As you may or may not yet have heard, Dragon Door Publications has closed for business forever. The company that brought kettlebells into the American consciousness and which made such a huge splash with a very different approach to strength and fitness since the early 2000s is no more. It’s a sad time, and frankly there’s still nothing really like it – especially around the 2012 era when I was first certified as an RKC Kettlebell instructor, and began my Dragon Door journey. While several years ago, I switched careers, move across the country, and have been focusing more towards compsci/engineering than fitness instruction. But kettlebells and calisthenics have remained a significant part of my lifestyle.
Not to mention all the friends, colleagues and incredibly colorful characters I met along the way with Dragon Door – and all the books I had the privilege of being photographed for. Dragon Door had this wonderfully authentic homemade feel in many of their books. In a fitness world that insisted on photoshopped perfection, Dragon Door was a little rough around the edges, and that’s how you knew you’d gotten ahold of the real stuff that works.
I’m not sure what’s next for this website, but it won’t be going away anytime soon (did you know it first got started in 2009?!?!).It will be transitioning away from relying on affiliate links, and I will be thinking about ways that it can continue to be useful for all of us. My own workouts are changing, but it’s time to get fit again, I’m sitting, thinking, and typing too much in the Winter. In the Spring, Summer and Fall, I have had the joy of training outside with my small dog (who is helpful by sitting and waiting while I do a given set of pullups on a neighborhood playground on our walking route). It’s time to reconfigure a lot of things, and thanks in advance for your patience while we figure it all out together.
I’m glad your posted this thanks 🙏
Did I miss a round Robin email to the RKCs saying that it’s over? There just seems to be a “site down” message on the main site.
It would’ve been nice if we could have all had a letter from John saying what you’ve said, or even goodbye
T
I’m so glad I got to meet you all back when. I learned a lot and made new friends! I’m 76 and still working making athletes out of all ages. (To the best of their ability) I wish everyone the best!
Looking forward to your next step in the Kb world. Wische you the best.
Thank You!
WOW! I didn’t know about this. Thanks so much for the information. I’ll miss Dragon Door. Thanks for doing whatever you can to keep our community.going!
Its looking like “seeing what’s still out there” may be the first step 🙂 Thanks for checking in – I wasn’t sure how much traffic this site was still getting these days!
So sorry to hear the news, I was a DD certified instruction (HKC and RKC) for 9 years, and you even did a feature article on me. So sad.
Those certs with you were wonderful!
Do let us know what you’re up to these days too – Dan John programming is always the best of the best
Writing those interviews was SO much fun – glad we got to meet and it’s cool that we’re almost neighbors now too!
I’d love to see what you’re up to next!
Thanks! Once I get the momentum and habits back then it’ll be quick!
I didn’t hear this about Dragon Door, but I’m definitely grateful for what I learned and the very cool people I met through them. Glad to see you still adapting and working hard!
Always! And it’s great to see responses already on here – I wasn’t sure what to expect!
Maybe I’m old school 😅, but blogs are still relevant to me and I’ve always really enjoyed yours, looks like it’s not just me, too!
It’s encouraging to say the least – I wasn’t sure if anyone would even notice – yet here we all are! I have another blog that’s just getting started and have noticed that people are reading it and even using the affiliate links (it’s technology/radio topics). Maybe there’s hope for blogs after all. I’d always rather read than watch a video ya know?
Let’s keep this going 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾😁
Sounds like a plan! 🙂
Looking forward- for whatever comes next!
Me too – I need to figure out what in the world that will be! 🙂
Looking forward to your next steps.
Thank you, John – and i hope your training is going well!