The Core Philosophy of Kabuki Strength

What started out as a small group of powerlifters training in a garage soon became a full-blown training facility and manufacturing space in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. What started out as a difficult childhood in the high desert of Central Oregon soon became a man with vision to change the world and inspire thousands to live better through strength. What started out as a successful college football coach and one of the nation’s most successful and decorated homebuilders soon became a world champion masters lifter with a heart for helping others.

The “What” and the “How” of a company are fairly easy to discern; the “Why” however, is another story. We want this short essay to serve as a communique to our community; a writing from the heart of Kabuki Strength’s leaders and staff that defines our “Why”. You might be wondering…why is our “Why” important? A great resource on this idea, and the inspiration behind it, is Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why. This simple, incredibly powerful question helps us discover and connect our values to our purpose.

We are on a mission to make the world a better place through strength. We do this in four distinct ways:

1. Manufacturing novel strength equipment to push the boundaries of health, performance, and strength.
2. Research-based education.
3. World-class coaching services
4. Helping others and giving back to the community.

The story of Kabuki Strength is one of strength, perseverance, community, vision, and most importantly, mission. This article will take you through the history, core beliefs, and future of Kabuki Strength from the perspective of these five central elements.

Many incredible strength athletes have been born out of Kabuki Strength’s family of lifters and world-renowned training methods. In the early days it was Chris Duffin leading the way as one of the top multiply powerlifters in the 198 and 220 pound weight classes and Rudy Kadlub along with his training partner John Hare were both world-record holding masters lifters pushing the barriers of age and proving that age truly is just a number. Over the years Chris transitioned from geared powerlifting to RAW powerlifting and become a dominating force in the 220lb weight class, at one point becoming the heaviest man in history to squat 4 times his bodyweight. More recently he has performed incredible feats of strength: becoming the first human to sumo deadlift over a thousand pounds…and he did it for almost 3 repetitions. This incredible deadlift was the first part of Chris’ “Grand Goals” campaign, an effort to raise money for the Homebuilders Foundation of Metro PDX via proceeds from sales of a Grand Goals shirt and hat. At age 68 Rudy continues to coach and inspire athletes across the world, competing and training after countless injuries and setbacks. In his 60s, Rudy has totaled 1604 pounds and come within a mere 35 pounds of Ernie Frantz’ “unbreakable” 1639 total as a masters lifter. Other athletes from Kabuki Strength have won world championships in numerous weight classes and divisions all across the world, competing in international-level meets and invitational meets reserved for only the best-of-the-best.

From the very beginning a common denominator among those who trained with Chris and Rudy in Chris’ garage was a pursuit of strength. The powerlifter’s dream is one that most can’t relate to, even remotely. What makes a man or woman painstakingly train hours each day for the sole purpose of lifting heavy metal weights? To those people asking the question, the answer won’t be very convincing. It will, however, share a central element of humanity that is present in everything tangible and intangible that mankind has touched – perseverance.

Chris’ childhood is a story deserving of either a book or a movie. Encapsulating in a few short paragraphs the drama and pain of a child growing up in the wilderness removed from society is a arduous task for any writer, much less one who is also a meathead. Although Chris has shared in his own words numerous stories of his childhood, certain details and elements of his upbringing remain well-guarded in a corner of his heart, patiently awaiting to be revealed in one of those rare moments of self-reflection where we pour our soul out onto a piece of paper. This writer encourages you to read all that Chris has written, then contrast it to the persona you see online via social media or in the numerous content produced by Chris and Kabuki Strength. What do you notice? What was once a young life blossoming in the midst of chaos became a strong, immovable force of inspiration and motivation to thousands. Chaos breeds strength, as it were. Success, of all things, was the last thing one would expect of a person growing up in the circumstances Chris Duffin did. This isn’t just the opinion of the writer, a psychiatrist Chris talked with was genuinely surprised at his success and mental stability in adulthood considering all the things that took place in his formative years. Let that sink in for a moment…even a professional mind-doctor would have easily bet against Chris having a successful, much less inspirational life. But people can persevere even through the most difficult and impossible of circumstances. Although Chris was able to overcome and emerge victorious from the rubble that was his childhood, he did not do it alone. Alongside every great person lie other people who are just as great.

To learn more about Chris' story, check out his recently released memoir-slash-life-philosophy book The Eagle and the Dragon.

