Deadlifting Through The Decades with Doug Larson Travis Mash & Dr. Mike Lane #834
Release Date: 02/04/2026
Deadlifting Through The Decades with Doug Larson Travis Mash & Dr. Mike Lane #834
Barbell Shrugged
In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Doug Larson, Travis Mash (powerlifting world champion), and Dr. Michael Lane break down how to deadlift across the entire lifespan, from kids learning to hinge to lifters in their 40s, 50s, and beyond chasing strength without paying for it later. They start with youth training principles that actually work: keep it simple, keep it safe, and keep it fun. Kettlebell deadlifts and goblet squats win early because they naturally put kids in solid positions with minimal coaching, while the real focus is learning a neutral spine, good mechanics, and building a...
info_outline
The Forever Strong Playbook with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, Doug Larson Travis Mash & Dr. Mike Lane #833
Barbell Shrugged
Dr. Gabrielle Lyon returns to Barbell Shrugged with Doug Larson, Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane to lay out a simple case: muscle is the missing centerpiece of modern health care. Our culture’s weight loss obsession has distracted us from the bigger problem, under-muscled, metabolically unhealthy people aging into frailty. Drawing from her training in nutritional sciences and geriatrics, Gabrielle explains why obesity is often a symptom of poor skeletal muscle health, and why longevity depends on preserving strength, power, and mobility, not just shrinking the scale. They break down “muscle...
info_outline
Performance Brain Health - Part 1 with Dr. Tommy Wood, Doug Larson Travis Mash & Dr. Mike Lane #832
Barbell Shrugged
In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Doug Larson is joined by longtime co-host Travis Mash and new co-host Dr. Mike Lane for a return visit from one of the show’s most popular guests, Dr. Tommy Wood. Tommy breaks down the core thesis of his new book, The Stimulated Mind (releasing March 24), which uses dementia prevention as the headline but is really about boosting cognition at every stage of life. The crew sets the tone early: brain health is not “old people stuff,” it’s performance, learning, and resilience, built daily through how you live and how you train. Tommy makes the case...
info_outline
Pain-Free Performance with Dr. John Rusin, Doug Larson Travis Mash & Dr. Mike Lane #831
Barbell Shrugged
In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Doug Larson is joined by longtime co-host Travis Mash and new co-host Michael Lane as they welcome back John Rusin for his first appearance on the show in five years. The conversation opens with a candid transition moment for the podcast, acknowledging Anders Varner’s departure and setting the stage for a new chapter of Barbell Shrugged. From there, the crew dives straight into Rusin’s background in sports performance, physical therapy, and global coaching, including his work with elite athletes, Olympic committees, and thousands of coaches through his...
info_outline
Our New Co-Host Deadlifts 700lbs with Doug Larson, Travis Mash & Dr. Mike Lane #830
Barbell Shrugged
In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Doug Larson and Travis Mash officially welcome Dr. Mike Lane as the show’s new co-host. Mike shares his full origin story, from growing up a sports-loving kid in St. Louis, to discovering strength and conditioning in college, to earning his PhD and becoming a professor of exercise physiology. Along the way, he reflects on the mentors who shaped his thinking, including time spent around Westside Barbell, Olympic lifting culture, and elite academic labs that blended hard training with hard science. The conversation dives deep into the intersection of...
info_outline
How Circadian Rhythms Shape Strength, Recovery, and Health with Dr. Karen Esser #829
Barbell Shrugged
In this episode, Dr. Karen Esser Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology and Aging at the University of Florida joins the crew to break down one of the most overlooked performance variables in human physiology: circadian timing. After a career spent studying muscle adaptation, Dr. Esser shifted her research toward the molecular clocks inside our tissues, uncovering how every cell in the body keeps its own time. She explains how these clocks govern fuel storage, protein repair, metabolic readiness, and ultimately the way muscle responds to training. The team digs into what these...
