sales and marketing with Beckman. Her career took her back to Australia in 1994, where she continued supporting the research community through roles focused on both high-level instrumentation and essential lab supplies.
After retiring from full-time work in July 2024, Jackie now works 1–2 days a week as the Oceania Triathlon Continental Coordinator—a role that perfectly combines her passion for triathlon and her professional expertise.
Jacqui has been an age-group triathlon participant and advocate for over 40 years. Her involvement spans racing, officiating, facilitating, training, and mentoring within the sport. She met her husband through their running club in Brisbane, and they married in 2003. Although they cheer for rival AFL teams, they remain a united team in life.
Still as active and passionate as ever, Jackie believes in staying busy and living with purpose—a philosophy she continues to embody every day.
Topics discussed in this episode:
- Introduction to Jacqui Kenny’s journey
- Athletic history and early involvement in sports
- Challenges of aging and injury recovery
- The importance of strength training
- Mental health and purpose in life
- Adapting training for longevity
- Current training regimen and future goals
Key takeaways:
- It was easy to lose confidence in your body after an injury, especially at 65. However, with a structured approach to rehabilitation, including appropriate strength work tailored to you as an individual and the appropriate timing of progression, there is rarely a reason why you can’t get back to the active lifestyle you desire.
- Training has definitely changed in the last 50 years (since the early triathlons in 1984). The concept of “the more volume the better” has been replaced with structured training which involves a combination of:
- Strength training as base of control and stability
- Structured performance training, including swimming, bike riding and running, but more intense and shorter workouts than before
- Deliberate and purposeful rest and recovery, to allow the body to adopt, heal and so that you can train harder the next session
- The mental health benefits of both exercise and having purpose can not be underestimated. Even after retiring, having life purpose by volunteering and being actively involved in community is a big step in long term quality of life
- It’s never too early to start AND never too late to start structured exercise (even taking up karate for the first time at 79 years old). Give it a go, seek the help of an exercise professional if needed, and try. You can improve at any age and have the best quality of life, like doing a triathlon at 66.
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Ep 38- full transcript
Michael Dermansky
Hi everyone and welcome to the show that helps you become more confident in your body so you can keep doing things you love. My name is Michael Dermansky, I’m a senior physiotherapist here at MD Health and I have a special guest for me today, Jackie Kennedy. Welcome to the show Jackie.
Jacqui Kenny
Thank you, Michael.
Michael Dermansky
Well, listeners don’t know who you are, so tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are and what you’ve done in your life.
Jacqui Kenny
Okay, I’ll keep it short. I’m 66 years old now, live in Brisbane, born in Melbourne, grew up in a nice active family, did lots of exercise and things. We moved to Canada and actually I lived over there for 17 years, did my university degree over there. I got a degree in biology, but again, through my life very heavily involved in lots of different sporting activities.
I took up triathlon in 1984, did a couple of other sports as well, did some judo, did a few other things, mountain biking. Came back to Australia in ’94 and continued working in the scientific industry. So I went from doing research into the business side of life, which is pretty high pressure, and did that right through to retirement last year and have been trying to, with a few ups and downs I guess, maintain my health and fitness over those years.
Michael Dermansky
Well, let’s talk about that, your athletic history. So it’s quite extensive. Let’s go back a little bit. Tell me a bit more about your athletic history and what sports you’ve been involved in over the years.
Jacqui Kenny
Okay, so in school, it was mainly athletics. Did play a bit of netball, but was way too short for that. But really, athletics, tennis, rode my bike everywhere. So I think I was your typical sort of really active kid. When we moved to Canada, of course, moved to Montreal. When you live in Canada, of course, you ski. So we took up cross-country skiing. We found downhill was a bit too expensive for us as a family, so took up cross-country skiing. Absolutely loved that. And then, as I mentioned in 1984, a couple of mates sitting around said, “Hey, there’s this sport called triathlon. You’ve got to swim, you’ve got to bike, you’ve got to run.” We’re like, OK. And off we went. We all trained up for it. And did our first race.
Michael Dermansky
That must have been really early days of triathlon.
Jacqui Kenny
There were no bike helmets, there were no wetsuits, there were no rules, that was pre everything. World Triathlon was founded in 1987, so yeah, it was very early days for triathlon.
Michael Dermansky
Yeah. And so tell me about your, what’s the history? What’s happened? What was your sporting history after that?
