Escaping the venom,
I think I’m running a little hot so I’m takeing off to the mountains for a few days to get away from it all. It should be fun, camping near the snow line and building big fires always helps me get my mind off of business. So, see you all in a few days. (Ok, there may be some kettles there 
kettle,
Hello Internet,
On Saturday we had a very successful workshop to raise money for Haitian relief. I am happy to say that the workshop made $1500 that was donated to UNICEF yesterday. We had some great people attend the workshop as well as people who bought slots even though they could not come. We had people donate DVD’s for raffle/sale and we had the space donated to us when we grew a little to big for the loft.
In addition to all that I have received emails from friends of mine from all over who decided to do their own fundraising workshops and bootcamps. I have noticed all over facebook that people are doing this everywhere and it makes me so proud to be part of the kettlebell community. Giving is one thing but you all are actually doing. There is a distinction to be made there and you all should be very proud.
We had a great time and we will get some pics up soon but I only have this one right now so enjoy 
I also want to thank The people who supported this workshop and those who attended. I think we did something good!
That is a lot of weight. Those are some monster numbers. People are going to be pissed off.
Believe me when I tell you how far away MS feels for me. I am an “athlete” with low endurance and no way to rest during a set. My hamstrings are so tight that I can’t consistently lockout and every single day I have to work on it just to see the smallest (and I mean SMALLEST) improvement. Sometimes I think this sport really may not be for me. To be honest, I may have already quit if it wasn’t for the critics. I try to teach people to think of it as 100 sets of 1 rep but that is not my monster. No rest means one great big set. 1 set, 100 reps, 150 reps, 200 reps. It’s like a mountain of weight and numbers. I have to find some trail to get to the top. For now, my trail is straight at it and upward!
You have to find a way. If this is what you really want you cannot be discouraged. These numbers are monsters, and they are formidable but not unattainable. I know it comes easier to some people than others but they are not the ones I want at the base of the mountain looking up and heading out with me. I want the ones that have been turned away because their arms are short or their hips are low, or they cry, or their bellies get in the way. I want the lifters that want it more. Those are the shitkickers! You can keep your former NCAA Division I athlete, I want the guy she dumped in college. You can keep your quarterback, I’ll take the one he never knew existed. These are my people, these are the people who will break these numbers against their wills.
I understand the idea of feeding the sport. I know that we all want the sport to grow but I have to ask, what good is it if it doesn’t mean anything? In my opinion it should be hard. It should be almost impossible, I know it is to me. I don’t think that everyone who gets into a sport should be guaranteed success on it’s highest level. That needs to be earned with a combination of talent, work, and will. Champions sacrifice everything, we know this. At the same time, there is no shame in competing just to compete. Way more people run marathons than win marathons.
I know that my goal just got harder. It means that I will have to go places I never knew I had to go to make it, I’m cool with that.
I love my girls. They are a crazy bunch but I have absolute faith in every one of them.
I don’t know (obviously) every KB lifter in the country but off the top of my head I can think of 3 women who can hit the new MS rank by the end of the year. They are the great ones and we all know who they are. Only 3? Do we even have 3 male MS’ in the states?
We are all late starters. We are trained mostly through certification weekends and online programming. Some of us have coaches but mostly we learn second hand, more obstacles, more monsters.
Well, This is what we do with monsters round here:
kettle,
Great news! The OKC Kettlebell Workshop for Haitian Releif has grown too big for the OKC Loft!!! Thank you all very much for your support. In addition to the people attending we have had many people who could not attend send donations. This whole experience has been amazing. I am so excited for Saturday and I can’t wait to tell you all how we did!
The new venue is
Juno Fitness
3007 Sacramento st.
Berkeley, ca 94702
This video is totally unrelated to this post/awesome
Kettle,
Hello all,
So, there are a few changes coming to the OKC website/site’s. At the end of the month we will be closing the Orangekettlebellclub.net site on Collectivex and opening a facebook group. The kb community has grown so big on facebook that it seems redundant to have another site dedicated to collecting profiles and sending out mass emails. Please understand that this is not your fault and we do not want you to blame yourselves. This is not an end but a beginning, so keeps your chins up, it’s all going to be ok .
Nazo and I would like to thank all of you who have created profiles for your support of the OKC and us personally. We are confident that we will be able to provide you with a more streamlined and efficiant OKC experience. The Orangekettlebell.com site will still be up and running and expanding to include articles, interviews, videos, a new store, and of course, our blogs.
It is amazing how fast this Kettlebell world has grown and we are excited to adapt and encourage anyone who wants to take part in it’s expansion! If you are just getting into this game remember that you can do it and don’t let anyone “ahead of you” tell you different.
