The guy behind the reviews
I'm Mike.
Mike Manning — owner, Black Iron Athletics
I've been an athlete my whole life, and I've been the small athlete my whole life. High school wrestler, powerlifter, the lightest guy on the platform making up the difference with work. After high school I joined the Marine Corps and became a signals intelligence support team leader.
I deployed to Afghanistan in 2009. I got hurt early and stayed. I broke my back during operations later that deployment, and stayed again. By the end I weighed close to 115 pounds and carried close to 100 pounds of gear. Another deployment followed, and in 2012 the Marine Corps medically retired me. I came home to Texas a combat veteran, a disabled veteran, and a guy who had to learn to run, jump, and squat all over again.
The gym is where I got my life back. I started coaching almost the moment I got out, in late 2012, and came to Black Iron Athletics as a partial owner in 2014. I bought my partners out in 2018 and have owned it outright since. We help everyday people become everyday athletes, and I coach like a guy who had to rebuild from zero, because I am one. The full story, including the part about the workout named for a Marine who did not come home, lives on the Black Iron blog. My back is still on the shortlist for surgery, which is why the back-pain guide exists.
These days I coach athletes, run a business, raise kids, and carry a ridiculous amount of gear between all three. That is how this site happened.
Every Dad Carry started as the list I kept sending people. Guys at the gym ask what knife I carry, what protein doesn't taste like chalk, which cooler is worth real money. I got tired of typing the same answers into text messages, so I started writing them down properly.
The Mileage
It is strange being a disabled veteran, an athlete, and a gym owner at the same time. People think if you are not missing a leg, you are not a disabled veteran. They see an in-shape gym owner and assume I have it all together. The truth is I pursue health and fitness at a high level because I have to. When my back goes out, I am incapacitated to the world. I cannot move, cannot walk, cannot sleep. So the ice baths, the stretching, the foam rolling, the standing desk: that is not optimization content. That is maintenance, and the hardest balance in my life is between my ambition and my recovery.
Here is how I explain it to people who do not get it. I will be 38 this year, which sounds like a fairly new car. But do not look at the year, make, and model. Look at the mileage. Deployments, warfare, a broken back, and a lifetime of chasing physical performance put a ton of miles on this engine, and some of that mileage is completely invisible. In Afghanistan my mindset was survive one more day. Now it is simpler: show up today. Be here now, with my kids, my family, my team, my community. My wife taught me it is not only okay to put myself first, it is the expectation she holds me to as a husband. Nobody ever gave me that permission before her, and it changed my life.
The Crew
My wife Jen and I have been together ten years. She teaches elementary school and is on her way to becoming a school counselor, which tells you everything about her patience, and we have two crazy boys, Zander and Zeke, six and almost three. Becoming a dad in 2020 was everything I ever hoped for. I used to believe my most purposeful years were behind me in the Marine Corps. I was wrong. Everything before my boys was about half my potential, and being their father is the greatest purpose I have ever carried.
The perfect Saturday at our house is nothing fancy: time together, preferably outside, friends over, swimming, and bothering my brother and nephew who live a couple doors down the street. He and I got matching Cuphead and Mugman tattoos, if you want to know what kind of family this is. What I hope my boys remember someday is that we had fun, we were real with each other, and nobody in this house was too hard on himself.
The Road
- High school
Wrestler and powerlifter. The smallest guy on the platform.
- The Marines
Signals intelligence support team leader.
- 2009
Afghanistan. A wrecked leg, a broken back, and I stayed.
- 2012
Medically retired. Started coaching almost immediately.
- 2014
Became a partial owner of Black Iron Athletics.
- 2018
Bought my partners out. Sole owner since.
- 2020
Became a dad. Everything before this was half my potential.
- 2026
Every Dad Carry. The list I kept sending people, grown up.
How the reviews work
I buy gear with my own money, carry it, cook on it, train with it, and let my kids stress-test it. If something earns a permanent spot in the rotation, it gets written up. If it folds, it doesn't get a page. You'll never read a review here of something that arrived free in exchange for kind words — no sponsored posts, no press samples, no exceptions.
The photography on this site is the actual gear I own, wear marks and all — if a product doesn't have a real photo yet, it doesn't have a page yet. The one exception is the supplement library, which uses the manufacturer's product images alongside my coaching notes.
How the site makes money
When you buy through links here, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you — through the Amazon Associates program and direct partnerships with brands. On supplements: I'm a Thorne-affiliated healthcare provider through my gym, and those links run through my practitioner dispensary at the same price you'd pay anywhere. Every page with affiliate links says so at the top. The full detail lives in the privacy policy.
Commissions never decide the verdict. The fastest way to kill a site like this is recommending junk to the exact audience that will find out — dads talk.
Have fun, love your people, and be nice to yourself.
Get in touch
Questions, corrections, or a piece of gear you think deserves the treatment: email hello@everydadcarry.com. If you're local, come lift.