From Starting Blocks to CrossFit Box

Some people seem like they were born CrossFitters, kindergarten kippers whose strength-endurance-agility combo comes naturally. Jason “Jay” Rhodes doesn’t fit the stereotype. Make no mistake – he’s got the hang of it now. Weighing in at a svelte 170, he deadlifts over 500 lbs and can snatch 240 lbs and clean 305 lbs. Rhodes placed third in this year’s Canada East Open and eighth in the Regionals, and recently launched his own box in Stoney Creek, Ontario, which he co-owns with girlfriend and fellow CF coach Lacey Van Der Marel. But the up and coming Rhodes recalls that he was once more fascinated by beer and golf than deadlifts and box jumps.

Rhodes had been a track star in college, but fractures of both of his feet meant that running was no longer an option and Golf simply wasn’t cutting it as a replacement sport. Oddly enough, a life-threatening illness that struck his father turned out to be Rhodes’ wake-up call. He knew he had to get back to something more physically and mentally challenging. Where to go with all that natural talent, competitive drive, and energy? He channelled it into CrossFit.

Rhodes worked his way to trainer status and coached at Ontario’s CrossFit Altitude. He got some quality time in with Rudy Nielsen and thus began a long-lasting relationship between himself and a training method that other Nielsen fans have come to know as “The Outlaw Way”. His newly opened box, Outlaw North, even bears the Nielsen moniker. Rhodes took a pause from a busy coaching schedule to tell Sweat RX about his life, his work, his passion, and the CrossFit thread that ties it all together.

SRX: Let’s get some preliminaries out of the way: What’s a typical day in the life of Jay Rhodes?

Rhodes: During the school year, I normally wake up at 7 A.M. or so, teach until 3 P.M., get home, have something to eat, and head into the gym. Training and coaching usually take me until about 8:30 or 9 P.M. Get home, relax a bit, and get to bed hopefully by 11 p.m. During the summer it’s a little more relaxed. I’m free to sleep in more than usual, and have some more freedom to train at different times of the day and get everything in.

SRX: What’s your diet like?

Rhodes: I try to keep it clean most of the time, but I’m not one to deprive myself of something if I really want it. I just know that it’s not something I can do all the time if I want to reach my goals. In the morning, a Beyond Yourself gainer shake, sometimes oatmeal, sometimes Greek yogurt with nuts mixed in. Oh and coffee, always coffee. For lunch it depends where I am – sometimes a half rack of ribs, or a steak pita. I’ll usually keep some almonds or cashews around to snack on. At night, some PreWOD before working out, another gainer shake, and an average dinner would be steak, chicken, or fish, greens and avocado, maybe sometimes a sweet potato. I drink lots of water throughout the day. You will not find me without a water bottle near very often. I also take BCAAs [Branched-Chain Amino Acids] once or twice a day, PurePharma fish oil, vitamin D, and magnesium as well.

SRX: Do you have a favourite WOD? A least favourite?

Rhodes: “Amanda” comes to mind [as a favourite].  9-7-5 Muscle Ups, Full Snatch, 135/95 lbs. I love that blend of athleticism and work capacity. As far as least favourite, nothing in particular. I’m not a huge fan of beat down-type WODs, but I understand at times that’s part of the test of work capacity.

SRX: What motivates you to work out when you’re just not feeling it? You know, those days when you know you should do it, but your brain says no?

Rhodes:I have those days like anyone else. But I try to look at the bigger picture. It’s one day, and training is not designed to have you feeling 100% all the time. Usually all it takes is a decent warm-up and making the first few steps to get started, and then it flows like a normal day. Sometimes you will be feeling like absolute garbage. Is that when you take your foot off the gas? Or do you press on? That’s not to say I’ll never throw in an extra rest day here and there if I really need it. But the only way to get to know your body that well is to go into that territory where you may break down a bit. I have kind of always operated that way. When you’re really hesitant about something it’s best to just throw yourself in and start – don’t overthink it.

SRX: You’ve advocated a principle called “Everything is everything.” Can you explain what it means, besides being the title of a Lauryn Hill song?

