#210. Psychological effects of retirement in sport and how Ben Alexander made his transition to life after sport

Mental health has become a major concern for athletes who have dedicated their lives to sport. The transition that a professional athlete takes from their full-time sporting career into retirement has received a considerable amount of attention in the sporting industry and something Ben is passionate about. A lifelong process of becoming an athlete requires extensive training and nutrition tracking, continuous coaching and guidance, and being surrounded by a community of like-minded people from a young age. So what happens when their career eventually comes to a close? This week we chat with the legend Ben Alexander, now retired from Rugby Union. He played a record 154 games for the ACT Brumbies, 72 tests for the Wallabies, and scored 25 tries. The father of 3 and parkrunner co-owns the ACT’s “Best Pub” and 6-time “Best Live Sports Venue” The Dock. A Sports Journalism graduate, he currently studies Computing at the ANU and is the Chief Energy Tracker of the energy management app - Alfred.

Alfred is a personal energy management app that helps you track how much you eat, which is arguably the biggest influence on your energy and how you feel. Tracking how much he ate helped Ben to find balance with food, and get a better understanding of his eating habits beyond “oh, I just eat too much” as he learned he wasn’t eating enough energy on busy days and would eat too much on days he didn’t exercise. In the past tracking your food took time, but Alfred “can do the work for you” and he gets easier to use the more you use him. Simply send him a photo or a short text description of your meal, and he will estimate the amount of energy in it and return the results before your next meal. Alfred then learns what you like to eat and predicts your next meal to save you time. Download Alfred here.

Alfred IG: @the.alfred.app

Ben’s Blog: https://benalexander.substack.com

Twitter: benny_alexander

Canberra Pub “The Dock” IG: @thedockcbr

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