HQ Sqn – Staying Fit

By Cpl. Brennan P. Dunbar
10 December 2009

This month some members of the squadron have been achieving incredible feats of strength, some members have been inspired by these feats of strength, but more often than not most members grumble when morning PT is under the direction of those over-achieving Crossfit nuts. Crossfit is a training regime and philosophy that is by design broad, general and inclusive. It incorporates practical, functional movements and lifts with an intensity and variance which constantly keeps the body guessing.

Using this regime, last September’s Mountain Man competition produced a stellar team, and many members have decided to keep their new fit bodies in prime condition in the months since. MCpl Mark Fardy continues to hit the gym early in the mornings for a workout that others don't even imagine is possible. Anyone who goes to the Regiment’s gym will notice his WOD (Workout Of the Day) on the white board and his time to beat taunting you to challenge him next to it. In the mornings, over at the base gym, one can often see members of maintenance crowded into a corner of the field house hanging from the chin-up bars, doing push-ups, or even a completely new movement that prior to receiving instruction from MCpl Kevin Piatowski they did not imagine themselves ever doing. Between those two, Maintenance Troop is getting all the Crossfit they can handle.

Members of the Sqn, such as Cpl Brennan Dunbar and Tpr Brett Herbert are at the gym in the mornings competing at such workouts as Cindy, Fight Gone Bad, or some Filthy Fifties – routines which, as is said in the Crossfit world “Don’t have to be fun, to be fun”. Cpl Lee Heffernan, perhaps one of the most stubbornly dedicated members of the old Mountain Man team, never fails to make the rest of us feel bad if we are not at the gym. For her it is Crossfit prior to squadron PT, squadron PT, and if time allows more Crossfit after some squadron PT. Those of us not matching her efforts should brace themselves for ridicule, as I have found out on numerous occasions.

Between H1N1 vaccinations, winter warfare, and gearing up for Op PODIUM, there is a great new level of fitness being presented to the many members of the squadron. I have already seen signs of it and this flu season it may be the fitness bug Strathconas are catching.