Bringing More Value to 306!

When 306 opened over two years ago, we had a very clear vision, Rebecca and I wanted to create an unmatched supportive and competitive community that would become a destination of choice for all those seeking to achieve higher levels of health and fitness.

 

With this vision in mind,  we've made numerous improvements to the 306 experience over the last two years: quarterly visit by national bronze medallist Richard Gonsalves,  quarterly nutritional seminars with Sam Mitchell, addition of Marc Morris as dedicated Powerlifting Coach, amongst others.

 

In January we brought on site massage therapy and on site nutritional counselling.  These were two valuable services that we believe will help our entire community get to higher levels of health and fitness.  

 

In February we will be introducing our partnership with Marc Morris and his newly founded company Polyhealth (see his website here).

 

Marc has been part of the 306 community for a year as the head of our Powerlifting program.  In this short time frame, he has proven to be incredibly skilled at periodizing athletes to peak for competition and creating very individualized plans for his lifters.  As a result, his program has qualified eight athletes to this year's upcoming PowerLifting Nationals.

 

We will now be bringing Marc on as - Scientific Director, High Performance Coach.   His mandate for 306 will be as follows - to be an available resource to help any athlete looking to have their program individualized.  The current 306 program has produced incredible results.  Our community will continue to experience J.Cain designed WODs, the difference is that you may now work with Marc to help decide from week to week and month to month which WODs you should attack, when you should plan rest days, and how to go about improving on your weakness all while training with your 306 peers in our classes.

 

Marc and I will also be working closely together to design the individualized programs for the regional team once that team has been selected.  Finally, Marc and I will look at the year as a whole and devise  a more cyclical program designed with periodization to help our community all peak for the Open and Regionals.

 

Even if you are not interested in any competition or anything of the sort there is no down side, you'll just find yourself probably at your peak in May, perfect for the start of "Lake" season.  If you are eyeing the Open and beyond this will help us all ensure that we are at our peak at the right time.

 

Please help me and congratulating Marc on his expanded role with 306.

-- 

CIC - What a day, what a community!

Yesterday, 306 had 28 athletes competing in the Cast Iron Classic - team competition.  It was quite the day...for some a first competition, but for all, a chance to come together as a community to train hard and suport each other.  It was a new experience for me, having the opportunity to compete in a local competition.  I thought that the competition was well put together and I was so impressed with ALL of our athletes, from how they competed to how they mingled with fellow crossfitters.  Everyone went in to each WOD and pushed to their limits, no one gave up.  Coming out of the first WOD, people PR'd on their back squats - some doing their 1RM for 3!  We had 3 teams make it to the finals - Top Sirloin in the Brute division and Parker's Revenge and the Barbarians in the Beast Division.  Top Sirloin pushed hard and took 1st place in the Brute division for the day.  Way to go Beth, LT, Kourtney and Clint!!  You guys pushed hard and smiled the whole way through.  Parker's Revenge took 4th overall and the Barbarians took 6th place.  It was incredible to watch Ty and Jason back squat 425 pounds for 3!  

In the Brute division - Sweaty Wall Balls (Mike Letendre, AJ, Jac and Holly) missed the final by 1 point and finished 8th overall, Team Sveinbjornson finished in 10th (Chelsea, Stephan, Steven and Cassandra) - Chelsea started off with a very impressive 240 Back Squat for 3!  Cast Iron Killa took 21st, Four Play took 28th - and way to go guys, with a last minute sub due to injury and illness with first time competitors, you guys gave everything you had and pushed through everything, way to go Devon, Clay, Heather and Megan!  Team Secure finished in 37th.  

Here is what I loved about the day...first of all, as an athlete, I had the most amazing team.  I have had the pleasure of training with and becoming friends with Ty, Viki, and Aaron over the past couple years.  Always supportive and helping us to push to our limits - Thank you for a great day & truly being an example of teamwork!  I am sure that each of you have similar feelings for your teammates.  As a coach and affiliate owner, I couldn't have been more proud of how each and every athlete and fan conducted themselves.  There were pep talks, good luck and way to go high-fives, laughs, smiles throughout the day.  306 really has grown into a family over the past couple years.  

