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

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 a huge inspiration source to the Shrugged crew’s, as well as one of their favorite people in the world. In February 2018, Paul was featured on an extensive interview on Barbell Shrugged — Holistic Lifestyle Coaching w/ Legendary Strength Coach Paul Chek  —  301, and one month ago, he was featured on The Bledsoe Show w/ Paul Chek: Sexual Freedom & Healthy Relationships #81. In this episode, Paul shares with us his thoughts on negative self-talk and how to change it, how to move people from what they don’t want to focus onto what they do want, how to design a facility that creates an environment for getting clear w

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 her habits and lifestyle were inline with symptoms associated with sports anorexia.   She was then introduced to resistance training for the stage in competitive bikini competitions. The regimen forced her to reexamine her relationship with food. She learned a lot about the good and the bad of competition nutrition regimens, dieting. Unfortunately, as a result of poor coaching and inattention to detail, Kelli would find herself hormonally imbalanced. A condition that can only be corrected with prescription medication or a drastic change in nutrition.   Since then, Kelli has been pivotal the last 3 years in the MACRO

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 Affiliate World Cup Champion in 2012 and 2013 with his team “Hackspack.”   Michael was recently featured on The Strong Coach  — Being the Steward of Your Client’s Dreams w/ Michael Cazayoux — 6, and on The Bledsoe Show w/ Adee and Michael Cazayoux: Being Courageous in Relationships #83. He is also married to Adee Zukier Cazayoux, who was recently featured on Barbell Shrugged  — Nutrition for CrossFit Athletes w/ Adee Zukier Cazayoux  — 327 and on The Strong Coach — Coaching Culture w/ Adee Cazayoux — 3.   In this episode, we get into Michael’s life journey, from drug addiction to the CrossFit Games, as well as how he  buil

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, leadership, service, and what it means to choose strength. One of Scott’s biggest drives and inspirations is wanting to leave lessons for his kids to find as they grow up.  He wants them to have content and lessons they can share with their kids.   In this episode, we talked about Scott’s new podcast “The Sisu Way”, the emotional story about the birth of his son and how the entire family was able to pull through, how he lives his main motivation in life is to prepare his kids and leave as much as he can behind, How gratefulness will transform your entire mindset and have you brewing over with happiness, breathing methods in

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.   As a former Special Forces Operator, Ben places value in functional fitness and mitigating the risk of injury. He is a strong believer that people should be able to run fast, lift heavy and throw a punch. Although he is no longer in uniform, service is still an important core value to him. Ben regularly volunteers with Team RWB, Exalted Warrior, and Companions for Heroes.   In this episode, we dive into how to transition out of the military in a healthy manner, the importance of community for veterans, organizations that are great to join as a veteran looking for community, war stories, how things get twisted by the

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 CrossFit. A true believer in self-discovery, Anders finds his true passion in helping the everyday person live a pain free, empowered life through mindful movement. Anders Varner’s approach has helped transform the lives of stroke victims, pre and postpartum moms, extreme weight loss clientele, and individuals recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. In this episode, we dive into the skill of performing in a group and making each person feel special, coaching people to inspire others to do more than they thought possible, becoming the character that people want to be around, characteristics of your personality and using

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 assessment, testing, research, programming and more. He has had many years of experience as an athlete from early childhood into adulthood, from playing top-level soccer, to short and long distance running, to CrossFit where he was crowned “The Fittest on Earth,” winner of the 2007 CrossFit Games.   Enjoy! - Jeff and Mycal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/fmfm_fitzgerald ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShrugge

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 coach, and is currently completing her Masters in Nutrition and Human Performance. As an athlete Adee has studied/trained under many renowned coaches, most notably Aimee Everett, national champion, Travis Mash, world champion powerlifter, and Steve Sandor, Hungarian national champion. In this episode, we go over nutrition for CrossFit Athletes. We dive into understanding macros, simplifying the nutrition process, nutrition for all levels of athletes, the first steps to creating long term success, behavior change to reach your goals, and more.   Enjoy! – Doug and Anders   ------------------------------------------------

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 different “bio-hacks” or simple methods they have tested and implemented their our own lives. They also go into different morning routines, psychedelics, what your favorite top performers are taking daily, other conspiracy theories, and more.   Enjoy!   – Ryan and Yaya   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/rc_performancehacks ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please Support our Sponsor Use code  REALCHALK for 20% off at organifishop.com    ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here ht

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 sales with CutCo and now runs The Yoga Room at MSW Lounge. He is a 200-hour certified yoga instructor and all-around deal maker when it comes to getting you the vitamins you need to improve your health. Mike went to MSW Lounge to meet Jonathan and Baldo and experiment with their techniques. He got a lot of studd done the dat after his visit to MSW Lounge. In this episode, we go over why it's good to put vitamins in your vein, why a liver detox might be beneficial, how to break out of clinical depression, how genetics impact your body’s ability to process vitamins, how to know if you have digestive issues, what's the

