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

This week on Shrugged, we are talking to one of the strongest, intelligent and most athletic women we have ever interviewed. At a bodyweight of 123lbs, our guest this week, Stefi Cohen, pulls a 445 pound deadlift, squats 370 pounds, and benches 205 pounds. Stefi is also an accomplished and competitive Olympic-style weightlifter competing as a 53kg lifter, snatching 87 kg and clean and jerking 105 kg.  Relative to her bodyweight these numbers, needless to say, are impressive.   In this episode, Stefi shares the specifics of how she uses the hybrid strength training method to chase down a 4X bodyweight deadlift  and lift impressive numbers in the squat, bench, deadlift for Powerlifting AND the snatch, clean & jerk for Olympic Weightlifting, all while keeping injuries at bay. Aside from lifting really heavy weights, Stefi is highly intelligent and is currently pursuing a degree in Physical Therapy. Stefi, Dr. Galpin and Doug discuss how assess scientific literature and research and then explain some of the s

“If you are ONLY counting macros, are you really healthy?” That may seem a loaded question, but this week on the show, we have just the guy to answer it. On today’s show, we chat with Mike Dolce and bust some commonly misguided beliefs around nutrition.  Mike works with some of the top athletes in MMA world and has been a nutrition coach since before it was popular to post your food on Instagram. He has seen the evolution of the health and fitness industry and cuts through the BS that you may have seen on the internet. In this episode, we discuss the importance of food quality, the relationship between longevity and performance, and why you should avoid eating pop tarts and ice cream (even if it “fits your macros”) If you want to step up your nutrition game and pursue your best self, this episode is going to help you dial in the necessary components around nutrition. Enjoy the show, Mike  

So you want to compete in CrossFit and perhaps make it to the Games one day? Getting to the CrossFit Games is no joke. It never was, and now it's a full time job to even get to Regionals. Competition in the sport of CrossFit is more intense than ever, and there's no doubt that the bar is set higher every year. This week, we meet up with Games athlete, Wes Piatt, who just wrapped up competing at the California Regionals. Wes has been competing for 7 years and in this episode, he shares his journey and we get to look into the life of a competitive athlete to hear what it is really like to train for the Games.  You'll learn about the training, supplementation, and mindset an individual CrossFitter needs to compete at the highest level plus get Wes's insight on the evolution of the competition over the last decade. In addition. Wes dives into what it is like to coach aspiring CrossFit Games athletes.  If you have aspirations to get to the Games or you're curious how it's done you'll want to tune in for this o

The California Regionals are all wrapped up and the coach we are presenting in today's show is responsible for getting 30 athletes there. If there is a powerhouse coach in CrossFit®, CJ Martin of CrossFit Invictus is it.  In this episode, we dive into the mind of one of the best coaches in the sport of CrossFit and discuss the process CJ goes through to groom his athletes, the importance of sticking to a training program and the role of strength in the sport of CrossFit.  With the road to the CrossFit Games becoming increasingly more demanding, athletes are pushing their physical and mental boundaries further than ever before. As a result of this increasing demand, successful athletes must possess a strong mindset and it's just as important as being "fit enough". Along with how he's training athletes to get to the Games physically, in this episode, CJ shares with us how he builds mental fortitude within his athletes and what it is like to deal with the pressure of being a competitive athle

Our guest this week is as humble as he is accomplished. You can tell as soon as you walk into his facility, which just so happens to be one of the oldest weightlifting gyms in the country, that you are stepping into a historic place. We are taking about Sean Waxman. Sean has been a coach and athlete in the sport of weightlifting before it was even popular in the US. He has been a player in growing the sport to where it is today and has trained with and coached some of the best athletes in the sport. In this week's episode, we dive into what Sean is doing to create elite-level weightlifters, his coaching and leadership style, and the history of the sport of weightlifting. Enjoy the show, Mike

If I were to tell you that using a BOSU® ball would help you squat more, would you believe us? Yes, we are talking about that half dome stability ball thing that sits in the corner at the globo gyms of the world.  Before you write off the BOSU® ball to the same category as the Shake Weight, you need to watch this episode. In this edition of Shrugged, we interview the inventor of the BOSU, David Weck, and it turns out there is more to this tool than meets the eye. David has dedicated his career to understanding biomechanics and how to help athletes move better. While his tools and methods are certainly unique, they are also every effective. In this episode we dive into all the experiments and practices David has explored and how he is helping professional athletes with his method. You'll probably learn some things you have never heard before and you get to see Doug bitch slap him in the face. Multiple times.  Enjoy the show, Mike

With all the sleep apps, heart rate monitors, supplements, air conditioners, coffee (and more coffee) we use, it's evident we live in an optimized world, and it is making us weak. In episode 259, we are bringing Brian Mckenzie and Andy Galpin back to talk about the research they are doing around performance, and what it means to be a resilient human in a comfortable world.  Never before have we had it so easy, and although we are training and optimizing our diet, our comfy lifestyle is holding us back from being as strong as we could be. It is one thing to have a training routine, but as soon as we go back to our air conditioned rooms and perfectly organized lifestyle, we lose the ability to adapt to the stress that our body has evolved to feel. Brian and Andy have co authored a book called Unplugged, and in it they have put in the work and laid out the practices we can adopt (and the one's we need to abandon) if we want to create a resilient body and mind.  Every athlete should listen to this epis

