Barbell Shrugged - Talking Training W/ Crossfit Games Athletes, Strength Coaches & More

Chris Manderino is founder of, a whole-foods plant-based company that helps people achieve optimal health. LYFE FUEL produces simple, functional products from trustworthy and sustainable sources.   Chris is a former NCAA and NFL player, who pursued an opportunity to live abroad while playing football in Italy post his NFL career. While in Italy, he was struck by the vast cultural chasm between the Italian approach to food and the American approach. Italians, even with all the pizza, pasta, downtime and copious desserts, seemed a much healthier population than the US.   Chris boiled it down to this striking difference: in Italy, food was simpler. The Italians used higher quality, mostly plant-based ingredients and had smaller portion sizes. His revelation inspired a career change, and ended up taking a job in the nutraceutical industry.   Later on, Chris decided to study dietary and training theories, and while most nutritionists and food experts disagreed on just about everything else, there was one thing eve