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 Affiliate World Cup Champion in 2012 and 2013 with his team “Hackspack.” Michael and wife, Adee Zukier Cazayoux, were recently featured on The Bledsoe Show w/ Adee and Michael Cazayoux: Being Courageous in Relationships #83. Adee was also featured on The Strong Coach  — Coaching Culture w/ Adee Cazayoux — 3. In this episode, we dive into all things coaching. We dive into how to impact as many people as possible, how do you go from coaching in the gym to coaching online, how to build trust with online coaching, coaching elite athletes vs coaching average Joe’s, how to find what fulfills you, what it really looks like to GRIN

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 negative interactions he has experienced were the result of the projections he was putting out into the universe. However, in the wake of loss, he would discover that he indeed stood to grow the most. Beau took a 4,100 mile road trip that manifested in deep reflection. He has gone to work on himself, answered a lot of hard questions, and faced a lot of conflicting truths. Once Beau began his deep dive into self, he discovered that his capacity to serve the world was extremely limited, and the self-work is never-ending. However, Beau has come to a place where he values his time alone. He understands that in order to pro

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 longevity, plant medicines, and inner peace. In this episode, we learn about his life in the octagon, the process of stepping outside the ring, his focus on human optimization, research and development at Onnit, the future of performance training, and much more.   Enjoy! - Doug and Anders Show notes at: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/bbs_kingsbury ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please support our partners! @organifi - www.organifi.com/shrugged to save 20% @thrivemarket - www.thrivemarket.com/shrugged for a free 30 days trial and $60 in free groceries @OMAX - www.tryomax

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 holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina, two Bachelor’s Degrees from Penn State University, and the Core Course Designation from Harvard University.   In this episode, we learn about Jim’s journey, including how he entered the hedge fund world where he learned the importance of continuous learning, and how he came into OPEX as a coach, but wanted to tweak out the business side. We also talk about how he educates new OPEX gym owners (over 65 gyms), how to handle gym’s two biggest problems – acquisition and retention, how to get people in the door and keep them there, and more.   Enjoy!   – Ryan and Yaya  

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 for several years as a Physical Therapy Aide in Santa Monica, California. Liz has an extensive background training special populations and elite athletes, and she is a pro at putting together programs for women of all fitness levels. In this episode, we dive into marketing in the fitness industry: Why a lot of great coaches are broke, common mistakes made by coaches trying to make money online, who you should listen to and who to tune out, how to engage with the average person, how to spot snake oil salesmen on the internet, what companies can track on the internet, how to get paid by YouTube, and much more. Enjoy! -Mi

Exclusive interview with Athlete Emily Abbott.  She talks about her recent 4 year ban from Crossfit. 

Zach Even-Esh is a leading figure in the strength & conditioning industry, who has trained over 1,000 athletes ranging from the youth level to the Olympic level. Zach is the founder of The Underground Strength Gym, creator of The Underground Strength Coach Certification, author of The Encyclopedia of Underground Strength and Conditioning, and creator and host of STRONG Life Podcast. Since creating The Underground Strength Gym, Zach has consulted Division 1 athletic teams, Olympic Level athletic clubs, Spartan Race, pro teams, and independent coaches and athletes from around the world. The Underground Strength Gym began at Zach’s parents garage while he was a Health and Physical Education teacher in 2002. What started as a summer experiment training a few athletes grew into a full time obsession, and now Zach and his Underground Strength methods have grown into a world wide movement, inspiring athletes and coaches all around the world in training and life. In this episode, we dive into what it takes to get

Scott Keppel is the owner of Scott’s Training Systems, a world class fitness studio located in Chandler, AZ that offers both in-person and online coaching. He specializes in post breast cancer recovery, pre/post- natal, pageantry training (he’s the official trainer for several states), weight loss and business owners/executives. Scott is also a motivational speaker and nationally certified fitness and nutrition coach. He believes it is important to help clients achieve their optimal levels mentally, physically and emotionally. Scott’s mantra is to lead with “Why?”. When he starts training clients, his mission is to figure out what the significance of experience is supposed to be. He makes it a point to be tactfully honest with his clients, not only keep their expectations realistic, but to ensure that they understand that the victory lies in the process, not the outcome! When he worked predominantly with fitness and figure competitors, coming to grips with the subjectivity of the sport when it came to judging

Tero Isokauppila is a a Finnish nomad turned into a fungi lovin’ foodpreneur. He is the president and founder of Four Sigmatic— A mushroom and superfoods company that creates products to help you live a better and healthier life. Tero’s dream is to bring back the ancient mushroom wisdom to modern lifestyle. In his native Finland, Isokauppila grew up on his family’s centuries-old farm regularly foraging for mushrooms. He holds a degree in both chemistry and plant-based nutrition from Cornell University, and was awarded a Finnish innovation award for discovering that the Japanese matsutake mushroom also grows in Finland. Tero was chosen as one of the world’s Top 50 Food Activists by the Academy of Culinary Nutrition, and has been featured in Vogue, Time, Forbes, Harper’s Bazaar, and more. He’s also the author of Healing Mushrooms: A Practical and Culinary Guide to Using Mushrooms for Whole Body Health. In this episode, we dive into the healing powers of medicinal mushrooms, mushrooms role in nature and human ev