Barbell Shrugged

Making Strong People Stronger

Menopause, Weight Gain and Hormones with Fat Loss Expert Dr. Bill Campbell #828 12/17/2025

Menopause, Weight Gain and Hormones with Fat Loss Expert Dr. Bill Campbell #828 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 unexplained weight gain, muscle loss, energy crashes, and sleep disruption highlighting how poorly understood this phase of life truly is. Dr. Campbell breaks down what the best research does show. Menopause accelerates fat gain, shifts fat distribution toward the midsection, and produces measurable declines in muscle and bone mineral density. Many women experience weight loss resistance where standard diet and training approaches no longer produce results. He also digs into the nuance of hormone replacement therapy how progesterone and estrogen can dramatically improve sleep, anxiety, and energy, why estrogen appears anabolic for middle aged women, and why HRT's effect on body fat varies widely. Campbell clarifies the long standing confusion created by the 2002 Women's Health Initiative study, how its flawed interpretation suppressed HRT use for two decades, and why today's evidence supports earlier intervention under an evidence based physician. The conversation closes with clear, practical guidance for women entering perimenopause. Maintain a consistent fitness lifestyle, lift weights to protect muscle and bone, prioritize sleep, get annual bloodwork and DEXA scans, and consider HRT early if medically appropriate. Campbell emphasizes that lifestyle habits do not replace hormone therapy and hormone therapy does not replace lifestyle. Together they help women navigate the most dramatic physiological transition since puberty. Whether you're a coach, practitioner, or someone approaching this stage of life, this episode provides a much needed framework for understanding, preparing for, and managing menopause with strength and agency. Links: /episode/index/show/barbellshrugged/id/39435560

Black Root Recovery: The Multi‑Modality Recovery Sauna Built for Veterans, Athletes, and High Performers #827 12/10/2025

Black Root Recovery: The Multi‑Modality Recovery Sauna Built for Veterans, Athletes, and High Performers #827 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 single premium, custom-built recovery system designed to reduce inflammation, support brain health, and help veterans and high performers reclaim their capability. Andrew breaks down the science and practical application behind each component of the system, including his patented grounding design that connects the user directly to an eight-foot copper ground rod to immediately reduce blood viscosity and "electrical noise" in the body. Paired with deep-penetrating red light panels, infrared heat, and a high-output traditional sauna, his units create a stacked recovery environment that improves circulation, reduces inflammation, accelerates healing, and enhances cognitive performance. Andrew shares how, after three months of daily use, he saw his social anxiety disappear, his brain function sharpen, and his jiu-jitsu endurance skyrocket. The conversation expands into the broader mission: supporting veterans, giving athletes a competitive performance advantage, and scaling access to recovery tools that have historically been too expensive or too fragmented to deliver real transformation. Andrew discusses future plans to build custom installations for gyms and sports teams, and continue refining the multimodal system. Whether the goal is longevity, recovery, or helping those who have served, this episode reveals why integrated recovery environments may become the next frontier in reducing inflammation, healing trauma, and elevating human potential. Links: /episode/index/show/barbellshrugged/id/39349325

Ben Johns - The Most Dominant Pickleball Athlete In The World #826 12/03/2025

Ben Johns - The Most Dominant Pickleball Athlete In The World #826 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 personalized strength and conditioning giving him a competitive edge in a sport where consistency and longevity are becoming just as important as pure skill. The team breaks down how RAPID reverse-engineered the physiology of pickleball by analyzing metabolic demands, movement patterns, travel stress, and tournament structure. Ben shares what has changed the most: HRV-driven sleep routines, hydration and electrolyte protocols, rapid-turnaround nutrition systems during six-day competition blocks, and gym programming that prioritizes leg strength, acceleration, deceleration, rotational power, and the ability to repeatedly produce peak output with minimal fatigue. With only an eight-week “off-season” each year, Ben’s entire training plan now revolves around precision dosing of fatigue, auto-regulation, and strategic recovery backed by data from Oura, lab analysis (blood, stool, saliva, urine) and the RAPID coaching team. Finally, the conversation moves into the strategic side of dominance: pattern recognition, the metagame of adjustments, and the ability to keep learning in a young sport where the rules of mastery are still being written. Ben explains how having a full-stack performance team allows him to focus on playing, developing new skills, and outlasting opponents who aren’t managing sleep, travel, workload, or recovery with the same level of precision. If you want an inside look at how the best player in the world trains, prepares, and stays healthy and how RAPID Health Optimization builds elite longevity systems for professional athletes this episode is a must-listen. Links: /episode/index/show/barbellshrugged/id/39245765

