The Integrated Fitness Problem [BETA]
A 12-Month Curriculum for Somatic Exploration of Physiology | [BETA Edition]
I’ve created a 12-month program to develop general physical preparedness (GPP) and grappling (BJJ) specific conditioning. However, this isn’t just another PDF fitness program or 30-day or 90-day challenge. This is a call-to-action for you to invest in choosing your own adventure. It’s an invitation to move how you feel and feel how you move. The overlap between our physical and emotional states has a lot to teach us about how we move outwardly and feel inwardly.
Why This Program Exists:
Everywhere you look someone is pushing a sales funnel, a PDF-guide, a cheatsheet for this or that, and selling the promise that their “challenge” protocol will change your life. Magazine covers have been effectively using this tactic for half a century. Social media has caused it to grow like an infection.
The problem with static programs is that life isn’t static. A 30-day challenge can be a great reset, however, the paramount question is: “what happens on day 31?” A lot of otherwise “healthy” people live their lives compulsively purging on 30-day sprints and crashing for days or weeks on follow-up binges.
The flaw in “lifestyle” rhetoric is that it dismissively chants “just do X” or “don’t do Y”; none of which addresses – let alone teaches you to address for yourself – how to navigate emotional ups and downs, psychological fatigue, and varying states of stress and adaptation. No program can accurately predict what your recovery needs will be in six weeks.
The discipline cult pours gasoline on an already corrosive fire. “More is better” and “grind harder” are what we’re told. In fact, more is not better; better is better. Further, the cognitive overhead and allostatic stress variables are entirely absent from this kind of calculus. Training through exhaustion, chronic under-recovery, or psychological fatigue doesn’t build resilience – it teaches you how to get beat up and build resentment.
The missing element, as far as I can tell, is the ability to truly develop sensitivity and awareness of ourselves – in short, the ability to pay attention.
There are some great programs that will teach you how to control your state or how to train yourself. This program goes a layer deeper to utilize physical movement as an opportunity for exploring emotional states and navigating, rather than compulsively challenging, psychological heuristics.
Following a program is one thing. Creating it is another. Creating a good program is still another level. Learning what makes a good program, and how to adapt and address your needs and factors on the fly, is a lifelong endeavor.
This isn’t therapy, though you may find it therapeutic. This isn’t fighting for fitness, it’s finessing the spirit. While growth and change will always be painful, this isn’t monastic amelioration, it’s alignment. I’m asking you to take 12-months to start the process.
The 12-Month Curriculum: Program Overview
Phase 1 is about self-assessment, building a theoretical training foundation, and understanding the core IP of mapping somatic states on top of physical energy systems (Module 1, 1 month).
Goal: Understand training programming, systems, and methodology.
Key Outcome: Continue your current training and collect data for self-assessment.
Phase 2 is about general physical preparedness (Modules 2 - 7, 6 months). One month / module will be dedicated to each mobility, endurance, hypertrophy, power, anaerobic capacity, and aerobic capacity.
Goal: To establish a physical base, identify energy system deficits, and acquire foundational somatic language using each module’s unique readiness scale.
Key Outcome: You are building the capacity to handle (physical) stress and identify psychological and emotional states that accompany varying energy systems and degrees of effort.
Phase 3 is a crucial bridge and opportunity to re-assess yourself and test your understanding (Module 8, 1-2 months).
Goal: A mandatory self-assessment to diagnose and prioritize a specific element of training.
Key Outcome: After 7-months of practice, you’re left to your own devices (with some guidance) to create and seek an outcome based on your adaptive needs.
Bonus: This phase also includes essays and training sessions for team / group fitness which offer unique opportunities for growth and expansion.
Phase 4 is focused on grappling-specific strength and conditioning (Modules 9a-9d, 4 months). The principles in these modules can be applied to any sport, grappling just happens to be the specific proxy used to illustrate that process.
Goal: To refine and translate physical and psychological capacity into sport-specific conditioning (physicality and focus).
