Tag Archives: sports specific

How to develop your own fitness program
I receive emails and messages daily in regards to kettlebell and body weight training. So, in my next few articles, I will try and cover the questions that I get the most.
“How do I create my own fitness system/program?” is one I was asked since the release of my first DVD Combat Kettlebell systems. Im actually surprised that I haven’t covered this topic already!
First of all, I never sought out to create my own kettlebell and body weight training system. This is the difference between me and all the other people trying to cash in on the fitness industry. I developed Kettle-Jitsu out of necessity.
In an effort to find a fitness program that fit with my gym at the time, one of my business partners suggested we get a kettlebell instructor. I heard great things about them and had no knowledge on how to use them. But I was smart enough to know that in needed some type of instruction to learn to use them properly. So, I agreed and was eager to learn!
My business partner Bill, found an instructor that was certified by the biggest kettlebell instructor at the time. So, we started a once a week kettlebell class with him at my gym SoCal MMA and fitness. We learned the basics. He covered the dead lift, swings, cleans, Turkish get ups and snatches. These were all new to me so, at first, I was really hooked! But, it didn’t really progress from there. It was the kettlebell basics over and over.
As a result, I got bored and so did my students. I really felt there was more kettlebell variety out there. So, I started researching it on the web. To my dismay, I saw very little variety.
Then one day, I was lying in my room, which was in the back of my gym, (yes, I lived in my gym in its early days!), I had an epiphany. I though, I bet you could combine some BJJ movements with the kettlebell. I jumped off my bed, and went into the main mat of my gym and grabbed a kettlebell. I was right! The kettlebell flowed so naturally with the BJJ movements.
So, every morning, I woke up extra early to put myself through a different kettlebell workout. I incorporated all of my innovations into each workout. Then I started integrating it into my boot camps with my students and fighters. They loved it! This is what separates my programs from others. Every single movement and workout I have developed has been a result of direct feedback from my students. Your pupils are your best critics! If your classes are growing and you are retaining students, then you’re doing something right!
Kettle-Jitsu has been 10 years in the making and is continuously evolving.
So, this is how I developed Kettle-jitsu. Not everyone has the convenience of owning their own gym and having students to test their workouts on. So, if you think that developing your own fitness program is something you want to do, then here are a few tips.
1. Master your basics. Online certs like NASM and what not in my opinion are scams. You cant learn fitness from a computer. You need an actual person to show you what and what not to do. So maybe you should do some sort of kettlebell and body weight certification. That way, you have something to build off. Its kind of the same process with martial arts. How do you think there are so many different styles of martial arts? One person becomes proficient in one style. Then he or she, starts to develop their own philosophies and adds their own twist or emphasis to it.
2. After you master your basics and start developing your own workouts, test them on yourself first! Every workout, every exercise I have ever developed, I tried myself before teaching it to my students.
3. Start a small boot camp. Think of it as a test group. Teach your new workouts on them and see how it goes. Ask opinions from your clients. If you have any intention of pursuing a career in fitness, you have to listen to your clients. They pay their hard-earned coin for you to train them. If they like you and the workouts, they will keep coming and are likely to bring friends.
4. Come up with a catchy name for your program. To be honest I’m not even sure how I came up with the name Kettle-Jitsu. But I do know that ever fitness program was fit, this and fit that. So, I didn’t want to jump on the band wagon and come up with an obvious name. Not my style😉
5. Next you should start a business page on Instagram and Facebook. We are in the age of social media and it helps tremendously. Social media is great for various different reasons. It gets your material out there and is a great way to promote your products. Facebook and Instagram now make it fairly easy to run ads all by yourself.
6. Start a website. People need a place where they can go and learn more about you and what you do.
7. If your small boot camp is doing well, you have the options of offering your services at some sort of fitness or martial arts gym. Or, your next option would be to open your own studio. Obviously, the latter is a bit more difficult because of the money factor. But, I know a lot of trainers that earn a living by teaching boot camps at various different gym.
8. Sell your programs online. This means, filming your workouts and putting them up on your website for sale. There are numerous ways to do it. You can do it digitally, or you can do a DVD. I could probably write a small book on this subject! Maybe in another article😉
9. If people are purchasing your programs online and your boot camps are doing well, people may ask you how to get certified in your methods. I never thought in a million years I would be doing a kettlebell DVD and certifying people. But after I released Combat Kettlebell Systems, I started receiving emails asking how to get certified in the CKS system. That’s how it

Body weight flow training is all the rave right now. There are so many fitness gurus developing their own styles nowadays. But before you jump on the bandwagon of some of these trends, ask yourself, “Is this practical for me?” There are many different types of body weight flows. The two I’ll talk about here are class format flows and open space flows.

Since I teach boot camps on a regular basis, space is always an issue. This is why a spend more time developing class format flows. That way you can teach these movements in large group classes and require minimal space. The first video below is an example of class format flows. As you can see in the video, me and my student are performing various different types of flows side by side. These are movements I teach daily and work great in large class format.

Open space flows are when you have enough space to perform more intricate flows. Maybe you own a gym and you have a large mat space to yourself. You could be at a park or a beach. In the second video, me and long time student Oscar are doing some free style MMA flowing. As you can see with all of the Kicking, punching and random rolling around, these types of flows would not be ideal, in a large class. Even though I have access to a really big gym, I rarely have the time to do these types of flows. I work out with my classes, so on free time, the last thing I want to do is extracurricular training.

So if you are a trainer and you teach group classes on a regular basis, class format flows may be what you want to spend your time learning or developing. If space is not an option, you can partake in open space flows.

