Barbell Shrugged

Chris Manderino is founder of, a whole-foods plant-based company that helps people achieve optimal health. LYFE FUEL produces simple, functional products from trustworthy and sustainable sources.   Chris is a former NCAA and NFL player, who pursued an opportunity to live abroad while playing football in Italy post his NFL career. While in Italy, he was struck by the vast cultural chasm between the...

Mike Sherbakov is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and adventurer on a mission to create a better world. He spends his days growing his global community, digital agency (Greatness Media), and impact accelerator (Greatness Ventures).   Mike is grateful for the opportunity to work closely with purpose-driven individuals and organizations while exploring the world and learning everything I can along...

This is a special episode, where Anders Varner (@andersvarner) and Doug Larson (@douglaselarson) talk about their combined experience of 40 years in strength & conditioning. They talk about where it all began, how their training plans have progressed over 20 years respectively, the beginnings of a career in strength, how to create training programs for life, what it means to create a whole body ap...

In The Strong Coach Season 1 Epilogue, Mike talks to Danny Rios, a graduate of The Strong Coach program. Danny is co-owner of F3 Athletics Home of Imperial Beach CrossFit and has always been passionate about helping people improve their lives.   Danny has always been an athlete and accomplished his goal of attending college on an athletic scholarship for football. He holds a degree in Exercise Sci...

If someone asked you what your crowning achievement is in your life, what would your answer be? For Coach Mike Burgener, the answer is simple: his kids! When you get through listening to our conversation with the man who has seen it all, and done it all in his life, it will make so much sense.   In this week's episode, we get into what this hard headed football player from Notre Dame learned as an...

Mark Sisson is founder of Primal Nutrition and Primal Kitchen, a fitness author, blogger, and a former distance runner, triathlete and Ironman competitor. He is also the author of numerous books, including The Primal Blueprint, which was credited with turbocharging the growth of the primal/paleo movement back in 2009.   In 2017, Mark officially became a New York Times bestselling author with The K...

This is a special episode, where Ryan and Yaya take us down the nutrition rabbit hole again. Check out the previous time they've done it: Real Chalk  — Nutrition 101: More Than Just The Basics  — 23.   One thing Ryan and Yaya can agree on is food and their love for nutrition. In this episode, they talk about how to get the best quality food when eating out, what to look for in restaurants to know...

Dr. Mike T. Nelson has spent 18 years of his life learning how the human body works, specifically focusing on how to properly condition it to burn fat and become stronger, more flexible, and healthier. He's has a PhD in Exercise Physiology, a BA in Natural Science, and an MS in Biomechanics. He's an adjunct professor and a member of the American College of Sports Medicine.   Dr. Nelson has been ca...

Jessica Lucero (@jessicalucero9) is a 4x USA Weightlifting National Champion, a world team member, current American record holder in the snatch, clean & jerk and total, and has dreams to go the Olympics. In 2017, Jessica cleaned and jerked double her bodyweight at USA Weightlifting in the 58kg weight class. In 2018, she swept Gold for the 4th time in a row and snatched 200 lbs. in the 63kg weight...

Paul Chek is an internationally-renowned expert in the fields of corrective and high-performance exercise kinesiology. For over 20 years, Chek's unique, holistic health approach to treatment and education has transformed the lives of countless men and women through programs like the P~P~S Success Mastery Coaching Program. Paul is considered to be the grandfather of the fitness industry, and he is...

On this episode of Feed Me Fuel Me we are joined by Nutrition Coach and personal trainer, Kelli Michelle.. Kelli began her athletic career as a soccer player at Arizona State. Shortly after graduation, she found herself real estate, not fulfilling her life's potential and engaging in long stints of cardio in a caloric deficit to maintain what she thought was fitness. She would later discover that...

Michael Cazayoux is co-founder of Brute Strength, and host of Brute Strength Podcast.  At the age of 17, Michael moved from a small town in Louisiana to Utah for drug rehabilitation. It was that experience that led him to fall in love with CrossFit and helping others through coaching and mentoring. Prior to coaching multiple CrossFit Game athletes, Michael competed and became a back-to-back Affili...

