Kettlebell Creators

Taco Fleur is the creator of KETTLEBELL MONSTER, the complete kettlebell ecosystem to learn, train, master, and connect, released January 2, 2023. He founded Cavemantraining in 2009 and IKU, International Kettlebell University, and is the author of more than 40 kettlebell books, including the Kettlebell Exercise Encyclopedia and the Master Kettlebell series. Born in Amsterdam in 1973, he joined the Air Force at sixteen and left the Netherlands at nineteen. In the more than three decades since, he has lived and trained in nine countries: the Netherlands, Spain, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Italy, Tanzania, Albania, and Greece. He has traveled, trained and hosted kettlebell workshops and certifications in many more, among them Bali, Singapore, Germany and Sri Lanka. He started as a programmer, writing code for banks and governments. In 2004 he founded Executive Results in Brisbane, filled the gym with kettlebells and picked up his first, sixteen kilograms. In 2009 he opened The Tough Spot in Brisbane, followed by a second location in Albion, and around 2014 Gym Elite in Danang, Vietnam. Most people pick up a kettlebell and learn the swing. He picked up a kettlebell and started taking it apart, not the bell, but the movement. That analytical instinct became the foundation of everything he teaches. Every exercise broken into steps. He obtained certifications from both sides of the kettlebell world, because the kettlebell does not care what school you came from: StrongFirst SFG2, IKFF Certified Teacher, Russian Girevoy Sport Institute Level 1, IKSFA Kettlebell Coach (ACE approved), HardstyleFit Level 1 Instructor, Kettlebells Level 2 Trainer, Kettlebell Science and Application, and Kettlebell Sport Rank 1. He also obtained the CrossFit Level 1 Trainer certification. He has written for BoxRox and was featured in four issues of Iron Man magazine, Japanese edition, around 2015. He has taught more than 26,000 students online, and his YouTube channel Cavemantraining, started in 2008, has close to 70,000 subscribers and more than 7 million views. His own numbers, in the kettlebell and outside it: a 36kg strict press for 5 reps, a double 32kg strict press, a 36kg Hardstyle snatch, the StrongFirst snatch test completed twice, 200 unbroken swings with 28kg, one hour of unbroken clean and jerk with 16kg, 45 minutes of unbroken clean and jerk with 20kg, 532 unbroken snatches, 1,501 swings with 28kg in a single session, 11,111 swings with 28kg in 28 days, a 40kg windmill, 100 Turkish get-ups with 20kg in one session, 30 consecutive days of kettlebell strength training, a double 28kg half snatch, 400 burpees within one hour, 500 kettlebell snatches, 500 swings and 500 double-unders in one session, 250 alternating dead clean and presses with 20kg in one session, 200 pull-ups in one session, a chest press with two 40kg dumbbells, a 16kg kettlebell lugged up a 3,479m mountain, 50 CrossFit burpees and 100 single-arm swings unbroken in 5:34, 100 snatches on sand with a 24kg kettlebell, 300 unbroken clean and jerks with a 20kg kettlebell, 80 reps of clean and jerk in 10 minutes unbroken with two 16kg kettlebells, a 160kg deadlift and an 85kg Olympic squat snatch. He took part in the 100k Bribie Island Multi-Sport race (2006), the Hells Bells 24-hour adventure race (2007) and Tough Mudder (2010), and won gold and silver medals in BJJ tournaments (2011). He teaches the why first, in plain language, with the research behind it. Most teachers are Hardstyle or Sportstyle; he covers both and everything in between. His books are the same. "Stop making excuses, commit to it, and take a small step. Those small steps will become part of your life as long as you repeat them. Then they will become bigger steps, and then it will just become a lifestyle, and you will love it. Pick up a kettlebell and just do one thing with it."