Blog Archive

Duke – the first CrossFit client in Canada

Finding CrossFit helped me clear my head. And with eyes wide open, while attending my first Level 1 Cert in Santa Cruz, the Red Sox come back from three games down to win their first World Series since Babe Ruth was traded. I felt change was in the air.

With a very light heart, I gave up on the new green building design firm I was starting and resigned from the B.C. Green Building Board of Directors.

I was able to look back at my engineering career with clarity. And I knew whatever my next career steps were, I was going to make sure to create a family-oriented business.

One day I hopped in a cab and the cabbie said to me, “You don’t really know someone until you have financial dealings with that person. And then you have to ask yourself, ‘How well do I really want to get to know this person?’”

That quote stuck with me and led to life lesson number four: Trust your Spidey Senses.

Be it engineering or taking on a new coach, I do believe we have a sixth sense that can gauge a person’s character.

By September of 2004, I started doing Greg’s workouts on my own, first in community centres and then I moved to the park because I kept getting kicked out of gyms. At the same time, I ventured to Seattle, hoping to learn from Dave Werner, the guy who owned the first CrossFit affiliate in the world.

It was an unpretentious place. I couldn’t tell if a business even lived there. I showed up on my first day and couldn’t find someone to pay.

There was no personal training. No group classes. Eventually, I started paying him $50 a week to mess around with the movements in his gym. And I’d spend the evenings and nights on T-Bear’s couch, who I knew from my days at Johnson Controls.

Seattle was also where I met Glassman. We instantly hit it off. I could tell he was brilliant and I just wanted to spend time with him.

Pretty soon, I was paying visits to Glassman in Santa Cruz, where we’d hang out in his garage until all hours of the night, talking about how the world works. It was a mind blowing experience in that Garage. I learned more from Greg about life and how the universe works than I did in 5 years of university.

When I felt competent enough, I convinced my roommate, Dave Newcombe, (aka Duke) to train with me. He was a tall, slow-twitched, lumbering fucker with a willingness to get fit and take punishment like few I had ever met. As far as I know, Duke was the first paying CrossFit client in Canada.

Glassman had explained to me that before I opened an affiliate, I had to learn how to coach people in a one-on-one environment. Coaching people one-on-one does two things: It allows you to spend the necessary time with clients working on the most technical movements and making sure they move well and safely, and it allows you to connect with them on a personal level, generating trust and loyalty while learning their psychology and mental make up. Personal training and relationships are still the backbone of MadLab School of Fitness and is also business mode rule number four: Personal Training before Group Classes.

Although I’m not coaching on the floor anymore, I know that the 15-20 hours of intimate time I spent with each of my clients during their fundamentals phase of training allowed me to develop a real, human connection with them. I knew every single client’s husband, wife and kids’ names, where they worked, and the problems in their lives. And above all, I genuinely liked them. Developing a friendship with my clients made the job fulfilling and is the reason why our churn rates are low.

I took Duke to the park and put him through gnarly workouts. There was a true feeling of being part of something bigger than ourselves; we felt like we had stumbled upon a hidden treasure.

We knew this thing was only going to grow.


As for myself, newfound fitness was helping me figure out what was really important in life. I felt like I was an 18-year-old on steroids—utterly invincible.

I learned that people’s characters really shone through when you put them in uncomfortable physical workouts. I saw people of all shapes and sizes and realized that the majority of my current great-looking good-time-Charlie friends were kind of soft and week and unable to handle the training. Meanwhile, some troll-like character I’d stumble across in the world would turn out to be tough as nails. And usually an awesome human.

I continued to spend time with Glassman and made regular trips to Santa Cruz to learn more. Every night I spent with him broadened my understanding of the world. When I wasn’t in Santa Cruz, I’d call him up — he was number 3 on my speed dial (cab #1, Sushi #2) — at least once a week.

