BarBend Podcast

Learn from the top athletes, coaches, and influencers in strength! Each week, the BarBend Podcast brings together some of the world's biggest strength names across weightlifting, powerlifting, CrossFit, strongman, and more. BarBend Editor and Co-Founder David Thomas Tao sits down with the strength community's smartest and strongest minds to with a focus on their learnings through training, competition, and coaching. We dive deep on their journeys and where strength training has taken them. World record holders share their competition secrets. Coaches give their most underrated tips. And top thinkers and researchers from the realm of strength science go deep on their most promising findings. This podcast is the perfect companion for experts and beginners alike, covering a wide range of topics to keep listeners up to date on the world of strength.

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Episodes

Alexandra LaChance: From the CrossFit Games to Weightlifting National Champion

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 ...

Sep 09, 2019•30 min

Athlete Driven Success with Danny Camargo

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 leavin...

Sep 05, 2019•34 min

Mental Strength with Liz Adams

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 at...

Sep 02, 2019•33 min

Strength Trolls and Social Media with Jake Boly

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...

Aug 29, 2019•40 min

CrossFit's Past, Present, and Future with Pat Barber

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...

Aug 26, 2019•45 min

The Pinnacle of Cal Strength with Dave Spitz

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, Spenc...

Aug 23, 2019•34 min

Powerlifting Fact and Fiction with Bryce Krawczyk

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 ...

Aug 21, 2019•32 min

Lasting Strength and Mas Wrestling with Tom Sroka

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 athl...

Aug 14, 2019•37 min

What You're Missing About Recovery with WHOOP CEO Will Ahmed

Athletes dedicate their lives to achieving their full potential, or as close to it as possible. So why do so many of us — strength athletes especially — take shortcuts when it comes to recovery? That's the question Will Ahmed, CEO and Founder of WHOOP , set out to address when he was still an undergraduate. WHOOP makes hardware and software to track recovery, performance, and sleep for athletes from the everyday to elite. WHOOP built its brand working with pro athletes in leagues like the NBA an...

Aug 13, 2019•33 min

The Evolution of Strongman with Kalle Beck

Strongman is one of the most physically demanding — and visually impressive — strength sports on the planet. And perhaps no one has done more to grow the sport's presence online than Kalle Beck. Kalle is the founder of StartingStrongman.com, a fantastic resource covering training in the sport, as well as event results and coverage. And what started as a personal blog — born out of a frustration over the lack of strongman resources online — has evolved into one of strength's more dedicated commun...

Aug 06, 2019•43 min

From Olympian to Coach with Chad Vaughn

Chad Vaughn is many things: weightlifter, Olympian, father, husband, coach, broadcaster, and mentor. He’s one of the most decorated athletes in American weightlifting history, with more national titles and international team appearances than we can count (seriously). And while Chad is best known for his two Olympic Games appearances — 2004 and 2008 — his career continues to this day in both Senior and Masters competition. In fact, Chad just narrowly missed out on yet another national title in Ma...

Jul 30, 2019•38 min

World Records and Game Show TV with Emily Hu

World record holding powerlifter Emily Hu joins the podcast to talk about training, recovery, and her stint on NBC's "The Titan Games." David and Emily examine the factors that helped her excel so quickly in the sport, along with what's it means for strength sports to go more mainstream.

Jul 13, 2019•33 min

Building a Fitness Brand with Sean Pastuch

Active Life Rx Founder Sean Pastuch joins David to discuss what it takes to build a brand in the fitness space. Is working with Instagram influencers good or bad for growing companies? And what's going on behind the scenes of athletes on social media?

Jul 13, 2019•35 min

Weightlifting's Future with Olympic Medalist Cheryl Haworth

Olympic medalist and snatch world record holder Cheryl Haworth talks about finding weightlifting and making the Olympics at age 17. Find out how she's leveraged her time as an athlete to build a career in coaching.

Jul 13, 2019•47 min

How the CrossFit Games Are Changing with Tim Paulson

Multi-time CrossFit Games competitor Tim Paulson sits down with David to talk about the huge changes for qualification in 2019. Based out of Ithaca, New York, Tim has been in the CrossFit world since 2012 and at the sport's highest levels since 2017, when he first qualified for the Games. Now a three-time CrossFit Games athlete, Tim is in some very rare and elite company. Tim joins The BarBend Podcast to chat on everything from training volume to the changing landscape of CrossFit Games qualifie...

Jul 12, 2019•45 min

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