Safety, form, and technique first. Built on biomechanics, not trends.
Everything Cavemantraining publishes is built on one standard: the IKU method. It’s a single, consistent approach to how kettlebell technique is taught, assessed, and certified. It’s the same standard whether you’re following a free workout or earning a Level 6 Coach certification.
Safety, form, and technique come first
This is the non-negotiable. A heavier bell never fixes a broken pattern. We drill the foundations first: the hinge, the grip, the rack, breathing, and bracing. Only then do we add load or volume. It’s why our grip and racking guides are free, and why we’d rather slow you down and get it right than let you train a pattern that gets you hurt.
We teach why a movement works
Most kettlebell content shows you a movement and tells you to copy it. We go one level deeper, to the biomechanics. The biomechanics are the biomechanics, whichever federation teaches them. Once you understand why a swing hinges where it does and why the rack sits where it sits, you stop memorising exercises and start owning them. Understanding transfers. Imitation doesn’t.
Every exercise is a family
Most programs teach a handful of exercises and stop. We treat every kettlebell exercise as a family. The press isn’t a single movement to us. It’s a parent, with a whole family of variations beneath it, and we teach every one, each with its own granular breakdown. The swing, the snatch, the clean, the curl, and the squat all get the same treatment, every variation covered. Across more than 30 core kettlebell exercises and over 330 documented variations, that completeness is the difference. No other organization goes this deep.
Beyond Hardstyle and Sportstyle
IKU is not Hardstyle. IKU is not Sportstyle. It’s its own discipline, one that includes both and goes far beyond either. Hardstyle builds power and strength through a handful of exercises. Sportstyle builds endurance through competition lifts. Between them lies everything most programs ignore: complexes, multi-exercise combos, flows, juggling, hypertrophy work, AMRAP and for-time formats, and hybrid mobility and intensity training. Our founder holds certifications across every major system, including StrongFirst SFG2, IKFF, Russian Girevoy Sport Institute, and IKSFA, and we built IKU to teach all of it.
Certifications you actually earn
Our certifications are not weekend rubber stamps. We assess real physical skill, not just knowledge, and every assessment is personally reviewed, one on one. A Cavemantraining and IKU credential means the trainer behind it has demonstrated genuine competence.
More about us: About Cavemantraining · Our Mission & Values