Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Meet our Kettlecoaches: Hailey Walker

After graduating from the University of Oregon, Hailey Walker worked at a non-profit that supported families and individuals impacted by autism and other developmental disabilities.

“While I definitely appreciated the work, I had this voice in the back of my head telling me that I wanted to try something new and different,” Hailey said. “Fitness is something that I’ve always been interested in and have really grown passion for in the past couple of years, so I decided to make it my career.”


Although she did team sports in high school, Hailey says she really became interested in fitness when she started college.

“When I first showed up to college, the whole concept of showing up to a gym and working out was kind of foreign,” Walker said, “so I got to school, and they had a huge variety of classes, so I got to try out everything.”

After she graduated from university, Hailey continued her fitness journey and lost 30 lbs which made her realize she wanted to help others reach their fitness goals.


Hailey and her boyfriend moved to Bellevue in January, and she agrees that Washington and Oregon have a lot of similarities, but she’s loving the diverse community of people she gets to meet while living in a more populated area (she was born and raised in the small city of Canby, Oregon).  

Although Hailey will miss her old job, she looks forward to working in an environment where she can see her fellow lifters progress.

Seattle Kettlebell Club is not just a gym. It’s really a community of people getting together and promoting a healthy lifestyle and learning a new skill,” Hailey said. “What I love is that you see people of all walks of life and all levels and abilities. That’s something that really cued me into the health of the environment around here; people are excited to show up here day after day.”

When Hailey isn’t at SKC, she enjoys ballroom dancing, running, reading, and watching TED Talks and documentaries.


As far as future fitness endeavors, Hailey has always wanted to run a half marathon, and she’s currently training to compete in her first competition at SKC’s Pro-Am on December 1st where she’ll be doing a biathlon with 12-kilogram bells (not bad for someone who has only been training for a few months!).

“If you see me in the gym, and we’ve never met, I’d love to be your friend,” Hailey said. “I promise I don’t bite. I want to get to know as many people as possible, and I’m excited to be part of the team.”

Welcome to the team Hailey! Catch her teaching classes 5 days a week at SKC! 

-Camille Borodey 

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Meet our Kettlecoaches: Deresse Haile


Before he came to Seattle from Ethiopia in May 2017, Deresse Haile was a coach and athletic director at St Joseph School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As the athletic director, one of his main jobs was to design programs to keep the school athletes in shape. He also used his passion for exercise to advocate for more funding to be used towards athletics in his school district.  
  
“Sports have been a lifetime passion for me,” Deresse said. “It’s my lifestyle.” 

Photo Credit: Tumwater Creative
Along with his work stated above, Deresse was also president of the St Joseph Alumni Club and president of the International Schools Sport Association, which included 7 other schools. From writing the handbook, to organizing referees, and handling disputes, Deresse played a huge part in organizing the league and making it one the most successful school sport’s leagues in Ethiopia. With all his accomplishments back home, we’re sure Deresse’s colleagues were sad to see him go, but we’re so lucky to have him as one of the newest team members at SKC! 

“Some things are different, but having people who are into sports around me, I feel like I have found my community with Seattle Kettlebell Club,” Deresse said. 

Deresse enjoys the fact that the classes at SKC include strength plus endurance and since he’s not the biggest fan of running, he’s able to get his cardio during class too. 


Since he did so much previous work with kids at his old job, he hopes that he will be able to help motivate kids to pick up the sport early which is a great fit since SKC just kicked off a youth lifting league. 

“I’d like to motivate a lot of people to adapt a healthy lifestyle. I would like to be a role model, and progress in the sport,” Deresse said. 

On September 21, Deresse competed in the IKFF NW Championship where he placed second in his weight class for a five-minute biathlon and received a “Rank II” with 16-kilogram kettlebells. 

“The experience was educational. I ended up with a medal which I didn’t expect. It motivated me,” Deresse said. 


Deresse looks forward to competing again and hopes to eventually be able to achieve “Rank 1” in a 10-minute biathlon.

When Deresse isn’t at SKC, he enjoys hiking and photography blogging. Check out his blog Words for My Pictures to see his work. 

We’re happy to have you on the team, Deresse! Catch him teaching classes Mon, Weds, and Thurs evenings. 

-Camille Borodey

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Blood, Sweat, and Kettlebells: The Nikolai Puchlov Story


With the wide array of gyms and fitness trends in Seattle, Nikolai Puchlov continues to leave his mark with Seattle Kettlebell Club, the only gym of its kind in Washington state that specializes in kettlebell sport. From humble beginnings, Puchlov’s road to SKC owner has been a long one but worth the sweat. 

“I always knew I wanted to be a business owner,” Puchlov said. “All my prior jobs and experiences have led me to this.” 


Before getting into the professional fitness industry, Puchlov worked at Nordstrom and Tutta Bella, which is where he met his wife and SKC co-owner Amber. He credits Tutta Bella owner Joe Fugere for mentoring him and encouraging him to follow his passions. 

