GMB Fitness is a movement education company specializing in online training programs that teach practical strength, mobility, and motor control to adults.
We help people develop physical autonomy—the ability to move confidently in whatever activities matter to them—through progressive, skill-based bodyweight training designed for real lives, not professional athletes.
Since 2010, our programs have helped over 125,000 people worldwide move better, hurt less, and build lasting capability through systematic practice.
GMB bridges the gap between rehabilitation and performance by combining principles from gymnastics, martial arts, and physical therapy into a curriculum you can follow at home on your schedule.
Who GMB Fitness is For
Our programs work best for active adults who:
- Experience stiffness or chronic aches despite staying active
- Hit plateaus in traditional strength training or feel stuck
- Deal with nagging injuries that limit what they can do
- Want sustainable training that doesn’t require gym memberships or rigid schedules
- Value autonomy over dependence on trainers or equipment
- Need something more sophisticated than basic fitness but less rigid than professional athletics
You’re probably a former athlete, recreational lifter, martial artist, or weekend warrior who’s done enough fitness programs to be skeptical. You know what doesn’t work.
You’re looking for something that actually delivers without the hype.
That’s what we built.
Why We Do All This
We started GMB because we kept seeing the same problem: people who were strong in the gym couldn’t control their bodies outside of it.
Lifters with impressive numbers who couldn’t get into a deep squat. Athletes sidelined by injuries that shouldn’t have happened. People grinding through workouts they hated because they thought that’s what fitness required.
The fitness industry sells intensity and aesthetics. It doesn’t teach people how to move well.
We saw a gap between physical therapy (which focuses on fixing what’s broken) and elite athletics (which assumes you have unlimited time and recovery capacity). Most people live in the middle. They want to stay strong and capable for decades, not peak for a competition and burn out.
So we built a systematic approach to movement training that develops real-world capability through progressive skill practice. Not random workouts. Not punishment-based conditioning.
This is deliberate, sustainable training that makes your body work better.
How We Train: The Praxis Method
The Praxis Method is our system of applied practice that develops strength, mobility, and control through progressive movement skills, autoregulation, and training that transfers to real-world activities.
Most fitness programs treat your body like a collection of isolated parts to be worked separately. We take a different approach.
Skill-Based Training for Real-World Results
Instead of random exercises focused on aesthetics, we teach progressive movement skills that develop strength, mobility, and control simultaneously. Think of it like learning a martial art or musical instrument—systematic practice that builds on itself rather than grinding through disconnected workouts.
When you train for complex physical skills, you build both the raw materials (strength, range of motion, coordination) and the ability to use them on demand. That’s why our clients get stronger and more mobile while also moving better in their actual lives.
Every program follows this three-step process:
The AAA Framework
- Assess — Identify your current abilities and limitations through specific movement tests. No comparing yourself to some arbitrary standard. Just figuring out where you are right now.
- Address — Practice progressive exercises designed to improve your specific weak points. Sessions use our 5Ps structure: Prep, Practice, Play, Push, Ponder. This isn’t just warming up and working out. It’s deliberate skill development with built-in autoregulation so you can train based on how your body feels today, not some rigid prescription.
- Apply — Use your improved capabilities in whatever activities matter to you. Better squatting transfers to everything from playing with kids to hiking to your favorite sport.
Then repeat as your abilities improve and your goals change.
What Makes GMB Programs Different
- Physical therapy principles built in. Our progressions account for joint health and injury prevention from the ground up. You get stronger without wrecking yourself.
- Autoregulation, not rigid programming. Some days you’ve got energy to push. Other days you just show up and do what you can. The programs adapt. Consistency beats intensity.
- Home-based and flexible. Most programs need minimal equipment and 15-45 minutes, 3-4 times per week. No gym required. No complicated scheduling.
- Proven curriculum, not random workouts. Elements teaches foundational movements. Integral Strength and Mobility develop specific attributes. Sequences applies everything to dynamic flows. Each program builds on the last, or works standalone depending on your needs.
The People Behind the Method
GMB was founded by these three guys:
Ryan Hurst — Head Coach
Competitive gymnast turned martial artist with 30+ years training across gymnastics, judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and hand balancing. After a training accident ended his gymnastics career, Ryan spent decades in Japan training in multiple martial arts before a shoulder dislocation from judo forced him to rethink sustainable training. That experience became the foundation for GMB’s approach to building capability that lasts.
Ryan designs all our programs and teaches most of the video instruction you’ll see.
You can see Ryan’s full bio here.
Jarlo Ilano, MPT, OCS — Managing Director
Licensed physical therapist with a Master’s degree in Physical Therapy and board certification as an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist. Also holds certification as a Therapeutic Pain Specialist. Spent 20+ years teaching Filipino martial arts while treating spinal injuries and mobility restrictions in his PT practice.
Jarlo brings the clinical expertise that makes our programs safe and effective for people with previous injuries or chronic pain.
You can see Jarlo’s full bio here.
Andy Fossett — The Boss
6th-degree black belt in Taido and lifelong martial arts educator with 15+ years designing learning systems for physical skill development. Former public school teacher in Japan. Built GMB’s systematic curriculum and teaching methodology by applying educational theory to movement training.
Andy handles business operations, curriculum design, and most of the writing you’ll read from us.
You can see Andy’s full bio here.
Amber Mira – The Secret Weapon
Amber joined us soon after GMB got off the ground in 2010 to help answer client emails. Now she manages the entire team, overseeing product quality, client support, and really everything else.
How We Got Here
None of this happened overnight.
We’re primarily teachers, but we’re also still learning, all the time. As we’ve worked with thousands of students and coaches, we’ve refined our methods and how we organize our training.
2005-2010 — Three martial artists met through a fitness certification organization and discovered a shared frustration: even strong gym-goers lacked motor control and mobility for real-world movements. Started teaching what would become GMB through a series of small projects. Gold Medal Bodies officially launched in July of 2010.
2011-2014 — Developed the core methodology through coaching thousands of clients to do handstands, train with gymnastic rings, and build functional flexibility with evidence-based protocols. Launched our Alpha Posse membership to 100 founding members (unfortunately, “The A-Team” was taken…).
2015-2018 — Created Elements as the foundational program and expanded the curriculum with Integral Strength to update traditional calisthenics with skill-based practice principles. Launched our Apprenticeship program for coach certification. Realized the original name no longer fit what we actually taught, so we became known simply as GMB.
2019 — Launched Praxis, our custom training platform, to deliver programs more effectively. Named it after the concept of applied practice—turning knowledge into practical capability.
2020-2024 — Gave Elements a complete overhaul, sunsetted older programs, and developed a more cohesive curriculum based on systematic progression in strength, mobility, and motor control.
2025, forward — Continuing to refine our programs and curriculum. Big things on the horizon 😉
Since we started in 2010, a LOT of fitness fads and companies have come and gone. We’re still here because we keep growing and because our clients keep coming back for more.
Here’s why:
