The One Hour Long Cycle 2012!!

You know what? I was working this blog all wrong. I was going into the history of the OHLC when it hit me that I need to write about now. This year we smashed our attendance with 78 lifters! We were in Seattle, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Colorado, New York, Japan, and Singapore! In Seattle we started at 11am, New york was at 2pm, Ian was lifting at 2am! Nishi San was lifting in the dark as well!

Master of Sport Marissa Luchau set a world record with 712 one arm jerks with the 16kg in one hour (the previous record was 546).  It was pretty awesome!

One Hour Long Cycle – October 20, 2012 / Seattle from Punch Drunk on Vimeo.

The first year we had 20 lifters, the second year we had 39 lifters, this year we had 78!!! Zach Filer is the brain behind the numbers explosion. Because of him we decided to go with relay teams of a few people working together to finish the time. So we ended up with this incredible mix of athletes and styles. There were people lifting who had never competed or attempted anything athletic like this before lifting next to Masters of Sport, Crossfit champions, and Hardstyle lifters. It was a great mix of young people, old people, big people, small people, boys, girls, beauties, beasts, Chu-Hu’s, and even goofy giants.

Oh, and one Angel.

Anthony Brewer is the young man we were lifting for.

Anthony’s dad Howie Brewer has been a friend and a Kettlebell mainstay for as long as Jason and I have been around the weight ball. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like and respect him. We knew his son has Tuberous Sclerosis. Jason and I remembered the fundraising Howie had done in the past and we were finally in a position to help. We got in touch with Howie and he was all in! He asked us to donate to the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance and we set it up in Anthony’s name…BOOM!! Chu-Hi!!!

Zach reached out to all of his folks and helped us compliment our crew of grizzled old guys with the peppy young hotness of Seattle! Howie set up the first satellite in New york. We hooked up a skype connection and BOOM! Anthony dropped the flag to start the whole thing whipping around the world!

We started with a goal of $5000 dollars and just after the long cycle we hit that goal!!! The funny thing is even today our friend Sincere Hogan and his lovely wife made a contribution! It is still going. (We have a few checks written directly to the TSA which is why the fundraising ticker is not quite at $5000) but we are up around $5300 or so as of now. If you would like to contribute there is still time and you can do it here:

 http://www.crowdrise.com/kettlebell/fundraiser/johnbuckley

When it comes to this event I always tell people that we are lifters. That is what we do and that is what we can give. We can’t all write big checks, but we can all give a little sweat and a little blood, and maybe get a few blisters, or even a black eye. We can do that. We can give that. We can give an offering of a little suffering, even if it is just a token compared to the people we are suffering for. So to all you who bled for those people you don’t know, and to all of you who pushed for this and helped us from donating to liking our event on facebook, I say thank you, and Jason thanks you, and Howie thanks you.

And Anthony, we all want to thank you for being so strong and inspiring us to be better than we were before the hour started. It was an honor to lift for you.

Kettle,

The One Hour Long Cycle has a Sponsor!!!!

We’ve got a sponsor!!!

We are very grateful to all of those who have already contributed to the One Hour Long Cycle Charity Event and we are happy to let you know that David Halton Ceo and founder of the BodyPlus Group http://www.bodyplusgroup.com and Haleo Supplements http://www.haleo.jp has agreed to match all of the funds we raise fot this event and he will present the money when we arrive in Japan this fall!

Nazo first told Jason and I about David and how he is well known in Japan for his philanthropy. He was directly affected by the Earthquake and Tsunami this year and was on hand to donate funds and supplies to those who lost so much. We decided to take a chance and reach out to him to see if he had any interest in our charity event AND HE DID!

We are very grateful to David and the Haleo Family! We will do our best to raise as much money as we can. We will lift our hearts out.

The One Hour Long Cycle started out as a little idea for Jason Dolby’s birthday. Now it is beginning to grow. My good friend David Elkins told me once “If you follow your heart you will lift up the world”. You are the strong. We are the strong. Together we can lift and make a difference.

Please visit the site to learn more about the event and to donate:

http://www.onehourlongcycle.com/ 

Anything will help and we now have the chance to double it up!

Thank you again David!

and thank you too Nazo…you brought us to Haleo 🙂

Kettle,

鉄球入魂

CHU-HI!!!….We are officially a Cult!

Juliet got hers today.

Te-Kyu-Knyu-Kon is how you pronounce the tattoo on my arm. It is translated literally to “Iron Ball Into Soul” but it reads “Put your soul into the iron ball”. Nazo wrote it. She came up with it shortly after we founded the OKC in 2007.

We had just finished teaching an OKC workshop in Hofu-City Japan when the guys gave us both a gift. The gifts were two hand made teakettles. They both came in boxes with our kanji written on the top. We were all a little shiny (well, not Nazo) and I was sitting next to my friend Matt Brocklebank when he asked me where he had seen that kanji before.

“Is that your tattoo?”

“No” I said and then it hit me. I looked at the box and in that moment it seemed right. This was my life now. These people, these words, this is my life and it is everything to me.

Nazo saw that look in my eye and she knew it was going to happen. My brother Gori looked at me and took my hand and said if I get it…he would get it in the new year.

Gori is a real man, a real fucking man.

Nazo took me to a tattoo parlor just outside Tokyo, next to a sweet potato truck, down a dark ally. The door was small, chest high to me, there was a lightbulb swinging side to side. We knocked, it creaked…down the rabbit hole we went.

It was a short room with a quiet man and a small neon skull and crossbones sign on the wall humming the ventures

He would take a few short breaks to smoke a cigarette.

Kneeling on the floor can be exhausting.

I love this tattoo. It is my whole life in a sentence I don’t have the skill to write.

Nazo gave it to me,

with a little blood to seal the gift.

Now it is Juliet’s too.

I feel so emotional.

I never thought anyone would ever want anything like this.

Except for me, but I’m really weird.

I am proud and honored and scared and touched and a little lost. It just looks so beautiful on you Juliet.

You were right today, what you said in the truck about the people. About it being about the people, making this thing a little different.

You make it different. You are part of its soul.

鉄球入魂

You put your soul into the iron ball.

And it put its soul into you,

with a little blood.

Kettle,

Nazo from Tokyo

Nazo is in Tokyo.

She has been there since before the earthquake and she will stay there until she is finished with some personal matters. You can’t imagine how badly Jason and I want her to come home. She is on our minds every moment of every day.

We have been communicating via email and facebook. I asked her to write a guest post on the blog. Thank you very much Nazo!

Here is Nazo from Tokyo:

Dear Johnny and Polosh

I don’t know how to start…..
I am not a good writer like you Johnny and even my English is so broken but I feel like I have to write about my extraordinarily experience at here in Japan.

As you know that both my parents are sick but this time my mother got worse and I had to fly back urgently.  After two  flights cancelation due to heavy snow in NY , I finally got into Tokyo.   14 hours flight and 90 minutes drive and then I arrived to my mother’s hospital in the Tokyo bay area. I am staying with her 24/7 .  Basically I don’t go out.  The most entertaining thing was video chatting with you two in Siberia every night 🙂  (I didn’t know that Siberia and Japan have no time difference !)  You two were just soooo funny and happy at there just like Tarzan and made me smile and laugh a lot. I really missed you guys but I made a right decision not to go with you because it would have changed the color of whole trip…. 

I needed to go to Ginza area and I got out from the hospital at first time in three weeks, and it was 3/11.   Ginza is hart of Tokyo (imagine that combination of  NYC upper east Madison Avenue and Times square with those illuminations ).  It was about 2:45pm.  I was just about leaving Citi bank and felt  first shock,,,, or I just felt dizzy (that I thought).  There was a Gaijin man standing next of me and shouted “HOLY SHIIIT !!!!” and ran out from the bank. I followed him and looking down to  Ginza 5-chome crossing from 2nd floor’s  entrance of the bank.  I took this photo about 20 seconds after earthquake started.  People were just about running out to middle of  the street from buildings.  I looked up the buildings . They were swaying like a willow tree (base-isolated quake proof buildings) and hundreds of people were evacuating from those fashion, office, restaurant buildings.  All cars stopped and drivers got out the cars. The ground was really moving and many people couldn’t keep standing and squatting in middle of the Ginza junction.  It was long .  It was 5 minutes long and about magnitude 7 strong.   You may lift 5 min sprint set or 5 min x 100reps snatch test but Nyet standing 5 min on magnitude-7 earthquaking  ground …. No place to hide or run. It was very, very scary moments.   Some reason I was carrying 3 cell phones and 1 i-pod touch but none of them were working neither email or SMS of course.

 

I was born and raised in Japan so I have thousands of earthquake experience but this was nothing like any of past ones.  Not even close.  No one had ever experienced like this before.  Everyone’s phone lines were immediately down and no one could use their phone except 2~3 people who’s luckily could listen the emergency radio.  We all got together in middle of the street and tried to listen his radio carefully.  No one made any noise. We were totally silent and it was amazing.  Actually even right middle of earthquake there were NO ONE  got panicked or gone mad or screamed (except “holy shit !!!” guy ).  Everybody was so cool.  The radio phone guy has reported to us clearly.  I just worried about parent and sister who’s office was actually 10 minute away from where I was.

The subway, JR Train, bus, taxi,,, everything has stopped so I walked one hour back to the hospital. Piece of cake 🙂  About 200 ~people have no way back home and they stayed at the main lobby area as hospital provided blankets and rice ball and water.  There is a convenience store at the lobby area and all food and water were sold out.  All elevators/escalators were stopped and I walked up and down to our top floor (12th)’s room.  No problem 🙂 The problem was there was a“post quake” keep shaking the building all day and night and we all felt like sea sick. Also medium big ones came once in a while and the warning sirens and announcement in whole hospital and an emergency alarm’s on  from government to every cellphone constantly and it was extremely loud and made us nervous and annoying.

As you know the center of this earthquake is Tohoku area (North Japan) and it was Magnitude 9.0. This was the world  4th largest earthquake since 1900.  (900 times more powerful than ‘1989’s San Francisco earthquake)

We  have got used to earthquake and most of high-rise buildings are earthquake resistant built.  That’s why we have only minimum damages and lost people’s life. But not a Tsunami case.  Tsunami killed many cities and people’s lives. At this moment (3/17),  over 15.000 are died or missing, 390.000 are in the shelters, 1 million houses have no water.  Nothing is enough for their lives. Phone line, doctors and medications, clothes, food and water, toilet, electricity, batteries, TVs and radios etc…. but most importantly the gasoline !  There are food donated from all over Japan but the trucks have no gasoline.  This has not happened only to Tohoku area but Tokyo as well. There is no fresh food and water in the supermarket or convenient store. Last 7 days we ate a lot of junk food like cup noodles, potato chips,,,,,  my mother’s stomach accepts only  few sips of water or weak green tea each day but I have to give her tap water.  My father said that all gas station’s gasoline’s are run out.  And the government decided of “scheduled blackout” and it caused whole Tokyo chaos. All subways and JR trains’ schedule are messed up and runs only 50% or zero.  The old houses, small hospitals and clinics have no power. Without electricity there is no water too.  No one control the traffic when the traffic lights are out…..  so this is Tokyo now and we still have magnitude 6 ~7 level of quake few times a day and mini quakes about 50~100 times a day.   Including my mother’s thing this whole thing is too unreal for me.

 

This is not a movie.

But some parts are actually better than a movie.   14 countries’ rescue teams and rescue dogs are working at the devastated area so far (Thank you sooooo much!) and most of Japanese people are incredibly well mannered and patient and helping each other very much which I actually very impressed.

But WE NEED MORE HELP !!!!

