CrossFit Rep Your Box

CrossFit: Rep your Box

The Venue: Where is your box? How long has it been in operation?
CrossFit Pro1 is located in the Notre-Dame de Grace (NDG) area of Montreal, just west of the
downtown core on St-Jacques Street.

What’s in the Name? Why Pro1?
Our goal was to bring the most professional approach to the CrossFit method, incorporating the next level of training and coaching. We have a very structured approach to building professional CrossFit trainers and fitness athletes.

The Top: Who are the owners?
RochProteau, Andrew Maloney, and Karim El Hlimi.

The Glue: Who makes up the core team at your affiliate? Who are the coaches and trainers?
Our coaches and trainers consist mainly of RochProteau, Karim El Hlimi, and Anthony Fyfe-Miller. We recently started an Olympic lifting club at our box with Jason Simpson and Dominic Trepanier (who are both very accomplished lifters and teachers) coaching our members. Last year the team consisted of RochProteau; Zachary Hebert; Dominic Trepanier; Stephanie Roy; MirakimCouvrette; and Emilie Pfeiffer-Badoux, who went to the Games; and Michele Lachance and Anthony Fyfe-Miller as backups. Karim El Hlimi came out as a solid individual at the Regionals in 2014.

Pre-WOD: What made you decide to open up shop?
Roch and Andrew have known each other for many years, and they were coaching together at another box back in 2009. It has always been a dream of Roch’s to have a home and playground of his own, which he spent many years saving up to accomplish, so when the opportunity arose in 2013 and a location was secured, Andrew and Roch started working together full time to make the dream a reality. Karim joined the team shortly after the opening, getting involved as the morning coach and as a part owner.

The Fabric: What makes your box unique? What do think is the essence of its success, the reason for member loyalty?
At CrossFit Pro1, we have taken the group class model and created a more individualized approach for every single one of our athletes and coaches. We have tremendous respect for and appreciate every single one of our clients’ needs. We strive to deal with everyone as an individual because everyone comes from a different background (busy stressful lives, injuries, different athletic goals and backgrounds, etc.). We have a team of extremely knowledgeable coaches who are passionate about the sport and are doing what they do out of love. We have a unique way of introducing and evaluating each of our clients’ needs as they walk in the door. RochProteau, our head coach, has evaluation class with them, assessing them from head to toe with a base point (flexibility and range of motion, impingements, core strength, and strength imbalances) and then giving them the appropriate individual prescription and placing them in the most suitable program for what they would like to accomplish. With that information, we normally end up modifying and changing the training for needs on a case-by-case basis.We have five different levels of programming which all take place at the same time in our classes and that work flawlessly together:

Basic Functional Training/ Rehabilitation
The program is designed for beginners or athletes who are injured and in the rehabilitation process (shoulders, hips, or lower back problems, etc.).There is no risk of injury nor any impact exercises that will affect any joints; it is specifically designed to develop good neuromuscular patterns and a structural base to safely progress to more complex movements at a higher intensity.

Intermediate Functional Training
The program is made for athletes who are currently involved in other sports or individuals who are well balanced and already have a solid training base. The goal is to further develop a well-rounded athletic base, essential to all sports, without any of the Olympic lifts or advanced CrossFit movements.

CrossFit Training for Athletes
This program is ideal for those looking to start competing in CrossFit competitions or who would just like to participate in the sport. It includes all the essential CrossFit training movements, which is programmed in cycles for performance-related goals that Pro1 takes part in.

Elite CrossFit Training and Workout Plans
The workout programs will be prescribed for performance in accordance with the CrossFit community events (Opens, Regionals, and Games). This means 1 to 5 trainings per day, 4 to 7 days per week, under the supervision of experienced coaches who have competed on an international level. The volume and intensity is very high and requires interested individuals to have a lot of time to train. Over the last year, CrossFit Pro1 Montreal has gathered a community of dedicated coaches and athletes that would motivate and help anyone to reach their goals!

Olympic Lifting
The course is offered for those who would like to learn the Olympic lifts or improve their techniques. It’s also extremely beneficial for athletes of other sports who want to further develop their strength and power.Pro1 is also an affiliated club in the weightlifting federation, for athletes looking to compete in that sport specifically. All of our coaches adapt to every clients’ needs, from beginner to elite.

Strength Session: Do you have any unusual CrossFit philosophies or any particularly inspiring members?
Our four levels of training run at the same time in each one of our classes (as well as our open gym, which is the entire day from 6am until 8pm), which allows people to come to train at a time that fits their schedule, without being restricted to certain classes. Our coaches accurately prescribe both mobility and activation, prior to each workout every single day, giving the clients the knowledge to gain proper optimal range of motion and then activate the appropriate muscle groups, to have them “firing properly” during their workouts.

Each of the programs are periodizedand cycled all year round. The elite-level training is set up to peak at the Opens, Regionals, and Games. We prescribe different intensity levels to every workout, as every session has a unique goal. We also change things up to suit clients’ situations (energy, stress, and daily nutrition) and how they are on a particular day; we achieve that specific prescription by making a point to say hi to every single one of our clients and get in deep if the answer is not optimal. We keep track of PRs,but it’s not a typical CrossFit box, which has a big whiteboard where everybody compares their daily scores to the “top dog” of the box. We focus on being better, faster, and stronger than yourself the day before as opposed to competing with somebody else’s strengths. There are only friends who train together, not just racing for the top.

High Fives: Any last words, comments about current members, or outreach to potential
newcomers?
We offer a first free class to everyone and welcome everyone with open arms; we love new friends and new training partners in our playground.