I got my Level 1 CrossFit certification in October, 2004 — a course run entirely by Greg. I spent the weekend with other CrossFit pioneers, like Eva T., Nicolle Caroll and Rob Wolf. After the weekend, we (Krynen and our other partner Kirky Bird) met with Lauren and Greg at the Cruz Café and lauren handed me a sheet of paper that said “crossfit.ca” and we signed an affiliate agreement that had a 20 mile radius of protection.

I still didn’t have a venue and couldn’t do a pull-up.

But I had a vision.

I looked back to the stressful engineering days. Building my first consulting company, I put myself on EI, took a loan for $30,000, I hadn’t made a sale in 18 months and I was down to my last $750. I was on the precipice looking over. And then someone—a female, Persian architect, God bless her soul—took a chance on me. I got my first deal and then the money started rolling in, we booked $2 million in gross revenue over the next nine months. And then the real problems began.

It was no way to live. I was embroiled in political correctness, greed and insincerity.

I wanted to create something better: a place where the people love what they do, love each other, are motivated as self-sufficient entrepreneurs, aren’t at risk of getting fired because of politics, and have a great lifestyle where they make enough money to buy homes and raise families, but can also take the time to vacation whenever they want. These are all the things I didn’t have in my first career, and I now believed they were necessary for living a good life.

Today, the worst parts of corporate America are the exact opposite of MadLab School of Fitness.

Friday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

4×6/6 Side Plank Twists

Strength/Skill:

A) 12 Minutes Heavy Deadlift Single

B) Warm Power Clean

Conditioning:

6 Rounds:

12 Power Cleans 155/115
12 Wallballs 20/12
Rest 1 min

Saturday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

Include Stiff Legged Windmills

Conditioning:

30 Minute OTM:

4 Pull Ups
8 Push Ups
12 Squats

14 minute elimination:
550m Plate Carry

**See last night’s post for the Intro of this 10-part series

Chapter 1

2004 was a tumultuous time.

One morning, my Buddy “Big AL” from Gaspe looked at me and started hysterically laughing.

“Patterson, (Huge belly laugh) your girlfriend has a boyfriend.”

Her name was Kristyna — a beautiful Czech coppertone model with perfect boobs and a nasty edge to her – and she had just left me. Her boyfriend was in Vancouver and had come back to take her back to Prague.

On the very same day, my best friend and business partner in a (very successful) green building design business we founded, kicked me out of the company we’d spent three years building — a company I had poured by heart into.

And I knew if I stayed in the corporate engineering world much longer I’d turn into a fat, black-hearted, soulless piece of garbage.

I was 33 year old, and I was fucked.


Why?

Because the worst thing about corporate America is how everyone always tries to cover his or her own ass. It was all about people putting in face time; you got promoted up the ladder based on politics. And the higher up the political ladder you climbed, the bigger the pecker you had to suck. Once at the top, it was all about greed. The concept of taking care of people was nowhere to be found. The disfunction created a rat ship, where people were pushed to make bad decisions all the time as it was all based on shareholder value, as opposed to creating excellence.

Engineering was all I had ever done, and in my mind, was all I was qualified to do.

Eventually, with time and experience I realized that this way of life didn’t work for many people. This led to the third life lesson: All for one. One for All.

In other words, take care of everyone around you, including the people who work with you and for you. Do this and your life, your friendships, and your business will thrive.

Having said that, in the seven years that I worked for two Fortune 100 Companies, I had had one great boss. He mentored me by taking me on actual sales calls and closing them right in front of my eyes. And I got the sales credit! Unheard of.

But most of my sales managers had been useless. They had never really sold anything; they just juiced the chain of command to get promoted. Bill Tucker had been my only true mentor; he helped me grow as a business person and a human being.

Business Model rule number two: Mentorship. Business Model rule number three: Earning it

Coaches at a MadLab facility all go through a period of one-on-one mentorship, with coaches who know what they are doing, and have earned a professional wage dictated by the free market. (ie. Coaches have to earn their way – they were given it).

