BarBend Podcast

Today we're talking to Jake Boly, BarBend’s outgoing fitness editor. In nearly four years with BarBend, Jake has covered hundreds of strength sports events and written or edited thousands of articles on training and strength research. We look back on Jake’s time in and contributions toward strength journalism, including the athletes and feats that impressed him the most!

Today we're talking to Ryan Dorris, accomplished bodybuilder, powerlifter, strength coach and owner of Fortis EQ. Strength sports — particularly CrossFit, but it's not alone — have witnessed lots of changes in the last few months. In this episode, Ryan reflects on how and why strength sports have lacked inclusivity in the past. He's optimistic though, offering a positive and insight...

Today we're talking to Zack George, who finished the 2020 CrossFit Open in first among males in the United Kingdom. Zack’s journey is an inspirational one: From overweight kid to the UK’s fittest man, we talk about the challenges and humbling moments along his path. Zack also joins us to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the CrossFit season, as well as his response to CrossFit HQ...

Today we're talking to Joe Vennare, co-founder of Fitt (F-I-T-T) and the mind behind Fitt Insider, one of the fitness industries leading platforms for the business of fitness. Joe’s also a former gym owner and passionate writer in the space.  Joe lives at a unique intersection of fitness business and practice. That means everything from breaking news on digital health & fitness, connectin...

Today we're talking to Blaine McConnell, currently a member of Team USA’s Bobsled National Team. He’s also arguably the world’s strongest bobsledder Blaine is a former collegiate and Arena football player who found success in CrossFit, competing on a team at the 2016 CrossFit Games. After finding out about Team USA’s bobsled combine through a friend — a story we discuss in this recording — Bl...

JamaRR Royster is an elite powerlifter, strength coach, and per his Instagram page, the Pancake Gawd. Outside of squatting north of 700 lbs and coaching handfuls of athletes, JamaRR spends his time educating and inspiring others to be their best selves and building some of the most intricate desserts you'll ever see.

Meg Gallagher, also known as Meg Squats, is a weathered strength coach, powerlifter, and YouTube personality. Currently, Meg has her hands in multiple projects that are all designed to help lifters everywhere improve their strength and knowledge in the world of fitness. Her popular program “Stronger By the Day” helps countless lifters improve on a weekly basis, and her apparel brand, Strong Strong...

Today we're talking to Kristin Hedstrom, a personal trainer who is also an Olympian in the sport of rowing. Kristin isn’t the first Olympian we’ve had on the BarBend podcast, but she is the first elite rower to give us insight into what it’s like to train in that sport at the highest level. We discuss the importance of strength training to rowing performance, how Kristin and other top rowers...

Today we're talking to Jonathan Goodman, a trainer and author who founded the Personal Trainer Development Center (PTDC) in 2011. The goal of the site was to bring fitness professionals the information, support, and business guidance they needed but couldn’t find anywhere else. I’ve known Jonathan since right around that time, and he’s quietly — and sometimes not so quietly — built what I thi...

Today we're talking to para powerlifter and motivational speaker Garrison Redd. As a high school football player, Garrison had aspirations of going pro. But when he lost the use of his legs after being shot by a stray bullet in his neighborhood at the age of 17, his life took a different course. The 31-year-old Brooklyn native is one of the country’s strongest para powerlifters in the -56kg w...

Today we're talking to weightlifter, powerlifter, and gamer Ashley Svendbye. After discovering strength training, Ashley trained as a powerlifter for a number of years before making the switch to weightlifting. What she learned about the two strength communities - especially as a cross sport athlete — provides some interesting context on the similarities and differences between the two. Are s...

Today we're talking to Dr. Teddy Willsey, a sports rehab and performance specialist who works with athletes of all levels in building strong, resilient movement patterns. Dr. Willsey is one of the go-to specialists for helping people exercise smarter, and we touch on many of the misconceptions around optimal training and rehab today (including the types of thinking that can actually do the mo...

