We built UMAN
because the shelf
was lying.
From the gym floor.
UMAN was started by athletes who got tired of choosing between candy in disguise and dry industrial protein bricks. Neither belonged in a gym bag. Neither belonged after a real session.
So we built one. Real food. Real protein. Real chew. Handmade in Belgium, in small batches, by real people who know what a hard session feels like and what fuel actually has to do afterward.
UMAN is for people who train like they mean it.
A bar built between sessions.
UMAN was started by Vincent Marijsse — a long-time CrossFit athlete and coach with a deep background in functional nutrition. Between training blocks and coaching hours, he kept seeing the same problem on gym floors across Belgium: athletes fueling hard sessions with candy bars in disguise or dry industrial protein bricks.
Nine recipe versions later, the chew was right. Fifteen Belgian boxes tested the prototype. Coaches gave honest, brutal feedback. Athletes voted with their gym bags.
"I won't sell my athletes anything I wouldn't put in my own bag." — Vincent
From whiteboard to bar.
- 2019First crash
Vincent runs out of real fuel mid-Open. Reads the label of the bar in his bag. Promises never again.
- 2022Kitchen lab
Nights between coaching blocks. Whey, prunes, chocolate. Recipe v1. It's almost edible.
- 2024Recipe v9
Nine versions later, the chew is right. Callebaut chocolate locked in. Belgian honey sourced.
- 2025Tribe test
15 boxes across Belgium prototype the bar. Coaches give brutal, honest feedback. We listen.
- 2026N° 001
Original Belgian Chew ships. Small-batch, handmade, by people who train.
A founder who trains.
UMAN isn't designed in a boardroom. It's designed in a gym bag — Vincent's own, week after week. These are the sessions the bar gets tested against.
Food you can name. Ingredients you can read. Bars you can trust.
Made in Belgium, in small batches, by real hands. No anonymous factory.
Built with and for the functional fitness community. Coaches, athletes, boxes.
Fake fuel.
- — Ultra-processed bars that look like candy.
- — "Healthy" snacks full of nonsense.
- — Weak products with strong marketing.
- — Food that promises performance and delivers sugar.
Fuel Your Tribe.
Whether you train in a garage gym or compete on the HYROX start line — UMAN moves with you.