Crossfit Connection Trainers

Ruth Sheridan

I discovered Crossfit in the summer of 2007 a short time after I had completed an Ironman triathlon. I was looking for something new and different that would really be a challenge. Ironman was a great experience but once it was over I was looking for my next "goal" but unsure where to find it. After all I was an Ironman and thought there was nothing else that could kick my ass quite like that did. Well I was wrong. My first crossfit experience was at Steel City Crossfit in Dundas, one of the few crossfit gyms around at the time. I was pretty nervous going to my first session mostly because I had no idea what to expect. I mean how bad could it be after what I had already endured? Well I got there and found a great group of welcoming people, the trainer took me through the warm-up...not so bad...then trained me on the couple of movements we would be doing for the workout. Deadlifts, some box jumps and some pull-ups. Well suffice it to say by the end of the workout which took me about 12 minutes, I was laying in a pool of my own sweat, in the fetal position wondering what had just happened to me. Wow, there was something to this thing called crossfit. After that very humbling experience,( and everyone gets humbled by this sport) I continued to do crossfit faithfully. I changed my diet and got stronger faster and leaner than ever before. All within a few months and a fraction of the time training. I love crossfit.

About six months after this experience, Jason and I decided to open our own place because of the changes we saw in our own fitness and health. We wanted to pass this on to others to make their lives better....and the stronger and healthier you are the better your life really becomes. Since then we have seen hundreds of people pass through our doors. For those who decide to stay the changes that happen are phenomenal. People change not only physically but they become mentally tough as well. People have told me that they now " walk taller". There is no better complement than that for a trainer to hear.

As for my favorite workouts? Hmmm....there are lots of them. I love the longer hero workouts like Murph....the ones that are mentally tough to get through. I love to lift mostly because its just really cool to be strong. Least favorite? Fran. Most frustrating? The dreaded muscle-up. I guess this is the other reason why I love crossfit. There is always a new goal for me to acheive. Something that I can't yet do that I need to work on.

As for my background, well I have to say I am an unlikely candidate for this but have found my passion and will stick with it because of the personal satisfaction if gives me to see others succeed and have better lives. I am a chartered accountant by trade and spent about 20 years in the corporate world doing everything from raising investment money for a "dot com" to tax reorganizations. Though my past career had lots of perks there is no better perk than helping someone achieve something they didn't think was possible and seeing their lives change for the better and getting to be part of it.

As for the other fun stuff in my life ( other than crossfit which consumes a big part) I have two beautiful teenage daughters and a wonderful partner that I enjoy my life with. I am a lululemon ambassador which is tons of fun, especially when I get to spend time in the store promoting the crossfit lifestyle. I'm an Isagenix consultant and love running our nutrition program here at Crossfit Connection and helping people reach their goals from a healthy eating perspective.

Ruth Sheridan C.A.

Certified Crossfit Trainer

Nutrition Coach

JASON BIRD  - CO /OWNER – HEAD TRAINER

CrossFit is tough  there are no two ways about it...most people fall into one of two categories, its either love at first site or they never want to ever work that hard and hurt that much again. It may not be for everyone but it is but it’s certainly not about your age, your athletic background, or your current level of fitness. CrossFit  is all about your desire to be better and your unrelenting work ethic to improve -Most importantly it is ALL ABOUT YOU.
To say I have lead an active life is an understatement, from the first day I can remember I had a ball in my hand competing against my older siblings. At age 14 I found weight training and along with my other athletic pursuits, weight training and fitness became my passion.  I am certainly not the most genetically blessed athlete but what I do have going for me is a work ethic like no other. For the past almost 30 years I have had one thing that has been 100% consistent in my life and that has been my training. Educating myself in physical fitness, learning more and more about the body and how it works, tens of thousands of hours spent lifting, running, riding, throwing, jumping...you name it I did it......All of this begs the huge question WHY??  Yes I achieved some moderate success in sport and yes I am certainly much fitter than your average 40 something guy but seriously at times I asked myself the same thing...why are you so dedicated to something that really doesn’t benefit you monetarily or socially . If I could just channel some of that passion into other areas you would be so “successful”..... and then I found CrossFit.
For me, CrossFitt was certainly love at first WOD .....I was in hook, line and sinker...So many things to learn so many skills to practice...geez I thought I was fit, and this stuff is just a whole new world I am doing things so differently then I have in the past and I am getting STRONGER and I am getting FITTER, FAST. Forget the going to the gym for 2 hours to do 10 different bicep exercises, forget the 6 hour bike rides so I can do another Ironman......none of that stuff is really getting me any fitter...but  this CROSSFIT stuff is kicking my ass.
Wow this is unbelievable...we need to get other people doing this stuff, we need to open a gym, we need to share this with other. So after a little convincing to my conservative accountant partner we made the jump got our certifications and opened CROSSFIT CONNECTION.  Those early days were a little scary...classes with just me and 1 other person ....but I so believed in this stuff and so loved helping others find what I had found. Being in this element, teaching others what for me I have been doing my entire life was so perfect, so rewarding. I am a very shy, reserved person in the big bad scary world but in the GYM I have 100% confidence...I whole heartedly believe in what I do , and I have passion for helping you succeed. We are on the same team and I want us to work together.....I respect you for giving your best effort and will do everything I can to help you.  We foster a positive supportive environment where everyone is equal and everyone is giving their BEST EFFORT.......There are no superstars, no prima donnas, no elite athletes...we work together as ONE

Certified CrossFit trainer
Olympic Lifting Certification
Personal Trainer Certification
Bachelor of Science Kinesiology
Registered Massage Therapist
CrossFit Games 2009
Ironman Wisconsin
Ironman Lake Placid

RICH ROBICHAUD

I have been very active in sports all my life especially with hockey and have always enjoyed the competition aspect of sport as well as the camaraderie that came along with being part of a team not to mention the feeling of pushing my body to the limit each game and the never-ending quest to develop my skills around the sport. During highschool I, like most of us, was introduced to the weight room and found another outlet to expend my energy. I enjoyed this new way of “working out” and continued on this path for many years.

I started personal training when I was about 23 on and off at local gyms for a few years but didn’t really feel any satisfaction of it mostly because the gym had a standard program they gave every client that came through the door which included regular use of the pec-dec and leg curl machines. It was just the same old thing over and over and got very routine and so did my own training. It was time to find something new and after doing some searching online I came across a website called CrossFit. I must have read for 2 hours. It was very intriguing and the theory and logic behind it made total sense to me. 

I was living in Toronto at the time and started trying this stuff out training in the parks which involved squat thrusting picnic tables, running hills and doing kipping pull-ups on the pull-up bars at the beach. I always got weird looks but when I walked away I saw those same people trying to do a couple pull-ups themselves. I was hooked and when I moved to Burlington I found Crossfit Connection and have been training here ever since.

When I first walked in the door I knew I was going to love it and thought it would be relatively easy since I was already in pretty good shape and boy was I wrong. In my first workout as I lay in my own puddle of sweat breathing so hard thinking my heart and lungs were going to explode through my chest and still on my 3rdround of 5 while everyone else was sitting around high fiving each other, I wasn’t upset because I knew I could get there one day and that would be my goal. I finally finished that workout with the help of everyone cheering me on and I knew I had found my new sport.

I am now part of the CrossFit Connection team and enjoy working with all our members through the on-ramp classes, CrossFit classes and the personal training that I do. I can definitely say that I now find satisfaction in my job especially when I see and help people achieve a goal they never thought they could reach.

Favourite Workouts:
Any workout with bodyweight movements

Least Favourite Workouts:
Anything with Thrusters in it

Additional Details

Can-Fit Pro Certified
CrossFit Level 1 Trainer
CrossFit Mobility Certification
Will be taking a CrossFit Level 2 Prep Course in November to further my skills

Adrian

Adrian is a certified level 1 Crossfit Trainer and has been training with the Crossfit method for about 5 years.  He is passionate about coaching and helping other accomplish their goals. Before Crossfit, Adrian was training to supplement his favourite sport, rugby.  After playing 11 years, Adrian is still continuing to play (Oakville Crusaders) and coach rugby at both the high school (Oakville Trafalgar HS) and university level (Brock University).  However, his personal goals has shifted and his desire to qualify for the Crossfit Games is growing stronger by the day.  

Rachel Caron

I have always enjoyed sports, from my beginnings as a child figure skater competing and performing at carnivals throughout Ontario.  High school led to competitive volleyball and basketball, and back to figure skating in university.  I studied Phys Ed and French, and then Teacher's college.  With my students, I always added an element of physical fitness to my classroom, whether it was simple stretches, or squats, sit-ups and push-ups to keep the kids fresh and entertained. They loved it. I was doing Crossfit without even knowing it was Crossfit, but it was helping them learn and feel good about themselves.  Teachers, coaches and parents alike asked me what I was doing since they noticed a big difference in their children’s conditioning and over all well-being.  At that point I was training for marathons and sharing my training logs and race experiences with my students.  They inspired me to teach them to run and set personal athletic goals.  I even started a 5km run for my school called the Francourse. It is  now in its 6th year and is an incoroporated race with close to 3500 participants. 

 One of my marathon friends talked about this Crossfit thing. I thought I would give it a try and was sure I would rock it since I was a Marathon Runner.  How hard can it be?  i run long distances and battle the outside elements. The first time at Connections, I thought…what kind of gym is this?  After a warm up and feeling nervous about this WOD thing, I struggled and wanted to quit.  But I learned from marathons to ‘Suck it up Princess’ and so I did. 

I was hooked, and a new moto was born... a dose of delicious pain...yes delicious.  I became a Level 1 Crossfit trainer and began teaching.  I love teaching and seeing people push themselves to their personal max and accomplish things they thought they could not do. Crossfit is my new passion.  I speak it, live it and even dream it.  Just ask my husband and my poor kids who now Crossfit too.  I developed a teen class just for them.

So come and join me for a dose of delicious pain and remember my moto when it gets hard…‘ Suck it up Princess’.