Key Outcome: Training becomes grappling-centric and fitness becomes a supportive measure that does not compete with BJJ skill development.
Phase 5 (Module 10) is a collection of resources like external tools and assessments, books and podcasts, and even other programs to aid you along in your own autonomous training.
How to Use This Program: The Compass, Not the Map
The first 8 modules are designed as fitness-first training. This means that fitness is the majority of your training time / sessions and demands the bulk of your recovery needs. The last 4 modules are designed as grappling-first with supportive fitness training. In reality, this program may take much longer (or shorter) than 1 year to complete in total, but the entire point is to use it at your discretion as individual goals and needs dictate.
Weekly Articles (free) will continue to be released to discuss high-level training philosophy and theory. Knowledge should be free for everyone, but practice and application will cost. Together, divided by truth, they create wisdom and we all improve.
Substack Chat (paid) will be a place for paid subscribers to discuss training modules and individual sessions. This is a space to collaborate and seek feedback so that the training modules can be developed in real time.
Extra module resources (e.g. external tools and assessments, recommended books and podcasts, etc.) will be featured in the Module 10: Appendix.
Training Modules (paid, indexed below) will be released approximately on a monthly basis and include about 4 weeks of training prompts each. Some of these will have pre-written sessions while others will provide prompts for you to apply what you’ve learned and write your own session.
Technically, you do not have to complete the modules in order, but that is how the program is designed. If you already have a strong fitness base, you could jump straight to Module 9. However, I would discourage that since you’re missing the point of the program which is to cultivate a thorough understanding of the somatic sensations evoked by a broad range of physical expression.
What’s more is that the purpose of the program extends far beyond purely physical development or grappling-specific conditioning. AI can easily write you a good enough evidence-based program of any duration, intensity, or skill level. It’s your responsibility to maintain, cultivate, and develop the human element of your training.
The Blueprint:
IFP.00 (SAMPL): Sample Module and Training Sessions
IFP.01 (FOUND): Foundations
IFP.01a: Pillars of Health
IFP.01b: Cognition and Critical Mass
IFP.01c: Fuel and Recovery
IFP.01d: Somatic Energy Systems
IFP.02 (MOB): Mobility and Hope
IFP.03 (END): Endurance and Love
IFP.04 (HYP): Hypertrophy and Resilience
IFP.05 (PWR): Power and Anger
IFP.06 (ANA): Anaerobic Capacity and Valor
IFP.07 (AER): Aerobic Capacity and Anguish
IFP.08: Autonomy
IFP.08a (WIS): Wisdom
IFP.08b (WIS): Self-Directed Training
IFP.08c (TEAM): Trust and Group Training
IFP.09: Sport Application (BJJ)
IFP.09a (WHITE): White Tissue and Surrender
IFP.09b (RED): Red Tissue and Constriction
IFP.09c (FUEL): Engine Fuel and Scrambles
IFP.09c (AIR): Engine Air and Suffocating
IFP.10 (APPX): Appendix Resources
IFP.10a: Tools and Assessments
IFP.10b: Books, Apps, Products
IFP.10c: Friends and Other Programs
IFP.10d: Broken Betas
Planned Future Development:
Beta Pricing End
Current premium subscriptions ($12/month, $100/year) reflect development/beta pricing. Upon v1.0 launch (ETA mid-June 2026) prices will increase to $15/month, $100/year). This is to reinforce that the IFP program is not a collection of random workouts or disconnected monthly challenges. It is a cohesive curriculum.
Monthly Beta Subscribers will be grandfathered in at the $12/month price via reusable coupon code (assigned per email).
Annual Beta Subscribers will receive a free 1:1 consultation call with myself to offer feedback and contribute to program development.
7-Day Free Trials
Will become available once v1.0 is released.
Quarterly Field Notes
Opposed to churning out endless WODs, part of the IFP.10 APPX module will include quarterly updates reviewing the cutting edge of my personal training, relevant data, somatic synthesis, and program development updates.