Joe Regan is surely the brightest guy out there in the martial arts world. Today, a 51-year-old guy but his soul is still young. Besides Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (black belt) he is a comedian, actor and expert commentator for UFC events. This variety of interest surely had to contribute to his training diversity. It is not strange that he „crushed“ the very best from every aspect of strength training into his training philosophy. The things that pop out in Joe Rogan workout are kettlebells and their usage. Key points in training philosophy and a few good kettlebell workout tips are following in further text.
Functional Philosophy of Joe Rogan Kettlebelts
Like every good strength and conditioning coach, Joe Rogan insist on complex, multidirectional exercises. The reason is simple. Joe understands that those exercises have the best transfer to sports. Today, we like to call them functional exercises. He uses bodyweight exercises, free weight but he also uses kettlebells. He underlines kettlebells unique structure which puts specific demands in front of BJJ practitioners and their ballistic „genetic code“. That structure and „genetic code“ will definitely contribute to your strength and explosiveness. When it comes to Joe Rogan kettlebell workout structure we can easily call it three S.
First S represents word simple. In other words, do not complicate about training. Hinge, squat, lunge, push, press… Take a few exercises and you are good to go. We often think that the very best results are coming from complicate training systems with different schemes. The beauty is always in basic. Keep that in mind. Simplicity!
The second rule would be „stupid“. Word stupid does not advocate no brain access to strength training. It refers to the training purpose. Do you need a strength to kick? Good. Take some heavy kettlebells in the 5×5 scheme and go. Do you want to improve endurance? Good for you. Take lighter ones and start doing twenties. You get the point.
Last S represent word Short. When it comes to Joe Rogan and kettlebells, he is Pavel Tsatsouline student. Joe Rogan likes short and hardworking kettlebell workouts. That kind of workout will give you a good training kick but your body won’t be exhausted from numerous repetitions and hours of training. Why is it important? It will allow you optimal recovery from the previous workout and your BJJ training will not suffer. You will have all of the strength training benefits but also you will be fresh for your BJJ skills.
Now when you dived into Joe Rogan kettlebell training philosophy, it is time to highlight some of the exercises you can use in your training.
Kettlebells exercises Joe Rogan would choose
In this section, I will present some exercises that suit Joe Rogan kettlebells training philosophy.
First, one that satisfies all of the conditions is surely multidirectional and functional core exercises Turkish Get Up. Besides the strength part of training, you can add a few repetitions of each side in the warm-up. It is a great mobilization exercise, use it.
Next on our list is squat variation. You need a nice strength kick in those legs so you want something that is more demanding than a regular squat. Overhead kettlebell squat is a perfect choice here. It asks for good mobility and synergy of muscles to do it correctly but the benefits are enormous.
Now you need good pull and press pattern exercise.
First lets clear the press pattern. Here the right choice is double kettlebell military press. How to increase overhead press strength and stabilization? Look at the following video.
When it comes to pulling pattern, we will combine the hinge and pull movement pattern to get a double benefit. We can do that by including one arm kettlebell swing-high pull in kettlebell routine.
In the end, we add some „killer“ exercise. Joe would definitely choose One arm kettlebell hang clean.
How would all of that look like in single Joe Rogan kettlebells workout routine?
Joe Rogan kettlebells workout routine
Turkish Get up 5 x 3/3
Overhead Kettlebell Squat 5 x 5/5
Double Kettlebell Military Press 5 x 5
One Arm Kettlebell Swing – High pull 5 x 8/8
One arm Kettlebell Hang clean 5 x 10 / 10
You can add some bodyweight exercises or TRX exercises for the „pump“. A good example of those exercises would be push up, chin up or TRX push up with abs flexion.
Be sure to take an adequate warm up before you start lifting those bels. Some mobility, flexibility and prevention work will surely prepare you for the demanding Joe Regan kettlebell workout. Find your individual repetition/rest ratio not to exhaust your body and be sure to choose the right exercises. You can always take a step back in exercises progression if you feel it is too hard for you. Be persistent in adequacy. It is important to follow the training philosophy and key guidelines so you can get maximum training benefit. The numbers will come by itself.