As I said before that there is still quake is on and on every day but I am in a one of safest places so no worried, guys :-).   I haven’t  trained for so long  but after over a month in here I have found a cute 10kg Kettlebell at near my parents house and now I have a kettle in my mother’s room  !   I train 30 minutes every day at the hospice’s super tiny guest room.  (About photo) this is only what I have got in here.  But as Aleks and you said “One bell is enough. Simple is good “.

It is tough time for me but for whole Japan as well now.
I miss okc “crazy boys” very much !!   You two are my family and the only people who can make me keep laughing until I fall off.

Can’t wait to see you soon.
Much love,
Nazomoto

Thank you Nazo! We can not wait to see you soon too! Please be safe and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE come home soon. We need you 🙂

Kettle,

Beans and Bologna

Over the past few days we’ve gotten more emails and questions than any of us have ever gotten before (Thank You!!!) So many of them were asking about how we can afford to do what we do that I thought it would be quicker and easier to answer you here than via email.

I don’t have money. I really don’t. In 2007 I was coming to the end of my time at Equinox and I was the same as all of my friends that worked there. I was broke. I couldn’t afford to do anything. I couldn’t go anywhere, take the courses I wanted to take, or buy the equipment I wanted to buy. The funny thing is I was making more money working for them than I am now.

2006 was a year of deaths and divorces in my family. I have no doubt that everyone reading this has had one of those periods in his or her life that ended in reflection. I had decided to make some big changes and the first thing I decided was my waiting was over. I liked Equinox but I was finished. It was safe and secure and largely supportive but I was bored and complacent.  I needed a challenge so I quit and decided to go out on my own.

I know that most people have a concrete business model for this kind of big move but I did not. I just wanted to be free.

I have always lived low. No car payments, no house, no kids or wife or any of those pleasures. I am largely self-absorbed when it comes to my life. I spent most of my childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood alone. It is easy for me to strip my life down to a backpack and walk away.

I have left my life behind more than once before. You can ask around, I never go back. I don’t know why. I always have one or two close friends that hold over but otherwise I am on the wind.

I live in my gym. It is a loft that I split with my brother from an older life. I live upstairs and work downstairs. I live in Oakland across the street from Oakland Technical High School (Clint Eastwood went there 🙂 ). Someone gets shot in front of that high school every couple of months.

I have a 92 Jeep (which I love) that I never drive. I’ll hop the transbay bus to work in San Francisco. I take the train and I walk everywhere. My big monthly expense is the gym I belong to in downtown Oakland because they have a pool, an indoor track, and a good whirlpool/sauna/steamroom.

I’ve got 2 cats. They are pretty cool and are good company (which is good because I don’t socialize much). I never go out anymore. I take the $200 I would have spent at the bar and I buy a VISA. The $1000 for Vegas? That’s a plane ticket and a train ride. When I go to SFO to fly out I take the bus, to the train, to the airport. It is super easy once you get the feel.

I have a few clients that are steady and are very dear to me. They believe in me and support me. They are my family. I know I could not do any of this stuff without them. But I have my business stripped down to 2 full days a week plus online training. It allows me the flexibility to travel and teach workshops.

Our workshops are priced low because we love to teach and travel. We give small group discounts and the Military discount to make it accessible. We know that if we get to a certain number we can make the trip. We are not really worried about making a big profit (just ask the people who have hosted us). We get our cut and the host gets their cut even if it is small. Fair is fair. As long as we can cover we are coming.

I know that this is not a million dollar business model but our model is not designed to make millions. It is designed to make us free. I feel very free.

Most of the travel we do is paid for by the workshops. The other stuff (like this trip to Siberia) is paid for by sweat and sacrifice. I could have fixed the jeep twice for what I spent to get here but I will probably end up selling it to by those new weights of kettlebells (14,18,22,26 etc). It’s just who I am, I don’t know why I am like this.

The one thing I do know is this. All of this shit may blow up in my face. I take a lot of risks and one day I may get smashed and end up digging ditches. I am cool with that because I know that even if I grow old digging ditches I’ll be a guy who took his shot. I was afraid but I did it anyway even if I looked silly or out of place. I won’t die wishing I had spent my life doing something else. I am doing this now and I am doing it with all my heart. Maybe in ten years I’ll be doing something totally different but I will also be doing that with all of my heart.

