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