Swinging Heavy Metal with Nitro's Jim Gillette

by Ryan Murdock, RMAX Faculty Coach

What do Jim Gillette and CST have in common? A love of heavy metal. He started off singing it, and now he’s swinging it in the form of Clubbells.

As singer for the metal band Nitro, Jim was known for his ability to shatter glass with his voice. He had the most extreme vocal range in the business – 6 octaves – and on the “O.F.R” album was able to hold a C sharp note for 32 seconds, making it the longest scream ever recorded in metal.

Jim now lives in a Caribbean island paradise with his wife, guitar diva Lita Ford, and their two children. He took a few minutes out of his heavy training schedule to talk with RMAX Magazine readers.

Coach Murdock: We could spend hours talking about your music career and your crazy concert exploits, but everyone has interviewed you about that. Our readers are more interested to learn about your physical culture background. Were you active as a kid, and what sort of sports did you enjoy?

Jim G: I did all kinds of stuff. I grew up in Nebraska, so there were all kinds of things to do. I was a national go kart champion at one point, and placed 3rd in the speed skating regionals. I played baseball, football, had tons of medals from swimming, raced motocross… You name it, I probably tried it.

Coach Murdock: And when did you get into martial arts?

Jim G: Well, I wrestled as a kid. I think it was through the YMCA or something like that. Did it for 5 or 6 years, competed in other states. I boxed for a couple years too, and took judo for a while. After that I started singing, but I was still into fitness and kept working out while I was on the road touring.

Coach Murdock: From the clips you’ve shown me your concerts were a bit of an aerobic workout in themselves.

Jim G: Yeah man. They were pretty athletic. And I fought a lot too in those days [laughs].

Coach Murdock: Is that why you started to study martial arts? Cause you got your arse kicked one too many times?

Jim G: Look at me, man. C’mon. Do I look like the sorta guy who would get his arse kicked? No, I started martial arts after singing. About 3 years ago I was searching the internet for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and found Gui and Pedro Valente (of Gracie Miami). I sent my two sons to them for training and they really enjoyed it. A few weeks later I brought Pedro out to my place for a week of training. I just kinda fell in love with grappling at that point.

The kids started training with Pedro and Gui at 2 and 6 years old. They’re big kids. We’re all really excited at their potential, at the possibility of having heavyweights to represent the style. At my heaviest I was 275 and lean. My oldest boy is bigger than I was at his age. He’s technically skilled and his nutrition is good. He’s 9 and he spars in the teenage class. Pulls them down into the guard and submits them left and right. He plays a really relaxed, technical game. I think the technical game of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and CST will be the perfect match.

Our whole life has really changed since we found Jiu-Jitsu. I’d got so caught up in my work for so long that I kinda forgot about my health. I didn’t put health and fitness where they belonged. Getting into martial arts changed all that.

Coach Murdock: How did you find out about RMAX and CST?

Jim G: At the time I was training in more mainstream stuff, functional strength training. It really messed up my shoulder. I started searching around online because I thought there must be something better. That’s when I came across you guys with your wacky stuff. I found the RMAX website and ordered a ton of stuff. Pretty much everything. I got on your Forum too, but I didn’t put my real name cause I didn’t want anyone to know who I was. One of you jokers kicked me off.

Coach Murdock: Well, you are pretty suspicious looking, don’t you think?

Jim G: In your opinion. Anyway, I wrote to someone and got back on. I read everything on the site and it really looked like what I was searching for. It looked like Jiu-Jitsu for fitness – not just lifting weight but manipulating it with skill and technique. A lot of the movements looked like the stuff that we did. I ordered a full set of the Clubbells and started swinging, but my shoulder was still hurting from the functional fitness stuff. That’s when I contacted you and brought you down here.

Coach Murdock: What do you enjoy most about CST?

Jim G: All of it gels perfectly with what I’m doing. After the first live training session with you the connections were firing left and right. It’s just so much fun to do, and the results have been incredible. My shoulder was pretty mangled from years of use and abuse. It hurt to do anything. Sometimes brushing my teeth would hurt! After just 6 weeks of CST I could brush my hair without wincing in pain.

Coach Murdock: You could if you had any hair.

Jim G: Thanks for pointing that out! Since we’re getting so detailed, I’d like to mention that my head is shaved. My wife says I’m bald, but that implies that I lost all my hair. That isn’t the case. My hair is still all there, it’s just very short now.

Coach Murdock: We’d better stay away from the topic of hair or I’ll have to bring up 80’s hair metal - your hairspray and jumpsuit days.

Jim G: You eyeballing me boy!??!?!? Please don't hate me cause I'm beautiful! I couldn't help it - I was born sexy. OK, maybe I did resemble a sick, twisted, transvestite Elvis... That's cool - isn't it????

Coach Murdock: I’m sure that’s cool somewhere... But seriously, your progress after that first session was really impressive. You’re a great example of where hard work and dedication to training can take someone. In our first session you weren’t able to get all the way back into a plow. We fixed that in 3 or 4 minutes. By day 2 you were doing lateral shoulder rolls through the plow, by day 3 a decent twisting spinal arch, and by day 4, neck rolls. That’s pretty impressive.

So how do you think CST will help you to meet your goals? Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

Jim G: By 5 years from now I want to get good at everything. The Clubbells, but also that other wacky stuff. I want to be able to move like you guys. I want to be a heavyweight who moves like a welterweight. I approach GJJ in the same way. I want to be healthier and more mobile. The older I get, the healthier I want to get.

Coach Murdock: We can definitely get you there. You’re on the right track. Any final words for RMAX Magazine readers?

Jim G: Yeah. I’m a little disappointed that there aren’t any ICS competitions these days. I’m already doing Mills with the Bruiser after our last session. I was planning on coming out there and whipping everyone’s asses.

Coach Murdock: Sounds like a challenge. I think we can arrange that.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. (Not that you had a choice, really.)

Jim G: My pleasure, man. Hope everybody gets my warped sense of humor... I'm bringing sexxxy back! I am so beautiful to meeeeeee. People like me damnit! RMAX RULES!!!

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VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2

ISSN#: 1555-7723

Publisher: Scott Sonnon - Senior Editor: Ryan Murdock

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