Jacqui Kenny
Yeah, so I absolutely was completely obsessed with triathlon. I got involved in a lot of boards, various boards and programs as well on the other side and officiating. Also developed a love of mountain biking and I do quite like my martial arts and that as well. So I did a bit of judo in high school, but about 12 years ago took up GKR karate.
I think for me it was finding a balance between doing an endurance sport, being out there doing the aerobic stuff, to something that was going to help and work on core strength, core fitness, balance—especially as you get older. You know, it’s looking for that. And actually, to be honest, the hint came from my mum when she was in her seventies. I worried about her safety as an older person, which is why I took up karate.
Michael Dermansky
You’ve got an extensive history in triathlon as well. You told me about it last time you were here. Tell us a little bit about that. I know how much you were involved as well. You were telling me the other day too.
Jacqui Kenny
Yeah, so as I said, I’m a very basic age grouper. You know, I’ve always been a back-of-the-packer in terms of it. I have actually done every distance. I did do one Ironman. So I ticked that box but realised that from an endurance perspective or from my body’s perspective, my body couldn’t handle that degree or amount of training. So I stick more to the shorter distances now.
But I’ve also been, as I said, very involved as a technical official for many years. So there’s great opportunities in a way to get involved in sport when you’re not just participating, but also even volunteering. That’s great for fitness as well. I know one year at Mooloolaba officiating as a technical delegate, I pulled up 16,000 steps in a day of officiating.
Yeah, so I’ve been very fortunate to be able to participate in the sport at all different levels. I did get to officiate at an Olympic Games in Rio. That was awesome. Lots of fun and busy.
Michael Dermansky
Sounds really good. Well, let’s go back to when you started here. So just before you started here, what sport were you involved in and what did that look like and what stopped you being as active as you wanted to be?
Jacqui Kenny
Yeah, so it was interesting. I think it’s funny—as you get older, it’s kind of like a gradual slide. You sort of change your expectations on yourself to say, look, I can’t do what I did when I was 30. I can’t do as many races or this, that, the other. And I think what I started to lose track of also—there was a lot of pressure in work, especially coming out of COVID. I think that was the same for everybody.
And I thought, well, I’m getting older. You can’t do as much as you used to, but you’re still doing a bit. But definitely my activity levels had significantly dropped, particularly over 2024, as I said, when work was particularly stressful. And then I tripped over, a little basic injury that for the first time in my life I didn’t recover from.
Any other injury in the past, I’d always been able to recover from through various treatments—massage, chiropractic, physio. This was the first time in my life, I guess at 65, that I couldn’t. I just didn’t recover. And I tried all the usual things that one does. Suddenly I didn’t do any triathlons in 2023, only did one. And in 2024, I could barely go to karate.
I couldn’t do the training at all that I wanted to do and I wasn’t recovering from the injury. So I think for me, I thought I was bulletproof and this was the first time—and a big shock—that I couldn’t recover and I needed to find a better way forward to get this fixed so I could get back to a “new normal,” as we say. A new normal as an older person doing sport. But I wanted to still do triathlons and I wanted to still do karate.
Michael Dermansky
So what did the first six months here look like?
Jacqui Kenny
So what the first six months looked like—first three months were absolutely focused on recovering from the injury. First of all, a really good analysis of where I’ve come from with 40 years of triathlon under my belt, significant muscle imbalances that I was completely unaware of. And that’s not in a negative way. That’s just—if you ride a bike for 40 years, you develop a lot of the front of your body and not so much of the back—the back of the legs, the back, the glutes. And it was really great to understand that. I don’t have to wear knee braces for the rest of my life. I don’t have to do a lot of the things that I thought were going to be coming my way. Suddenly I had this amazing alternative to say, well, if we can rebuild the body balance, that’ll fix the injury. So the knee will track again properly, the swelling will go down, all of that will be okay. Ultimately, we started to build that strength so that I didn’t need those knee support things I’d actually been using for almost 12 months. That’s not to say they’re bad, but this for me was a better solution.
Michael Dermansky
It’s interesting you say that too, because one of the more underestimated things with runners or athletes is that they need to do strength work. If you want to be a good runner, do strength work. If you want to be a good biker, do strength work. Running, cycling, swimming—they’re repetitive activities that involve the same resistance, there’s no change. So there’s an adaptation effect early, but then it stops. You have to overload those muscle groups outside of that.
Jacqui Kenny
Yes. Yes.
Michael Dermansky
Strength training is a particular one too, to be able to have the strength to do those activities well.