 

I will dig a ditch the likes of which you have never seen, they will talk about it forever.

 

Kettle,

 

50% off OKC events for all US Soldiers and Veterans!

From now on the Orange Kettlebell Club will be offering a 50% discount on all of our workshops and seminars for all veterans and active soldiers of our armed forces. This is not a sale, it is a permanent policy.

This is a new policy and we will get it on the site soon. Until then if you are eligible for the discount please email me directly for your special payment link.

There is one exception though. Sometimes we collaborate with other organizations or professionals. In these situations can not speak for our partners and can not guarantee the discount. We will always try our best to make it happen. Please feel free to email me or pm me facebook with any questions. Oh, and tell your friends 😀

We will have new events listed shortly

www.orangekettlebellclub.com

kettle,

We are strong

Who are we? I mean, what is this kettlebell community? Are we really just a collection of tweets and facebook updates? Are we just vloggers and social media whores? Are we just basement lifters? Are we really just a bunch or arrogant extrainers who feel better after a bout of insulting folks who enjoy training that is not identical to ours? Lately I have been feeling that this is the dominant vibe. We are radiating waves of exclusion. I just want to remind everybody that we are not better than them. They are us. Well, at least we were them a few years ago. We are doing now what we are doing now, but we were doing then what we were doing then too.

I think we are better than this.

I’m no angel and I am not better than you. You won’t run into me on the street and think “wow, that guy was like, the like, most totally nice guy I’ve ever met”. I mean, just this second the guy sitting next to me in the coffee shop sneezed without covering his mouth. I almost punched him in his face, I hate that shit. It is rude. Then again, I didn’t say “bless you” so he may be thinking the same thing about me. I digress, even in our present states we are better than this.

Are we really that much more right than the other guys? Are we really the strong ones? Could we prove it if we had to? Can we do more than just piss for distance?

I think we can. More than that I think we have to. Well, at least I do.

I lift things, bend things, and rip things in half. I build things, break things, burn thing, but really what have I done? What is it all worth? Who is going to remember that I snatched a big bell?

I want to make a difference. And even if I can’t I want to try. I would rather break my bones against the rocks of failure than have them dissolve quietly under the warm cozy blanket of apathy.

To be clear. I don’t care about others opinions of my achievements. I hope you don’t either. I am not calling anybody out here. I think that most of the time people judge others out of reflex, even though they have no idea what they are looking at. They only think they do. For example: if you keep reading this blog like that you are going to hurt your back. Everybody’s an expert.

What I am saying is, that it is time for us to step up and lead. We are what? The fitness community? The alternative strength culture? Does that mean we are the strong and the able? Because from the outside we are probably seen as muscleheads and freaks you know. Are we to be only known by our biceps, abs, and asses? Do we really believe we are better than others because they are fat? The same way they believe they are smarter than us because we are not (ok, I may not be the best example but you know what I mean…stop laughing!)? I have met so many amazing people in this scene and I am proud to be a part of it. I think we have something really special here. Why not take it for a spin around the block and see what it can do???

Isn’t it time we lead with our hearts?

We are strong! It is time for us to stop talking and do something. We can’t cure the world of all that ails it but we can do what we do. I pick things up, then I put them down, then I pick them up again. It isn’t much, I am not the best in the world at it, and I don’t really know how to sell it, but I sure as shit know how to give it away.

On Oct. 23 in Los Angeles I will be giving it away here: http://www.onehourlongcycle.com/

Please come down and join me. You can help save a child’s life! And really, what else are doing for an hour on a Saturday morning?

If you have any questions about donation, participation or preparation for this event you can contact me at johnwild@orangekettlebellclub.com or PM me on facebook.

Kettle,

The Russians are Coming!