When was the last time you did a conditioning piece that you actually enjoyed? Chances are (unless you did track in high school) you don't find long spouts on the air dyne or rower all too fun. Neither do we, so when we met Aaron Guyett and got to talking about battle ropes, and all the practical applications they have when it comes to conditioning, we decided he needed to be on the show. Aaron is the master instructor for Onnit Academy's battle rope program, and runs a facility in CA called Innovative results. We met up with him at his facility to talk about how you can use battle ropes in your conditioning workouts. When it comes to using battle ropes, most of us just know one or two exercises that we saw on Instagram. In this episode, Aaron dives into all the different movement patterns and practical applications that battle ropes have including grip strength, power, and the ability to train all 3 metabolic pathways. Tune in for this one and make sure to catch the break where Aaron does a hands on demo wit

One thing that separates CrossFit from most other training systems is the fact that you are required to develop proficiency in a wide range of fitness modalities- weightlifting, gymnastics, powerlifting, etc The MMA game is very similar and unlike boxing, wrestling, or any specific martial arts, fighters are required to be generalists in all the systems. There are a lot of variables, and when it comes to coaching, that makes things a lot more challenging.  In this week's show, we linked up with wrestling coach, Darryl Christian at RVCA headquarters to chat about how he is working with some of the top MMA fighters in the game like Dominick Cruz. We talk program design and get into the details of what he looks into when working with some of the top fighters.  If you are a fighter, a CrossFitter, or anyone who is looking to get more strategic in your training, there is a lot to take away from this episode. We dive into topics such as How to measure training volume When and why to focus on recovery vs

It wasn't that long ago that we didn't have iPhones in our pockets, let alone access to the world's information at the click of a button. Back in the day, coaches and athletes had to figure shit out on their own.  Nowadays, the fitness industry is growing faster than ever, and with that comes new innovations and knowledge around training. That is mainly due to the fact that coaches and athletes are communicating and sharing their experience more and more.  We wanted to hear from one of the top coaches in the game on this topic, so we headed over to Bonsall, CA to visit Mike Burgener. Coach B has watched this evolution occur and has been apart of some of the biggest evolutions in the sport of weightlifting and strength training.  In this episode, Coach B shares his insights into the fitness industry as it is today, and tells stories of what it was like in the beginning. We talk about why most athletes who want to go from pretty good to competitive need to start focusing on training their weaknes

We all see the cool shit on Instagram- the handstands, the backflips, the one handed balance thing on the fire hydrant, but want is not often highlighted on the social media is the process it takes to get to that skill level. In this week's show, we brought back Max Shank to talk about how you can incorporate more movement development into your training. Max has been on the show before and we recently recorded an episode with him talking about healthy shoulders. You can find that episode here. This time around, we visited Max at his backyard gym to talk about what is often referred to as flow and how incorporating a movement practice into your daily routine can help you prep your body for hard training session later on.  Whether you are interested in pursuing higher skill level movements like acrobatics and hand balancing, or just looking to start your day with a routine that will prime your body to get shit done in the gym, this episode will get you on the right path to start pursuing mor

"alignment is about balancing the motion with the chemistry. you can't fix your mechanics if your chemistry is off"   In Fitness, we talk about mobility, a lot. We talk about performance a lot, and we talk about exercise technique, a lot. But what is often left out is what is going on the rest of the day.   It turns out, how we move when we are not in the gym (which is most of the time) effects how we move (and secondarily, how we perform) in the gym.   No matter how active you are or how much you pay attention to your technique, you are going to have incompetencies and inbalances. One of the goals of an effective and intelligent training program is to uncover and seek out those imbalances and fix them.    In this week's episode, we visit the Human Garage in Venice Ca. Just like it sounds, the human garage is an (underground) body work clinic. The thing is, this place is not like any massage studio or chiropractic office you have been too. It is much more.    We talked to th

It seems like every other health article and Instagram post is trying to promote the next best supplement these days. It is very hard to get unbiased information on supplements. It is straight up confusing to feed through the hype and distinguish between clever marketing and what actual works.  Most sources? They have an agenda. Supplement companies misrepresenting science. Media sensationalizing headlines. Companies and individuals pushing unneeded supplements and other products onto you. We aren't saying that all supplement companies are out to cheat you. There are some great brands and products out there for sure. However, it is not so simple to feed through all the noise. That's why we brought Kamal Patel on the show. Kamal runs Examine.com. Examine is an unbiased database of supplement and nutrition information. What is unique about Examine, is that they have no monetary agenda around selling you products. They are pulling together all the science, reading the research, and putting it online.&

