RKC & StrongFirst - What Went Wrong?

I've had the privilege to enjoy an interesting conversation with John Du Cane who is an author and CEO of the company Dragon Door Publications.

Aside from being a heavyweight in the Tai Chi and QiGong world and his endeavors in the film industry, he alongside Pavel Tsatsouline is credited with starting the modern kettlebell renaissance in the US in 2001 with RKC.

If it wasn’t for John’s vision, the west would probably be still oblivious of the kettlebell‘s existence. It is therefore our duty as kettlebell practitioners, to pay tribute to John and appreciate his foresight back in the day.

In this bit from the podcast, John opened up what caused the split (and the following drama) between him and Pavel leaving RKC to form his own company called "StrongFirst".

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[lebe-stark]

I've had the privilege to enjoy an interesting conversation with John Du Cane who is an author and CEO of the company Dragon Door Publications.

Aside from being a heavyweight in the Tai Chi and QiGong world and his endeavors in the film industry, he alongside Pavel Tsatsouline is credited with starting the modern kettlebell renaissance in the US in 2001 with RKC.

If it wasn’t for John’s vision, the west would probably be still oblivious of the kettlebell‘s existence. It is therefore our duty as kettlebell practitioners, to pay tribute to John and appreciate his foresight back in the day.

In this bit from the podcast, John opened up what caused the split (and the following drama) between him and Pavel leaving RKC to form his own company called "StrongFirst".

[jeffglueck]

I am a SF certified instructor and this all makes sense. Dan John is so much more influential to my training practice now that I have the base knowledge of proper form. I’ve not personally met DJ or PT, but I would much rather sit down with DJ because he demonstrates that he gives a shit with his overall accessibility

[buckaroobonsi]

I liked how Dan represents himself and what went down. It is refreshing to not see mud slinging and disparaging rhetoric. It was all very much conducted in a dignified way and like a gentleman!

[lgonzalez]

It’s amazing how strong people are who train with strongfirst and are instructors. I watched a 120 poun female two hand swing 48kg. And saw my coach press 48kg double strict military press for 10 reps. It’s too bad there was a split but people have different goals and have to move on to those goals as they see fit.

[stevedavis]

Keep flying the flag for balance and integrity lebe

[Arthax]

Gregory, you made a cardinal error here. When John brought up Paul Wade, WHY didn´t you pressure John on Pauls identity (which to this day is not known but highly speculated on!) :)

[liljemark]

Interesting history! Thanks for sharing, Gregory.

[Petitephysiquebarre]

Fwiw, John's wife Andrea who he mentions early in this clip is excellent. I did dragon door's online only hardstyle cert (hardstylefit) and Andrea is a great master trainer. It's too bad that program doesn't come as a hybrid course delivery with some live zoom call coaching; after I submitted my videos she gave me email feedback and when I dragged my heels and was struggling, I paid extra for a live call with Andrea and she was excellent helping me finish up that cert. I think I might do the level 2 because I like Andrea so much!

[daikatana]

Thank you for the video, I always wondered why there was a split between Pavel and Dragondoor. I like both for their varied approaches to things, there is a time for the kinder gentler way but also a time when a more Spartan approach is needed. Again, thank you. This answered a lot of questions for me.

[matthewdelanoy]

This is a great interview just discussing marketing and mission statements. I remember when CrossFit was just military and police and then blew up when they targeted the wider audience (but then also brought new scrutiny). Really interesting stuff!

[rohgren]

Got my HKC before the split. It was great training. Thanks for the info on what happened. I always wondered what happened. StrongFirst is interesting with a lot of good info, but think I still prefer the RKC approach.

[hforero]

Pavel stuck with the fundamentals and did not concern himself with marketing. That’s the bottom line. No one hears anything about RKC anymore.

[motaoyan]

Question from a Chinese kettlebell lover：what is the exact meaning of the phrase【beat down approach】？thanks in advance

[twistedtrailerparktales]

No disrespect to DuCane but if you're already advertising to "tough guys" and women flocked to it anyway why change? It's like comic book movies or starwars, if you were what you were and had a 65% male audience and a 35% female audience when you start focusing on those 35% you're just alienating the other 65%.

[ArabellaWilbur-cf]

Walker Robert Thomas Frank Rodriguez Patricia

[ArabellaWilbur-cf]

Martinez Shirley Harris Edward Rodriguez Susan