Rhodes: Sure, but I have to credit this to Rudy Nielsen. “Everything is everything” essentially means that when we are training to be good at everything, as CrossFit competitors claim to be, it actually means EVERYTHING. Every scenario. It doesn’t make sense to see a guy or girl with a huge deadlift, huge power clean, and huge front squat, yet a fairly average squat clean. All the pieces are there, but this individual clearly hasn’t practiced the full lifts [enough]. They probably take their front squat to an inch below parallel because “it counts” rather than using the stretch reflex out of the bottom of the front squat, which would in turn help the clean.

We see these athletes everywhere, though.  I realized this in my own training back in 2010 and switched to performing full lifts. I was also good at muscle ups but had trouble with hitting full extension and maintaining false grip.  When I go to competition, the standard is straight-arm, so the fact that I can do 10+ without the standard I’ll be tested on means nothing. It’s all about how what you’re doing today in training will improve you for tomorrow and the next day, not getting the top score on the whiteboard, just scraping by the standards.

SRX: You’ve said elsewhere that you really like working with absolute beginners. Imagine that I’m the person whose idea of exertion is rolling my garbage bin to the curb. Walk me through my first CrossFit experience at your box. What would I expect to be doing that first time, if I can barely do anything at all?

Rhodes: We do love working with beginners and seeing them start to believe in themselves.  Your first experience would be a brief sit-down about the methodologies, how we describe fitness, and a quick overview of what we do to reach those gains in fitness.

We run three one-on-one sessions, the first being very basic movements, and then we build on each of those.  We chose one-on-ones because it gives us more time to get to know the individual and [we get to] chat and focus on only them. Coming out of those sessions, you should have a brief understanding of many of the movements we’ll be using. It is now time to move to group sessions, and we understand that there will be new movements that will come up from time to time. The less experienced athletes will generally garner a little more attention during lifting and skill development than someone who has been around for a while, until they are proficient.  We are looking for good movement before adding load and intensity, and if anything we may have to hold people back a little bit in terms of their weights being used, etc. After a few months pass, you’ll be able to take the garbage out for your whole block if you wish.

SRX: In your opinion, what is the biggest reason that someone might try CrossFit but not return to it, or not keep it up for the long term? What’s the remedy for that?

Rhodes: There are a few things that come to mind. The moment a member feels like they are being treated as a number or a dollar value, you’ve lost them. I have seen that happen and it’s almost instant. Another would be owners or coaches holding athletes back in their development for selfish reasons, like they don’t want someone else in the gym being the top dog.

The remedy? As a gym owner, you must remember why you’re in this business. People don’t want to come to a class with the business owner and hear about cash flow or margins; they come in to be coached with a positive attitude.  It is essential to not allow those lines to blur. As far as holding athletes back, my personal opinion is that the true mark of a great coach is someone who can make those around them better. When you can build someone up and have them surpass you, that is the ultimate. Sure, it may be tough for you to take as an athlete, but you’ve got your coach hat on at that moment.

SRX: Tell us about Outlaw North. Is it open now?

Rhodes: We are open now. We’ve run classes this week already and had a couple people go through their Intro program with us.

We are excited about the location – right off the QEW and incredibly easy to get to from any direction. The unit itself is 2500 square feet with a very high percentage of that being workable space. We’ve got a small office up front which is good enough for everything we need, and lots of space to comfortably fit group sessions. Classes are running 7:00-9:00 A.M. and 4:30-8:30 P.M. Mon-Fri, and 10:00 A.M.-1:00 P.M. on the weekends. Equipment is all brand new from Again Faster Canada, which we are stoked about.

SRX: So everything’s clipping along. Anything else you want to tell us?

Rhodes: Lacey and I would like to thank everyone who has been a part of this along the way – from my personal training clients back in London, ON, to Jen Morris at CrossFit Altitude for having us coach there, to our founding members at our spot for putting their trust in us. To Coach Glassman, who at Regionals this year gave us a bit of the push we needed to actually do this thing, to Rudy Nielsen for creating Outlaw Nation, which we are incredibly proud to be a part of, and to my parents, who have been very supportive.

Outlaw North CrossFit is located at 156 South Service Road, Stoney Creek, ON. Just a few minutes away, there are also a couple of golf courses, but it’s doubtful that Jay Rhodes will be teeing off there any time soon.