This is everywhere but if you have not seen it yet…enjoy!
Hello everybody,
I have been racking my brain trying to think of a way to help, at least a little bit, the people who have been devastated by this earthquake in Haiti. Times here are tough, and when I was sending my feeble donation I felt embarrassed. I felt like there had to be more that I could do, but money is supertight and I found myself unable to give more. I went to sleep feeling a deep sadness. There had to be something more I could do. I’m young, I’m strong, I just want to start digging through the rocks and rubble I see on tv but I can’t because I am here and those broken slabs of cement and scattered pieces of peoples lives are so far away.
So since I can’t lift those rocks, I will lift Kettles.
On Saturday January 23, 2010 from 12-4pm The Orange Kettlebell Club will be holding a special Kettlebell Workshop. Every penny from this workshop will be donated to the relief of the suffering people of Haiti.
The Special Price for this Workshop is $100
More info on the workshop is at www.orangekettlebellclub.com
If you cannot make the workshop and want to contribute you can make a donation.
It is a small workshop and I wanted to do it today because these people need help now but I know we need a little time to get people together to do this.
PLEASE STEAL THIS IDEA!
We can all do this and we can do it now. No matter how you train or who your teacher, coach, or mentor is I think we can all agree that we have an opportunity and the resources help.
We kettlefolk roll deep, we work hard, we are the strong, we can come together for this.
Kettle,
Jw
To all my friends who are still reading this, please repost it on your page. Even if you can’t throw a workshop together maybe someone in your network can. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this.
Hi everyone,
Happy new year. It’s been a while since I have put up a post and I hope to put up a few more in the coming days but I wanted to get this little one up here first.
The OKC does a few different kinds of workshops and we will be puting up the 2010 schedule very shortly but before we do I wanted to do this.
The OKC Level 1 workshop is our standard one day workshop. It is usually about 6 hours long and it is designed for beginners to learn the basics. We have several of these workshops every year and we teach them all over the world.
From now on the OKC Level 1 workshop will be discounted by 50% for anyone in our armed forces, veterans, police, firefighters, and EMT’s.
These discounted links will not be listed with the workshop info so please write me at johnwild@orangekettlebellclub.com to register with the special rate.
This is not a limited time offer, it will expire when I do.
kettle,
jw
I really don’t know if I like anything better than coaching. No matter what is going on in my personal life all bad feelings seem to wash away when a student has a breakthrough. Recently I have been lucky enough to pick up a few students that have an incredible amount of ability. Every time one of them comes by to train it is like a gift to me. I just wanted to write this little note to say thank all of you for being so awesome!
kettle,
Hi everyone. First off I would like to apologize to all of my friends that I did not get to visit with on this trip. It has been several years since I have been to Long Island and while I was there I took some time to clear my head.
I am sure that everyone needs some time off. Like most of you I’m sure my life never stops and when this chance came up I took it. After a few days on Long Island I went up to see my mother in PA. I am still at her house now and I will be heading down to NYC for this weekends workshop in a few min. I am looking forward to it. A little time away has made me miss the bells.
Usually I feel very solitary. I tend to keep to myself and I exist in my head most of the time. I have been told that it is not a good thing but it’s just who I am. I imagine that is why I like the bells so much. It is a relationship I am born for, one that doesn’t really fit, that hurts a lot, and ends up being worth every moment of the fight.
The problem with living in my head is that I tend to slide. I can’t always control my emotions and when I slide people get hurt. After that I usually retreat to my head, apologize and walk away. Some of you have probably gotten an apology like this from me. They are as true as my being can possibly make them.
I know this is a weird blog. Sorry about that, I’m in a weird place right now. Hopefully all this emotion will translate into something good. I mean, there has got to be some upside to being such a damn head case,,, right?
kettle,
Oh Boy! It is Time for everyone to see the famous OKC smile.*
This weekend in New York City at the Long-Cycle championships I have been invited to entertain! I bring this up because since I can’t sing or dance or do magic tricks, and because I am not very funny or talented in general, I am going to have to do what I always do and pick things up only to put them down again.
Boring fore sure, but I will do my best to bring a smile (or a tear) to all of your beautiful, shining faces (insert colon –dash- parentheses -smiley face here).
From what I understand I will get to lift along side the king of American Kettlebell Strongmen Mr. Andrew Durniat! I hope that I will be able to hold my own.
So if anyone of you has plans of being lifted overhead please stop eating right now.
Oh, if anyone reading this has access to heavy bells (super heavy bells) please bring them!!!
See you all Saturday.
Kettle,
*The OKC smile is circled in Orange