MRI-based Muscle Analysis with Dr. Doug Goldstein #825 11/26/2025

MRI-based Muscle Analysis with Dr. Doug Goldstein #825 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 compensation patterns the foundational context needed to prescribe smarter, more targeted programming. Using Doug’s real data as the case study, the group highlights how seemingly isolated issues like a long-healed posterior hip dislocation can create downstream patterns that affect performance years later. The scan reveals major asymmetries in deep hip stabilizers, psoas imbalances, and elevated intramuscular fat in specific muscles, all of which influence how force is produced and absorbed under load. The conversation emphasizes that measuring muscle quality and not just quantity is essential for identifying tissues that underperform despite looking normal from the outside. They also break down the different types of fat Springbok identifies (visceral, subcutaneous, intermuscular, intramuscular) and why certain compartments are more predictive of movement limitations, metabolic dysfunction, or elevated injury risk. The episode closes with a look at how this new level of precision plugs into a fully integrated high-performance system. Through Optima Muscle, athletes combine Springbok MRI data with movement evaluations, strength testing, and force analysis to build individualized protocols that increase strength, improve resilience, and significantly reduce the risk of non-contact injuries. The team explains why pro athletes are beginning to adopt multi-scan protocols across a season, and how this data-driven approach allows coaches to design programming that targets exactly the right tissues, at exactly the right time. For anyone serious about longevity in training, staying explosive, or eliminating preventable injuries, this episode offers a glimpse into the future of performance diagnostics and precision training. Go to to learn more! Links: /episode/index/show/barbellshrugged/id/39174010

Precision Muscle Analysis with Matt Brown of Springbok Analytics #824 11/19/2025

Precision Muscle Analysis with Matt Brown of Springbok Analytics #824 In this episode, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash sit down with Matt Brown, Director of Business Development at Springbok Analytics, to explore the cutting edge world of MRI based muscle analysis. Matt breaks down the origins of Springbok, how the company grew from a university research lab solving cerebral palsy surgical problems into one of the most advanced muscle segmentation platforms on the planet, and why professional sports teams, medical researchers, and longevity practitioners are all adopting this technology. From 15 minute full body protocols to AI driven segmentation of 144 muscles, Springbok is redefining what is possible in muscle profiling and objective performance measurement. The conversation dives into real world application, how Springbok helps pro athletes understand tissue quality, fat infiltration, tendon health, asymmetries, compensations, and injury risk with unprecedented precision. Matt shares examples across the NBA, NFL, soccer, and clinical research showing how MRI data is being used to shorten rehab timelines, guide targeted strength work, map scar tissue, and track atrophy after major injuries like ACL tears. The group contrasts traditional tools like DEXA with what is now possible using MRI, individualized baselines, normative values by sport and position, and 3D interactive models that reveal exactly where muscle is strong, weak, or compromised. Finally, the team covers the massive opportunity in longevity and consumer health. They discuss how muscle quality predicts aging trajectories, why fat infiltration accelerates decline, and how Springbok’s new FDA cleared body composition capabilities unlock deeper insights into visceral fat, liver fat, bone density, and long term risk. Doug outlines how Rapid Health Optimization is partnering with Springbok through Optima Muscle to bring these pro level analytics to everyday people, combining MRI data with elite coaching, physical therapy, and strength programming to create personalized, actionable plans that maximize performance and minimize injury. This episode is a powerful preview of where the future of muscle health, performance diagnostics, and longevity is headed. Learn more at: Links: /episode/index/show/barbellshrugged/id/39085575

