Who Is Taco Fleur?
Originally from Amsterdam, Taco Fleur spent his early career as an IT professional — writing code for banks, governments, and high-profile companies. He ran an IT company in Spain before the year 2000, where he met his wife Anna Junghans. Their son was born in Spain.
The family eventually moved to Australia — a deliberate choice to create a better environment. And that move triggered everything that followed.
Years of sitting at a desk had caused serious physical damage. Sciatica. Progressive deterioration. A programmer's body falling apart. The fitness world wasn't a hobby — it was necessity. And kettlebells were the answer.
The programmer mindset never left. It became the foundation of an analytical, step-by-step approach to movement that would eventually be taught to over 16,000 students across 20+ published books and 300+ full-length workouts.
Today, Taco and Anna live in Greece — “really the place that calls us” — after years of traveling through many countries.
From Physical Gyms to Global Platform
Executive Results + THE TOUGH SPOT
Taco and Anna created Executive Results in Australia — delivering what they called the toughest boot camps in the country. This led to the creation of THE TOUGH SPOT gyms.
The reality of running physical gyms was brutal: 12–14 hour days, sometimes two gyms running simultaneously, more work for no more money. Add the politics — competitors stealing clients, trainers being poached, customers starting rival gyms — and the result was inevitable. THE TOUGH SPOT closed.
But even then, the lesson was clear: “No matter how many gyms you set up, you're not going to make the money or get the freedom you're looking for. Moving online provides both.”
Cavemantraining — Going Online
The transition from physical gyms to online kettlebell education. The Cavemantraining website became the hub for content delivery — starting the digital footprint that would grow for the next 15+ years.
The Decision
The pivotal moment: “Our future is online. The world needs kettlebell knowledge delivered properly.”
From this point forward, everything was building toward one vision. Not just content delivery — a community, an interaction platform, a place where everything comes together. Over the next decade: 20+ kettlebell books, NASM & ACE accredited courses through IKU, SFG2 and IKFF certifications, IKU-issued certifications, 300+ workouts, 16,000+ online students.
The IKU Inner Circle — The Prototype
A smaller version of what KETTLEBELL MONSTER™ would become. A community of people working out together, sharing videos, pushing each other to improve. It ran for 5+ years and accumulated 300+ workouts.
There was one problem: it was built on Facebook.
The Infrastructure Nightmare
The Cavemantraining website was the first draft of the KM vision. Taco tried to build it on WordPress with plugins and LMS systems. The painful lesson that took years to fully learn:
You can't build a professional platform on someone else's infrastructure.
Plugins break constantly. LMS systems don't work the way you need them to. Every update breaks something. Every limitation costs months. Years of work eaten by tools that weren't built for the job. More time fighting the platform than building the product.
Eventually, enough was enough. The decision: build it properly. Enterprise-grade infrastructure — Cloudflare, Supabase, Next.js. The same technology stack trusted by Nike, Walmart, Mozilla, 1Password, and Johnson & Johnson.
IKU Created + The Build Begins
IKU — International Kettlebell University — was formally created to manage Cavemantraining content and run KETTLEBELL MONSTER™. Then came 4 months of non-stop, intense development. 12-hour days in places where Taco should have been at the beach. Writing code while others were posting reels.
The Facebook Deletion — Full Timeline
Facebook had threatened restrictions multiple times over the years. Around 2019–2020, Taco was censored for posting information that is now widely accepted fact. Multiple incidents, some censorship, some with no explanation at all. But none of that is what ended it.
Traveling: Australia → Indonesia → Singapore → Sri Lanka (workshops) → heading to Greece
Returned from Sri Lanka, turned on the computer
Facebook notification: account suspended, must verify identity — look left, look right, look up, look down. Submitted.
Approved — but account restricted anyway. About one week of limited normalcy.
Same verification demanded again. Submitted again. This time: denied.
Email from Facebook: “Taco, you have 180 days to take action” — suspended for “account integrity.” No specific violation. No post flagged. No explanation.
Appeal submitted. Response: “Your review was unsuccessful. Your Facebook account has been permanently disabled. You can't request another review.”
Emailed disabled@support.facebook.com — twice — two weeks later, no response. Not even an automated acknowledgement.
No way to reach a real person at Facebook unless you pay for Verified — and even then it's low-level support reading from scripts who can't make decisions.
What Was Lost
— Taco Fleur
When it happened, Taco went from 12-hour to 16-hour days. The launch date moved up. The platform got finished faster. The Facebook deletion wasn't the obstacle — it was the accelerant.
Why KETTLEBELL MONSTER™ Exists
Not a workout app. Not a video library. A social network — built specifically, exclusively, and uncompromisingly for kettlebell training.
Every part of the platform exists to answer one question: what does a kettlebell athlete or coach actually need? Training logs, community, coaching tools, education, certification, monetization, recovery, mental performance — all connected. All in one place. On infrastructure that no one can delete.
The philosophy is methodology neutral. SFG2 and IKFF certified — Hardstyle and Sport Style. The kettlebell world has tribal allegiances. KETTLEBELL MONSTER™ doesn't. The bell doesn't care what school you came from.
The platform is built the way Taco approaches kettlebell training itself — analytically, systematically, from the ground up. The foot as foundation. Movement broken into step-by-step progressions. No shortcuts. No nonsense.
For Athletes
Home gym warriors, beginners, intermediate and advanced lifters, kettlebell sport competitors. One place for all of it.
For Coaches
Build your brand, sell programs, run coaching. Courses are NASM & ACE accredited through IKU; certifications are issued by IKU. A creator economy inside a niche that knows the difference.
Owned. Always.
Built on enterprise infrastructure that can't be deleted, censored, or sold. No single company holds the keys to your community.
15 Years of Building
Be Part of What Comes Next
KETTLEBELL MONSTER™ is launching soon. Join the waitlist for early access, founding member pricing, and the free beginner package on signup.
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