After the day was done, a number of people went for dinner and then to the after party at Winston's.  This is always such a great time.  There is nothing better than siiting back, sharing a drink or 2, stories of the day and a lot of laughs with friends.  It gives us a chance to mix and mingle with athletes from other gyms and come together as a greater community.  Thank you to Lana for bringing your table and working on the athletes - you saved me after WOD #2!  Thank you to Chad and Val and all the people at Synergy who put on a great event.  It was a ton of fun and I am sure that we will have even more participating next year.  

CIC, Going in with the right mindset

With 28 athletes competing tomorrow at the Cast Iron Classic, I wanted to reiterate some points that I had emphasized before the BCBD to keep things in perspective.  A lot of these I took from Chris Spealler's blog, a famous crossfitter that I admire for his take on competitions and his perserverance in the sport.  Take a second and read on:

Competitions do not define you, CrossFit is not who you are, it is just one of the many things you do.  99% of the people out there are hoping that you succeed and are usually incredibly impressed that you are willing to even attempt these athletic feats.  Remember it's all about having a great time, meeting new people, and pushing yourself to your own limits.  Here are a few mental tricks that I use to help me perform better in competitive environments.

1.  I try and not think too far ahead or create "what if" scenarios, e.i. what if I get no rep, what if I can't perform a certain movement.  All of these thoughts create anxiety.  Once you've registered, look forward to the event, but only focus on what you need to accomplish today.

2.  Don't worry about who will be there or not.  Don't measure your success based on your ranking versus others but rather on your performance based on your current abilities.  For example - If you have your best lifts of the season but finish 10th overall, celebrate that improvement, not the ranking versus others.  

3. Preparation is key.  Plan your clothes, get a haircut, and plan your nutrition for the day before and for competition day.  Focus on all of the things you can control and forget about the rest,

4.  The judges aren't out to get you.  If you get no rep, adjust, and move forward.  CrossFit isn't as straight forward as running 100m, there is a little grey area.  As such deal with it.  Rich Fronning got no rep at the Games, he still did alright.

5. Don't listen to detractors.  There's always someone saying "OH that was heavy, or that was long, ... or that was super easy” That’s there opinion, not yours, don't let their beliefs affect how you approach a WOD.  

5.  Start each WOD with a smile, finish with a smile.  You get to workout, that's awesome!

To all our athletes competing, good luck, YOU GOT THIS

- coach

On Site Nutrition Counselling

It is with great excitment that Rebecca and I would like to welcome Sam Mitchell to the 306 staff team.  Sam will be offering nutritional counselling on site at 306.  Please read her message below: 

Hello Reebok Crossfit 306 Community!

My name is Samantha Mitchell and over the last year I have been partnering with Rebecca and Jason to bring nutrition seminars into 306.  I’m a firm believer that in the quest for healthy living requires equal focus on nutrition and physical activity. It is with great excitement that I have come on board to service the nutrition need of the 306 community in a greater capacity. Starting January 15^th I will be available for scheduled consultations.  My goal is to provide you with the information you need to understand your nutritional needs and give you practical recommendations to help you achieve and maintain your goals. Weather your needs are focused on leaning out, building mass or improving an overall healthy lifestyle I will be able to assist you in creating a plan for your journey. 

Price: $50+tax/hour consultation

To set up an appointment please e-mail me at SamMitchellNutrition@gmail.com 

 

Sam Mitchell

BSc Human Kinetics University of Guelph 

MSc Nutrition University of Saskatchewan 

The new look 306 for 2014!

Here we go 306!

The Open is about six weeks away.  As such Rebecca and I wanted to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to put their best self forward.  As of tomorrow, Jan 6th, we will be offering two new services to help all athletes recover, train, and generally feel better.  The first new service is onsite massage therapy.  This will be provided courtesy of Lana Price-Wright.  The second is one on one nutrional counselling which will be done by Sam Mitchell.  Stay tuned for more information on Sam and the benefits of nutrional counselling can offer you.  I always said that after sleep, nutrition is key. As such we are thrilled to have someone with Sam's credientials looking after our atheltes.

Finally get ready for some tweaks to our programming.  You can still expect the same variety, and intensity.  However, there will be a secondary component to everyday's WODs all with the goal of helping people progress in key areas of CrossFit.

Rebecca and I routinely say how lucky we are to be surrounded by such amazing people on a regular basis.  Everyday I look forward to coming to the gym, sometimes I even forget that it's my full time job, because all of you make it feel like a second home.

Cheers 306, can't wait until tomorrow!

