Savage Simplicity: Get To Know Phil Bennett

Phil Bennett, also known as @phil_completemma on Instagram, is an enigma embodied in one of his favorite phrases: savage simplicity.  He’s a shaggy bearded artist with intricate tattoos. An athlete with the tattoos of torso of a laborer but the mind of a poetic grizzly. Read on to learn more about this philosopher coach.

I started in the fitness game late. I wasn’t a student athlete. I wasn’t  from a fit family and in all honesty at the time couldn’t care less about  general health let alone training hard.

I’m an artist in every sense of the word- A painter, a designer, a  musician, a writer. I embodied all that the fitness industry dispelled.  Drinking, severely lacking in quality sleep, smoking and a

diet that would  make most cringe. You see so many gifted athletes in the fitness industry  and I can honestly say I am the furthest example from one of them. I’m a  normal guy.

Phil Bennett of completemmatraining.com

I’d love to say there was an inciting moment for change, but there really  wasn’t.

 

I simply woke up one day tired of being tired, tired of being skinny and  tired of being unhealthy.

I joined a gym, played around on the weight machines, lifted some weights  and generally hated every moment of it. The vapid nature of the guys who  went there- the selfies, the chatting, the social element and the lack of  hard work never kept me around for long.

Instead I did my research and came across who I consider to be the  godfather of the garage gym- Ross Enamait. His words spoke to me. His  approach and attitude was all that I assumed the gym going experience  would be, not the mess I saw in the commercial gym. Without finding his work, I probably wouldn’t have continued to where I am now. I trained  bodyweight, with a sandbag and kettlebells and physically and mentally  thrived. During this time I was introduced to martial arts, first boxing,  then Muay Thai and submission grappling. My skill set in the arts

increased and the “unconventional” training I was doing complimented it perfectly. I took my training outside and became my own coach. Nature was  my lab and I was the mad scientist. I based the training on the human  movements- squat, hinge, push, pull and carries. On Dan John’s  recommendation the carry was the most important, followed by the squat,  then the hinge, pull and push last- The opposite of conventional gym  wisdom.

Unsurprisingly, Dan John is a phenomenally gifted coach, it  worked. I made leaps and bounds in fighting and the quick progress was  noticed. I rapidly had my own collective of fighters I coached in my mad  outdoor methods:

– Carrying and squatting logs, stones, sandbags and each other

– Jumping, crawling, sprinting, throwing, climbing

– Hammering the basics- push-ups, pull-ups, rows, hand walking, tumbling

– Having frequent challenges to keep the mind hardened and the body sharp

Phil’s going to be posting here at garagegymlife.net from time to time but in the meantime, here’s a link to one of my favorite posts from his blog at www.completemmatraining.com. Check it out and subscribe to his blog. You won’t be sorry and you might get stronger!

Savage Simplicity, the basics and the 5 must do exercises

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