This process builds excellence first, as opposed to instilling them with short-sighted goals, or all sorts of crazy thoughts that-by-the hour employees always come up with.

Likewise, in our member gyms, owners have to go through the process first. We train the owners to become successful coaches and business people. If they don’t do the work – if they don’t pull the hard yards to become successful – they will have no chance at developing (and mentoring) coaches on their journey. No short cuts. You can’t just pay $1,000 and become a Madlab coach, and you can’t just pay $3,000 to become a Madlab accredited gym. You have to earn it.

Needless to say, I was at a crossroads.

Luckily some old friends forced me out of my sulking, pathetic state and dragged me off on a camping trip to Whistler for the weekend.

Soon after, I found myself high on a happy pill in a sweat lodge, hot as balls, hanging out in my underwear. As I was “cooling off” with a Macallan 12, I spotted this crazy ass t-shirt with a Clown puking on the back. It belonged to an old buddy I had worked with at Johnson’s Controls, Andrew Krynen.

I didn’t know it at the time, but he would become my first fitness-industry business partner, and would help me build the first CrossFit gym in Canada.

“Bro, what the hell is with this demented clown?” I asked him.

“It’s rings and ropes and running and weightlifting. It’s crazy,” he said all excitedly. “Patterson, you gotta check this shit out.”

Little did I know at the time – as I stood on the bungee platform looking into a creek bed a few hundred feet below saying to myself, ‘This a bad idea, look at the burn outs running this joint? These guys have no idea what the fatigue point of this cord is, I could fucking die here,’ when it occurred to me that I secretly wouldn’t have been that upset if the cord snapped. As I jumped into the unknown, this Pukie the Clown shirt would come to shape the next chapter of my life, as well as all those closest to me.

I went home and checked out this crazy website and read “What is Fitness” by Greg Glassman. Having been an athlete my whole life, and as a former varsity hockey player, I knew a bit about training methodologies, and what Glassman had to say made a ton of sense to me and more importantly it freaked people out.

I didn’t realize it as I devoured Glassman’s words, but my engineering career was over.

Thursday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

A) 1×30 Full Bridges

Scaling Options:

1 Table Rocks
2 Table Inside Out
3 Elbow Bridge
4 Assisted Bridge
5 Full Bridge

B) 1×20 Floor Press Drill

Strength/Skill:

A1) 6×3 Bench Press

Add 5-10lbs from last week.
Regress with Floor Press for those unable to maintain shoulder position.

A2) Hip and Ankle Preparation

Conditioning:

400m Ball Run 20/12

Rest 5 Minutes

400m Ball Run 20/12

Finisher: 50 Diamond Push Ups

MadLab School of Fitness is 10 years old.

In the next 10 nights of posts – as we lead up to our July 18th Beach Day Celebration – Craig “Patty” Patterson is taking over the blog to tell you our story: A rich 10-year history of trial and error, successes and failures, that has led us to where we are in 2015.

A lot of time, blood, sweat, tears have gone into the last 10 years – and into writing this story – so grab a drink, relax and enjoy this Introduction and the 10 chapters to follow.

Without further ado, here’s Patty:

INTRODUCTION

I am Craig Patterson, the owner and CEO of MadLab School of Fitness and The MadLab Group. I was born an entrepreneur. Over the course of my life—growing up in Gaspe, Quebec, watching my mother Heather run a very successful hairdressing salon, playing university hockey, working as a mechanical engineer, owning and operating a gym, coaching, and turning my gym into a provincially-registered School of Fitness, taught me a number of lessons for business and for life. These lessons are the backbone of what we’re doing today.

Even when I was a kid growing up in Gaspe—a minority English-speaker playing hockey in a French-speaking area where the government was on a mission to drive all Anglophones out of the province—I was interested in generating my own business.

I knew one thing at the age of 12: I didn’t like people breathing down my neck all the time. I didn’t want my parents doing it, and I certainly didn’t want a boss on my case all the time.

