How to age well: founder of wellness spa who aims to live to 110 on the philosophy behind its daily hikes, yoga, and plant-based, no-alcohol diet

Alex Glasscock, who founded The Ranch wellness retreats with his wife, Sue, to help clients live better and longer lives, sees no reason he can’t live past 110

He explains the thinking behind its nutrition, exercise and relaxation programmes, through which guests routinely lose weight, shed fat and put on muscle

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Alex Glasscock, co founder of The Ranch, a luxury health, wellness and fitness retreat with programmes in Malibu, California, and Italy, aims to live to at least 110 or “die trying”. Photo: The Ranch

Tara Loader Wilkinson

Published: 7:45am, 26 Dec 2022Updated: 12:59pm, 2 Jan 2023

Alex Glasscock, who is nearly 60, has an ambitious goal; to live to at least 110. He reckons it is doable.

“110-plus is looking pretty good, and if I don’t make it, I die trying,” he laughs over the phone from his home in the US state of Maryland.

If anyone can, he can. Along with Sue, his wife of 30 years, Glasscock is co-founder of The Ranch, a pair of wellness retreats with programmes in Malibu, California and Italy. The couple are ideal poster children for their enterprise: lithe, tanned and limber, quick to laugh and looking half their age.

Both Alex, from Texas, and Sue, from Michigan, have always been physically active and health conscious. They met on Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County, California, and bonded over a shared love of the outdoors. The two enjoyed surfing, rollerblading, running triathlons, hiking, snow skiing and more.

Sue Glasscock co-founded The Ranch with her husband, Alex, to help people who share their goal of living longer and better lives. Photo: The Ranch

They held down demanding jobs; Alex running a commercial mortgage company, Sue in interior design. For this couple, nutrition, exercise and relaxation are a priority, but they soon realised few others in their social network felt the same way.

“In our early 40s, we would visit our family and friends in Michigan and Texas, and we realised people were prematurely ageing,” Glasscock says. This planted a seed; they wanted to help others find a way to live better and longer lives.