Chapter 1: Mindful Strength
In 2015 I quit working at the yoga studio my mom had opened with her business partner in the 90’s. I packed up my little life and moved to the small and not yet booming city of Cornwall, Ontario.
I needed a change, and I figured I had nothing to lose. If I didn’t like it, I would just go back. I didn’t have a boyfriend, or a lease, or anything other than a bed and a loveseat couch.
I moved in with my training pal Kyle, renting a room in the childhood home he had recently bought from his parents. Within a few weeks I knew I was never going back.
Within a couple months of moving and opening a small studio I got kicked out of my space rental. The city was onto me because my rental wasn’t zoned for exercise use. I went through two more commercial space rentals, another city battle (which I won), a subpar landlord, all while trying to make a name for myself in a new town.
In March 2017 my mom and I were out on a scouting mission for a new place to live. That day and we found the most incredible house, and it had been sitting on the market for two years! It had an addition built probably 20-30 years ago with a separate entrance and its own small bathroom.
Bingo! We could buy this house and move my classes here. Sure, the room could only fit 6 people, but after what I had just gone through with rentals it would be perfect. I went home that night and told Kyle what I wanted us to do. A few months later we had a house.
That summer of 2017 I launched my online platform, in the home we now call Mindful Strength Headquarters…
Chapter 2: Ch ch changes!
In 2020 the world shut down and everyone and all their pets were taking online classes. My website started experiencing a boom.
That summer my 90 year old grandmother announced she would sell her house in Toronto and move into a seniors residence. I asked Kyle if he wanted to get married. We had been together for 5 years, I wanted to get married in my grandmother’s backyard and I knew this was my last chance. So we did!
At the same time my mom who had been my main mentor and loved by a huge community was dying.
My relationship with my dad got dicey (which is a nice way of saying it) and I was over teaching yoga. I was fully committed to strength training, insisting people get bands and dumbbells to use at home. We were starting a new digital platform. My whole life felt like it changed at once. Personal, business, family.
I used the intense energy to generate forward motion.
Kyle spent the next two years helping me revamp everything. We bought new cameras, microphones, lights, fancy computers. He spent days on YouTube learning how to colour balance and correct audio. We were flying!
The first structured program I launched in January of 2021 was an 8-week handstand program. It was a huge seller, over a hundred people joined, I couldn’t believe it.
After that came many more programs. Bone Builders, Pull-Up Club, Squat Stronger, I just kept making 6-12 week programs and people kept buying them. We would meet once or twice a week on Zoom, I would do the workout with people, it was working.
My community was learning how to follow a program, how to focus on one goal for a couple of months. They learned what sets and reps were, warm-up sets, the benefits of using heavier weights.
But at the end of each program would come an awkward moment, what do we do now?
Chapter 3: The Dilemma
In my own training I don’t do 6-8 week programs. I might structure a training block to bias one area of training, but I’ve basically been working on the big compound lifts (deadlift, squat, press, pull-up) for the last decade.
After you have reached a certain level of training (which if you are still reading this blog you are probably just about there!) programs should be longer to maintain focus.
This September I got home from vacation and sat down to start writing the sales page for our upcoming Strength & Conditioning program I had committed to doing this fall.
By committing to it I mean, I pre-sold the program to 30 people (our All-Access members), something I’ve been doing for years. Our summer pre-sale is a way to gauge interest in the programs, to let the most dedicated customers in at a discount, start generating revenue to create the program and guarantee that people are coming.
I sat down to start the content and immediately felt like this is not the program I wanted to make. I was not excited about it.
A couple days later I told Chris (my admin, manager, employee, friend, graphic designer, right hand man) that we needed to have a talk.
I said, I don’t want to teach this program. I don’t want to do this as an 8 week program on Zoom. I think this program could be better, and I want to try making a change.
I started listing the changes I wanted to try, and we realized that everything was different. I had set the template on fire.
