Taco Fleur — Founder of IKU | International Kettlebell University

Overview

From software engineering to kettlebell education

Taco Fleur is the founder and lead educator of International Kettlebell University. He holds certifications from every major kettlebell system worldwide, has authored more than twenty books on kettlebell training, and has personally educated over 22,000 students across multiple continents.

Before kettlebells, he spent more than a decade as a software developer — building applications for banks, government agencies, and his own ventures. That analytical background shapes everything IKU teaches: every exercise explained through biomechanics, every movement broken down from the ground up, every coaching cue backed by a reason.

He still personally reviews every IKU certification assessment. That has not changed since the first one.

Taco Fleur

Founder & Lead Educator

Amsterdam → Kalamata, Greece

22K+

Students educated

20+

Books published

300+

Workouts designed

15+

Years teaching

Background

An unconventional path

Born in Amsterdam in 1973. Raised in care institutions. Departed home at fifteen. Enlisted in the Dutch Royal Air Force at sixteen. Left the Netherlands at nineteen. Every step that followed was self-directed.

The technology years

Taco’s first computer was a Sharp MZ-800, loaded from cassette tape. That led to a Commodore 64, then to building professional software. In Spain, he created banking and real estate applications for clients. In Australia, he worked at Suncorp and the Queensland Government on enterprise systems. Around 2004 he built ClickFind.com.au — a search engine that separated products and services before Google Maps offered that functionality.

The turning point

Years behind a desk produced chronic sciatica. In 2004, through opening a gym, he picked up a sixteen-kilogram kettlebell for the first time. Instead of simply learning movements, he took them apart — studying why the hip extends at a particular moment, what the foot does against the ground, which muscles engage and in what sequence. The programmer’s instinct to understand systems became the foundation of a teaching methodology.

“The programmer never left. He just switched languages — from code to movement.”

The education journey

From physical gyms to a global institution

The gyms (2004–2014)

Together with his wife Anna — an Australian fitness trainer he met in Torremolinos, Spain — Taco founded Executive Results in 2004 in Brisbane. In 2009 they opened THE TOUGH SPOT, followed by a second location in Albion. The training was raw and intense: circuit-style boot camps, outdoor sessions on concrete, tires and kettlebells everywhere. Around 2014 they opened GYM ELITE in Danang, Vietnam — introducing functional training and kettlebells to that region for the first time.

Going online (2009–present)

Running physical gyms taught a hard lesson: the reach and the freedom are in digital education. In 2009, Cavemantraining launched online. What began as a WordPress site grew into a YouTube channel with 70,000+ subscribers and over 20 million views, ten Facebook groups totalling 217,000+ members, and a five-year community called the IKU Inner Circle that produced 300+ structured workouts. Over twenty books followed, published across Amazon, iTunes, and Google Books. Four articles appeared in Iron Man magazine.

The decisive moment

In 2024, Facebook permanently disabled the account that held two decades of photos, messages, instructional videos, business pages, and admin access to communities with 217,000+ combined members. No specific violation was cited. No appeal was accepted. Everything was gone.

Rather than attempt to rebuild on someone else’s infrastructure, Taco accelerated what was already underway: building a platform from scratch using enterprise-grade technology — the same systems trusted by Nike, 1Password, Mozilla, and PwC. The result was KETTLEBELL MONSTER™: 1.39 million lines of proprietary code across ten purpose-built training spaces, written in five months of twelve-to-sixteen-hour days.

“To make it work, you have to commit. Really commit. You have to want it. You cannot give up.”

IKU today

IKU LLC was formally established in March 2025 as the institutional umbrella for all three brands: KETTLEBELL MONSTER™ (the training platform), Cavemantraining (the content and shop), and IKU itself (the certification and accreditation body). Self-funded. No venture capital. No investors. The revenue comes from subscriptions, certifications, creator fees, licensing, and master trainer workshops.

Credentials

Certified across every major system

Taco obtained certifications from both sides of the kettlebell world — because the biomechanics do not change based on which federation teaches them. This cross-system expertise is the reason IKU is methodology neutral.

Kettlebell certifications obtained

✓ StrongFirst SFG2 — Vicenza, Italy
✓ IKFF Certified Teacher
✓ Russian Girevoy Sport Institute — Level 1
✓ IKSFA Kettlebell Coach — ACE Approved
✓ Kettlebell Sport Rank 1
✓ HardstyleFit Level 1 Instructor
✓ Kettlebell Science & Application
✓ Kettlebells Level 2 Trainer

Additional fitness certifications obtained

✓ CrossFit Level 1 Trainer
✓ MMA Conditioning Level 1 & Fitness Level 2
✓ Punchfit Trainer
✓ Plyometrics Trainer Certified
✓ BJJ Purple Belt

Media

✓ Featured in 4 issues of Iron Man magazine
✓ 70,000+ YouTube subscribers
✓ 20,000,000+ video views

Selected training accomplishments

5 reps strict press @ 36kg

Double 32kg strict press

36kg Hardstyle snatch

100 snatches in under 5 minutes (20kg)

200 unbroken swings @ 28kg

1-hour unbroken clean & jerk (16kg)

45-minute unbroken clean & jerk (20kg)

532 unbroken snatches

1,501 total 28kg swings in one session

11,111 total 28kg swings in 28 days

40kg windmill

160kg deadlift

85kg Olympic squat snatch

100 Turkish Get-Ups @ 20kg in one session

A life in motion

Ten countries, one constant

The Fleur family has lived across three continents. The list reads like an itinerary that never quite settled — until it did.

The Netherlands — born, raised in care

Spain — technology business, met Anna

Australia — thirteen years, gyms, Cavemantraining

Vietnam — GYM ELITE, approximately one year

Thailand — brief stay

Spain — returned, the low point

Italy — six acres in Tuscany, then lockdown

Tanzania — with Nacho the French Bulldog

Albania — an unexpected haven

Greece (Kalamata) — home. Staying.

Taco works alongside his wife Anna. Anna, an Australian fitness trainer, is his long-time training partner. They train together, travel together, and have run every business together since they met in a bar in Torremolinos in the late 1990s.

“Wherever I lay my kettlebell, that’s my home.”

Convictions

What shapes IKU

These are not corporate values drafted by committee. They are convictions that accumulated over fifteen years of building, failing, rebuilding, and teaching.

The kettlebell warrants its own ecosystem

Not a category inside a general fitness app. Not a hashtag. Not a Facebook group controlled by an algorithm. A dedicated institution where every course, every certification, every piece of content exists because the kettlebell community requires it.

Understanding precedes performance

Anyone can demonstrate a swing. IKU teaches why the hip extends at that precise moment, what the foot pushes against, which muscles fire in which order. Comprehending the biomechanics means you do not simply perform a movement — you command it.

The kettlebell is not partisan

The kettlebell world carries tribal loyalties. Hardstyle versus Sport Style. IKU’s founder holds credentials from both traditions. The iron does not care what school you came from.

Own your infrastructure

If your entire business, community, and content library can be erased by an algorithm with no recourse, you own nothing. You are leasing space on someone else’s ground. IKU and KETTLEBELL MONSTER™ are built on infrastructure we control.

Real humans at every point of contact

When someone reaches out for help, they speak to a person. Not a chatbot. Not a template. Not a wall. That commitment does not diminish as the organisation grows.

Teaching is the product, not the upsell

Educating people in proper technique is not a marketing strategy. It is the entire purpose. Every course, every certification, every resource exists to make kettlebell training safer, deeper, and more effective.

“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.”

— Taco Fleur

Taco Fleur — Founder of International Kettlebell University