Jacqui Kenny
And I think what was great, like you said, happened in the first six months was—yeah, that first three months really gave me hope that we can actually fix the injury. And then the—pardon the pun—transition into a longer-term, fully customised strength training program that was all about me, I think that’s a key thing for me too—I’m still a busy person, even though I’m semi-retired. I love the idea that I can do what I need to do today with my strength training. I have done weights and stuff before, so I have done weights on and off through my life, but to be able to do a really focused session that addresses my specific strength needs has completely interwoven into my triathlon and karate training. My coach for triathlon has these sessions as part of my program. And interestingly, she’s down on the Gold Coast—Team T-Rex. They actually incorporate some Pilates and strength training into their program too, which is interesting. So yeah, it’s not the same, but I think a lot of people are starting to see the importance of targeted, specific strength training. It makes it a lot easier to do endurance training, balance, dance—whatever it is that people want to do.
Michael Dermansky
Yeah, it is a big thing as well and it is hard. I mean, you told me before we started this interview—what exercise looked like when you were in your 30s. You said it was very different. You were doing 12 training sessions a week.
Jacqui Kenny
Yep. Yep. Yeah. And that’s what it was back then. I will say there was some strength and circuit training in that, but most of it—you’re right—was two bike sessions, three swim sessions, three bikes, three runs. You just multiply that out and you’d have one rest day and that would be it. So yeah, very, very different today.
And I think, as I said, far more effective in particular, being an older person, in being able to then say, I can do what I used to do, not as fast, of course, but I can really enjoy what I do. And I have to admit, I wondered really last year when I first got injured, what was it going to look like going forward? And that was really stressful to think that the end of my work life and my work career, then what was next? So that was, yeah, it wasn’t sort of a great space to be, but now completely different.
Michael Dermansky
It’s very interesting you say that too because it’s very easy to talk about the physical side but forget about the mental side of how important is to have purpose in what you do.
Jacqui Kenny
absolutely, absolutely. It’s again, I think it’s an ageless thing, but I think so many of us, obviously we all know us, baby boomers are all, you know, popping out the other side now and retiring. And, but you need a purpose, you know, and whether that’s, and it’s funny as an older person too. I mean, for me, that’s why I volunteer as well is because having a purpose to volunteer also provides social interaction as well as exercise. know, and the same thing with having a sporting goal. I’m 100 % convinced that you need to at least have a couple of goals in various areas, both mentally and physically, to make everything worthwhile going forward.
Michael Dermansky
I mean, I think that I’m hearing three super important messages out of what you’re saying. One, have a purpose in life or you know what you’re doing. Number two, strength training is a foundation for a lot of these exercise things you want to do. They might be endurance, they might have nothing to do with going to the gym, but the foundation there makes a world of difference of the effectiveness too. And the third thing that’s really, really important is the importance of recovery. Recovery is not just slacking off and taking time off. It’s an active part of your program that and the reason why we you know take recovery really seriously is that if you don’t build recovery breaks into your program as well you can’t actually overload the next time you plateau because there’s so if I did the same weights training with you on Monday and tried to do on Tuesday you’re not going to recover I can’t push you hard enough on Tuesday that’s going to make a change I need you to not do that activity on Tuesday give your body a chance to adapt so I can push you harder on the Wednesday and the Friday. So it’s a very deliberate and active part of the process and it needs to be structured in as well. And I guess that’s sort of big difference between what training was like in the 80s and 90s where volume, volume, volume, volume, volume and now we know it’s very, very structured. I mean, I guess the one aspect that has to be also understood is our length of life is going up. So the kids born today will live 25 % of them will live to 100.
Jacqui Kenny
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. mean, 60 is the new 40. So you’re and you’re absolutely right. I mean, I went to karate class last night and there was a chap that was in the the beginner class that’s before the class I went to. Just started karate. 79 years old. I went good for you. And he went, I just thought I’d give it a crack. So that’s the other thing too, is just give it a crack. Don’t have to be good at it. Just give it a have fun.
Michael Dermansky
60s and U40, exactly. Yeah, I mean, all these elements you put into your training as well, like strength training, rest, recovery, and other stuff as well. We’re looking at longevity of life. So that, you know, yes, in the 30s and 40s, you don’t think about this stuff, but you later on, you want to have an active life all the way up until the very, end. And there’s no good reason with what we know in science these days, that won’t be, that can’t be the case. It’s just a matter of being very structured about what you do.