My sister and my Mom got in scraps about grades in school all the time, and it eventually became a mission for “The Beav” (my sister) to start prying into my shit. My dad, Deano “Vasolino” Patterson, took issue with this and told me real early on: “Just get 85 percent in every subject and nobody will be bothering you about school.”

Problem solved.

This meant I had to get myself out of bed, make my own breakfast—ultimately live a self-sufficient life that I was thankful for.

Every now and then there was a behaviour issue or I’d punch a kid in the nose, and my parents would intervene and help me through the issue. “He took my baseball. What was I supposed to do?” But generally, it was a seamless arrangement.

This piece of mind my Dad taught me led to the first business model rule that has built the MadLab Group: Performance-Based pay. If you are good at what you do, you don’t need to grade grub, kiss ass or sabotage others to get ahead. If you produce and perform, and aren’t a problem to others, nobody will fuck with you.

As I mentioned before, my parents didn’t micro-manage my life, and this gave me freedom to pursue whatever I wanted. When I was 12, I fell in love with the 1983 Suzuki RM80 motorcycle. This bike was the balls — the first of its kind with a “Full Floater” suspension. It won every shootout in Motorcycle Digest. I had to have it.

I asked my parents for it. “Jesus Christ, $950 for a Motorcycle?”

There had to be a way.

So after a lot of thought (and whining), I tabled an idea. If I came up with $350, would Deano front the rest? He agreed, thinking I’d take 5 years to come up with my end.

To earn the cash, I got into the lawn mowing business. I knocked on a lot of doors, did a good job and earned myself business. I also got a contract with the school to mow their lawn. I quickly learned making money was fun, and within six weeks I came back to the table with my $350. 

But the old man didn’t have his $600. He hadn’t figured on this happening so quickly, so he tried to throw a wrench in the process. My mom stepped in and said, “A deal is a deal,” and told him to quicken his pace.

This is the first life lesson: Never go back on your word and try to change a deal.

After I got my bike, I kept my lawn mowing business—dictated by the free market. I was raking in money in no time. If I didn’t mow those lawns well, I’d lose a client.

Lawn mowing was fine, but it wasn’t a passion. I didn’t know it at the time, but I felt it. I needed to upgrade my business to something I enjoyed more.

Just like magic, that summer, Jerry Patterson showed up in Gaspe with the Def Leppard Pyromania album. With that album in tow, he could turn any place into an instant party. Wherever he was, when he put on that album, girls would round around to listen.

You couldn’t buy the album in Gaspe. So I convinced him to sell it to me for $20 and he could go back to Toronto and buy a new one for $7. He took the deal.

This spawned the start of something new: I started sourcing more and more music until I had an arsenal. I eventually took my lawn money to Montreal and bought a $1,000 Yamaha Amp and some Cerwin Vega D9 speakers. Now some of you might not know this, but a set of D9’s pumping at 4 ohms can create a serious party. I reasoned I’d be able to up the ante pretty high on any party if the time presented itself. And I did. But it didn’t occur to me that this passion of having friends (and girls) wanting to come over to the house and listen to music all the time had a commercial application.

Then one day, my mom was in town and heard that the main DJ in town had double booked himself. My mom said, “Craig can do that. He’ll do a better job anyway.” I got my first DJ contract at a TD Bank Christmas party.

By the time I was 16, my disco mobile business was charging $250 a night. And I was booked almost every weekend. I was rich bitches!!! I was rolling in a new Camero (parents helped me out with that), with my $750 purebred basket hound Wendel by my side, Air Jordan’s on my feet, and the hottest girl in school—Sherry Phillips—under my arm.

This led me to life lesson two: Love not just what you do, but also the people you do it with.

