Fitness coach Joseph ‘Da Rulk’ Sakoda on his no-nonsense approach to training

Movement's about more than just your body

The elite performance coach talks the power of consistency, building resilience and his no-nonsense approach to movement.

You frequently work with first responders and members of the military, helping them perform at their best in critical jobs. What got you started on this kind of work and what sets their training apart? 

When I first started working, I got the opportunity to work with a lot of athletes. A firefighter going into a fire where the stakes are so high, where someone is counting on them to save their life or make a rescue, I looked at that and thought: ‘Why aren’t they being treated the same as an elite athlete?’ 

There’s two components. The movement performance component of it, if you’re in the gym, even if you do multi-directional movement, you’re moving in one specific movement pattern. But in real life you have to learn how and train your mind to move in unique movement pattern sequences and be able to adapt to situations quickly. That’s why a lot of my training curriculum correlates directly to that. It’s much more about getting novel movement sequencing and teaching your body how to get stronger, but how to get stronger in different movement patterns, different planes of movement.

A lot of the foundational stuff doesn’t integrate load but utilises variables like speed, tempo, intensity, and duration. It’s almost like you’re a chef, you’re creating different techniques to create rather than the traditional ‘lift heavy, this many reps, this many sets’. I think that is applicable to real life because we aren’t lifting a barbell or dumbbell. There’s a much deeper connection in understanding how to be more efficient in movement and that’s how the functional movement came about. Functional - what does that mean? It means the ability to operate in the world much more efficiently and be able to move much more efficiently. 

With recovery modalities, it’s about reducing inflammation. Image: @da_rulk on Instagram

People just say, ‘Oh, I want to be strong?’ But it’s important to be strong physically, but you also have to be strong mentally, and then you have to be able to connect the dots. You have to be mentally strong as you’re moving, and a lot of that is staying present throughout the course of your workouts in the sense of a lot of people like to meditate and zone out, but you also have to learn how to bring it back in, because in real life you can’t just zone out, meditate, you have to be able to be present. That application when we work with first responders, say for example we have a firefighter who is extremely strong and extremely fit, but he goes into a situation where he can’t see, and he can’t hear, and he’s getting restricted air. All these things are happening at one time and the body’s getting hot, it’s an involuntary response, inappropriate or incorrect choices are made. It’s not because of him, he just hasn’t acclimated his system to what’s happening. We’re a survival mechanism to begin with, our body doesn’t know that we’re there to fight a fire, it just knows we’re trying to survive. It’s intuitive. It’s one of those things where you have to teach your body how to adapt to a situation. 

If you’re going to go into a new area and you're anxious and nervous about it, the first thing people will tell you is to go there often. Learn the culture, understand it, because then you’re more comfortable and when you’re more comfortable, you’re more aware of what’s happening, and when you’re more aware, you’re more efficient and then you can lean on all the skills and tactics that you had before. That’s why my movement patterns are that way. 

With recovery modalities, it’s about reducing inflammation. In professional sports, you have practice and a game, but for these guys it’s game, game, game and you never know what time it is, you don’t know how tired you are. There’s a lot more elements of unpredictability so, recovery wise, it’s important to make sure we provide them with a consistent cadence of recovery protocols as well as things they can do right off the truck when they get back to reduce inflammation. It also goes into sleep. If you’re sleeping better, you’re sharper, and when you’re sleep-deprived, you’re not only putting stress on your body, but your brain and your ability to have elite cognitive functioning, too. 

I had a very inherent passion for trying to help that community. Image: @da_rulk on Instagram

Your dad was a police officer and gave you a first-hand look at the demands of service. What lessons did he pass on that show up in your approach to fitness and life? 

He always preached that it was less about accomplishments and what you get done, but more about the discipline and consistency which really became pillars of my character and how I approach anything. When I first started dealing with first responders, I worked with law enforcement in the US. I had a very inherent passion for trying to help that community. Every time mistakes are made on the professional sports side, it’s not a big deal – you lose a game. But if you do that in real life tactical stuff, bad things can happen. The stakes are much higher. 

You created Raw Functional Training (RFT) to deliver intense workouts without the need for equipment or a dedicated space. What inspired you to design the program and what’s the philosophy behind it? 

I think people tend to overcomplicate exercise but I really feel like movement is medicine. Consistency is just as important as intensity. RFT is much more aligned with choreography. All of us have tried to learn some dance for a wedding or something for school and it’s exhausting, you’re having to think – but that’s when you’re strengthening both mind and body. Mental health is a huge focus for me. We have to find ways to strengthen not just our muscles, but to be present, strengthen our consciousness and how we’re thinking about going about our day. A lot of that feeling strong – sure, it comes from being physically mobile – but it’s also that resilience that you need. You can only find resilience if you can apply discipline and that discipline over time creates consistency and that consistency just fills your pot up with a full tank of gas. Now, you have the ability to handle any situation.

That’s where I really believe it’s important to push yourself to do hard things because that’s that resilience that you’re going to have in situations that are slightly uncomfortable. Image: @da_rulk on Instagram

Mindset and setting clear goals is an integral part of your training philosophy. Having achieved all the success you have at this stage of life, what goals do you have now? 

I want to change the mindset within the health and wellness community, because everyone is very much, ‘my way is right, and your way is wrong.’ I just don’t find that. We’re such unique individuals and it’s not even what we want, but the things we need based on how we’re built emotionally and physically that are the things that work for us. If there are ways I could help people identify, cultivate, and maximise their personal potential, that would be my goal.

How do you build fitness that supports not just the body - but the brain under pressure? 

There’s so much unpredictability in the first responder world, but unless you train for it, your body isn’t going to perform well in an unexpected situation. It’s going to panic if it’s not accustomed to it. That’s where I really believe it’s important to push yourself to do hard things because that’s that resilience that you’re going to have in situations that are slightly uncomfortable. 

One of the things we do is cold plunging for the dopamine release and inflammatory reduction. We’ll keep them in there a little bit longer. The body adapts to the cold but when you start to warm out, the body goes through this involuntary somatic motor response when you shake or shiver from the cold. Then I’ll have them perform specific small-motor movements. We have Jenga towers and have them try and play Jenga while they’re in a position where they’re trying to control their breath, their body doesn’t care, they’re shaking because they’re trying to warm up. Trying to overpower the involuntary motor response, that’s like sharpening the spear. 

We’re all like chefs in the kitchen, we all have different recipes and techniques. Image: @da_rulk on Instagram

You’ve joined Chris Hemsworth’s team at Centr, bringing your functional training expertise to a global audience. How did that partnership come about?

When I started coming to Australia and connected with Chris and Centr, the timing was just great. Chris was at a really peak point with all the Marvel movies coming out and then Covid happened and took everyone’s gyms and equipment away. That’s where people got introduced to my Raw Functional Training (RFT). 

What’s next for you?

A couple years back, a friend took me to a Gold Coast SUNS game. Being from the States we’re not exposed to the AFL, but I could understand why it’s the number one sport in Australia. I got the chance to meet the high performance manager with the SUNS and their strength and conditioning coaches. We’re all like chefs in the kitchen, we all have different recipes and techniques. So, I’m launching this podcast called Horsepower - because they’re the guys who build and maintain the engines. And for the first time ever, I have all 18 AFL teams’ high performance managers sitting down with me to talk their methodologies, approach, philosophies, how they cultivate consistency and success, thoughts on training programming for performance and wellness, as well as their personal journeys. I’m super excited about that. I’ve never done a podcast.  

Originally published as Fitness coach Joseph ‘Da Rulk’ Sakoda on his no-nonsense approach to training