If you haven’t noticed, the fitness industry is booming! With the emergence of such power house systems such as crossfit and p90x, people are crawling out of the woodwork and developing their own brand of fitness. Which one is right for you? Are they all legit? A lot of questions pop up. It is so easy to do it now a days.  Whip a program, hire a bunch of fitness models and then put it on a dvd. Presto! A new fitness system is born. Does this make it legit?

I respect systems like crossfit and p90x because they get results. People criticize them like crazy because they are successful. People are enjoying and getting great shape. This makes it legit in my eyes. I always ask myself, “is this practical?” What I mean by that is, is it practical for me, my gym and my clients? Will this  system  bring me more clients?

Im seeing a lot of bodyweight training these days. I think its great. Your body is a gym. But im seeing allot of movements being used that aren’t so practical. I see people doing human flags, one handed handstand and all kinds of crazy pull up variations. Its looking like gymnastics out there! This is all good. It looks cool and you definitely have to be in shape to do them.  But is how can I use this at my gym? Can I teach a class room full of people how to do a human flag? How will I be able to implement gymnastic type pull up variations to a class of beginner students?  The answer is you cant.

The same goes for the kettlebell industry. You have organizations charging and exhorbinate amount of money for certifiations and they only show you five movements. Then on top of that, they put so much emphasis on the snatch, that they never even teach their clients how to create balance full body routines with them. I say shame on them. Most of these organizations dont even teach proper warm up and they are always injured beacuse they put so much emphasis on weight. Technique and safety should be priority.

I have had the pleasure of knowing my good friend John wolf for a couple of years now. He teaches his system, E.K.G or Evolution kettlebell groundwork, to packed classes at his gym. He uses kettlebell and bodyweight in his system He has embraced their practicality.  His system is proven. I believe this is why he and I get along so well. We see eye to eye on just about everything.  My system, kettle-Jitsu is also proven. I can have up to 40 people swinging on my mat at once. Variety and effectiveness leads to the retention of students. So does practicality.

So ask yourself this before you purchase you next dvd or embark on a fitness cert: is this system right for me? How will it benefit me? Will it help me get more clients? Who developed this system? Does he/she own a gym?  Is it practical?!?