This lesson was reiterated while studying engineering at McGill University. I would have done anything to go back to mowing lawns. Instead, I was studying mechanical engineering and hated it. All my entrepreneurial pursuits had been shut down, and I was surrounded by stale engineering students, whose sole purpose was to get good marks. They went through their days with their heads up their asses. The greatest party city in the world, and they were studying on Saturday night, or too lame to get in anywhere good anyway.

After a few years an underground scene emerged. It turns out about 10 percent of the people in Engineering wanted to enjoy the ride, to explore and have fun along the way. And did they ever. My 25-year-old mentor told me in second-year, “Patterson, this can be the worst 4 years of your life or you best 7.” I met some of the biggest mental cases in my life at McGill, many of whom I am still close with today. (For the record, I got it done in five. My sister (The Beav) would have disowned me).

I digress.

*******

From the MadLab Group’s belief in the free market, to believing in what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with, to specific codes of conducts for clients, coaches and business owners, to the way we develop coaches, each part of our business is based on a different lesson we learned along the way, with the trump card being: HAVE FUN!

After 10 years, I can say it’s working. The MadLab Group today has 150-plus gym owners who are on board with our system, (with zero marketing or sales) who have seen real, tangible improvements in their business since adopting our Best Practices. (The results are fascinating. We will show you these at the end.)

And we have developed one of the most successful fitness facilities in the world – MadLab School of Fitness — a business where coaches have found a way to make long-lasting, professional livings (a rarity for the fitness industry).

Come back tomorrow night to read chapter one. And chapter two the following night. On top of releasing our business story, you’ll get to know the creatures and characters who have played a role in the process. And I promise, we’ll entertain you along the way.

– Patty

Wednesday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

Incl. Wrist Mobility Drills

Strength/Skill:

A) 10min OTM Handstand Hold

Partner Trade Off w/ Spot: Fingertips to Wall

B1) 3×3 Overhead Squat

No fails.

B2) 3×5/5 Side Over Arch

Conditioning:

20 Goblet Reverse Lunges 55/35
60 Double Unders
20 Goblet Reverse Lunges
40 Double Unders
20 Goblet Reverse Lunges
20 Double Unders

As previously noted the 4pm will be taking a vacation for the remainder of the summer. The class will return this fall season on October 4th.

I would love to see all of you come down for the 10am Class as it is one of my finest and most enjoyable times of the week.

How-to-Sunday-10am 

Ideally this class is to capitalize on the currently cycle of programming. I would note this hour is somewhat of a utility hour; an opportunity to improve your relationship with a particular skill. To see the greatest improvement of any skilled endeavour, you must engage in the activity at least 2 times per week. Relationships have proven to show increases in happiness, structural integrity, and general unrest. 3 exposures per week have proven to be a more lustful and exciting experience, but don’t go climaxing yourself out of the bigger picture.

• Extensive Chesty warm up
• 20 minutes: Choose from 4-6 Strength/Skill options from the past week
• Remainder of class: Choose from 4-6 Conditioning options from the past week
• Early enough to enjoy the rest of your Sunday
• Late enough to enjoy the evening prior
• Wash away your sins
• Capitalize on your lifestyle

Remember we have 38 other opportunities to train in classes throughout the week.

Big love, enjoy your Summer. We’ll see you at the beach on the 18th!

Chesty

Tuesday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

Include Jumping Squats

Strength/Skill:

A1) 4×12 Barbell Hip Thrust

Use blocks at 11-13″. A regular bench is too high.
Increase weight on barbell as long as the gluteal contraction is maintained.
Posteriorly tilt the pelvis at the top of the movement. Ribcage down, crotch to face.

A2) 4×2 Wt. Power Box Jump

Land well above parallel on the box. Land soft like a ninja.
No swinging the dumbbells. Straight arm, be explosive.

B) 4×30-60 second Ring Flexed Arm Hang

Elevated Row (Feet on box)
Ground Row (As horizontal as possible)

Conditioning:

10 Rounds:

20s Thrusters 75/45
20s Ball Slams
20s Rest

Next week – Monday, July 13th to Friday July 17th – we’re hosting our first Teen Intro to Strength Training.

