BarBend Podcast

If you've ever read about fitness and strength training online, chances are you have Tony Gentilcore to thank, at least in part. Tony is a trainer and author who was one of the first to take his thoughts online, creating an early bridge between in-gym experience and the web's fitness community. Back around 2010, there weren’t a ton of places to turn to when it came to learning about the ins and outs of strength training online. But Tony’s name was one that popped up everywhere, a testament to his ability to take real-world experience and translate that into the written word.

Tony’s known for a lot of things: He co-founded Cressey Sports Performance in 2007, has trained countless elite athletes in pro sports, and remains one of the most prolific writers in the entire world of strength training.

In the days before Instagram, Tony helped mold the blueprint of the trainer-author, paving the way for some of today’s biggest online fitness influencers. He’s someone who excels at combining his real-world coaching experience with the latest evidence and research.

Today, Tony still dedicates a huge chunk of his time to training clients in-person at his Massachusetts studio. He’s still a prolific writer, with an active web presence at TonyGentilcore.com, and is also an in-demand speaker for fitness events around the globe. 

In this episode of The BarBend Podcast, I chat with Tony about what’s changed as strength training becomes increasingly mainstream, along with what too many athletes and coaches are STILL getting wrong when it comes to getting stronger. Here’s a hint: We’re probably overcomplicating things.

There are few people in fitness — much less fitness entrepreneurs — who keep it honest and real like Aaron Hinde. He's an open book, someone who's just as eager to explain the bad as he is to celebrate the good. The Co-Founder and President of LIFEAID Beverage Company — makers of FITAID — Aaron is a constant presence at the CrossFit Games, where his company is one of the sport's most visible sponsors. He counts top athletes and coaches among his friends. But that success didn't come without major sacrifice and some serious "lean times" that left Aaron questioning whether his path was really correct. 

In this episode of The BarBend Podcast, we talk about LIFEAID's rise from scrappy startup to major fitness player. That includes guerilla marketing campaigns, bootstrapped operations, and trying to build a brand while living from one week to the next.

We also dive into how Aaron's background as a clinical chiropractor impacts his perspective even today, allowing him to spot trends in fitness before they take off. Aaron also shares some of his craziest CrossFit Games stories, along with what you might not realize about the world's top CrossFitters. 

If you want to know what's coming next in fitness, or simply need a dose of perspective when it comes to fitness entrepreneurship, tune in!

Alexandra LaChance has been an elite collegiate gymnast, CrossFit Games athlete, and — most recently — a National Champion weightlifter, winning that title in May 2019. Her progression through sports has fantastic lessons for athletes of all types, particularly when it comes to the demands of strength training.

"I love CrossFit. I still love CrossFit. I still love doing CrossFit for fun," says LaChance. "Training at the level where you're trying to make the games, your training with other games athletes, training together as a group, I think is the most fun thing I've ever done."

In this podcast, Alexandra opens up about the highs and lows of success, especially in CrossFit during a time when that sport was absolutely exploding in popularity. How did her gymnastics background help and hurt her? Why did she make the switch to weightlifting full time, and what are her ultimate goals in that sport?

We also talk about overtraining, working through and around injury, and what Alex wishes she'd known about nutrition all along.

Danny Camargo leads one of the largest and most successful weightlifting programs in the United States. Himself a former international-level lifter, Danny's Team Oly Concepts is a major force for the sport here and abroad. He's also gained an increased level of recognition for coaching Mattie Rogers, a World Championships medalist and one of America's most successful elite weightlifters this millennium.

But after nearly three decades in the sport of weightlifting, Danny Camargo isn't done leaving his mark. And his position today resulted from a major life decision that, had it gone a different way, could have put Danny's livelihood in jeopardy.

In this episode of The BarBend Podcast, Danny and host David Thomas Tao dive deep on the sport's growth, the myth of instant gratification, and what Danny thinks most are getting wrong about athlete-driven training. (Hint: The phrase itself can trigger debate in many weightlifting circles.) 

We also touch on the pros and cons of remote/satellite coaching and Danny's hopes and trepidations for the future of the sport.

How do you self-identify? What happens when life takes a U-turn and you undergo a fundamental shift in how you operate as a person, athlete, or coach? And how the people around you perceive that shift? Changing your mindset is often the hardest part, but Liz Adams has tackled that issue head on — twice. CrossFit competitor and coach Liz Adams joins us to discuss how mindfulness and mental strength impact our development as people and athletes.

Liz shares her story of evolving from one type of athlete to another. She leans on mental strength and mindfulness practice to better understand her own growth as a person. Shifting perspectives and roles in your community is never easy, but Liz provides some great tips on how you can turn a personal shift into a net positive for the people around you.

