Project Bellplex Community Review — by Pat Damiano

A Kettlebell Community Built on Credentials Most Skool Fitness Creators Can’t Match

Project Bellplex is a kettlebell-based at-home training community on Skool with over 1,000+ members paying $45 per month for follow-along workouts, structured programming, and direct coach access. The community is built by Pat Damiano, a certified strength coach whose professional background — a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology, CrossFit Games competition history, and experience training law enforcement and military personnel — sets him apart from the typical social-media-influencer-turned-community-operator in the fitness space.

What makes this Project Bellplex review worth reading beyond the community’s own marketing: Damiano has approximately 900,000 combined followers across Instagram and TikTok, yet only about 1,000 of them pay for the Skool community. That ratio raises a natural question — is the paid community delivering enough beyond the free content to justify the subscription? Our research across four source tiers and nine unique data points found a credentialed creator with a genuinely structured program, but also a private community format that makes it harder than usual to verify the day-to-day member experience before committing.

Who Is Pat Damiano?

Pat Damiano operates from White Plains, New York, under the business name PD Performance. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from the University of Tampa, earned between 2012 and 2015 — a claim we confirmed through LinkedIn records, where the education entry aligns with his documented career trajectory at Tampa-area fitness facilities during that period.

His credential stack is notably diverse. Beyond the university degree, Damiano holds four professional certifications spanning different training philosophies: FRC (Functional Range Conditioning) Mobility Specialist, Suples Bulgarian Bag Level 1 Coach, Onnit Foundations, and CrossFit Level 2. That range matters because it directly reflects the programming diversity inside Project Bellplex — the community incorporates kettlebells, bodyweight, mobility work, and unconventional implements rather than defaulting to a single modality.

Damiano also has documented competitive experience. The CrossFit Games athlete database (profile #117446) confirms three consecutive years of Open competition: 2013 in the North East region (ranked 875th), 2014 in the South East region (327th), and 2015 in the South East region (276th). The progressive improvement and region shift from North East to South East tracks with his relocation to Tampa for university — a small detail, but the kind of cross-referencing that builds confidence in a creator’s timeline.

Before building his online presence, Damiano worked with tactical athletes including FBI candidates, Fort Worth Police Department candidates, security professionals, and Marines preparing for the Combat Fitness Test. He has also trained boxers and youth athletes. His coaching career includes positions at CrossFit 813, Wellbridge Harbour Island Athletic Club, The Body Blueprint / CrossFit Westchester (a registered CrossFit affiliate #9400), and the University of Tampa. This represents 12+ years of professional coaching experience spanning gym floors, university athletics, and tactical athlete preparation — substantially more verifiable than the typical online fitness creator’s “I’ve been training for years” claim.

On social media, Damiano commands approximately 499,000 followers on Instagram (@patdamiano_) with over 1,947 posts, and roughly 409,700 followers on TikTok (@patdamiano_) with 6.7 million likes. His content primarily features short-form kettlebell workout demonstrations, complexes, and training philosophy clips. His free kettlebell complex guide — “My 20 Best Kettlebell Complexes” — has reportedly been downloaded over 25,000 times according to his landing page, suggesting a substantial email list feeding the paid community funnel. He has appeared as a guest expert on at least four podcasts, including the Kreatures of Habit Podcast (discussing how he started with kettlebells), The Council of Dudes (kettlebells and business mastery), The Order & Progress Podcast (BJJ strength with kettlebells and clubs), and The Robby Row Show — all fitness and lifestyle shows within the kettlebell and functional training niche.

What’s Inside Project Bellplex

Project Bellplex is a private Skool community, which means the internal content library is not visible to non-members. Our content assessment is reconstructed from the public about page, Damiano’s marketing pages, and the structure of his related programs on other platforms.

The community offers multiple program tracks. The core Project Bellplex programming features follow-along kettlebell and bodyweight workouts designed for home training with minimal equipment and space. These sessions emphasize joint-friendly functional movements with mobility integrated into the programming — a philosophy consistent with Damiano’s FRC Mobility Specialist certification.

For newcomers, the Beginner Bellplex Course provides a structured step-by-step introduction to kettlebell fundamentals. This dedicated beginner track is one of the community’s genuine differentiators — most competing kettlebell communities on Skool assume a baseline of experience. Damiano recommends beginners start with a 16kg (35 lb) kettlebell, or 12kg (26 lb) if completely new to strength training.

The Bellplex Express track offers 15-minute-or-less workouts requiring only one kettlebell. This is positioned as the “getting back on track” option for members with busy schedules, low-energy days, or time constraints — a practical inclusion that addresses one of the most common reasons people drop out of fitness communities.

Supplementary programming extends beyond pure kettlebell work. Bars N Bells is a 14-week program blending barbell and kettlebell training, and additional tracks incorporate maces and other unconventional implements. The exact total lesson count is not visible from outside the private community, but the multiple program tracks suggest a content library with meaningful depth. For context, Damiano’s TrainHeroic programs — which provide proxy data on his programming approach — structure sessions at 4 to 6 days per week across 4 to 8 week cycles, with instructional video components and progressive difficulty scaling.

The Multi-Platform Question

One aspect of Damiano’s business that prospective members should understand: he sells kettlebell programming on three platforms simultaneously. The Skool community costs $45 per month. A membership on Somble costs $44.99 per month and includes kettlebell programs, mobility programs, unconventional training, and community chat. Individual programs on TrainHeroic range from $15 to $85 as one-time purchases for specific 4 to 8 week training blocks.