9-11 am each day. Ages 12-16. Cost: $250

The premise:

We want to help teach your pre-teens and teens how to lift properly. We’ll be going over basic lifts – squats, deadlifts, presses, as well as some basic gymnastics. The idea is to give teens tools they need for an adulthood of fitness (and they’ll be the few confident ones in the weightroom in High School).

Whether your teen wants to get strong and fit, is seriously training for a sport, or wants to attract the prettiest girl in school (or you want him or her to stop being lazy on summer break) – this program will do all of the above.

Teens: Register here and e-mail Emily at eunice@madlab.ca telling me about yourself and what you want to get out of the program.

Monday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

1×15/15 Stiff Legged Windmill

Strength/Skill:

A) 4×8 Empty Barbell Overhead Squats

B) Warm Power Clean

Conditioning:

8 Rounds: Partner Trade Off Movements

5 Bar Over Burpees
5 Power Cleans 165/125
5 Strict Pull Ups

Nutts Cup 2014:

2015:

This year the Nutts Garden is sponsored by our very own Curt Hillier with Raymond James. Curt is a 7 year veteran of CFV, and although a curmudgeon on the golf course, a hell of a guy to have around.  If you don’t know what to do with your money, he does.  Patty says, “He’s a wizard with money, just don’t let him sell you any silver mines.”

(Seen here at the Gutts Nutts Hockey Tourney at Apex, also in Andy Nutts’ honour)

This year, we have a few new tricks up our sleeves, and a few old favourites to keep you entertained all day…

(Can’t you just feel the mischief coming off these three?)

Lemonade Rob – The man, the bar, the legend

Raymond James Garden Vendors:
Caveman Grocer – Paleo snacks & eats
RYU Clothing – Athletic apparel
Viris International – Compression gear
Origin Athletics – NoNo’s famous custom skipping ropes
Trace Blackwater – Mineral-infused black water

Competition spots are officially SOLD OUT.  So book off the 29th of August, and come down for some eats, some treats, and some gruelling workouts that (thank goodness) most of us don’t have to do.

~Squad

Friday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

4×6/6 Side Plank Twists

Strength/Skill:

A) 12 Minutes Heavy Deadlift Double

B) 6 Minute OTM:

3 Speed Deadlift (50% of Established Double)

Conditioning:

400m Run
20 Pull Ups
400m Run
15 Chest to Bar Pull Ups
400m Run
10 Bar Muscle Ups

Finisher: 10 Minute OTM – 1 Rope Climb

Saturday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

Include Stiff Legged Windmills

Skill:

4×8 Overhead Squats

Empty barbell with precision form.

Strength Conditioning:

6 Rounds AHAP: As Heavy As Possible

7 Hang Power Clean
5 Front Squat
3 Push Jerk

10 Burpee Penalty for every drop

Rest as needed. Prove your quality of strength.

We where lucky enough to have Parm Phangura join us at the Lab yesterday.  He’s now retired from 15 years of competitive Olympic Weightlifting for Canada.  He’s now a part time Oly and Strength coach while while working as a Health and Safety Officer in the Lower Mainland.  At his peak Parm Snatched well into the 160Kg region and Clean and Jerked close to 200kg in the Heavy Weight Division for Canada.

I’d like to thank Jeffery Last for procuring and gifting 2 sessions with Coach Parm to come in and train with our Youth Warriors.

Good Work MLYW !!,
TBear

Thursday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

A) 1×30 Full Bridges

Scaling Options:

1 Table Rocks
2 Table Inside Out
3 Elbow Bridge
4 Assisted Bridge
5 Full Bridge

B) 1×20 Floor Press Drill

Strength/Skill:

6×3 Bench Press

80% of 5RM
Regress with Floor Press for those unable to maintain shoulder position.