Today we're talking to professional golfer Scott Stallings, who has three PGA Tour wins. Stallings may be one of the golf world’s elite, but he’s also been making waves in the fitness community for his physical transformation. About two years ago, Stallings made a commitment to lean out in order to boost his longevity in professional golf. Since then, he’s trained with some of the fitness and...

Today we're talking to Bethany Shadburne, a multi-time CrossFit Games athlete who finished in the Games Top 10 in 2019. While many top Games athletes seem to only highlight their biggest lifts and fastest times, Bethany is better known on social media for the minutia; hundreds of thousands of people tune into her posts for creative prehab and warm-up exercises, a routine Bethany prioritizes b...

Today I’m talking to Scott Herman, a trainer, BSN athlete, influencer, and founder of MuscularStrength.com. Scott was one of the first mainstream fitness influencers on YouTube and built out one of the internet’s first real video instructional libraries. Scott and I catch up on his background as a reality TV star, how fitness on the internet has evolved, and what he thinks is most misleading in th...

Armen Hammer has worn a lot of hats around the CrossFit community: Athlete, affiliate owner, writer, vlogger, you name it. And his relationship with CrossFit HQ has been colorful, to say the least. Years ago, Armen, who was attending as a blogger and spectator, was removed from the CrossFit Games by event staff. More recently, he’s built close friendships with people inside CrossFit’s leadership,...

Today I’m talking to Syn Martinez, who owns and operates the fitness and lifestyle clothing brand Afro Brutality. Syn also owned and coached at CrossFit Harlem from 2009 to 2014. I’ve known Syn for around seven years, and he’s always been very transparent and outspoken in his views. In this conversation — recorded just a day before it was announced Glassman would be stepping down as CrossFit CEO —...

Ebenezer Samuel is a trainer and the Fitness Director for Men's Health Magazine. He joins the BarBend Podcast to talk about how his fascination with superheroes guided his career, the fittest professional athletes, giving pole dancing a try, and much more.

On June 4th, Professor Richard McLaren released his team's report investigating allegations of financial corruption, election fraud, and doping cover ups at the International Weightlifting Federation's (IWF) highest levels. According to McLaren's report, former IWF President Dr. Tamas Aján was involved in deep financial corruption (with over $10 million unaccounted for) as well as c...

Bill Esch is best known online as the Kettlebell Warrior. Starting with a background in Olympic weightlifting, Bill discovered kettlebell sport in his late 20s. After five years of training, he became the first American male to achieve the rank of master of sport international class in kettlebell sport.  In today’s episode, we talk about the origins and history of kettlebell sport, what exactly it...

Jay Maryniak is a trainer and athlete who's been innovating in the functional wellness space for over a decade. Jay joins us to talk about the impact of COVID-19 on boutique fitness and fitness classes. He also talks about minimalist home gyms and his personal experiences training as a Type 1 diabetic. 

Charlie Dickson is the 2018 International Powerlifting Federations' 83kg Junior World Champion. He's also a Doctor of Physical Therapy with an educational and professional background that gives him unique insight into training at an elite level. Charlie joins the BarBend Podcast to talk about training frequency and intensity misconceptions, his surprising approach to warm-ups, and the ac...

Justin LoFranco is the founder and CEO of Morning Chalk Up, a daily newsletter and media company dedicated to all things CrossFit. He joins the BarBend Podcast to talk about his roots on Capitol Hill and schisms within the CrossFit community. He also shares reactions from his friends and family when he decided to leave behind a promising career in politics to focus on such a niche sport. 

Jen Widerstrom rose to the national spotlight as a star on "American Gladiators," but after the show was canceled, a career in the fitness industry didn't happen overnight. We talk with Jen about behind-the-scenes stories from "Gladiators," finding footing as a coach and trainer, and eventually becoming one of Hollywood's got-to trainers for TV and shows like "Th...

Dan John is one of the most respected coaches in strength & conditioning. Over the course of his 40+ year career, he's become well known for straightforward, effective protocols and programs that strip away the fluff to proven principles. He joins the podcast to talk about the popularity of his 10,000 kettlebell swing program, the simplest path to recovery and performance, and what to foc...