Bas Rutten

Thank you. Movie star? I don’t know.I did only one big movie but that’s it.

Bas Rutten

I was a severe asthma patient as a kid. I had severe eczema everywhere, over my face, hands, and arms, skin disease and then with that came asthma. If I would have asthma, my skin disease would be much better and if my skin disease would break out, my asthma would be better. It was almost between the both of them but I also did track and field.

Every time I’ve realized after an asthma attack and an asthma attack with me would be a weaken bat. Not able to eat because I couldn’t breathe. Try not be able to breathe and not be able to get out of bed because you take 3 steps and you’re tired.

I was in bed constantly trying to pull air in but when I resume my track and field I will break my running time. It blew my mind every time. I go, “Why is this?” I was at a doctor’s office one time and I saw a drawing of a pair of lungs on the wall and I saw that they are not the lungs. Because as a kid, you think a lung infection is in the lungs but there I realized it was the lung pipe. The pipe that goes to the lungs is infected. That was the light bulb went on there. I go, “Oh! Of course.”

Now, for a week to 10 days, I was pulling air into the tiny area trying to pull air in. Then when the infection is gone, I trained my lungs now to become stronger. When the infection was gone, it’s easier for my lungs to breath. So I came up with something that controls the air intake. As a heavyweight champ my lungs are stronger now.

Bas Rutten

The idea was born and I started experimenting with the coins in my mouth in front of my teeth with little holes in them and see if I could breathe through that but obviously it’s very dangerous. But the idea was always in my mind until I came to Japan going to America. I told all my buddies about it and call it a Ruttenizer. I got it from my last name, Rutter. That was the idea. My journey as a heavyweight champ rose later years.

There was a trainer-a heavy champ, of the Ultimate Fighter. He was training his students with a snorkel device and my telephone went crazy that night. All my buddies told me, “That thing you were always talking about, the Ruttenizer, you got to start making it because somebody’s going to come with that crazy idea.”

I started doing a fact and search first and I realized there was nothing like it. Everybody only had a lung trainer device to control air in and out. So I got a patent and developed a product.

Now, suddenly it’s like I struck gold in England! There’s a little machine out, which is much more expensive and you can only do breathing exercises, which you can actually put it in your mouth like with mine. You can run and you can do anything pretty much.

That device over there, which also is an inspiratory trainer, only controls the air in. It’s covered by the insurance for asthma patients because the results are so phenomenal they say that it cures asthma. I know because I didn’t use my inhaler now for 2 years. My experience at this stage provided enough in choosing my career path as a heavyweight champ.

You have to understand, when I was fighting as a heavyweight champ for the world title, in the dressing room I always had to spray my lungs open with my inhaler. I always carry my inhaler everywhere I went because if I sneeze 3 times hard, my asthma would start acting up and I need to open up my lungs. That thing is almost been gone for 2 years now. I don’t even have one in the car anymore or with me. That was it.

I started to go away with what works for asthma patients. It’s got to work for athletes as well and then automatically means it has to work for singers and horn instruments players.

I have a review from the sax player from The Eagles, who’s with them for 17 years on my website and he said he even holds longer and stronger right now.

Bas Rutten

It’s crazy. I’ve been always a guy who loves ideas. I have a whole list of little ideas I want to do but know after this one, I toned down a little bit because all these worldwide patents cost a lot of money. If they reboot $15,000, for your $15,000, there are $8,500 there. I go, “Oh, this is driving me crazy” but eventually now we have it. Everything is good now. Now the sales kept finally stocked.

As a heavyweight champ, I’m going to go with commercials now and I’m going to hit the TV spots. I’ll see if I can do some good there.

Bas Rutten

I’m good at doing those things but then, I’m going to need help at certain areas. I can work 16 hours a day. I don’t mind doing that once a job is done. For instance, bringing it out to the market and finding the right people to promote it.

This goes back a long time. This was before Lance Armstrong was found out he cheated. I always wanted Lance Armstrong to use that thing and see if I could get this guy wheeled in to be the spokesman for my products and now with different athletes. It’s also for everybody but I have a lot of focus. I can’t put it out in a lot of times but then, from that moment on, it’s either I fight or the product is done.

Now, I’m going to need help with somebody who is educated in the way of bringing it out to the public because as a heavyweight champ marketing is not my thing.

can do a lot of stuff like doing interviews but to find details is very hard to find people because it’s your business. There’s a lot of people like on social media, the companies that tell you, “We’re going to increase your sales 10 times.” Nothing happens. The best thing I have is me doing interviews and TV appearances here and there. If I slip it in somewhere, people say, “Hey O2 Trainer.” Boom! Suddenly, we see the sales rise again due to my credibility as heavyweight champ.

