Barbell Shrugged

In this episode, OG Barbell Shrugged crew member Alex Maclin joins Doug Larson, Coach Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane to talk nutrition for jiu-jitsu, combat sports, and high-performance training. Alex shares his evolution from overweight beginner to Olympic weightlifter, nutrition coach, and four-stripe brown belt, explaining how his personal nutrition shifted from fat loss to strength, aesthetics...

In this episode, Doug Larson, Dr. Mike Lane, and Coach Travis Mash break down the real-world science of training for aesthetics: getting leaner, building muscle, and looking better without losing sight of performance, health, and longevity. Mike opens with a wild DEXA scan story about breast implants and body composition testing, explaining how implants can skew lean mass and bone density numbers....

For years, one of the biggest criticisms of CrossFit has been that, Given every workout is different, it's difficult to measure and track training stress in a meaningful way. Dr. Jerry Mangine joins Doug Larson, Travis Mash, and Mike Lane to discuss a decade of research aimed at solving that problem. Jerry breaks down how his team analyzed every CrossFit Open workout ever performed, developed equa...

Peptides have exploded in popularity over the last few years, but separating legitimate science from marketing hype has become increasingly difficult. In this episode, Dr. Kyle Gillett joins Doug Larson, Dr. Mike Lane, and Coach Travis Mash for a deep dive into the world of peptides, growth hormone secretagogues, GLP-1 medications, and emerging therapies that may shape the future of performance, r...

In this episode, Doug Larson, Dr. Mike Lane, and Coach Travis Mash break down what it actually means to train tactical athletes such as police officers, firefighters, military personnel, SWAT teams, cadets, and first responders who may be called into high-stress physical situations at any time. The conversation starts with the Enhanced Games and the reality of performance-enhancing drugs in sport,...

In this episode, strength coach, educator, and IFAST co-founder Mike Robertson joins Doug Larson, Dr. Mike Lane, and Coach Travis Mash to talk about how serious lifters and athletes can train hard without destroying their bodies in the process. Mike shares his path from early T-Nation contributor to gym owner and longtime coach, explaining how his background in biomechanics shaped the way he evalu...

In this episode, Doug Larson, Dr. Mike Lane, and Coach Travis Mash break down athlete monitoring, readiness testing, and how coaches can use simple data to make better training decisions. Travis explains how his master's thesis used daily depth jumps, subjective questionnaires, and warm-up performance to track fatigue and readiness in weightlifters. The big lesson: testing only works when you mini...

In this episode, Doug Larson, Coach Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane break down cardio for strength athletes, especially lifters who have spent years chasing numbers in the gym but have not deliberately trained their heart, lungs, and work capacity. The big idea is simple: the less time you have, the more intensity matters; the more time you have, the more room you have for lower-intensity zone 2 wo...

In this episode, Dr. Ben Steel joins Doug Larson and Dr. Mike Lane to break down the psychology of self-sabotage, performance anxiety, and why high performers often get in their own way. Ben shares his background as a former wrestler, certified mental performance consultant, and mental health counselor, explaining how his own experience with pre-performance anxiety led him into sports psychology....

In this episode, Doug Larson, Coach Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane explain why velocity-based training is a powerful tool for athletes who want to perform better without constantly feeling beat up. Instead of relying on grinders and fatigue-heavy sessions, they show how training with speed and intent can help athletes become more explosive, more efficient, and more prepared for sport. The big pict...

Cody Taylor went from living out of a van on a music tour, signed to a major label and playing after Def Leppard, to setting unsupported fastest known times on 550-mile wilderness trails no one had ever completed without a support crew. He didn't start running until 2020. By 2023 he was finishing 100-milers. By 2024 he was carrying a 53-pound pack through 650 kilometers of Quebec backcountry alone...

In this episode, Doug Larson and Dr. Mike Lane sit down with Rami Alhamad, founder of Alma and former creator of Push, to explore how AI is changing nutrition coaching and performance tracking. Rami shares his background in engineering, strength training, and startup building, including the journey of creating Push, the velocity-based training platform later acquired by Whoop. The conversation cov...