Measuring Muscle Mass Percentage with Dr. Chris Perry, Anders Varner, Travis Mash and Doug Larson #823 11/12/2025

Rebuilding Strength and Purpose, Travis Mash’s Path Back to the Platform w/ Anders Varner, Travis Mash and Doug Larson #822 11/05/2025

Rebuilding Strength and Purpose, Travis Mash’s Path Back to the Platform w/ Anders Varner, Travis Mash and Doug Larson #822 In this episode, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash sit down for a story that is equal parts comeback and evolution. After a hip replacement and years away from competition, Mash, now over 50 years old, stepped back onto the powerlifting platform to go nine for nine and set new age group world records. He breaks down how he rebuilt his body, balanced strength with health, and used velocity-based training to stay powerful without breaking down. The crew digs into how technology, recovery, and smarter training allow veteran lifters to keep progressing long after their prime years, and why Mash believes everyone over 50 should use bar speed tracking to train safely and effectively. Travis opens up about his modern approach, tracking VO₂ max, focusing on sleep quality, and embracing conditioning as a secret weapon most powerlifters ignore. He explains why he is competing just twice a year from now on, the methods that rebuilt his deadlift after chronic back pain, and how discipline has replaced the reckless intensity of his younger days. His goal is not just to lift big again, but to model longevity, work ethic, and integrity for his kids. The conversation turns deeply personal when Mash shares how his son’s recent basketball tryout failure became a father-son lesson in resilience. From youth sports to elite competition, the group reflects on how loss, hard work, and long-term consistency shape champions. They also swap stories of athletic breakthroughs, from Doug’s failed baseball tryout that launched his strength career to Anders' early lifting days and the raw power of athletes like Ed Coan and Ryan Fischer. This episode is a look at what it means to age as an athlete, how to stay in the game, keep the fire alive, and prove that strength and purpose do not fade with time. Links: /episode/index/show/barbellshrugged/id/38913470

The Science of Sleep and Recovery w/ Dr. Allison Brager, Anders Varner, Travis Mash and Doug Larson #821 10/29/2025

The Science of Sleep and Recovery w/ Dr. Allison Brager, Anders Varner, Travis Mash and Doug Larson #821 In this episode, neuroscientist and U.S. Army sleep expert Dr. Allison Brager joins Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash to explore the real science behind sleep, recovery, and wearable technology. They discuss which devices actually deliver useful data, such as the Oura Ring for sleep tracking and Garmin for cardiovascular measurements, and why being consistent with one tool is more important than chasing perfect accuracy. Dr. Brager explains how wearables are now being used in place of sleep labs in both clinical and military settings to help athletes and operators make better recovery decisions. The conversation dives into practical ways to improve sleep and recovery for anyone pushing performance limits. Dr. Brager describes how sleep apnea can affect even lean, muscular athletes, with studies showing that more than half of Division I football players meet criteria for sleep apnea or insomnia. Just three nights of only five hours of sleep can cut testosterone levels in half. The group also discusses how vagus nerve stimulation, infrared light therapy, and temperature-controlled mattresses such as Eight Sleep can help the body relax, lower stress, and improve sleep quality, especially when used before bed or after long travel. They close by breaking down real-world strategies for recovery and training. Short 20- to 30-minute naps during the afternoon improve alertness, and caffeine can be used strategically during travel to reduce fatigue. Training is most effective when aligned with the body’s circadian rhythm, with evening workouts often producing better strength results, while morning training can work after a few months of adjustment. Whether you are a soldier, athlete, or business leader, this episode is about using data, structure, and recovery habits to perform better and stay healthy over the long term. Outside of the laboratory, Allison was a two-time CrossFit Games (team) athlete, a two-time CrossFit Regionals (individual) athlete, and a four-year varsity NCAA Division I athlete in track and field. Dr. Brager has an Sc.B. in Psychology from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Physiology from Kent State University Links: /episode/index/show/barbellshrugged/id/38817495

Gym Culture w/ Kenny Santucci, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash #820 10/22/2025