Scott McGee is founder and host of The Sisu Way and co-host of Wodcast Podcast. He is also a police member in Santa Monica, CA, and a detective, beat officer, and member of the SWAT team. Scott describes himself as a family man, friend, thinker, guardian, and a peaceful warrior with an open mind and unconquerable soul. The Sisu Way is a show about grit, character, life philosophy, fitness, leaders...

Benjamin Bunn (@coach_bunny) is a retired Special Forces Green Beret and Army Infantry Officer with over 17 years of service, who became a CrossFit gym owner. Ben owns Cigar City CrossFit (@cigarcitycrossfit) based out of Tampa, FL, and spends most his time training others in the gym. He is also working towards competing as a master in the CrossFit games and becoming a certified Yoga instructor.  ...

Anders Varner  is the host of Barbell Shrugged and co-creator of The Low Back Fix, The Knee Fix, and The Shoulder Fix. Anders found the weight room at age 13 and decided he would call it home for the rest of his life. A four-time CrossFit regional competitor and member of John Cena's "One Ton Club", Anders has trained with and coached high level athletes from the worlds of the NFL, WWE, and CrossF...

James Fitzgerald is founder and CEO of OPEX Fitness. His 20+ years of experience and service as a strength coach/technician, tireless practice on refining energy system work, nourishment and lifestyle balancing techniques, and training of other coaches, has made OPEX a sought after method of bringing fitness to a Higher Order.   James has found a desire and passion to understanding fitness through...

Adee Zukier Cazayoux is founder and CEO of Working Against Gravity, who is also known as the "Barbell Gypsy". You can find Adee weightlifting, bobsledding, powerlifting, or competing in the NPGL or the CrossFit open. In 2016, she took a Bronze Medal at the Canadian National Weightlifting Championships. Adee has a BAH Psychology, and Masters in Teaching. She is also a Precision Nutrition Level 1 co...

This is a special episode, where Ryan and Yaya cover performance hacks on Ryan's couch after they have done a sensory, deprivation float at FloatEasy in Orange County, CA.   Every day is a new opportunity to have the perfect day, and even though we might fail every day, it is the perfect opportunity to implement to strategies and tweaks the next day.   In this episode, Ryan and Yaya dive into diff...

Jonathan Mendoza is Owner and Chief Practitioner at MSW Lounge (@mswlounge). Jonathan has an extensive education, and has been trained in: Sports therapy with olympic and professional athletes, physical medicine & rehabilitation, pain management, family medicine, urgent care, and functional medicine. Baldomera "Baldo" Garza is COO and Co-Founder of MSW Lounge. Baldo comes from a background of sale...

Michael Cazayoux is co-founder of Brute Strength, and host of Brute Strength Podcast. At the age of 17, Michael moved from a small town in Louisiana to Utah for drug rehabilitation. It was that experience that led him to fall in love with CrossFit and helping others through coaching and mentoring. Prior to coaching multiple CrossFit Game athletes, Michael competed and became a back-to-back Affilia...

It has been said, "the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step." Our guest this week, Beau Ash, has taken many first steps as his life has unfolded into the chapters of his story. Beau went through a journey of acceptance and self-love. One of the hardest concepts to grasp as we move through life, is the idea that with loss, comes growth. For a great deal of Beau's life, so many of the ne...

Kyle Kingsbury is Director of Human Optimization at @Onnit and host of The Onnit Podcast. He is also a retired professional mixed martial artist, who fought at @UFC six years, and a former football player (Arizona State). While fighting at the highest level, Kyle became fascinated with nutrition, performance, and recovery. Since his MMA retirement, his focus has shifted to learning more about long...

Jim Crowell is the CEO of OPEX Fitness.  Above all, he loves building businesses and mentoring coaches and business owners to enjoy inspiring, fulfilling, and successful careers. Prior to becoming the CEO of OPEX Fitness, Jim started, grew, and sold multiple successful gyms in Pittsburgh, PA.   Prior to his fitness career, Jim successfully traded commodities for a hedge fund in Austin, TX. He also...

Liz Germain NSCA-CPT, Pn1, is the co-founder of Super Sister Fitness, a master trainer, and a YouTube marketing expert. She teaches entrepreneurs how to use YouTube and video marketing to generate highly targeted, organic leads for their business. Before she started helping other businesses with YouTube marketing, Liz was expertly trained as part of UCLA's Fitness Leadership Program, and worked fo...