I am so happy to let you all know that the Russians are coming to teach in Los Angeles this October. The OKC will have the honor of hosting. We are so excited to help bring this amazing event to you 🙂

USA Elite Kettlebell Training Workshop, October 23-24, 2010

Los Angeles California*

The Orange Kettlebell Club is proud to host the International Kettlebell Sport and Fitness Academy on their first trip to the United States. You have all heard the rave reviews of the St. Petersburg Elite Kettlebell Sport Camp. Now we are bringing some of Russia to you in this 2 day, 12 hour Elite Kettlebell Sport Workshop. Do not miss your chance to train with two of the most highly decorated coaches in the world. IKSFA President Sergey Rachinskiy HMS, MSWC, and Head Coach of the Russian National Team Sergey Rudnev HMS, MSWC, are Honored Coaches of Russia. They have coached world champions and Masters of Sport World Class ranking. They will be here to coach you.

-Sergey Rachinskiy, IKSFA President, HMS, MSWC, Honored Coach of Russia, 9-time World Champion, 12-time Champion of Russia.

-Sergey Rudnev, HMS, MSWC, Honored Coach of Russia, 4-time World Champion, 5-time Champion of Russia, head coach of the Russian National Kettlebell Sport Team.

USA Elite Training Workshop: How to build optimal Kettlebell sport technique.

Day 1: Jerk

• Learning techniques of the Jerk
• Learning methodology of teaching the Jerk
• The role of GPP
• The role of SPP

Day 2 Part 1: The Snatch

• Learning techniques of the snatch
• Learning methodology of teaching the snatch
• The role of GPP
• The role of SPP

Day 2 Part 2: The Long Cycle

• Learning the techniques of the long cycle
• Learning the methodology of teaching the long cycle
• The role of GPP
• The role of SPP

The price: $700

The Location:

The Center Street Club

240 Center Street,

El Segundo CA 90245

http://www.thecenterstreetclub.com

Register:

www.IKSFA.com

* This workshop will be limited to 20 people.

The Pain Cave Donates to Haitian Relief!

Hi Everyone,

When we first announced that we were going to do a little fundraiser for Haitian relief I had no idea how many people would come out for it. Well, another one has stepped forward and pushed us across the $2000.00 line! Nick Lacaria of The Pain Cave in Charlotte, NC had a fundraiser and raised $580! Nick contacted me and asked me If I would donate the money for him so here we are.

Nick I can’t thank you enough for raising all that money. Please thank all of your students and friends that helped you too. For all of you who want to know a little about the pain cave, here is a link to their video page http://vimeo.com/paincavefitness

They also have a great blog at http://www.paincavefitness.com

they even have a facebook fan club http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=259305407636

I’m a fan and i hope you all sign up too.

Thank’s again Nick

Kettle,

Unicef Donations

Hello interwebers,

Here is a cut and past of the email I got from UNICEF regarding your donations from the Kettles for Haitian relief workshop.

Dear John, I’m sending you photos taken this past Saturday at the Foyer L’escale Orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. What you see here is what’s happening all over Haiti. Because of your rapid, decisive response to our appeals, thousands of children are alive today. Look into their faces. Full of life and hope for a better tomorrow: © UNICEF/2010/Tidey UNICEF staff pouring safe drinking water for children. © UNICEF/2010/Tidey Children at the Foyer L’escale Orphanage. They are alive today because UNICEF was there: distributing clean water, providing shelter, protecting children from abuse and exploitation. This week alone, UNICEF: Launched a campaign to immunize 500,000 children against measles, diphtheria, and tetanus; Provided clean drinking water to over a half a million people daily; Installed latrines, bringing the total of new sanitation facilities to 750; and Delivered personal kits to 50,000 children without parental care. We are now preparing to face the serious risks and challenges that lie before us in the weeks ahead. And with 40% of the Haitian population under the age of 14, this is a children’s emergency. These children need to be found, fed, and kept safe from abuse and exploitation. But just for today, I wanted to show you the very real impact you’re having on the children of Haiti. From all of us at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, thank you. Caryl M. Stern President & CEO U.S. Fund for UNICEF

We did good guys!

kettle,