Barbell Shrugged - Talking Training W/ Crossfit Games Athletes, Strength Coaches & More

Ashleigh chats with coach and metabolism expert (and kiteboarding daredevil) Dr. Mike T Nelson about his latest research and coaching work, including a deep dive into metabolic flexibility, sleep hygiene, the differences between good and bad stress, myths around nutrition and training for longevity, and why hibernating bears might have the right idea on healthy living (anyone else want to sign up for the “sleep through winter” health plan?) This one is equal parts fun and educational – hope you enjoy it!    Dr. Mike T. Nelson has spent more than 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. He’s been called in to share his techniques with top government agencies. The techniques he’s developed, and the results Mike

John Swanson is the founder and CEO of The Granite Games, owner of Fast Factory Fitness, and owner of Factory Forged.  The goal of The Granite Games is to create a platform that allows all levels and ages to chase their athletic dreams. Our event gives athletes of every skill level the opportunity to compete and have their own professional athlete experience. Each element of this experience is carefully crafted to create a lasting impression. Everything from the athlete’s personalized name tag to the design of the competition floor all play a critical role in this experience. In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, the crew catches John Swanson weeks before the sale of the Granite Games to Loud and Live. Swanson is not only the CEO of the Granite Games but the owner of Fast Factory, a gym in St Cloud, MN and Factory Forged, and online gym consulting business for CrossFit affiliate owners. Minute Breakdown: 0-10 – How to Run a Competition the Size of the Granite Games on a 9 months schedule. 11-20 – Coaches walki

Jeremy at one point lived a life most people can only dream of. I mean, come on. He grew up on the set of the most popular TV show in the universe, surrounded by hot babes all day long, and got paid millions of dollars to do it! That kind of fame, however—especially when it comes at a young age—can have a dark side.    In this episode, we touch on a few of his most life altering moments and how health and fitness plays a role in all of it.    Spoiler alert... We talk about stabbing people in the first 5 minutes. Hold on to your seat because it’s going to be a bumpy ride! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/rc-jackson ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe

JP owns and operates BRICK Fitness Co. Established in West Hollywood, LA. in 2010, BRICK rapidly expanded to tier one cities such as New York, Chicago and Boston. Applying a replicable, scalable and proven business model, JP has grown the company to license partners throughout the U.S. and several international partnerships.    JP got his start in membership-based business over 20 years ago after a decorated amateur and professional fight career. JP transferred his extensive athletic triumphs into teaching martial arts and soon thereafter opened his own commercial kickboxing training facilities. He quickly grew into one of the youngest multiple-school location owners in the U.S. Due to his great success in building strong communities and staff; he was sought after by some of the most esteemed Martial Arts academies. With a growing family of nieces and nephews Perelmutter was compelled to move back West. He sold his locations to the managers he had groomed and developed, of which still exist to this day.    U

Kelly Starrett is a coach, physical therapist, author, speaker, and creator of this blog, which has revolutionized how athletes think about human movement and athletic performance. He teaches the wildly popular Crossfit Movement & Mobility Trainer course and has been a guest lecturer at the American Physical Therapy Association annual convention, Google, the Perform Better Summit, the Special Operations Medical Association annual conference, police departments, and elite military groups nationwide. Coach Kelly Starrett received his Doctor of Physical Therapy in 2007 from Samuel Merritt College in Oakland, California.   Minute Breakdown:   0-10 – Travis story recovering from hip replacement  11-20 – Systems that help beginners and world champions 21-30 – You dont know what is happening in your athletes life when you see single movements 31-40 - Fixing knees in when squatting 41 -50 - Spinal flexion in training scenarios 51 -60 - Fixing elbow position in overhead position   Kelly Starrett on Instagram   Tra