info_outline
Menopause, Weight Gain and Hormones with Fat Loss Expert Dr. Bill Campbell #828
Barbell Shrugged
In this episode, Dr. Bill Campbell returns to the show to discuss a major pivot in his research from building muscle and optimizing fat loss to understanding menopause and its effects on women's body composition. After watching his wife struggle through a severe perimenopause transition that resisted every traditional fat loss strategy, Campbell uncovered a massive blind spot in the scientific literature: almost no research exists on fit, resistance trained women going through menopause. His public comments sparked hundreds of messages from women describing the same struggles including...
info_outline
Black Root Recovery: The Multi‑Modality Recovery Sauna Built for Veterans, Athletes, and High Performers #827
Barbell Shrugged
Former Marine and general contractor Andrew Kavanaugh joins the crew to share the origin story of Black Root Recovery, a company he founded after watching too many of his fellow Marines struggle physically, mentally, and emotionally after returning home. What started as a personal quest to rebuild his health led to a 90-pound weight loss, the elimination of sleep apnea and nightmares, and a profound shift in cognitive clarity and emotional resilience. Andrew combined the modalities that changed his own life (grounding, infrared therapy, red-light therapy, and traditional sauna heat) into a...
info_outline
Ben Johns - The Most Dominant Pickleball Athlete In The World #826
Barbell Shrugged
In this episode, the world’s #1 pickleball player, Ben Johns, joins Anders Varner, Doug Larson, Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane to unpack what it really takes to stay at the top of one of the fastest-growing sports on the planet. Ben walks through the insane travel schedule, the perpetual in-season demands, and the growing physical toll of a sport played in deep athletic stances, high-velocity lateral movements, and multi-hour tournament days. For the past year, Ben has partnered with RAPID Health Optimization to build a data-driven system around sleep, recovery, hydration, nutrition, and...
info_outline
MRI-based Muscle Analysis with Dr. Doug Goldstein #825
Barbell Shrugged
In this episode, the Barbell Shrugged crew explores how next-generation MRI muscle analysis is transforming the way high-performing athletes train, recover, and prevent injury. Dr. Doug Goldstein walks Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash through Doug Larson’s full Springbok Analytics scan a 3D “digital twin” of his musculoskeletal system that reveals muscle volume, asymmetries, and tissue quality with a level of precision traditional assessments can’t match. The team breaks down how this data gives coaches a clearer understanding of the body’s true strengths, weak links, and...
info_outlineIn this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Doug Larson, Travis Mash (powerlifting world champion), and Dr. Michael Lane break down how to deadlift across the entire lifespan, from kids learning to hinge to lifters in their 40s, 50s, and beyond chasing strength without paying for it later. They start with youth training principles that actually work: keep it simple, keep it safe, and keep it fun. Kettlebell deadlifts and goblet squats win early because they naturally put kids in solid positions with minimal coaching, while the real focus is learning a neutral spine, good mechanics, and building a positive relationship with training.
Next, the conversation moves into the teen and peak-performance years, when athletes can build serious capacity and eventually push heavier weights. The guys lay out practical programming that prioritizes technique and volume tolerance over ego lifting, including linear periodization, conservative maxing through heavy triples, and velocity-based thresholds to keep athletes away from breakdown reps. They also dig into why deadlifting is not one-size-fits-all. Anthropometrics drive stance choices and sticking points, and the best assistance work depends on what is actually limiting you, whether that is front squats for getting the bar moving, RDL variations and bands for lockout strength, or staples like glute-ham raises and reverse hypers for posterior chain durability.
Finally, they tackle the strength versus functional training debate and bring it back to real-world outcomes. Strength training builds the engine, sport practice is the most functional skill work, and instability training has a place but is not where max force gets built. From there, they map out how deadlifting evolves with age: more attention to stimulus-to-fatigue ratio, smarter variations like blocks, deficits, and trap bars with high handles, more respect for recovery, and more intentional periodization. The throughline is simple. Deadlifting can stay in your life forever, but the version of deadlifting you choose should match your body, goals, and season, not your pride.
Links: