Ever wonder how much you could safely lift off the ground?  Ever get worried when you have to move a couch, tv or some other ridiculouly heavy object…the people at SPARK don’t!  In fact our participants LOVE heavy things.

Not only did we get heavy the other day, everyone was cheering and going nuts as Personal Records (PRs) were smashed.  Even some of the newbies got after it and put up some impressive numbers. 

Do you need to be able to lift 200 lbs?  Yes.  Will you do that right away?  Probably not.  But you just might after a few months and yes, you will be ecstatic when you can finally do it AND go beyond.

What?  You heard Dead Lifts are bad for you?  Wrong!  It is without question one of the most important lifts there is.  In fact, the “Dead Lift” was once called the “Health Lift”.  To quote Greg Glassman, “If you cannot Dead Lift you are injured but asymptomatic”.

Here’s a couple of SPARKers getting up some big numbers.  Karie T, mother of 2 getting 225 lbs off the ground and ‘Brownie’ lifting 435 lbs.  I know there were some bigger lifts (Ollie at 475) but sorry guys, I didn’t get pics!

Only a couple of you know my friend Mike Lafrance.  And even less of you know that he was one of those people that helped get SPARK open. 

He was an electrician and completely rewired this entire gym, the washrooms, helped put up new lights and got the motion sensors to work.  He of course did this after long days at work in his spare time and I thank him for that.  I’m also greatful to his wife for sacrificing her time with him to share him with me so I could get this place up and running.   

Mike was buried today at the age of 26…he passed away two days after his birthday.

He was a great guy that was always willing to help a buddy out no matter what.  Mike loved loved his wife Nancy and two girls Ava and Ella more than anything and we spent all the hours wiring SPARK sharing stories of our families.  We’ll miss you.