Larry Gaier is a personal trainer who was standout intern at Active Life HQ (when there was an Active Life HQ). He is the best communicator on staff at Active Life and his intensity of capacity for empathy is the reason why he gets assigned the clients he does.    In this episode, Dr. Sean and Active Life 1 on 1 staff member, Larry Gaier discuss a client who had some physical pain that was extremely fear based. If you have ever heard “it’s in your head” and thought that this suggestion was offensive, you need to listen to this episode. Any time that a coach tells a client or a doctor tells a patient “it’s in your head” when you know you can feel it in your body, it’s frustrating to hear. In this episode we talk about how they’re directly related, and how it should be communicated.    Minute Breakdown:   0-10 - There was more fear than pain. 11-20 - When you change your physiology you will change your habits. 21-30 - What is an athlete? 31-40 - Communication is the key. 41-50 - Setting boundaries with your coa

Can high intensity athletes benefit and thrive on a ketogenic diet? That’s what we’re trying to figure out in today’s conversation with Rachel Gregory, a Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist, Athletic Trainer, Strength and Conditioning Specialist who completed the first ever human clinical trial looking at the effects of the Ketogenic Diet in CrossFit athletes, published in the International Journal of Sports and Exercise Medicine. She has worked with a variety of athletes including Division I collegiate athletes, WNBA stars, and some of the top bodybuilders in the world. Ashleigh and Rachel chat about when and why it might be beneficial to incorporate a keto diet in training; when it may not be beneficial; the biggest mistakes athletes make when attempting a keto diet; how to incorporate carb or protein cycling; and Ashleigh (a carb fan) attempts to play devil’s advocate, posing the question: maybe athletes can be keto, but should we? All that and more in today’s episode.    Rachel Gregory is a Board-Certif

Alessandra Pichelli was born in Montreal, Quebec. At age 2, her family moved to Bahrain in the Middle East and spent a few years there. Her family then moved to Yokohama, Japan where Alessandra attended St Maur International School. By age 8, Alessandra returned to Canada and grew up in Welland, Ontario. She remained in Canada through her highschool rowing career, which led her to a full scholarship to Saint Mary's College of California. It was during her final year of collegiate rowing that her coach, Nicole Young, introduced her to the sport of CrossFit.    Since then Alessandra has consecutively competed in the Reebok CrossFit Games for eight years; her best finish was during her rookie year in 2013 when she finished 4th.    In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, the crew breaks down what it takes to be an 8 time CrossFit Games Athlete, the training, nutrition, lifestyle, and how she has maintained her competitiveness with the competition getting harder and harder every year.   Minute Breakdown:   0-10 – Lea

Dave Meltzer is the CEO of Sports 1 Marketing, a Forbes “Top 10 Keynote Speaker“, award-winning humanitarian, the host of entrepreneur magazines podcast called, “The Playbook,” and two-time national best-selling author, with 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur.    I mean you name it and this man has done it. Not only is this one of the biggest names we’ve ever had on the show, but he drops some knowledge and little breadcrumbs that we’ve never tasted in any other podcast before.    He reminds me so much of Gary Vhee’s style, that I just thought I’d just dub him the “Gary Vhee of the West.” Get ready to get fired up for the week! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/rc-meltzer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe

As General Manager of The Resort at Pedregal, Fernando Flores brings more than 18 years of hospitality experience to the award-winning property. In his role, Flores is responsible for continuing the success of the prestigious resort while cultivating both domestic and international relationships with guests, colleagues and owners. From achieving financial results and implementation of capital expense projects and focusing on maintaining an efficient and profitable function of the day-to-day operations on property, to providing exceptional guest service and satisfaction property-wide, Flores has made an impact at the resort for over a decade.      Since joining the team in 2008 as Assistant Director of Food & Beverage, his innovative, fresh ideas and determination have enabled him to quickly excel through the ranks, holding various positions at the resort including Director of Food & Beverage, Director of Rooms and Resort Manager. Flores’ multifaceted experience and familiarity with The Resort at

