Building a Fitness Franchise w/ Brandon Cullen, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash #788
Barbell Shrugged
Doug Larson
4.7 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Born into an entrepreneurial family in Ontario, Canada, Brandon Cullen was raised with a front-row seat to hard work and high expectations. Pushed by his father to excel both in life and on the ice, Brandon’s grit landed him a spot in the New York Rangers’ minor league system. But when a career-ending concussion shattered his hockey dreams, everything he’d worked for disappeared overnight.
Instead of calling it quits, Brandon turned that adversity into fuel. Determined to create something new, he poured his competitive drive into the fitness world, building the type of gym he wished existed: one focused on aging athletically without the distractions of gimmicks or trends. He knew firsthand the power of structured training and wanted to bring that same purpose to others looking for more than just a “workout.”
Teaming up with fellow pro hockey player Kirk Dewaele, Brandon’s first venture was a CrossFit gym, but they quickly saw a gap in the market for a structured, strength-based system. This insight led to MADabolic: a strength-driven gym built on precision, consistency, and science-backed programming, delivering real results for those who crave more. It was about giving people a place to train like athletes, with a methodical focus that cuts through the noise of fitness fads.
“Cardio will keep you alive but Strength Training allows you to thrive,” Brandon explains. “Strength complements and enhances every aspect of your life.” For him, MADabolic is more than a business, it’s a mission to build strength, confidence, and a relentless drive for better in everyone who walks through the door, no matter where they start.
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| 0:00.0 | Shrug family this week on Barb El Shrug, Brandon Cullen is coming into the podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | He is the owner of the Metabolic Fitness franchise, which is very cool. |
| 0:09.0 | One, you're going to start to understand my borderline obsession with the NHL these days. |
| 0:14.0 | Best product in the world, and he used to play professional hockey. |
| 0:18.0 | So you're going to have to listen to me talk about hockey for a little bit. |
| 0:21.3 | For all you NHL fans out there. Also, the first I actually heard of Brandon was probably about a |
| 0:26.6 | decade ago when I owned my gyms and he was just starting to build this franchise. So it's very |
| 0:31.1 | cool to kind of understand and see when he started it about a decade ago. And then how it's |
| 0:37.1 | grown, how many locations, |
| 0:38.4 | kind of all the things that go into building a franchise, which in my opinion is a very cool |
| 0:42.4 | pursuit, something I never really thought about when I owned gyms, but now understanding |
| 0:48.2 | kind of like the business landscape and fitness side of things like how people put all of their |
| 0:52.8 | ducks in a row to get where they're at, |
| 0:55.5 | you know, call it a decade later of stack and bricks in the right direction. |
| 0:58.2 | So very cool conversation. |
| 0:59.9 | And as always, friends, you can get over to auretelab.com. |
| 1:03.2 | That is where you can learn about all things, labs, lifestyle, performance, testing, analysis, |
| 1:09.2 | and coaching that we do here inside Arta, the signature |
| 1:12.9 | program inside Rapid Health Optimization. You can access all of that over at Artaelab.com. Friends, |
| 1:18.5 | let's get into the show. |
| 1:21.8 | Welcome to Barbell Shog, Doug Larson, Coach Travis Bass. |
| 1:25.4 | Brandon Cullen. |
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