Useful Fitness Standards w/ Dr. Mike Lane, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Coach Travis Mash #819 10/15/2025

Addiction, Recovery and Building a Life of Value w/ Tim Riley, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash #818 10/08/2025

Melanoma, Jungle Gyms, and Strength Tech w/ Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash #817 10/01/2025

Four Levers of Physiological Flexibility w/ Dr. Michael T. Nelson, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash #816 09/24/2025

Four Pillars of Anti-Aging w/ Blair LaCorte, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash #815 09/17/2025

Four Pillars of Anti-Aging w/ Blair LaCorte, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash #815 Blair LaCorte is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging—the world’s first biomedical research institution dedicated solely to understanding aging and age-related diseases, and the largest independent scientific institute in the Bay Area. A seasoned leader and strategist, Blair has a track record of transforming companies across five industries, leveraging his expertise in change management to drive operational alignment, scale, and market leadership. Most recently, he led AEye’s $1.5B IPO, advancing the company’s mission to enable safe, reliable vehicle autonomy. Prior to that, Blair served as Global President of PRG, the world’s largest live event technology and services company; CEO of XOJET, one of the fastest-growing aviation companies in history; and Senior Advisor and Operating Partner at TPG, a leading private equity firm managing over $97 billion in global investments. His earlier career includes executive roles at technology innovators such as VerticalNet, Savi Technologies, Autodesk, and Sun Microsystems. Blair is an active board member and advisor to organizations spanning science, business, and education, including the Positive Coaching Alliance, the Kairos Society, the Graduate Business Foundation, and alma maters Dartmouth College and the University of Maine. His leadership has been recognized by Fast Company, Ad Age, NASA, and the ITAS “100 Most Influential Leaders in Transportation” list. His insights have been featured in Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, and on major networks including ABC, Bloomberg, CNN, and CNBC. Holding multiple patents across hardware, software, communications, security, and defense, Blair is also an astronaut-in-training and is scheduled to fly with Virgin Galactic. Outside of his professional pursuits, he is a dedicated father to three sons and the owner of a slightly anxious Weimaraner named Bella. Links: /episode/index/show/barbellshrugged/id/38145505

The Path to IFBB Pro w/ Aaron Starker, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash #814 09/10/2025

Physiology Friday: [Brain Health] Science and Strategies for Optimizing Brain Health w/ Dan Garner, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Coach Travis Mash 09/05/2025

Physiology Friday: [Brain Health] Science and Strategies for Optimizing Brain Health w/ Dan Garner, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Coach Travis Mash In today’s episode of Barbell Shrugged, we'll be discussing the various factors that impact brain health and exploring strategies for optimizing brain function. First, we'll be discussing the impact of exercise on brain health. Research has shown that regular exercise can help to improve brain function, enhance cognitive performance, and even reduce the risk of certain neurological disorders. We'll also be discussing the types of exercise that are most beneficial for the brain. Next, we'll be exploring the role of nutrition and supplements in promoting brain health. Certain foods and supplements have been shown to improve brain function and reduce the risk of cognitive decline. We'll be discussing which foods and supplements are most effective and how to incorporate them into your diet. Stress is another important factor that can impact brain health. Chronic stress has been shown to have negative effects on the brain, including impairing cognitive function and increasing the risk of neurological disorders. We'll be exploring strategies for managing stress to optimize brain health. There are several lab markers that can provide insights into brain health, such as inflammatory markers, lipid levels, and neurotrophic factors. We'll be discussing the significance of these markers and how they can be used to assess brain health. Sleep is also essential for brain health, as it plays a critical role in memory consolidation and cognitive function. We'll be discussing the importance of getting adequate sleep and strategies for improving sleep quality. Finally, we'll be exploring the impact of alcohol on the brain. While moderate alcohol consumption has been shown to have some health benefits, excessive alcohol consumption can have negative effects on brain function and increase the risk of neurological disorders. To learn more, please go to Connect with our guests: /episode/index/show/barbellshrugged/id/38090360