Looking forward to 2014

As I sip my coffee and lay out some of our plans for 306 in 2014 I can't help but smile as I truly believe that 2014 will be one of our best years yet.  Now 2013 was a stellar  year.  So topping 2013 will be no easy task, however I believe that we have laid down the foundations to keep building 306 into the destination of choice for all those looking to expereinece CrossFit as it was meant to be.  A focus on commmunity first and foremost, a place were the owners know every single one of our members by first name.  A place were everyone trains off the same program because our coaches are skilled enough to scale every single athlete every single day for every single movement.  A competitive postive enviroment where we all push as hard as we possibly can, and we all continue to develop into healthier, stronger, and fitter athletes.  

Here are some of the highlights of 2013:

We started the year off with a great competiton in Llyodminister and picked up four medals across three different categories.

During the five week long Open our depth shone through with 14 different athletes scoring for team 306.  Our team finished 6th offficially but 3rd unofficially if Aaron Parker's scores are included.  (Aaron's scores could not count for our teams as he was spending a large part of the week in Regina as he was attending police college).

We swept the podium in the men's scaled division at the Spring Fling in Regina won the women's scaled division and took silver in the women's Rx division.

At the BCBD we won the men's Rx division and took silver in the men's scale division.

We hosted our first 3 on 3 throwdown and took three out of four podium finishes.

The Gala was twice the size of 2012 and was an epic night with great food, drinks, slide show, and award presentation.  

But through all of these highlights it was the day to day that made 2013 exceptional.  Every day our PR bell would ring signalling another personal achivement.  Every day people would sweat and push through challenging and fun WODs.  Every day our community grew tighter.  So what can we expect for 2014...

Well in 2014 we expect to have strong showing at the following throwdowns: Cast Iron Classic, Battle On the Border, Spring Fling, BCBD, and the 306 3 on 3.  For the Open (which will run from Feb 27th until the end March) we believe we can improve on our unofficial 3rd place finish and move up to 2nd overall in our region.  The 3 0n 3 Throwdown will be held again on the last weekend of Sept (27th )and our year end Gala will be on Nov 8th.

To improve the day to day experience of our members we will now have on site massage therapy and nutrional counselling.  More on these two topics in a future post.

Rebecca and I will still take on the bulk of the coaching duties spliting the day as we have done so this past year.

Our promise to you is to stay true to CrossFit, stay true to Community Above All  Else, and aim to create an environment where you can not only become the best version of you but a place where you can call home:)

Another baby to add to the 306 Family!

Shawn and Nicole just had a baby boy!  Congratulations to them.  We wish the whole family a life time of health and happiness.  Here is a message that Shawn passed on.

"Our son Luka was born on Dec 23, just in time for Christmas. He and Mom are happy and healthy after a few days in the hospital.

He is already getting his WODs in. So far burpees, toes to mouth, power snacks, and spit-ups are his favourites. Soon he will be doing bear crawls and putting on his pull-ups.

Gotta go. Luka just pood and it is Dad's turn to give him a full clean, followed by 5 minutes rest.

Shawn and Nicole"

Merry Chritmas 306 from our family to yours!

Merry Christmas 306!  I have to admit it is a little strange...this is the longest we have been away from the gym since we opened 2 years  ago.  We kind of miss it and you guys, but we are really enjoying the break, each other and the sunshine.  Did you know that it has been almost 30 degrees above 0, every day? 

It has been a cool experience being at Disney for the first time. This is the first year that we are away from extended family, familiar traditions and the snow.  Instead of feasting on turkey dinner, we are having chicken breasts without seasoning prepared with the limited tools we have, some apples and almond butter and some Christmas chocolates for desert.  Funny thing is, even without the feast or tree piled high with gifts, it still feels like Chritmas, and a fabulous one at that.  I am surrounded by my little family and we get to be on this adventure together, and that is the greatest gift ever!  

"Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.  Maybe Christmas, he thought...doesn't come from a store.  Maybe Christmas perhaps...means a little bit more.

Welcome Christmas, bring your cheer.  Cheer to all Whos far and near.  Christmas Day is in our grasp as long as we have hands to clasp.  Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we.  Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart, and hand in hand."  - the Grinch who Stole Christmas

So,whether you are celebrating with a ton of family or maybe just a few friends, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!  May all your wishes come true.  Be safe and have an amazing holiday!

Eating for Performance with Sam Mitchell

Next scheduled eating for Performance with Sam Mitchell is Sunday Dec 8.