BarBend Podcast

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, connecting investors with startups in the space, and highlighting what his team things are the next big things to impact how wellness-conscious consumers live our lives. In today’s episode, we talk about the future of working out at home, how COVID-19 will have lasting impacts on the fitness landscape, and the next billion — or even trillion — dollar opportunities in health.

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 — Blaine found his current sport. We talk about the unique strength and explosiveness requirements in bobsledding, along with training at the elite level and how those interested in the sport can learn more and get involved. 

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 Supply has some of the best lifting-focused apparel and gear in the game.

Meg and Jake Boly chat on multiple topics in the world of strength & conditioning. A few in particular that we chat on are the vast differences of how beginners view fitness and how veterans do, and why she’s embarked on the mission of getting a barbell into every woman’s hands.

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 train throughout the year. We also discuss Kristin’s career after rowing, where she specializes in helping clients, particularly women, achieve their fat loss goals.

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 think is an immensely valuable resource for the fitness industry as a whole. We discuss the past, present, and future of personal training and where the industry will and won’t succeed in moving toward more remote and virtual training models.

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 weight class.

We got the chance to talk with Garrison to talk about his origins in the sport, his weekly training routine, his diet and how he manages it, his competitive aspirations, and future goals in and outside of the sport.

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 strength athletes more or less accepting of iron athletes across different sports? We chat on the group dynamics there, along with much, much more.

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 most harm to athletes in the longer term.)

We want to give a big shout out to this episode’s sponsor, BSN. BSN has been around for nearly 20 years, and they’re a global leader in sports nutrition. From their protein powder — including their partnership line with Cold Stone Creamery — to preworkout, protein bars, and more, BSN has won more than 35 sports nutrition awards over the last few years. 

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 CrossFit world’s best, including 4-time CrossFit Games champion Rich Froning. (They’re both Tennessee residents, which has become a sort of new epicenter of functional fitness and strength sports.)

We chat about how strength training impacts golf performance, the movements Scott actively AVOIDS as a professional golfer, and the complex training schedule Stallings and other golfers have when active on tour. Ever wondered if professional golfers lift before or after rounds on the course? How does their travel schedule impact training? We chat about all of that and much, much more.