The Naming of a Brand: Why Empower?
“What is the uniting thread behind your interests?” Sunghee asked me as we walked along the beach at Spanish Banks.
My wife is very wise. We had agreed that I should go ahead and do it. To affiliate with CrossFit. It was autumn 2008 and I had been fascinated with CrossFit since discovering it in the fall of 2005. For three years I’d hemmed and hawed about affiliating but now we decided that I should. But what was I going to name our affiliate? What was our brand? What did we stand for?
There were other interests in my life at the time. My partners and I had opened Delta Kaigan Judo Dojo in 2005. Some friends and I founded The Canadian Personal Defense Institute a bit later. Self defense, judo, CrossFit, what was the unifying theme?
“Why do you enjoy sharing these with other people?” Sunghee persisted.
Clouds parted, angels sounded their trumpets, “Eureka!” I exclaimed, “Empowerment!”
It is all about empowerment. My joy is derived by empowering others, by helping them develop the tools they need to excel in their lives and overcome the challenges they must face. That’s what drew me so powerfully to coaching CrossFit, the opportunity to make a profound, lasting difference in another person’s life. Because, after all, all we want as human beings is to be a contribution.
Why are so many people in first world countries depressed, anxious, disconnected and discontent? Maybe because they are living for themselves. They have been told to chase after material fulfillment, personal achievement and recognition and many of them have succeeded only to find that the prize is hollow and unfulfilling. Why? A sentiment variously attributed to Picasso, Viscott Santini or others: “The purpose of life is to discover your gift, and the meaning of life is in giving it away.”
It is not the getting that fulfills us but the giving. And it was through the mediums of martial arts and CrossFit that I found my best expression. As a boy who had never been especially strong, athletic or physically confident, it gave me great joy to help others discover their strength and confidence through physical expression. I loved helping people rediscover play and the liberation of living in a healthy body. I loved watching people take charge of their own well-being empowering them to make positive life choices. I loved watching the emotional and spiritual transformation of transmuting can’t into can!
It is not that I was an especially gifted coach, though I have endeavoured to become one. At the start I possessed no particular skill or knowledge, my sole asset was the passion I possessed for it, the insatiable hunger I had for helping people to help themselves. I found that I took greater pleasure in their achievements than in my own. I could not get enough giving.
I’d like to believe that along the way through a commitment to continuous study and self improvement coupled with more hours of coaching experience than anyone I know that I became competent. But coaching isn’t scalable. Not the way I was doing it. I was hoarding the coaching reps, trying to do it all alone. I selfishly wanted to be the provider of empowerment.
It took some time for me to realize that the only way to expand my impact was to give the same opportunity to others that I had hungered for myself. And there are blessedly many amazing and gifted people who, like me, are starving to be a contribution. People like me who are lit up by the prospect of empowering others in their health and fitness. And by opening up Empower to them, by stepping back and letting them take on leadership roles, we as a team could reach so many more people and positively impact so many more lives!
It was hard for me at first. I suffered a depression, an existential crisis. Who am I if I am not the coach leading the charge every day in the gym? Who am I if there are others giving the gift of empowerment in my absence? I am replaceable, unnecessary, redundant. And then I got over myself. It was never about me in the first place. It was about giving my gift away to everyone who wanted it. And now I had a dozen fantastic teammates helping me and adding their unique gifts too.
Now I take joy in watching the amazing work they do and the ways in which they change lives. I love the contribution each Empower member is to the world in large ways and in small. I love the way my presence fades into the background not even known to many who train at Empower and yet the spirit of empowerment that inspired this dream still permeates the place and enriches their lives.
Empowerment is a big word. It touches every aspect of our lives. My mission is to empower our members in every challenge that faces them inside and outside of the gym. Athletes train for sport, we train for life. The workout of the day is just a tangible, physical manifestation of life’s hardships that we use to train your mind and forge your spirit. In the safety of the gym surrounded by your supportive coaches and teammates you hone the mindset and indomitable will that makes you a champion in life.
Because, let’s face it, no one cares how many pull ups you can do or how much you can lift, they care how you show up for yourself and the people you love in the world outside the gym. And that, to me, is what Empower has always been about.
It is why we put Mindset at the base of our hypothetical hierarchy of physical development. It is mindset that first brought you through our doors, that allowed you to believe that you could be better and gave you the courage to pursue that belief.
“The greatest adaptation in CrossFit is between the ears.” - Coach Greg Glassman
Friday Make Up Day
1) Empower Reset #53: Primal Reset
Breathing/Head Nods
5 mins
20 Gait Bugs
20 Windshield Wipers
10 Get Ups
5 mins
20 Speed Skaters
10 Elevated Rocks
10 Elevated Roll to Sit Throughs
5 mins
Bar Hangs
Bar Squats
Stations
3 rounds (1 min each):
1. Monkey Bars
2. Sled Push/Pull
3. 25ft MedBall Pass @4#
4. Sandbag Get Ups
5. Crawl
6. Bear Hug Sandbag Carry
400m KB Farmer’s Carry
1 min each
Egg Rolls
Upper/Lower Body Rolls
2) 3 rounds for time of:
7 wall walks
14 front squats
21 kettlebell swings
3) 20 min AMRAP
15 chest-to-bar pull-ups
50-foot dumbbell overhead walk
30 AbMat sit-ups
100-foot dumbbell front-rack carry
45 box step-ups
150-foot dumbbell farmers carry