Bas Rutten

It’s hard because I have a weekly TV show also and a lot of the money I’ve earned there goes into the product. At the moment, it comes to me like, “Okay, I know what works. Now, we have that training device in the UK to back up all these tests applied to my test.” Now, it’s just about having money.

I already talked to some people to go in public and it looks very close like of happening. I’m probably going to have those to happen in April. When that happens, they’re going to advance me a large amount of money right away from get go, which I can use to get a commercial to make a product.

For retailer, I need to change the packaging a little bit so people can see right away what’s in it. Now, it’s in the box. It comes in a box and has some stickers on the outside but it’s better to have it in the store with a see through box so people know what they’re buying.

Then I buy commercial time. I want to go to all the yoga, music, and singers and of course sports events and buy air time there. Hopefully, it’s going to push everything to the next level and then go retail.

We trial that but right now, putting money in there but also putting money away for my pension. It’s a hard thing to do right now. I don’t want to keep going, push everything in there that I own. I need a little help but I know once I hit the commercial spots and people know it’s out there, I think it will do very well.

Bas Rutten

Social media, I stopped with that. We do it the interviews with ourselves. It has way more effect than have a social media company doing it for you, paying $3,500 – 4000 a month because we didn’t see any results.

Bas Rutten

Sometimes I go to these people and I said, “If I put videos out there, I put hit words and girls” and people go, “Why would you put it in there?” I say, “Well, if somebody’s looking for girls, which usually happens a lot, they get on in that and post to my video.” And they go, “Oh! I never thought about that.” And I started laughing. I said, “That’s your job and you never even thought about that?”

When they told me about hitting words, I go, “Okay, I can come up with a lot of stuff” and it doesn’t need to apply to the product. Of course you do the major ones. Of course it applies to the products but a social word out there, especially with the martial arts; power, strength, fast kicking, explosiveness, National Geographic. I did a lot of stuff working for the Cartoon Network.

All these hit words you would think these people already know these. It just blew me away that it was a surprise for them and I told them that. I don’t see how they do it. I think sometimes they get lucky with a big organization or something that already is a little bit on the movement. When they get lucky with that, they use of course that example. They will say, “Look what we did with this company. We made it so big” but I think without them, it probably would have gone big anyway.

Bas Rutten

Exactly! What you’re saying is true.

We didn’t notice anything in sales going down when we stopped working with the social media companies. Now, we’re saving a bunch of money on that. Now, we’re doing interviews and then we repost those interviews or podcasts or radio interview every now and then on the websites for the O2 Trainer. People who didn’t listen to it, maybe sometimes they tune in and then you see the sales going again.

Bas Rutten

It’s a product that I’ve loved, if anyone is heavyweight champ he is going to love it too. Every time when I was working with the team, I tried that but it didn’t work. It’s almost like they didn’t want to understand the product, even the people from social media also. I sent them run right away. I said “Start working out with it so you’ll understand it. So when questions come up from people, you have an answer.”

I dislike it so much when they send me an email saying “Yeah, the 02 (Zero Two) trainer and heavyweight champ.” They don’t even use O2 (O Two) Trainer. They put zero two. They go, “That’s such a big thing! O2 is oxygen. What you’re doing now is Zero Two Trainer” and thankfully, I got zero two Trainer also therein their website. That’s the first thing I took because a lot of people make that same mistake.

But somebody who works for you and who knows  that you are so passionate about the O2 Trainer, O2 oxygen and then still writing me emails with 02 Trainer. I know they don’t get it although they know it I am heavyweight champ.

Bas Rutten

That’s a big thing as well.

When you try to put the product out yourself, sometimes people might not believe in it.

The thing with me is I said no to a lot of products. I can make a commercial for products that go $250,000 but I didn’t believe in it.

If I don’t believe in it then I don’t want to do it because I always thought if I bring one product, which sucks, then all the people automatically are going to assume that the rest will be bad as well.

Bas Rutten

I have this punching device called the Body Action System that I loved as a heavyweight champ. The people who I was developing it with, it literally took almost 3 years because I broke all these things and I said “Listen, it even has my name, B-A-S Body Action System, BAS. I cannot bring it on the market when it keeps breaking. We need to find a way so it’s pretty much indestructible.” And that’s what we’ve found.

After 3 years, finally we had it but I was almost going to cancel that product saying “Listen, if you can’t do it, I don’t want to put my name onto something that is not 100% approved by me.” That’s the way I approach people also.

Bas Rutten

If I approach fighters or athletes with my older trainer, I said “I want to work out with this first and only if you’ll like it, I would like you to do something for me.” And then I’ll pay you to wear a logo or whatever.

If people come to them and ask about the O2 Trainer, I would like that person who wears that logo to tell about it. “Oh my god! This is crazy. It controls the air intake. It’s such a simple device but it works well.” I want them to understand it and that’s why I do it like that.