I learned how to foster more mental toughness. I learned how to set better goals. I learned how to periodize my training when mountaineering goals and gym phases/goals don’t always align. The last week of the challenge I returned from Mt. Whitney and got my first invitation to the Age Group Quarterfinals. This has been a great 12 weeks!

I joined the performance challenge to enhance my running goals. Despite initial challenges and international travel, I learned to be flexible with nutrition. This journey taught me adaptability, how to have a positive mindset, and the importance of various metrics in measuring progress. I’m grateful for the support of my coach in helping me achieving both physical and mental growth.

To say that the 12 week challenge was life changing isn't a stretch for me, because it really has been. I appreciate the fact that you put this out there with different options. It gave me a lot to think about before I really committed to the performance side of things. And it's a decision that I'm so happy I made.

When I started working with Amanda, I quickly learned how to shift my mindset about nutrition and performance. Over the course of 3 months, my body transformed and I found myself feeling the strongest I have been thanks to both the nutrition and training programs.

Having a coach from Black Iron Nutrition made all the difference for me in this process. Anyone can track marcos, but having my coach Amanda there every week to encourage me and celebrate the little wins is exactly what i needed to start restoring a healthy relationship with food.

Chris just rocks. Not only is his knowledge level out of this world, he is approachable and down to earth. I was a bit apprehensive having a male coach at first but my woes were erased immediately.

I felt comfortable sharing any issues I was having and not only did he have creative solutions to anything and everything, he gently asked questions until we figured out the root of the issue.

I had the best experience ever with Black Iron Nutrition and coach Carly! The knowledge that I received from being coached will last me a lifetime.

Eating better = feeling better = performing better = a better quality of life.

I am so grateful that I was able to find Ryann when I did. I had received nutrition coaching before, but this was different. Ryann focused on changing small habits, day by day - drinking more water, getting more steps in, etc. I lost 20 pounds and healed from a year-long lifting injury while I was working with her. I also started lifting again!

I started working with Chris to get some guidance around eating for maintenance and performance, followed by a small cut for a powerlifting meet, and then fueling for triathlon training - so to say he offered guidance and expertise along a wide spectrum of goals is an understatement!

I enjoyed this process so much- getting to understand my body and what works for me has been such a great experience. I truly believe everyone should invest in a year of tracking to figure out what works for them. I’ve hit PRs this last year that I didn’t think were possible, took 1st place in a competition, made it the furthest I have in the CF Open, and over the weekend ran 8 miles.

I joined Black Iron Nutrition as a performance client when I first started competing because I knew no amount of training would outperform the wrong nutrition plan. I chose BIN because of the impressive coaching team and how their mission focuses on clients as individuals and embodies everything positive about the health and fitness industry.

When I came to BIN I was a year into a new job that had taken me to full night shift. I've been a lifter/crossfitter for many years and couldn't figure out why I was losing so much strength. My coach has taught me so much more than just how to eat. I've learned the importance of different levels of my nutrition, and in just 10 months I have all of my strength numbers back and am currently hitting PRs!

I started with BIN because I had tried all sorts of diets and found myself in a restrict-binge cycle I knew wasn’t healthy. I was obsessed with food and scared to gain weight, which I had. The first 6 months I lost 10 pounds, and my relationship with food was improved 10 fold. I’m so grateful to have had these coaches in my corner. They changed my mindset, and really gave me my life back.

To say that my coach has been a guiding factor in improving my health, my overall relationship with food and my food choices is an understatement. There were some tough love moments in the beginning where I was concentrating on tiny little measurements, not really seeing the overall picture and she had to keep me in check. I wasn’t eating enough of the RIGHT foods and she guided me through a reverse diet that had me eating more than I maybe ever have, all while seeing body composition changes, feeling good in the gym and feeling more myself in my body as a whole.

I came to Black Iron after several failed attempts at trying to lose some weight I had gained during the pandemic. The difference with BIN is that I ate at maintenance level for a few months before even going into a cut -- I had never done this before! In the process, I have learned so much and grew in ways I didn't know were possible. I have a better relationship with food and my body now and the knowledge to carry on toward my goals in a healthier way.

It has been nice to have a coach that understands what it is like to not fit in the gender norm and what that sometimes does to your head. It has been nice to have a balanced coach that has seen what has been working and that made me trust the process and not stress about that “nothing is happening” feeling. It has been nice to have a coach that understands habits and how that works with mental health. it has been a good year and I do recommend everyone to work with BIN in general and Emi specially if you are one of us. The queers that are trying to find their space in a weird world.

I started the program because I was training for a half marathon and would feel completely drained and sick after my long runs. That paired with a desire to get off my acid reflux medication brought me to BIN to figure out what I could do better. I had counted macros before and knew that it wasn’t what I wanted for myself so the Thrive program was perfect. I could focus on how my body felt and figure out how to eat in a way that worked for me.

As my goals have changed from solely CrossFit performance to now bodybuilding and aesthetics, my coaches have been right alongside me, supporting me in making changes to begin seeing results. And with their help, I have been able to balance life better. While juggling a busy schedule as a college student, I am still seeing improvements in the gym weekly. Without BIN and my coaches, I don't think I would be where I am performance-wise, and most importantly, mentally.

People (women, especially) don’t fuel enough for what we ask our bodies to do day in and day out, and then we expect to perform our best too? It doesn’t work that way. And (thankfully for me) ultra running isn’t a sport that praises aesthetics. But we are rewarded with strong legs 60 miles in because we shoved mashed potatoes down at mile 50. Over the last 6 months I’ve been practicing eating for this kind of thing, because it takes just that - so much practice.

My experience with BIN has been truly eye opening! I had a lot of support from my coach and I really learned to fuel my body appropriately for my workouts. As a result there were a lot of PRs on a lot of my lifts and metcon times. This was when I truly got to experience what it meant to eat for performance. This was so encouraging that I decided to do my first powerlifting competition.