You ever think about how much you use your hands when you train? Think about it. When you are using a barbell, a kettlebell, the pull up rig, or a pair of rings, your grip strength is playing a huge role in your strength, how long you can perform the movement, and the level of movement capacity you have. More importantly, it is typically the first thing to give out.   In this week's show, we caught up with Andy Galpin and Kenny Kane at CrossFit LA to talk about how you can step up your game when it comes to grip strength. We dive into wrist mobility, gymnastics drills, and why you need to be training your grip in different positions.   Example: the 2015 CrossFit Games Pegboard challenge. Some of the strongest athletes in the world are throwing massive weight overhead, doing gnarly metcons, and performing kipping pullups for days ...but as soon as they are required to turn their hand position 90 degrees, their grip strength goes to shit. You can bet that the games athletes who fell apart in that ev

  If you've been doing a few minutes on a rower and half-ass rolling on a piece of foam for your recovery, you may have already figured out it's not enough.   Our guest this week, Jill Miller, founder of Tune Up Fitness and author of The Roll Model, said it perfectly, "Healing happens in our restorative state".    Your body is an adaptive machine.    If you want to get stronger and faster, you need to put the same amount of attention on how your recover if you truly want to be able to access the most out of your body and training.   We spoke with Jill about how we can better prepare our bodies to push hard and stay healthy while training by recovering better.    Although Jill's background is in the yoga world, the information she shares goes far beyond warrior poses and OMing. She has an amazing amount of knowledge of the human body and has developed tools and practices on self care, particularly with fascial work and mobility.    In this

This week on Barbell Shrugged we are going to show you how to take your performance to the next level. It is 2017. We are using technology, more than ever, to understand the body-mind connection and make them both stronger. This is the next level for performance and creating an optimal experience for you as an athlete. Helping us dive deep down this rabbit hole, Daniel Schmachtenberger tells us how to neurohack your athletics. Daniel is the Co-Founder and Director of R&D at Neurohacker Collective. With a background in many bio science fields with a unique focus on complex systems optimization, Daniel and his team are leading the pack in designing whole systems approaches to performance and athletic enhancement without side effects.  We dive into better solutions for PRE-WORKOUT, recovery, nootropics, anti-aging practices, the cutting edge protocols for hormone optimization, and all the things you can be doing beyond the basics. We are going deeper than we ever have when it co

  This week on Barbell Shrugged we interview Stephanie Gaudreau and talk about how to break through diet dogma. Stephanie is the founder of Stupid Easy Paleo, and has been helping hundreds of thousands of people change their relationship and habits with food. Unlike most food bloggers, Stephanie is not trying to convert you to her version of eating. On the contrary, she is actually quite fed up with the dogmatic rules that many of the people in the Paleo community project on others.  When we hear the word "Paleo" we automatically think of a set of rules around the foods we can and cannot eat. Although there is value around starting with a template, the truth of matter is, we are all different. We each have unique biochemistry, different preferences, and personalized goals. With that said "eating like a caveman" does not explain much about how to eat, and it often leaves people confused, and influences others to create false assumptions around what it means to adopt Paleo principles. We brought

I want you to meet Ray Regno. We met Ray on a Wednesday at Mike Burgener's gym as he was off to the side coaching an athlete, teaching how to activate the lats in the overhead squat. As you'll soon learn, Ray is a really smart coach. He is one of those coaches who has a drill or movement for everything. We got to talking to Ray and were impressed with just how knowledgable he was about movement. The coolest part is that Ray is mostly self-taught. Through an obsession with the CrossFit® Journal, observing and learning from good coaches, Ray has been able to rapidly up-level his coaching game in a very short time. In this episode we talk about the value of progressions in teaching movement, how to speed up your growth as a coach, and why you should hold your athletes more accountable for how they move. PS: To all the coaches (and aspiring coaches) out there, this one is a must listen. Drop us a line in the comments below and let us know what you found to be most valuable in this episode.  &n

Performance Anxiety. It's a thing. Even the best athletes in the world fall victim to it. You put in the work, train hard, and hit the numbers you need to hit in order to be a contender. But when game day comes, something shifts. You question your capabilities, or tell yourself "I don't want to mess up or do bad".     It turns out there is a big difference between saying "I don't want to do bad today" and "I want to perform my best today". That may sound like some feel good nonsense but the truth is, our inner game plays a huge role in how we show up- in competition, in our relationships, and in pretty much all aspects of life. This week we traveled up to Venice Beach, CA to meet up with Mark England at Paradiso CrossFit. Mark is a language ninja and we dive into how the language we use directly effects how we think and perform.    Mark has some valuable information to share in this episode and has some real world examples of how we can develop the high level mental toughness (or as he

This week we interview John Glaude. John is not your typical athlete or coach. He is not in the Games, nor does he study myofascial release. We first caught wind of John via his youtube channel. He used to weigh over 300 pounds, throw back 2 liters of soda a day, and the only training he was getting in was a DDR session at his local arcade. A lot has changed since then, and he has since lost over 180 lbs and is hitting two a days in the gym.    We wanted to bring John on the show to talk about motivation, and hear about his journey. John is a bad ass story teller and has created a brand called Obese To Beast where he shares his journey to help others create change like he did.    He is a humble dude, but also has a lot to say. If you have any friends who are just getting started on their fitness journey or would benefit from hearing John's story, this episode is a great one to share.   Enjoy the Show,   -Mike