Conditioning:

4 Rounds

30s Ground Rows
30s Rest
30s Arch Body Hold
30s Rest
30s Calorie Row
30s Rest
30s Bent Hollow Hold
30s Rest

Well unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen the headlines from our US neighbors and their history making change to gay marriage rights. This is a huge step forward for Americans in my opinion. Ireland also recently underwent a change in their marriage rights. The first ever referendum on gay marriage in the world! And luckily it was a yes vote. A great victory and huge progress in a predominantly catholic country. It got me thinking about how lucky we are here in Canada!

Enjoy your national day, get out there and get some some sun, a double double and some poutine!! I leave you with some “only in canada” pics! Check them out here!

Meags

Wednesday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

Include Jumping Squats

Strength/Skill:

A1) 4×12 Barbell Hip Thrust

Use blocks at 11-13″. A regular bench is too high.
Increase weight on barbell as long as the gluteal contraction is maintained.
Posteriorly tilt the pelvis at the top of the movement. Ribcage down, crotch to face.

A2) 4×2 Wt. Power Box Jump

Land well above parallel on the box. Land soft like a ninja.
No swinging the dumbbells. Straight arm, be explosive.

Conditioning:

Every 3 Minutes for 15 Minutes:

15 Russian Swings 2p/1.5p
100m Sprint

July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 183 days remaining until the end of the year. The end of this day marks the halfway point of a leap year. It also falls on the same day of the week as New Year’s Day in a leap year. It’s also Canada Day.

Class Schedule Canada Day:

10am
5pm

Today is, however, June 30th.

Chesty

Tuesday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

Include Wrist Mobility Drills

Strength/Skill:

A) 10 Minute OTM: Alternating Partner Spot (Partner guides and corrects position for graceful perfection.)

30-60s Fingertips to Wall Handstand Hold *hands must be shoulder width or narrower

B1)  4×2 Overhead Squat

No more than 90% of 3RM.

B2) 4×5/5 Side Over Arch

Conditioning:

12 Minute AMRAP:

6 DB Snatch Right
12 Goblet Reverse Lunge
6 DB Snatch Left
12 V Ups

M under 159lbs, use a 40lbs DB
M between 160 and 180lbs, use a 45lbs DB.
M over 181lbs, use a 50lbs DB

W under 129lbs, use a 25lbs DB
W between 130 and 145lbs, use a 30lbs DB
W over 146lbs, use a 35lbs DB

or scale as needed.

As you’ve hopefully already heard, MadLab School of Fitness is 10 years old this year. This summer, on Sunday nights, we’re going to be releasing out entire story – from how we started out as a one-man show personal training a handful of athletes in 2004 for $5 an hour, to how we became the first CrossFit affiliate in Canada, to how we became a school, to who we are now and where we’re headed: Stay tuned for Sunday night storytelling this summer.

To celebrate this, we’re having a beach day celebration at Spanish Banks on Saturday, July 18th.

The day will start at 10 am for the keeners with a beach workout. Nothing too crazy, but you’ll sweat a bit and earn the burger and drinks you’ll devour later in the afternoon.

We’ll also be running some family-friendly games in the afternoon and will be BBQ-ing burgers and smokies, sharing some drinks, some sun, some swimming, and some laughs.

Save the date: SATURDAY, JULY 18th. Spanish Banks Beach Day. MadLab is 10 years old!

Monday Lesson Plan

Warm Up: Coach Choice

Barbell Flow

1×20 Alternating Elbow Reach
1×10 Slow Tall Cleans
1×10 Slow Hang Cleans
1×10 Tall Cleans
1×10 Hang Cleans

Strength/Skill:

4×3 Power Clean from Blocks

Pair up with individuals of similar ability. Use stations that align “above knee” position.
Emphasis is on acceleration.

Conditioning: Teams of 3: Trade off as needed.

“Over the Edge”

20 Minute AMRAP:

3 Rope Climb
20 Elevated Push Ups
30 All The Way Over Box Jumps