Jacqui Kenny
Yeah, absolutely. And I think one other thing I thought of is that quite a few people around my age bracket are actually, you know, they’ve probably been very dedicated with their work or with their families, their big families and stuff like that. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t done it until now. It’s never like I said, it’s never too late to start and to and to, you know, then incorporate that and don’t say in your head, I’ve never been an athlete or I’ve never been good at that.
Michael Dermansky
Yes. Never too late. That’s right.
Jacqui Kenny
then just try. And then if you, and to your point, if you put that structure in, like what I love about the sessions with you guys is, like I said, it’s half an hour. Even in my brain sometimes if I’m tired while I’m driving over, I go, you know what, it’s only half an hour. And then it’s as I get that you feel very energized and excited about what you’re doing and half an hour just disappears. So it’s really important not to be negative to yourself to say well I was never an athlete in the past or I didn’t have great eating habits or I didn’t have that balance well particularly for us coming into retirement now’s your chance to do that.
Michael Dermansky
Absolutely. So let’s talk about what you do outside of, know, know we do a three sessions a year, two, three times a week. That’s compliments the Tirathon. So what does that look like now for you outside of what we see in here?
Jacqui Kenny
Yeah. So as you say, it’s really interesting that Monday and Friday are absolutely locked into the calendar unless we just have to move it, which is good. My coach knows that. But she she factored. The great thing is she factors it all into the program, including karate. So she’s accepted the fact that I can’t only be a triathlete. So, you know, in an ideal world for me now, but I find it really manageable for me personally. And again, I think this is a thing is working out what
Michael Dermansky
Yep.
Jacqui Kenny
what works for you, because we’re all different. So normally now I’ll go to karate on Monday, Wednesday, go to MD health Monday, Friday, and then my cycling. And again, the cycling sessions and everything, a bit like your sessions are also a lot shorter than they used to be when I used to train. So I did a session this morning because I’m doing the try at Mooloolaba this weekend. That was only a half hour bike ride followed by 10 minute run. If that was 15, 20 years ago, that would have been a 30K ride and a 10K run or something. So it really has changed even in terms of the volume of doing the other activities that I do. So I only do one swim a week. As I said, maybe one or two, a couple of walks, maybe only one run, a couple of rides. So again, a lot less than it’s about quality, not. to your point earlier, it’s quality not quantity. But if I do feel tired, again, felt a bit lousy on Tuesdays, very tired for some reason. I rested Tuesday and Wednesday, felt good Wednesday afternoon, so I went to karate last night. you know, it’s the rest and looking at my nutrition and everything is a really important factor in what it looks like today, not that nutrition wasn’t important before, but I think again, it’s bringing all of those things together.
Michael Dermansky
So let’s look at that 12 months down the track as well. 12 months ago, knee injury, stop doing things as well. We’ve spent three months on rehab really making you stronger. And then we flip the program more towards strength conditioning. Like how do we make you the best Jackie that you could be? And now you’ve done that incorporated that together with your triathlon training with your coach and karate on top of that too. So just one really briefly, what is your active life look like now?
Jacqui Kenny
Yeah, into training. Fantastic, as I said. I’m really enjoying it. I’m finding it really manageable. I feel very strong in the water, which has always been my biggest fear. Yeah, 40 years of triathlon, I’d get over it. No, I don’t. I still have this chronic fear of drowning. But now I feel great. Like I don’t feel the weakness. Again, I think with the building of the muscle balance, I don’t feel that weakness anymore. I’m not getting any of the typical bike injuries anymore. So I was starting to get some issues, you know, get around the knees, some of the tendons and stuff that’s not happening anymore. So and then, you know, the, the, me with the running, the knees probably are a little worn out. But doing jogging, walking, I’m really comfortable with and again, probably just looking at slightly more comfortable footwear to just again, provide that cushioning. But that’s really just slightly worn out joints versus any injuries or anything like that. you know, it’s, yeah, so that’s what it looks like today is that I feel confident. feel, you know, really, really, really enjoying it, not having to have any injuries. Well, no injuries and no majorly extensive recovery time needed. So, I’m finding I can look at my training program for the week and feel pretty confident that 90 % of that program will easily be able to happen and be really enjoyed.
Michael Dermansky
It’s interesting you’ve used that word confidence several times now too, because I mean, we deliberately call this show the Confident Body Show, because, you know, that’s what we wanted the listeners and people to hear is that these are the things you can do to bring confidence in your body. It’s not about that, yeah, at any age, I mean, and that’s hearing that you’re, I you’re doing a trial on the little bar this weekend. I mean, that’s fantastic. That’s, you know, 60, 60 years old and you’re doing that. That’s what your life should be like.
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