It wasn’t until he started training with Bull Stewart at Columbia City Fitness Center (CCFC) that Puchlov realized his calling. Stewart, who Puchlov notes was a fantastic coach and really pushed him to his fitness potential, was Puchlov’s personal trainer for 6 years before Puchlov became a trainer himself and started competitive powerlifting. In 2014, his coaching abilities were tested when he took a team to the AAU world championships where his team got second in the world! 


As successful as his powerlifting career was, Puchlov notes that it did have a shelf life, for he found that he kept having shoulder, back, and hip issues. That’s when his friends Dick Schuller and Tom Corrigan introduced him to kettlebells. 

“I wasn’t built to be a powerlifter. I was tall and skinny, but I enjoyed the goal setting and the training process,” Puchlov said. 

By this time, his clientele at CCFC had skyrocketed, and he began incorporating kettlebells into his programs, and his love for the training and competing process also led him to research more on kettlebell sport.

Nikolai and Amber Puchlov- Fun Fact: SKC was called StrikerFit before they realized their current name has a better ring.

“It was intimidating how you could do these exercises for ten minutes straight,” Puchlov said. “I really couldn’t jerk. I didn’t understand the movement very well.” 

In 2014, Puchlov signed up for the IKFF NW Championship, but realized he needed some help, which is how he was introduced to the legendary Mikhail Marshak, a professional kettlebell sport athlete from Moscow, Russia, who fortunately for Puchlov is now a coach at SKC! Marshak’s training and tutorage really assisted Puchlov in fine tuning his technique and train for the competition, where he completed a 5-minute snatch set with a 24 kilogram kettlebell. 

From Golden Gardens to Alki Beach to even Bellevue, Puchlov started teaching kettlebell classes wherever he could, hauling 1000s of pounds of kettlebells in his car, which proved to be rather difficult, so he began teaching classes at Ridge Fitness before expanding to his own location. Today, SKC is on its third location and growing rapidly. 


Of course, Puchlov’s success with SKC would be nothing without his wife and SKC co-owner, Amber. While Nikolai may be the face of SKC, Amber handles a lot of the behind the scenes happenings. 

“I typically have a good idea, and I’ll go ahead and roll with it, and she will bail me out of trouble because I didn’t realize how much work was involved in doing it or all the details that I skip over or choose to ignore,” Puchlov said. “She’s very thoughtful and thinks things through. She’s the yin to my yang in this sense. I get a lot of the credit for things, but none of this would have happened if I didn’t have her help.” 

Photo Credit: Tumwater Creative- Puchlov and Marshak watching SKC trainer Dave Buchanan complete his set at last month's IKFF NW Championship




Together Nikolai and Amber have not only created a gym with an environment of countless members who have seen amazing results, but they’ve also fostered a tight knit community that feels more like a close family. Many members have been with SKC since its early days of teaching classes in the park.

Although Puchlov still enjoys personal training, which he offers at SKC, he prefers teaching group classes. 

“You just feel like you have more energy when you’re teaching a larger group of people,” Puchlov said. “Through personal training, I was only able to help one person at a time. With group training, I can have up to 20 people in a class, and I feel like they’re all getting the benefit of kettlebell training, so I feel like we’re doing a better job.” 


While Puchlov has won his fair share of awards and has even broken some kettlebell sport records, he’s more proud of the accomplishments of SKC’s members, and members of SKC’s sport team, The KettleBears. 

“They’ve got world records, national records, Candidate for Master of Sport, and Master of Sport. That’s kind of how I gauge my success. I could be a really good athlete and an okay coach,” Puchlov said. “I think I’m an okay athlete but a really good coach.” 

Puchlov uses SKC member Ruben Galvan as an example of someone who completely turned his fitness around since joining SKC. Three years ago, Galvan was overweight and lacked confidence, but this past June, Galvan broke an American Record and achieved CMS, and at the rate he’s going, he’ll most likely hit Master of Sport soon. 

Photo Credit: Tumwater Creative- Nikolai's father, Boris, also caught the kettlebell bug, and competed for the second time last month

“I like seeing the underdogs win,” Puchlov said. 

It’s also important to note that SKC not only trains world class athletes, but also caters to people of all fitness levels, body types, and ages. From bros to bodybuilders to teens to elders, SKC truly is a place for anyone who wants to get a successful workout and have fun doing it. In fact, Puchlov’s father, Boris, who is 67, trains 5 times a week.  

Like any business owner, Puchlov hopes to see SKC continue to thrive and grow and plans to open more locations. 

“Kettlebells are definitely the new/old thing. They’ve been around for 300+ years. They’re on the upswing because it’s a fully integrated workout,” Puchlov said. 


When asking Puchlov if he had any closing thoughts about his success he said, “I don’t consider myself extraordinary in any one way. I just work hard. I was not blessed with rich parents. There’s no reason why someone cannot achieve their dreams. This gym is also a way for me to create a life I envisioned. That is a daily driver, and that’s maybe why we attract people who want to make changes in their own lives too. I feel a connection to people who come here, and maybe they don’t have confidences right off the bat, but I see potential in everyone who walks through the door, and I believe in them.”

-Camille Borodey