My dilemma was, my vision had changed, but I did feel committed to the 30 members. What do I do? Do I present the program I said I would, but not really be into it? Or do I try making a change, build the program that I think is better, although pretty different, and gather feedback from my community?
I decided to choose that.
Chapter 4: The Experiment
I’m running this Strength & Conditioning program differently than I have in the past because I think it’s going to be really great, I think my people are ready, and I believe in it.
Strength & Conditioning will begin with a 12-week training block and grow from there.
To skip to the sales page click here!
This is a 3 days/week program. It’s not for total beginners, and you need equipment to do it.
Day One (50 min) is all structured lifting
- Deadlift, row, bench press, step up and eventually progress to lunge
- Weights, reps, sets, rest timers all laid out for you
Day Two (45 min) is a mix of bodyweight/lifting conditioning and low intensity cardio
- This day will change over the program, starting with bodyweight exercises and morphing into lifting followed by fast exercises and plyometrics as you progress through the weeks
- This day also includes cardio
Day Three (25 min) is a higher intensity cardio progression
- This day is structured as a cardio progression with intervals that start short and grow in length and intensity as the weeks go by
Cardio is a component of this program, because although we might not love it, we need it.
Month one will begin with a deadlift test day, and from there will follow a progression to build up all the lifts. Month two will continue these lifts but with some new progressions, rep changes and another deadlift test at week 8 to gauge progress. By month three the lifting, conditioning and aerobic (cardio) work will all be feeling really strong.
What happens next? If all goes as planned, I will create another 12-week training block to add to this program to build it out into a more long-term flagship offering. At this point, people who are loving this new approach can purchase the additional training block(s) and continue.
Ok so what’s so different about this??
The delivery! I’m not going to be teaching 2-3 weekly classes on Zoom. And there will not be a printed program.
The program will be run completely from our Everfit app. In the app you will watch tutorials, view the workouts, rearrange them based on your schedule, log your weights and reps, use the rest timers, and keep your program nice and organized all in one place.
Is there any live interaction?
Yes! There will be four live opportunities over this 12-week period (dates/times on the sales page).
The first will be a live kick off class on Sunday October 5 at 10am ET. I’m going to teach the deadlift test, talk about why we are doing it, and guide you through workout one. This session will end with a Q&A, and it will be recorded.
If you plan to do this program at the gym, the Everfit app works really well!
If you have never done a deadlift test before, I suggest you watch the kick off class or tune in live so you can get a bit of support around how to do it and what to expect.
After the kick off there are no more live classes. Everything you need is in the app.
From there I will host three more live Q&A’s at different times to hit as many time zones as possible. In these sessions participants can log in and ask questions about the program, their progressions, troubleshoot any issues, and hear from others. You can attend these Q&A’s regardless of which week of the program you are on.
Check-ins and technique
Every Monday in our Everfit group forum (which you can join if you want) we will also initiate a check-in. I’m leaving my Mondays open so I can be available to answer questions and help people have the most success.
If you want to send me a video of one of your lifts for a form check, you can do this in the app! There’s a private message inbox where you can reach me on Mondays for the duration of this program.
Will this be available again in the future?
My hope is that everyone loves this new program format and I build this into an offering that people can start year-round. But! This level of live interaction is not guaranteed to be offered year-round. If you like the sound of this live support component, sign up for this round!
What happens if you miss a week, get sick or travel?
The great thing about this format is you can rearrange the workouts based on your schedule. The workouts are designed to be done in sequential order, so you can’t skip two weeks. But you can take a week or two off and carry the workouts forward extending the length of the program.
How long will you have access once the program is over?
If you finish the 12-weeks and decide you don’t want to buy the next training block and continue, you will have continued access to it for another three months.
After all of this, if you still have questions feel free to reach out to support@mindfulstrength.ca and Chris will get back to you within a business day or two.
Ready to do this?
If this has spoken to you and you want to get in, use the link below to buy the program and we will send you all the instructions you need. You will be able to officially start on October 5th.
