Barbell Shrugged

Jason Khalipa is a former CrossFit Games world champion, author, and lifelong competitor. Jason is also the CEO and Founder of NCFIT, a global company aimed at making fitness effective, fun, and accessible.   In January 2016, Jason and his family were faced with a parent's worst nightmare. Jason's daughter Ava was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of four. As all things in life, Jason and his fam...

Nikki Leonard has been in the social media and fitness industry for over 10 years. She has been the face of massive supplements brands, a figure champion, a CrossFit athlete, and currently a mom/entrepreneur. Having been part of her life for a little over 2 years, I had the opportunity to watch and learn so much from her in terms of social media and business building. Nikki also happens to be beau...

If you want to grow your Instagram following, pay special attention to this is episode with Ross Johnson and Rachel Bell, co-founders of Trill Media, an Instagram marketing agency that helps brands increase their audience engagement, create a tribe of millennial/GenZ buyers, and become highly influential on Instagram.   In this episode, you'll learn what's the drama triangle and what role might yo...

Joe Kudla is an entrepreneur and founder of Vuori Clothing (@vuoriclothing), an active lifestyle apparel brand that draws inspiration from the aspirational coastal California lifestyle, an integration of yoga, surf, sport, art and a strong visionary spirit. In this episode, Joe shares the history of Vuori, what it's like to establish a brand in a saturated market, how to establish  a culture that...

Round two with Mike Bledsoe on the Feed Me Fuel Me Podcast. Since our last conversation, Mike had journeyed around the world and embraced a nomadic life for a while with his wife Ashley, who was featured on the last episode (#110). Now that we've caught up with Mike got the chance to sit down with his undivided attention, we get into right away. Newly 37, and another year wiser, we get a sneak pea...

Dr. Sean Pastuch is a doctor, coach, educator, coach to athletes, and founder of Active Life Rx, which he founded with a belief that the world deserves better solutions than the current modern medical model. For programs with Active Life Rx: http://alturl.com/zr6qm   Active Life Rx is the only company in the world helping thousands of people to get out of pain without going to the doctor or missin...

Lauren Powers is a force of nature. After graduating high school as valedictorian, she got a business degree from the University of Hawaii, owned a surfing academy, and served as a firefighter before making her mark on the fitness industry.   Lauren competed in her first bodybuilding competition in 2001 and has been unstoppable ever since. With ten championships under her belt, Lauren now offers p...

Ricky McCoy  is owner and head coach of MMA Institute. He was the first professional MMA fighter in Virginia, who turned into the top MMA trainer in Virginia, and became a nationally sought after MMA fighting coach.   Rick has over 30 years of experience in martial arts, a second degree black belt in brazilian jiu-jitsu, first degree black belt in judo, fifth degree black belt in sambo, third degr...

Kenny Kane is co-host of The Body of Knowledge, a serialized podcast on the Shrugged Collective network that features stories from the intersection of science and fitness. Kenny is also a former comedian and lifelong human performance coach.   Kenny was raised in fitness. The house he grew up in was literally less than 50 yards away from his family's business: a fitness club. Working out, playing...

There is a point in everyone's life when they realize that they have been playing it small. On the other side of that moment you have to make a decision: Continue life in the shadows of others or start playing to your fullest potential.   Our guest this week made that choice and is playing it bigger than ever! Ashley Bledsoe crushes this episode of Feed Me Fuel Me. If you are in a relationship thi...

Dr. Daniel Chao, CEO of Halo Neuroscience and creator of Halo Sport, dedicated his whole life to understanding the brain and its function. Specifically, how electrical stimulation can help the brain more rapidly improve physical performance, cognitive function, and overall happiness.   Halo Sport is the first-ever brain stimulator used to accelerate movement-based learning. In other words, it spee...

Laurie Christine King (@lauriechristineking) is a dietetics grad, nutrition coach, educational blogger, and total badass in the nutrition and fitness space who utilizes social media as a free educational platform and specializes in hormone health.   Not only that, but she has a way of saying things that's much more untraditional than most. Don't get me wrong, it's always incredibly accurate, insig...

Leo Urquides, a.k.a. Leo "Savage", is the creator of MaceMovement and founder of Steel Mace Flow. Leo is a Steel Mace Flow coach based in Austin, TX that travels across America teaching his Steel Mace Flow system. His unconventional approach to training is based on his belief in function over muscle. This philosophy has lead him to the use of tools such as kettle bells, battle ropes, sandbags, bod...