Nowhere better is perseverance embodied and acted upon than in special needs athletes who train their hearts out. We are proud to support Special Olympics Oregon by hosting their powerlifting team for training the last 2 years. Kabuki coach Cassandra and her husband Colby work patiently, diligently, and expertly to help their athletes get stronger, stay healthy, and perform on the platform. As the older brother of an incredible girl with Down Syndrome, I am honored to be a part of an organization that takes the time and puts in the heart to work with those who have intellectual and physical disabilities. Click here to watch a highlight reel of our Special Olympics Powerlifting Team's recent meet!

Community has been a thread in the fabric of Kabuki Strength since our story began those early, formative years in Chris’ garage. A small group of powerlifters found themselves better off working together, than alone. The power of community is nothing new, and we’ve all experienced it. You can even make the very reasonable argument that homo sapien is inherently a social creature who best thrives in a group, rather than alone. But community is about more than just similar people sharing a point in the space/time continuum; community is about human connectivity, diversity, shared passion, and empathy.

These four terms served as the backbone and ethical tenets on which Rudy Kadlub’s Villebois housing community stood. When the State of Oregon and City of Wilsonville decided to sell the plot of land on which the closed and shuttered Dammasch State Hospital stood, they decided to require the chosen community developer to devote a certain percentage of the land to housing the mentally handicapped. Rudy was faced with a difficult and incredibly important task – to figure out a way to house dozens of mentally disabled patients without affecting the property values of new homes and alienating potential buyers. When he visited Washington DC and asked the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for advice – they responded “This is unprecedented and we don’t have any advice for you, but we’ll let you know if you mess up”.

Rudy never heard from them. He was able to become one of the first community builders to successfully integrate housing for the mentally ill within the Villebois community, building homes with live-in providers and staff right next to homes housing healthy people, without violating anyone’s right to privacy or the potential value of the properties in the community. At a ribbon cutting ceremony in Villebois Rudy remarked:

People are the DNA of community, and without beautiful and incredible people Kabuki Strength would be nothing but a lifeless shell.

People like Cassandra, a Physical Therapist Assistant who joined the gym and embraced the community only to find herself married to another member and working as a full-time strength coach for the company.

People like the writer whose widowed mother quit her nursing job, sold her apartment and all possessions, left a devastated and corrupt post-communist eastern bloc country and emigrated to the US so that her 7-year old son might have a chance at making more than $180 per month – the average monthly salary in Romania.

People like Derrington who moved all the way from Texas to Oregon when confronted with the opportunity to work as a full-time coach teaching the sport he loves to other athletes.

People like Brandon who mentored under Chris and eventually become such a good coach, he started coaching the coach.

But it hasn’t been easy. Our own community and personal values have, in the past, come under attack. Due to our all-inclusive nature (anyone can come train at the Lab and we leave the front door open during the day) individuals and organizations have taken advantage of us and our platform to further their own visions and missions. We love giving people a platform and a voice to be heard, but not when the message they promote detracts from the welcoming community Kabuki Strength not only encourages and promotes, but demands as a core principle. We do not tolerate or endorse any views, speech, or conduct that does not promote equality and inclusion of all members, customers, suppliers, and followers. Having an open door policy comes with some risk, and the trust we extend to our members has in the past been violated. Since then, we have worked hard to take all necessary actions to ensure that the Kabuki Strength community remains inclusive, welcoming, and strong. We are very proud of the team we have built, our community, our culture, and what we stand for today at Kabuki Strength, and will continue to defend our team, inclusive community, and culture accordingly.

Kabuki Strength IS community. A group diverse yet unified, different yet similar, and most importantly as passionate as can be. But community for the sake of community can find itself dry and bitter. All of us here may have different upbringings, ethics, or belief systems yet we share a similar passion for furthering our version of “the good life” or better put “the meaningful life”. Someone once said “the hardest thing in life is to live well”. What it means to live well may mean very different things to people, but those of us at Kabuki Strength can agree that the pursuit of physical discipline is a virtue worth seeking and sacrificing for.

Over the years we have been blessed with opportunities to serve those in our community with the resources we have. In 2019 we were able to raise over $10,000 to help build "pods" that will house houseless veterans in our local community as part of a community outreach program called Veteran's Village. Thanks to partners like the HomeBuilders Foundation and Do Good Multnomah, dozens of veterans are able to get a roof over the heads and a warm bed.