Fitness Instructor who is known for sharing workout related content to his Instagram and for his over 360,000 followers. He is a published author and lecturer known for focusing on the importance of workout techniques related to glutes. He is also the owner of company and brand The Glute Lab.   He earned his PhD in Sports Sciences and is CSCS certified. He earned recognition in the fitness world for being the inventor of The Hip Thruster gym kit. He was then featured in multiple press outlets including Men's Health, Men's Fitness, and FLEX. In this episode of Barbell Shrugged the crew digs into coaching CrossFit games athletes, the journey of a professional CrossFit Coach, and managing business, life, fatherhood, and fitness.   Minute Breakdown: 0-10 – Speaking bro and not getting hung up in the PHD to connect with people  11-20 – Eliminating ego and always learning 21-30 – Why strength and conditioning needs to be lead by researchers and science 31-40 - The value of motor recruitment and soreness 41 -50 - Ge

Dr. Ray is the director of staff at Active Life. He works with one on one clients and is responsible for coaching the staff. If you have heard of the Active Life Immersion program, Dr. Ray runs that too. The dude is a stud!   A neuro surgeon told her she needed spinal fusion, an orthopedist agreed, and a physical therapist couldn’t help. Now she power cleans over 200# and she never had surgery. What happened between the scary prognosis and the heavy clangin’ and bangin’? Give it a listen.    Minute Breakdown:   0-10 - How did you know she didn’t need surgery? 11-20 - He told his wife to hide his gun. 21-30 - Is an anterior pelvic tilt bad? 31-40 - Turning off a false alarm.  41-50 - Even the smallest improvement can lead to the largest.  51-60 - What does the future look like?   Work with an Active Life Coach like Ray at activeliferx.com/shrugged Find Dr. Ray at @RayGormanDpt

Back by popular demand, Ashleigh brings on Dr. Ralph Esposito, naturopathic physician and hormone whisperer to talk about a subject that’s important to the fitness community but largely misunderstood: adrenal fatigue. While many of us have suffered the symptoms and perhaps even been diagnosed, our understanding of the mechanisms behind our adrenal system is often flawed, as is our approach to supporting our adrenal health. Ralph walks us through what’s really happening when we “think” we have adrenal fatigue, discusses many lifestyle and supplemental factors that can help us improve and manage chronic stress and fatigue, and we talk about whether or not it’s even possible to address these issues with young, healthy, type-A athletes, or whether they need to learn the hard way that rest and recovery is as important as training.    Dr. Ralph Esposito is a New York based naturopathic physician, acupuncturist and functional medicine practitioner specializing in integrative urology, men’s health and nutrigenomics.

Founder and head trainer at CrossFit Milford in Milford CT, which has been to the games 4 times and has had athletes at the games 10 years in a row. Team CrossFit Milford finished 2nd in the world in 2015 and Jason has produced 9 podium finishers. His professional focus is on personalized strength, conditioning and movement quality which ensures the foundation is properly built on an individual level so each athlete can reach genetic and athletic potential. He is an established, knowledgeable and respected teacher, coach and resource in the global fitness community. Jason earned his degree in Physical Education and Health from Eastern CT State University where he also played basketball. In this episode of Barbell Shrugged the crew digs into coaching CrossFit games athletes, the journey of a professional CrossFit Coach, and managing business, life, fatherhood, and fitness.   Minute Breakdown: 0-10 – Why to be a great athlete you have to be selfish  11-20 – Progressing as a CrossFit Coach and always learning 21

Barrett has a background in the military in a tiny special forces group called CCT. Originally enlisting with a dental assistant job, he quickly realized that his personality type was closer to the special forces people he had met while he was in. As soon as he could, he signed up for the qualification and process and did whatever he had to do to make it in this elite group.    Once the military was over for him, that personality type and drive eventually propelled him into a successful business in the clothing industry with a brand called “NFQ.”    Not having much experience in business and partnering up with a friend with nothing more than verbal agreements eventually led him into a few problems as the business grew... A lot happens in a small Window of time and Barret shares his experience throughout the entire ordeal. As well as sharing what he wish he would have done differently along the way.  This is a great listen for anyone looking to get into business!  ----------------------------------------------