Elijah Muhammad, a.k.a EZ Muhammad, is a professional CrossFit athlete, a 2x CrossFit Games Athlete, and Owner of CrossFit Unorthodox. In this episode, we talk about olympic lifting technique for tall athletes, staying relevant as a CrossFit athlete, the business of being a professional CrossFitter, training with Rich Froning, lessons learned from the Fittest Man in History, and more.   Enjoy! - D...

Continuing our series of badass females on Feed Me Fuel Me, is Jill Petersen, founder of Hermonia. Jill has been on journey of personal growth and development for some time now.   As she would grow to find, the path to happiness and fulfillment begins within. Through an extensive process she was required to ask herself the deepest questions and find the gaps in her development. Jill was required t...

Hunter Mcintyre is Pro Endurance Athlete, Broken Skull Champion, BoundlessTV co-Host, Obstacle Course Racing Champion, and a Macho Man. With his unique catchphrase, "biceps win races", Hunter strikes a brilliant contrast to the "skinny minis", each and every time he takes the podium.   Hunter, AKA 'The Sheriff" loves to perform with the showmanship of a WWF wrestler. He is, however, an inveterate...

I've been friends with Natalie Eva Marie and Jonathan Coyle for years, and it's unbelievable how much these two do. They're some of the coolest people I know, and yet they're still down to earth enough to send me a text to see how I'm doing or invite me over for a BBQ.   You might recognize Natalie from WWE's Smackdown LIVE in 2013, whose roster also features wrestlers like John Cena, or from the...

Drew Canole is nutrition specialist, transformation specialist and national spokesperson for the benefits of juicing vegetables for health and vitality. He is the founder and CEO of Fitlife. TV, where he shares educational, inspirational and entertaining videos and articles about health, fitness, healing and longevity.   Drew is also a best selling author, and founder of Organifi , our favorite su...

Chris Spealler was an individual competitor in 7 CrossFit Games, is an Affiliate Owner, and trainer for CrossFit Headquarters teaching a variety of seminars both domestic and internationally.   Chris has been fortunate enough to help grow the sport of CrossFit through competing and teaching at a variety of competitions and seminars from as early as 2007, and is currently sharing his knowledge and...

Big Brother came into my life when I wasn't myself and was struggling to reconnect with myself.   In this episode of Building A Badass, I talk about my experience on Big Brother (the TV show), how breaking my foot put me in a deeper dark place, how coming out of the house was a harder shell shock than I could have imagined, and how the messages of my fans helped me reconnect to myself and my why,...

Dr. Rachel Hesslebrock is changing the game through the launch of Alinea Health , Arizona's first mobile naturopathic medical clinic. Concierge medicine is making the relationship people used to have with their doctor real again.   Dr. Rachel has created an opportunity for her patients to develop a quality relationship with their doctor in which she not only has the ability to assess and treat acu...

Evan DeMarco (@evan_demarco) is a sports medicine and nutrition expert, published author, public speaker and frequent guest on television, radio, and digital platforms. He is a successful entrepreneur whose interest in diet, health and supplements began as an athlete and consumer determined to improve an industry that was going through massive transformation. Currently, Evan serves as the CMO and...

This episode is with an all time favorite guest, Mr. Ronnie Teasdale (@ra_of_earth), a.k.a Ravi Chander. He's such an interesting character that literally every minute spent talking to him just brightens your day. As an old friend and employee of his from the days of "Mean Streets" in Los Angeles... I've had a front row seat for his current journey. He's gone from a regionals level CrossFIt athlet...

Matt Cooper, a.k.a Coop, is a nutrition consultant, strength & conditioning coach, and sport scientist from California. Driven by an obsession to expand human performance, Coop spends his time researching, experimenting, doing nerdy things, and building better humans in general at Stand Out Performance (Fast Twitch LA) in Compton, California.   Coop's own personal journey began in athletics and fi...

Charlie Engle is an ultramarathon runner, an adventure-seeker, a global explorer, and a philanthropist. He's also a recovering crack addict, a convicted felon, and a man driven to the edge of human endurance and achievement.   Charlie is the author of Running Man: A Memoir of Ultra-Endurance, a gripping, vivid, gritty, funny, unforgettable memoir chronicling his globe-spanning races, his record-br...