In this episode, Doug Larson, Dr. Mike Lane, and Coach Travis Mash break down the performance pyramid: a simple way to organize the biggest drivers of strength, muscle, and performance. At the base are the non-negotiables: training, nutrition, and sleep. The crew opens by challenging the idea that tiny programming details or trendy methods can outrun poor fundamentals, using the old Colorado Exper...

In this episode, Doug Larson, Dr. Mike Lane, and Coach Travis Mash flip the usual strength conversation on its head and make the case for single joint training. Instead of focusing only on squats, deadlifts, cleans, and presses, they explain when movements like leg curls, calf raises, lateral raises, curls, triceps work, and hip isolation drills become incredibly valuable. The core idea is simple:...

In this episode, Doug Larson, Coach Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane sit down with longtime strength coach Scott Charland to unpack what it really takes to build athletes and build a sustainable career in strength and conditioning. Scott shares his path from collegiate strength coach to leading one of the most unusual and impressive sports performance models in the country at Parkview Sports Medicin...

In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Doug Larson, Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane sit down with Center College strength coach Jeremy Carlson to unpack how he built a high-functioning strength and conditioning culture at a small Division III school with limited staff, limited time, and one shared weight room. Jeremy explains how he went from being a former soccer player and CrossFit gym manager to l...

In this episode, Dr. Tommy Wood returns to Barbell Shrugged for part two of a deep conversation on brain health, cognitive decline, and the daily habits that shape long-term mental performance. Joined by Doug Larson, Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane, Tommy unpacks why oral health matters far more than most people realize, explaining how gum disease, oral bacteria, and chronic inflammation may contri...

In this episode, Doug Larson sits down with Coach Travis Mash and Dr. Mike Lane to challenge the "one-size-fits-all" approach to supplement dosing. They break down why most labels are effectively written for an average-sized person, and why that matters when you're 100 pounds soaking wet, or a 300-pound lineman. Using real stories (like a 450 mg caffeine pre-workout for a small athlete and the cla...

In this episode, Doug Larson, Dr. Mike Lane, and Coach Travis Mash sit down with Dr. Andrew Jagim, Director of Sports Medicine Research for the Mayo Clinic Health System, to talk about what actually works for building stronger, more resilient young athletes. Andrew shares how his applied research feeds directly back into real-world coaching, especially for under-resourced D3 athletes, and why the...

In this episode, Doug Larson sits down with Dr. Mike Lane and Coach Travis Mash to break down one of the most effective tools in strength and conditioning: heavy carries. From farmer's walks and yoke carries to unilateral overhead and bottoms-up kettlebell variations, they explore why these simple movements deliver massive returns. The group discusses programming strategies, including time and loa...

In this episode, Dr. Stephen Cabral joins Doug Larson and Dr. Mike Lane to break down how he went from a decade-long "idiopathic illness" in his teens to building one of the biggest health education platforms in the space, including more than 3,600 daily podcast episodes. Cabral shares the turning points in his own recovery: years of heavy antibiotic exposure, chronic stress, gut dysbiosis (candid...

In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Doug Larson, Travis Mash (powerlifting world champion), and Dr. Michael Lane break down how to deadlift across the entire lifespan, from kids learning to hinge to lifters in their 40s, 50s, and beyond chasing strength without paying for it later. They start with youth training principles that actually work: keep it simple, keep it safe, and keep it fun. Kettleb...

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon returns to Barbell Shrugged with Doug Larson, Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane to lay out a simple case: muscle is the missing centerpiece of modern health care. Our culture's weight loss obsession has distracted us from the bigger problem, under-muscled, metabolically unhealthy people aging into frailty. Drawing from her training in nutritional sciences and geriatrics, Gabrielle...

In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Doug Larson is joined by longtime co-host Travis Mash and new co-host Dr. Mike Lane for a return visit from one of the show's most popular guests, Dr. Tommy Wood. Tommy breaks down the core thesis of his new book, The Stimulated Mind (releasing March 24), which uses dementia prevention as the headline but is really about boosting cognition at every stage of lif...

In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Doug Larson is joined by longtime co-host Travis Mash and new co-host Michael Lane as they welcome back John Rusin for his first appearance on the show in five years. The conversation opens with a candid transition moment for the podcast, acknowledging Anders Varner's departure and setting the stage for a new chapter of Barbell Shrugged. From there, the crew di...