Personal Training This newsletter has information on tons of great groups and events, but we're at our best when we're personal trainers. Want to talk about it? No pressure, and no charge. Let's hang out for a half hour: just find a time by clicking here.
Happy Canada Day, Chris!
Despite the addition of the HST July 1st, there's a LOT to look forward to this month! The annual CrossFit Games in California will be huge, and the addition of a 1-mile run to the RotaryFest Parade gives us an opportunity to have a party! Do the run, then loop back to our downtown Gym (498 Queen) for a lemonade! Watch the parade in air-conditioned comfort, or head downstairs to get up close.
Hockey groups start at the Park next week – it's an annual rite of passage for future stars of the frozen game. Look for groups of kids in the late morning – collect autographs while you're at it. Ty also offers his first CrossFit Football camp, beginning the first week of July, and Mike's Duathlon Group builds athletes out of mere joggers with less time and effort involved than ever before! Happy Canada Day – soak it all up!
The search for the World's Fittest Man and Woman starts July 16th! Follow us on Twitter for details (or click here to go to the Games site!)
The inauguralROTARYFEST "Miracle Mile"
Presented by RBC Royal Bank
Saturday, July 17, 2010
10:45 a.m. just before the ROTARYFEST 88th Annual Community Day Parade
Click HERE to register! After-party at our downtown location during the parade!
Summer Hockey Dryland Group
Every year at this time, we trade calls with
OHL teams and local coaches. Sometimes, we call them for some background on a player; sometimes, they call us to reinforce their team's goals. We talk about testing and the team's goals for the player, and then we send the Coach the test results and our proposed program for the summer. Almost always, they're excited about what they see, and let us run with our own program.
In September, we get a differnt kind of phone call: "What are you guys DOING with these players?" Sometimes, we get a genuine "Wow." from them. It's common for our athletes to finish best overall in the fitness testing among rookies, and often they're top on the entire team.
What's the difference? Science, mostly. We have a huge research advantage, because our Trainers and coaches do this year-round. It's not the exercises as much as the application: knowing that a series of 400m sprints will help much more than a 5k run, for instance, is what sets our Coaches apart, and gives our players a massive head start at tryout time.
For the second year in a row, the group will include two coached sessions per week, a two-month gym membership to the Park gym, online tracking and homework assignments, a food plan, and pre- and post-testing. We communicate with coaches at all levels all summer to keep them updated.
Tuesday, Thursdays:
9am – Bantam
10:30am – Midget/Junior
1pm – Females only
Fee: $329 (plus GST or HST) for the summer. Register here before July 1 to save the HST!
Summer Football Camp Certified by CrossFit Football, coach Tyler Belanger draws on his extensive playing and coaching experience to bring the most complete conditioning and strength training for Football to Northern Ontario! Players of all ages will get trained in age-appropriate strength, power, agility, and speed exercises. Includes a two-month membership to Catalyst Gym, food plan, two coached sessions per week, and more! Register here before July 1 to save the HST!
$329 (plus GST or HST). Mondays and Wednesdays at 10-11:30am, starting July 5!
New Catalyst Kids Groups!
Our philosophy for our wildly popular Kids and Teens programs has struck a nerve with parents: teach them to do basic things better, and they'll excel (and love exercise, too!) Last month, we added a group for 8-10-year olds, and watched as more kids joined each week!
Level 1: Kids learn basic bodyweight movements. We focus on calisthenics, running, jumping, throwing, pushing and pulling. Very fun and achievement-oriented. For kids aged 11-16. Level 2: Kids and Teens incorporate some basic gymnastics, weightlifting with appropriate loads, sprinting, anaerobic capacity work, and more individual challenges. Pre-Teens: learn basic bodyweight movements with traditional games thrown into the mix. Emphasis is solidly on fun!
New groups start July 6, 7, and 8!
Tuesday at 7pm- Level I Teens (11-16) – Register here
Wednesday at 7pm – Level 2 Teens (11-16) – Register here
Thursday at 7pm – Pre-Teens (8-10) – Register here
….we're always telling folks to register early, but it's critical with the kids' groups. Last session, 32 kids tried for 20 spots! Get in there!
Duathlon Group
Do your first, or train for your best!
Folks keep asking HOW our athletes are accomplishing first-time running events…or getting faster by running LESS? On average, our athletes run about 60% LESS than traditional training plans…but get up to speed faster, with less pain or injury! It's science, baby!
6 weeks (Tuesdays and Thursdays) July 6-August 12 Individualized training plans for all distances. $179 includes coaching on bike, run, and transition!
Everyone I know tells me not to use this space for political commentary, but this is one issue I can't avoid. The governments claim: that the HST isn't a new tax; merely a more efficient way of applying the double-tax burden we face in Ontario. Somehow, this increased efficiency (though it will clearly require more accounting than before to separate the two taxes, since businesses will now file both together) is supposed to create jobs.
If a government's job is to create and enforce an environment in which it can operate almost unnoticed (like a good referee, or hall monitor) then the addition of a new tax is a massive failure. And let's be clear: the HST adds 8% taxation to fitness pursuants (who paid no PST before.) It's simply a mathematical manipulation to add taxes to industries previously held as beneficial to the populace. In one small, privately-run corner of the healthcare industry lies the Fitness Business, a potential new source of revenue for the Province. Think the new taxation of fitness is a mere oversight? Consider that, at other gyms where their business model depends on selling long-term contracts, new members have been required to pay HST since April 1!
The social ramifications are obvious: though there's a clear linear, causative relationship between exercise and avoidance of our healthcare system, the government has no interest in the long-term vitality of the Province or its citizens; in taking preventive care to avoid costly illnesses later; in planning for anything but long-term public reliance on taxation. This is closeted thinking. And it's the reason yo'ull be paying 8% more for our services on July 1st. Happy Canada Day; exercise some democratic rights here.
July 1st is one of my favourite holidays: it's warm, it's a celebration of accomplishment; it's a reminder that, as a group, we can achieve anything. The anti-HST movement is really going strong in BC; Ontario residents just need to be motivated to action. And taxing exercise (and rec hockey, and soccer) might just do it. As Ray Kroc said, "None of us is as good as all of us." Let's celebrate the people who are really in charge here: ourselves.
–Chris
Summer Hockey Dryland Group 
Summer Football Camp
New Catalyst Kids Groups!
Duathlon Group