The near-identical pricing of Skool and Somble is worth noting. Our research could not determine whether these platforms offer the same content, complementary libraries, or overlapping material. Damiano’s public pages don’t provide a comparison. A prospective member researching their options encounters multiple purchase points with no clear guide to which platform best fits their needs.

Community Experience and Engagement

The Skool community page lists 5 admins and showed approximately 10 members online at the time of our research. The group chat feature is available for member Q&A, with the community described as a place where “all teammates can help answer questions.” Damiano advertises direct coach access through the chat feature for form feedback and programming guidance.

The 5-admin team is a positive structural signal — it suggests moderation and support beyond a single creator managing everything solo, which is the norm for Skool communities at this price point. That said, the private community format prevented us from observing actual engagement patterns: post frequency, response times, the quality of member-to-member interactions, or how frequently Damiano himself participates beyond promotional posts.

This is the most significant limitation of this Project Bellplex review. With no independent third-party reviews on Reddit, Trustpilot, SiteJabber, or any fitness forum, and no way to preview the community’s internal activity, prospective members are making a decision based largely on Damiano’s public content and credentials. One visible testimonial on his Somble profile states “In just less than 2 weeks I am feeling stronger and more confident with my lifts,” but a single self-hosted testimonial carries limited evidentiary weight.

The absence of negative signals is worth mentioning alongside the absence of positive ones. Our research across Reddit, review platforms, and fitness forums found zero complaints, refund disputes, or critical discussions about Project Bellplex or Pat Damiano. For a community with approximately 1,000 members, that silence could indicate genuine satisfaction — or simply insufficient public discussion volume for any sentiment to surface.

Is $45 Per Month Worth It?

At $45 per month, Project Bellplex sits in the middle of the kettlebell Skool community market. Kettlebell Academy charges $97 per month for a smaller community of 139 members featuring a 28-Day Challenge format and 30+ exercise tutorials. Kettlebell Dojo costs $39.99 per month with a belt-progression gamification system and live Zoom workouts. Kettlebell Warrior Academy offers $39 per month (after a $1 trial) or $297 for lifetime access, targeting busy fathers with daily follow-along workouts and a mobile app.

Outside Skool, Cavemantraining’s Caveman Inner Circle provides 250+ follow-along kettlebell workouts through Facebook and YouTube memberships at $21.42 to $21.95 per month — substantially cheaper, though on a different platform with a different community structure.

Project Bellplex’s pricing advantage is relative, not absolute. It is less than half the cost of Kettlebell Academy, roughly in line with Kettlebell Dojo and Kettlebell Warrior Academy, and more expensive than the Cavemantraining option. What Bellplex offers at its price point is the combination of multiple structured program tracks (beginner through advanced), a credentialed creator with verified academic and professional background, and the scale of the largest kettlebell-focused Skool community identified in our research. Whether the premium over cheaper alternatives is justified depends largely on how much value you place on Damiano’s specific programming methodology and credentials versus the gamification, mobile apps, or sheer content volume competitors offer.

A free trial is available through the Skool platform, and the terms and conditions on patdamiano.com confirm that members can cancel at any time without penalties. The low-risk entry makes it practical to evaluate the community’s internal quality before committing long-term.

Who Should Join Project Bellplex

Project Bellplex is a strong fit for kettlebell beginners who want structured guidance from a credentialed coach. The dedicated Beginner Bellplex Course, the emphasis on joint-friendly programming, and the scalable workout design address the core anxiety most newcomers have: that they will get hurt, pick the wrong weight, or not know where to start. If you own one or two kettlebells and want to train from home without spending time figuring out your own programming, the community’s follow-along format eliminates decision fatigue.

It also serves experienced kettlebell users who want programming variety beyond their current routine. The multiple tracks — core Bellplex, Express, Bars N Bells, unconventional implements — mean you are less likely to plateau or get bored than in a single-program community. Damiano’s credential breadth across FRC, CrossFit, Bulgarian Bag, and Onnit systems translates to programming that draws from multiple training philosophies rather than one dogmatic approach.

Who Should Look Elsewhere

If you want a community with verifiable social proof and independent reviews before you commit, Project Bellplex’s private format and absence of third-party discussion make that evaluation difficult. The free trial helps, but you will be relying on your own trial experience rather than a body of member feedback.

If you are already training on Somble or purchasing Damiano’s TrainHeroic programs, joining the Skool community may involve paying for overlapping content — the relationship between these platforms is not publicly clarified, and the near-identical pricing of Skool and Somble suggests potential redundancy.

If price is your primary consideration, the Caveman Inner Circle offers substantially more content volume (250+ workouts) at roughly half the monthly cost, though on a different platform with a different community model.

The Bottom Line

Project Bellplex earns a Recommended verdict in our review — a qualified recommendation that reflects strong creator credentials and structured programming balanced against limited visibility into the actual community experience. Pat Damiano brings more verified professional depth than nearly any kettlebell Skool community operator we have researched: a kinesiology degree, competitive CrossFit history, tactical athlete training experience, and a certification stack that spans four distinct training methodologies. The content is Highly Recommended for its multi-track programming structure, while the community dimension is Mixed reflecting the difficulty of assessing engagement quality from outside a private community.

For kettlebell beginners training from home who want a credentialed coach, structured follow-along programming, and the option to scale from 15-minute express sessions to multi-week barbell-kettlebell hybrids, Project Bellplex delivers a well-organized package at a competitive $45 per month price point. The free trial means you can evaluate the internal content quality before making a longer commitment — and given the private format, taking advantage of that trial is the most practical way to determine whether the community matches the promise of the programming.