This channel is the official audio and video repository for the Integrated Fitness Problem (IFP) training program. The short clips hosted here function strictly as exercise and movement demonstrations for the participants in our training frameworks. The audio (podcast) segments are transcriptions of published written articles.
If you arrived here via YouTube search, please note that the complete training philosophy and methodology, behavioral science insights, and program details live exclusively on Substack. To subscribe to the free newsletter or purchase the Integrated Fitness Problem training program use the primary link below.
By trade I’m a licensed professional counselor. By craft, I’m a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, retired rock climber, and competitive fitness enthusiast. Mostly, I’m curious. I wonder how we can use the body as a proxy to explore and understand ourselves; not just to expel our demons, but exercise what inspires and moves us to become greater.
Savage Zen Athletics
Neither "health", nor "fitness", are uni-dimensional aspects -- despite what the internet tries to make you believe.
CrossFit identifies a spectrum of Sick-ness to Well-ness to Fit-ness; which is a helpful visualization. Still, the singular domain of the physical gets disproportionate focus -- under the pretense of feeling "scientific" or "quantifiable."
By contrast, Precision Nutrition identifies 6 "pillars of deep health:"
- Physical (what most focus on)
- Environmental
- Mental (cognitive)
- Emotional (affective)
- Relational
- Existential
The latter three are almost entirely ignored in the discussion of "health." Yet, Viktor Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning) taught us that there is a disproportionate downward effect to Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs."
This is the opposite of what's oft proposed online, that "food is medicine" and a certain elimination diets are "cures" of affective, social, and relational dysfunction.
Start a Free 7-Day Trial of The Integrated Fitness Problem today:
savagezen.substack.com/p/pillars-of-health
5 days ago | [YT] | 0
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Savage Zen Athletics
lever programming won’t save you from an inability to manage arousal. Anyone who has been training something long enough knows that inevitably gains (however you define them) start to slow.
Almost as predictable as it is inevitable, this is first interpreted (falsely) as an error. What am I doing wrong all of a sudden? Why isn’t what I’ve always been doing working anymore?
It’s easy to show up to a gym and ask:
What are we going to / supposed to do today?
With a little prompting, it’s not too hard to include:
How do I feel today?
It takes a lot of practice to go a step further and decide:
How do I want to feel today?
How will I get there?
savagezen.substack.com/p/programmed-avoidance
1 week ago | [YT] | 0
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Savage Zen Athletics
The least important part of any training program is the literal reps and sets. However, different combinations of movements, implements, and cadences are all valid levers to elicit different physiological and psychological adaptations.
The Integrated Fitness Problem program I created goes far beyond the physical sense of "intended stimulus."
While intention may be a pre-requisite for success, we all know what the road to hell is paved with.
Thus, we must also pay attention. We must know what we are feeling to have any influence on where we are going; which is also to say, what we are training and adapting.
Start you Free 7-Day Trail today:
https:/savagezen.substack.com/subscribe
Including:
- Team / Group Fitness
- Self-Directed Prompts
- BJJ Mobility
- BJJ Strength
- BJJ Conditioning
- BJJ Endurance
1 week ago | [YT] | 2
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Savage Zen Athletics
The fitness industry is broken. It cannot escape that it is part of a world where seemingly everything is a performative anesthetic, science is “settled”, and we are inundated with plagues of pop-spirituality.
We are sold a reductionist line of logic; that neurons in our brain procure thoughts, those thoughts precipitate perceptions called feelings, and actions are conducted based on those feelings.
We’re told that the key to happiness is eliminating, even avoiding, all possible stress; as if a life without stimulation would be worth living (?). Then you hear chants of “hustle and grind” as if the system will reward you before you break yourself against the shore.
If the “key to enlightenment” is to “chop wood, carry water”; then equally, that process — which you might call meditation — does not hold the objective of forcing thoughtlessness or anhedonia, but the effortlessness of movement (thought, body, and soul).
savagezen.substack.com/p/the-integrated-fitness-pr…
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 3
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Savage Zen Athletics
After 6 months of production, v1.0 of The Integrated Fitness Problem training program is live today!
Most programs tell you what to do.
A few get you to think differnetly.
Rare ones ask how you feel.
I'm asking you to invest 12 months to begin to know.
Phase 1 is about self assessment and building a theoretical foundation.
Phase 2 is about using a unique readiness scaling system for each of 6 energy systems mapped on top of somatic experiences.
Phase 3 is an opportunity to re-assess and test your understanding.
Phase 4 is about applying general principles to specific sport / skill needs.
In total, the program includes:
- 12+ technical physiology essays.
- 12+ somatic reflection guides.
- 80+ pre-written training sessions.
- 20+ DIY prompts and assessments.
- 100% human-built and practitioner-tested.
- 0% written by AI.
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful. However, the approximate nature of the model must always be borne in mind."
The mind is secondary, the body just keeps the score. If we can feel neither, then we've betrayed ourselves for nothing.
Get started today with a 7-day Free Trial:
savagezen.substack.com/p/the-integrated-fitness-pr…
2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 3
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Savage Zen Athletics
What happens when you water down warm ups, skimp on skill development, ignore cool downs, and turn your nose up at scaling for bodyweight?
Doing more of what you're already good at or capable of won't get you to the next level of achievement.
Further, science on motor learning, polyvagal and trauma theory, all agree that we cannot incorporate and integrate new information (skills) under excessive stimulation (stress).
"Scaling" may allow us to achieve the desired "simulus", but it doesn't help us build skill.
For that we need practice and play -- in short, the freedom to make mistakes and adapt without fear of being punished (by the clock or load).
Continue Reading:
savagezen.substack.com/p/whiteboard-kayfabe-part-2
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1
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Savage Zen Athletics
To excel, you must focus, which is to say you must exclude. Fitness programming should convey a clear objective and progressively overloaded means to obtain that objective while supporting global physical preparedness. |
savagezen.substack.com/p/fitness-terminology-3
#fitness #conditioning #strength #endurance #strengthandconditioning
1 year ago | [YT] | 0
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Savage Zen Athletics
Previously we defined energy systems, so now it’s time to look at how to define difficulty and complexity. Despite what “science” says, no amount of intensity will make up for a lack of volume. HIIT has become the darling of the “evidence based” world, but is all too congruent with our insatiable desire for short-term commitment and short-term results.
savagezen.substack.com/p/fitness-terminology-2
1 year ago | [YT] | 1
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Savage Zen Athletics
Fitness charlatans, influencers, and hucksters often use (A) confusing, verbose terminology and (B) proprietary "functional" methods. Even with the best intentions, it’s often trying to reinvent the wheel and has a marginal, sometimes even detrimental, effect on outcomes.
open.substack.com/pub/savagezen/p/fitness-terminol…
1 year ago | [YT] | 0
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Savage Zen Athletics
As the expression goes, “a belt only covers 2 inches of your ass, the rest is on you.” One year ago I received my black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Here are 5 things I’ve learned since then. | open.substack.com/pub/savagezen/p/whats-in-a-symbo…
#bjj #grappling #jiujitsu #blackbelt #brazilianjiujitsu #americanjiujitsu #catchwrestling #wrestling
1 year ago | [YT] | 0
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