Stuart Brauer is a 15-year student of strength and conditioning, and he was fortunate to find CrossFit in 2006; his journey consists of humble beginnings,making three figures and running park workouts to owning a million-dollar gym—Urban MVMNT.In 2015, his gym business was self-sustaining so he ventured into helping other micro-gym owners and built the media handle WTF Gym Talkto help provide solutions for the WTF!#%! moments we all have in our business. Today Jason sits down with Stuart Brauer (Stu) to lay out tangible toolsgym owners and business owners alike can use to boost their engagement. Having similar backgrounds and much exposure to the fitness industry, Jason and Stuart, provide helpful insight into areas of marketing, community development, and how to stay relevant in the ever-evolving fitness space. Minute Breakdown: 0-5 –Bootcamp for Business 5-10 –Referrals, Guerilla Marketing, and Operational Decisions 10-15 –Community Connection and Networking 15-20 –Tracking Your Efforts and ROI20-25 –Capita

Louis Simmons is an American powerlifter and strength coach. He is noted for developing the Westside Barbell method of training and applying it to powerlifting and other sports, as well as inventing several pieces of strength training equipment. Westside Barbell is a private, invitation-only, elite training facility in Columbus, Ohio that was created by Simmons. Simmons is one of only five lifters to total Elite in five different powerlifting weight classes. He has totalled Elite in various power-lifting organizations.  Minute Breakdown:   0-10 – Using box squats to increase olympic lifts 11-20 – Low Bar vs. High Bar for increased strength 21-30 – Why the best coaches in the world all come to Westside 31-40 – Velocity training with bands 41-50 - Programming using band tension 51 -60 - The importance of assistance work  61 -70 - Why you don’t need to work on technique   https://www.westside-barbell.com Westside Barbell on Instagram   Please Support Our Sponsors   Organifi - Save 20% on green, red, and gold jui

Dr. Lance Einerson is a one on one coach on staff with Active Life. He is the go to staff member for clients who need help with breathing and bracing. His extensive experience as a breathwork specialist and a physical therapist makes him uniquely suited to help Active Life 1 on 1 clients utilize their superpower, breath.    What do you do when you have tried physical therapy for months and they keep telling you “You just can’t do that stuff anymore.”? That’s exactly what we were facing when with the client who we discuss on today’s episode. How did this mother of three go from having pelvic dysfunction, multiple knee surgeries, arthritis, and day to day pain, to hitting PRs on her olympic lifts? You’re going to have to listen to find out.    Minute Breakdown:   0-10 - Her pelvis hadn’t detached, but it had shifted. 11-20 - What was the first step to decreasing pain? 21-30 - How to breath through your sticking point. 31-40 - Collecting wins 41-50 - Managing load. Work with an Active Life Coach like Lance at a

Today’s episode is about the transformative power of combat sports, especially for women, and the company doing its part to support those women. Lynn Le is the founder of Society Nine, a women’s performance and lifestyle brand that makes high quality boxing gear and activewear specifically for a woman. We chat about the importance of addressing physiological differences when designing fight gear; we talk training, competing, and fueling; we talk about women’s history and place in combat sports; and we touch on the truly life-altering and empowering feeling of knowing how to throw a good punch.     Lynn Le is the founder and CEO of Society Nine, a women’s performance and lifestyle brand offering high quality boxing gear and activewear. She was named to Forbes' 30 under 30 in Retail/E-Commerce for the Class of 2018, and Portland Business Journal’s 40 under 40 for 2017. Frustrated with the lack of quality options for women’s gear in boxing fitness, Society Nine is disrupting an industry that has underserved a pa

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 lover of all things, particularly life. At 27, he has already been a lumberjack in Montana, a party “enthusiast”, and male model. His wild and crazy charisma shines. Hunter, was born to entertain! His passion for life is built around creating each day to be better than the day before. Thriving on daily challenges, you can find him crafting and creating new experiences, from climbing the biggest mountain to setting the foundations of new friendships.   In this episode, we talk to Hunter about his invite to the CrossFit Games, training over the last 2 years, what to expect out of his performance, and how the CrossFit c