Get the Ultimate TGU on sale now for only $17! ass seen in the latest issue of Jiu JItsu magazine! Click the above banner or this link!Ultimate Turkish Get Up Program download Or, get Save $$$$ and purchase the Kettle-Jitsu Revolution 8 week program and Ultimate TGU together for only $47!!! Click the below banner or this link to save! Kj revolution/Ultimate TGU combo!Turkish Get Ups are one of the initial exercises that I knew had a direct connection to MMA and Bjj. The mechanics of the TGU are almost identical to a movement in BJJ called, Standing up in base or the Technical lift. The TGU is the best kettlebell exercise for BJJ for 3 reasons. 1. You work your pushing, pulling, squatting/lunging movements all in one exercise. 2. it has numerous applications in actual BJJ techniques. 3. It works motor skills we are not accustomed to doing in every day life. Therefor it enhances your coordination. Most traditional Bjj dojos practice this via body weight on a daily basis. Standing up in base has many applications in jiu jitsu. It has also evolved into a movement necessary for the “scrambling aspect” of Mixed Martial Arts. Scrambling is the art of regaining the standing position in an MMA fight. If you are not good at scrambling, then you will have a shot career in MMA. So, drilling the mechanics of Standing up in base is a must. In the enclosed video, I have several variations of the TGU and Brazilian get up and some applications with a partner. Implement these into your mma and kb training and you will experience tremendous gains! Be sure to check out Joey Alvarado’s article on the Turkish Get Up in the latest issue of Jiu Jitsu Magazine!

Recently I watched a video post of a gentleman addressing the question, “Can you build muscle with kettlebells?” I don’t remember what his name was. But I believe he was a crossfit guy and he was in great shape. His answer to the question was no. You cannot build muscle with kettlebells. He demonstrated a few kettlebell movements. I believe he did some swings and snatches. His form was good. So I can see someone properly trained him. But his answer was based on those 2 movements. Unfortunately, those are the only movement’s people associate with kettlebells. Swings, snatches, cleans and the occasional Turkish get up are the most prominent movements taught in the kettlebell industry. So I can’t blame him for coming up with his conclusion. People just have not put in the work to explore the true potential of what kettlebells are capable of.

I disagree with his conclusion 100%. All of my strength and conditioning comes from kettlebell and bodyweight only. I don’t use machines, chin up bars, barbells or dumbbells. If you know how to use a kettlebell properly, they can take place of all of the aforementioned exercise devices. But if all you do are swings and snatches, you will not get those results. I will dive further into this subject in the future. I just want to give a brief example of how I structure routines in my Kettle-Jitsu system. In the enclosed video, we work our chest, shoulders and triceps with crossover pushups. If anyone has ever used this exercise, you will know it awesome for building power and definition in your pecs. We do 2 hand cleans that work your legs, glutes, biceps and shoulders. Rows work your back, lats, core and arms. In this video we are using what I call Thai knee swings. In this variation, as we swing upward, we drive one knee up. This is a fantastic overall body exercise that emphasizes core. Thai knee combos are done prior to the kb workout. This dynamic bodyweight combo works almost every muscle in your body.

So keep in mind, you can build muscle and burn fat simultaneously with kettlebells. It’s all about how you put it together. If all you are doing are the standard swings and snatches over and over. It will be difficult to get significant results. To learn how to build muscle and burn fat w kettlebells take advantage of the new KB strength and conditioning presale!

Thai Knee Combos are one of the many dynamic body weight combos that will be featured on the new Kettle-Jitsu Revolution dvd. This compound exercise is a class favorite at Joey Alvarado’s gym, So Cal mma and fitness in los Angeles, CA. Like many of the exercises in Joey’s system, it an mma infused movement designed to improve your anaerobic capacity. The Thai knee combos are a fun and effective flow to add to any ones arsenal! Look for a detailed instruction on the upcoming Kettle-Jitsu Revolution double dvd!

Kettle-jitsu revolution: what is it and who is it for?
As many of you many know, I released my first dvd, “combat kettlebell systems’, on my mad methods productions several years ago. I introduce new, mma inspired kettlebell and bodyweight movements to the world. Exercises like snake move, combat swings, upa and the fighters figure 8 were some of the newly developed exercises featured on the dvd. The whole dvd has a strong mma influence due to all of the dynamic, sports specific exercises in the program. The dvd became a godsend for those stuck in the rut of doing the same monotonous kettlebell workouts over and over. At that point, my system was relatively new. It was develop in my first, tiny gym that I owned. I used the workouts in my classes to my students enjoyment. But at that time, my classes were allot smaller. Since then, we moved to a huge, 5000 square ft facility. My classes grew as well. Sometimes I would come to the gym ready to unleash a new workout on my students, then see that there were some rock bottom beginners trying the class out for the first time. The workout I had planned would definitely not be suited for them. It forced me to adapt! This is how the new Kettle-Jitsu revolution program was born!
I had to think fast! How do I create a workout easy enough for beginner, yet challenging enough to push my advanced students??? Well I figured it out! The new kettle-jitsu revolution program is a combination of joint mobility, body weight training and kettlebell training that anyone can do! The new formula allows for an ever evolving repertoire of new movements and workouts. Once I unleashed this system at my gym, the word got out and my classes started getting more packed than ever. The shocking part is that over 70% of the clientele at my gym are women! Remember, you don’t have to be a fighter to train like one. The kettle-jitsu revolution is designed to get you in crazy shape fast! You will never be bored and it will continuously challenge you! Best of all, it is for everyone, and anyone looking fresh and different approach to fitness! Anyone of any level will be able to pop this dvd in and immediately start working out!