Our conversation focused on self-assessment and being honest with yourself in more ways than one. Whether you're an athlete, a coach, or simply experiencing a shift in life, Liz's experience and insights are helpful in working through major change. 

Jake Boly is a writer, powerlifter, and online personality who has written (literally) thousands of articles covering the world of strength sports. He's also BarBend's Fitness Editor and a huge part of our social media team. Over the past three years, Jake has had a ringside seat to one of the biggest issues plaguing the strength community: social media trolls. 

In this episode of The BarBend Podcast, Jake gives his honest take on the impact trolling has on the strength community, and why so much of that hate is directed at a couple of sports and strength disciplines in particular. We examine the origins of online criticism and how it's shaping today's discourse on strength training, especially the development of new techniques and strategies when it comes to getting stronger. 

"Every time you post a CrossFit video or a post or an article, whether it be positive, negative, and so forth, there's always at least one troll comment, no matter what," says Jake. "Without fail, there's always one comment."

Jake and David also talk about some of the strength athletes they admire most, along with why it's more common to see athletes jump between strength sports in a particular pattern.

Back when CrossFit® was a still budding grassroots community — and when the CrossFit Games took place on a dusty country ranch — Pat Barber made a name for himself as one of its early stars. He taught courses, created some of CrossFit HQ's earliest videos, and competed at the sport's highest levels in a time well before giant endorsement deals. (And live streaming? Forget about it.) Originally from California, Pat was one of the first big name CrossFit personalities to go international, where he played a massive role in growing the methodology and sport in New Zealand and Australia.

These days, the 6-time CrossFit Games athlete and Level 4 CrossFit Trainer is still heavily active in the CrossFit community. (By his own estimate, Pat has put roughly 15,000 people through their CrossFit L1 certifications.) In addition to coaching seminars, Pat and his wife Taz run Warmup & Workout, a programming and coaching development platform for gyms around the globe.

Pat's in a unique position to give thoughts on the past, present, and future of CrossFit both as a training methodology and sport. Though our conversation covered Pat's optimism for fitness moving forward, we also touch upon some important snags CrossFit — and other fitness methodologies — will continue to face as communities become enmeshed with their online counterparts.

With a nickname like "The Godfather," Dave Spitz is clearly doing something right. The founder and mastermind behind much of California Strength's growth, he's a massive figure in American weightlifting. His team (not to mention his direct coaching) has produced some of the top U.S. lifters in the last decade and helped popularize the sport with an early and huge online following. If you've ever searched the web for lifting motivation and stumbled across videos of Donny Shankle, Jon North, Spencer Moorman, or other Cal Strength athletes, chances are you have Dave to thank.

But Dave Spitz is just getting started. In this episode of The BarBend Podcast, we dive deep on a number of topics, including:

• Cal Strength's growth
• Being early YouTube strength pioneers
• Dave's experience coaching NFL stars and prepping college players for the combine
• Does the U.S. "lose" top weightlifters to other sports?
• The Bulgarian System
• Why Wes Kitts is a once-in-a-decade (or rarer) athlete for Cal Strength

Powerlifter. Coach. Vlogger. Movie star? Bryce Krawczyk's journey in strength started with his desire to bulk up, and it's led him down a pretty incredible path. In this episode, Bryce Krawczyk shares his evolution from complete beginner to world record holding powerlifter and documentary subject in a groundbreaking film. Now a renowned coach and the face behind Calgary Barbell, Bryce is one of Canada's top lifters and ambassadors in strength. It's a journey he hopes will eventually take him to the World Games, a competition Bryce calls the "pinnacle" of powerlifting for athletes around the globe.

Bryce and host David Tao also dive deep on misconceptions around the sport of powerlifting — especially when it comes to raw vs. equipped lifting — and why Canadian powerlifters have some of the best nicknames in the sport.

Tom Sroka has done it all — literally. A former standout thrower in track & field, Tom has competed in weightlifting, powerlifting, GRID, and Highland Games competition. He's excelled in each to an impressive degree, making him one of the world's most well-rounded strength athletes, period.

Tom's also built a reputation for coaching all levels of strength athletics, particularly when it comes to weightlifting. You can find him at countless national competitions as he trains and develops athletes, often from the ground up.

Recently, Tom has developed a passion for — and elite-level skills in — the rising sport of Mas Wrestling, where athletes face opponents one-on-one in something that resembles a cross between deadlifting and tug-of-war. Tom's rise in the sport took him to the World Championships, where he got firsthand experience with the sport's Siberian roots and old school training techniques.