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As seen on http://rmaxi.com/clubbell5x5/ IF I LOOK BACK……to the days when I was serving as a close protection agent, I always trained to be stronger and more functional for my line of work and less for my physique.. Of course I always kept an eye on my food intake but more for quality and not on quantity. In other words a six pack was not my top priority. Over time, I began living a very stressful life with many hours on duty and no specific time for either training or eating properly. This became a nightmare. For exercise, barbells and dumbbells were the main tools available at the unit office and while abroad.My problem is that I never really liked conventional training and I always tried to spend the least time possible with conventional exercise. I always trained myself with various unconventional lifting or presses and pulls. I wanted to challenge my body with each workout and I would train every single day except Sunday! Of course my training sessions have never been very long (time was restricted) however they were intense. I never trained to the point of exhaustion because I always believed that we should train to create energy for other activities and not to roll around on the ground sore after exercise.DURING THOSE YEARS……I found an old book that was explaining about a system that was very popular in the late 60’s called 5×5! It was love at first sight. 3 compound exercises with 5 reps and 5 sets followed by 2 finisher exercises. I immediately tried the system as it was and I felt great. The only thing I changed was the daily schedule and adapted my regimen based on my bodies feedback day by day. I quickly realized I was getting stronger fast and guess what?..I continued to develop more strength, more weight and then more muscle. My head started thinking of the possibilities and I started to research more. During the next several years I was lucky to start working alongside an old friend that became my coach, Scott Sonnon and his CST system.THANKS TO SCOTT……I was introduced to the tool of my life…the Clubbell! I focused years of training to refine the techniques before exploring a new area and dimension of swinging and pressing for my personal fitness needs. In my opinion, the Clubbell is one of the best pieces of training equipment out there. A few years ago, I designed the 1st 5×5 Clubbell approach based on 3 compound exercises and 2 finishers, to run in different variations and progressions. People that trained with it started to ask me for more because they saw quick, actual results in regards to their functional strength and also their body composition. Since I am the kind of man who likes to experiment with a new strategy, I experimented with swinging and pressing a 90 lb Clubbell all the way down to some complex movement with a single lightweight one. In those trials, I realized that some of the power was gone in one direction. My brain started to work again and I have now designed what I believe will challenge all the Clubbell swingers out there and improve their strength in a new way.THIS NEW 5×5……will give you plenty to do. From rebuilding old technique to incorporating more complexity to your compound exercise, your body and nervous system will need to re-adapt constantly, and you will be in control of your bodies explosiveness and growth. I will teach you how to run it during the week, how to integrate the high intensity WOD if you practice TACFIT, and I will also give new specific warm ups and new cool downs to let you enter and exit your session pain free. I will outline for you when to go high load and complex and when to go into refine mode especially if your age is not down near the 30’s any longer. 5×5 will also guide you in improving your body composition and overall health!Special thanks to my mentor and brother Master Coach Scott Sonnon for changing the way I see fitness!alberto-portraitI was born and raised in the Milano suburb of Northern Italy in 1970. As a child, I was very active until the age of 12. It was around that time that I stopped all physical activity, and for 2 years, I wasjust shoveling food in my mouth. The end result left me a hefty 89 kg at the age of 14 and this was not muscle mass. I finally decided to make a change and started attending a Kung-Fu class. Somewhere along the line, while my body was being restored to health, I was introduced to my “first” love: Full Contact Kickboxing. As I continued to train, I found myself competing, winning several medals, an Italian championship, and few pro fights!At the age of 18 I volunteered for the Army serving in the airborne division and later becoming very active across many units.  When I left the army, I went on to manage security personnel in different clubs in Italy and abroad. After a while, I decided to move to the United States. I spent 5 years traveling the country studying various styles of martial art and learning from the best coaches. During this time I worked for different security companies, including a bail recovery agent in California.After 5 years in the United States, I was hired by a Swiss Diplomat to head his security and I moved back to Europe. I found myself working close protection security across the EU, Middle East, South Africa, and more.  I ended up opening a security and training company, Secutor, which provided physical training and designed combat specific curriculum for special forces in Italy and abroad.I am now the EU director for RMAX International and the TacFit Military Division Chief, representing Scott Sonnon’s work. I have been studying under Dr.  Dennis Hannover and have achieved a 3rd degree black belt in Dennis’ Survival Jiu-jitsu. In 2008, I even won a gold medal at the World Championships in Israel . I have integrated all I learned under my mentor Scott Sonnon and my second father Dennis Hannover, to design a combat specific training method called TacFit Survival Jiu-Jitsu.