weightlifting Archives - Yard Athletics

Yard Athletics x lululemon

Ilan — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 04:00:24 +0000

by Yard Athletics – Sept 17th, 2019

Since the early days of Yard Athletics (who remembers the text message group??) there has always been a strong relationship between Ilan Cumberbirch and lululemon. What started as lululemon’s Robson employees coming to train at Yard, blossomed into an amazing ambassadorship program that has helped support local fitness talent to grow and prosper in the Vancouver community.

lululemon has also been a proud sponsor of our Yardwork events, the most recent of which was at Thunderbird Stadium this summer. Without them none of it would have been possible, so any chance we get to say thank you is one we take!

We wanted to learn a bit more about the lululemon brand, so we put together a few questions for Christina Adamson, Assistant Store Manager from the Robson flagship store in Vancouver. Take a read below!

For someone who doesn’t know, tell us a bit about the lululemon brand?

lululemon was founded in Vancouver in 1998 as a yoga inspired technical athletic company. From the start the goal has been to create more than just quality gear for your sweaty endeavors; it’s been about connection and community. It’s been about the people: the people who work here, the people who come here, the people in our communities.

How does lululemon’s ambassadorship program work?

One of the things that we love about our Ambassador Program is that each partnership evolves in its own unique way. We work with each ambassador to create and define what being an ambassador means to them. That’s because our ambassadors come from all walks of life. They’re runners, trainers, athletes, yogis, entrepreneurs, artists, and creatives who share our core values. Our ambassadors are not just in partnership with the lululemon brand, they are an extension of our brand. They represent lululemon in their community in a way that is authentic to them.

Ilan Cumberbirch and Yard Athletics have been lululemon ambassadors for several years; can you tell us more about how that relationship started?

I remember being brought to a basement gym on Granville Street a few years ago to checkout a workout with some big guy. The class was small, but Ilan’s energy was out of this world. Brand new to the type of workout we were about to go through I had no idea what to expect. I loved it and I kept going back and bringing more people. Soon a lot of the Robson team knew Ilan and were going to his gym regularly. We asked him to be our ambassador because we saw the community he was building and we wanted to be apart of it.

What does lululemon look for in a local ambassador? What are the responsibilities / goals / roles they play in the community?

Again, this looks different with each of our ambassadors. There’s no one specific type of person we’re looking for, there’s no checklist.

What’s new in the lululemon catalogue? Anything new and cool in terms of clothing?

There’s always something new and cool, we get new product every week. We’re particularly excited about our outerwear right now. Come see us and we’ll make sure you get what you need.

The post Yard Athletics x lululemon appeared first on Yard Athletics.

RECIPE – Chilled Soba Noodle Salad w/ Tahini Dressing

Ilan — Tue, 28 May 2019 04:24:29 +0000

By Henry Gould – May 28th, 2019

Judging by the weather, summer has officially arrived in Vancouver. The days are longer, the willpower to resist patio drinks is basically zero, and the desire to turn an oven on to make dinner is definitely out of the question.

The solution? A lovely chilled noodle salad! This recipe is great for a number of reasons:

It’s vegan (unless you add other protein)
It’s gluten free (soba / buckwheat noodles are GF)
It tastes amazing
It will keep for a few days
There is very minimal cooking required
It’s a blank canvas for any other vegetables or items you want to add

Obviously the base recipe is vegan, but feel free to add whatever protein you like to the finished product (cooked chicken, hard boiled eggs, canned tuna, roasted chickpeas, tofu, prawns, etc etc).

Chilled Buckwheat Noodle Salad w/ Tahini Dressing

Soba / Buckwheat noodles, 125g per person
Baby spinach, 1 handful per person
1 red pepper, julienned
Green onions, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, grated finely
1 small piece of ginger, grated finely
5-6 tablespoons Tahini
1-2 tablespoons Soy sauce
1 lemon
2 tablespoons Sesame oil
Honey
Sea salt
Black pepper

Get a large pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Season the water with salt. Drop the baby spinach in and blanch for 10 seconds then take out with a strainer and drain in a colander and allow to cool. Set aside. Add the buckwheat noodles to the boiling water and cook according to package instructions. Remove from the water and drain thoroughly, then give a quick rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside.

To make the dressing, add the garlic and ginger to a bowl along with the tahini, sesame oil, juice of half the lemon, soy sauce, a pinch of salt, black pepper and some honey. Add a little water and then mix thoroughly. If it’s too thick, add a bit more more water and keep stirring. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning with more lemon juice, honey, salt and soy sauce to your taste. You can also add hot sauce / sriracha if you like it spicy.

Add the spinach, red peppers and green onion to your buckwheat noodles in a bowl and dress with the dressing.

The post RECIPE – Chilled Soba Noodle Salad w/ Tahini Dressing appeared first on Yard Athletics.

New Yard Athletics Merch In Stock!!!

Ilan — Tue, 14 May 2019 04:57:18 +0000

By Yard Athletics – May 14th, 2019

Suns out guns out, sky’s out thighs out!! New Yard Athletics merch is in stock and oohhhhh baby are we excited.

Pink T-Shirts? GOT EM. Crop top’s? GOT EM. Snap backs? YOU KNOW IT.

See below for all available items. These are selling fast so get yours ASAP!!! Email “info@yardathletics.ca” to reserve or just grab something during your next workout.

Pink Tee – $29.99

Cutoff – $39.99

Crop Top – $39.99

Pink Dad Hat – $29.99

Snap Back – $39.99

The post New Yard Athletics Merch In Stock!!! appeared first on Yard Athletics.

#YardHard Community Spotlight: Herve Nzeyimana

Ilan — Fri, 03 May 2019 04:15:12 +0000

By Yard Athletics – May 3rd, 2019

It’s Friday! It’s May 3rd! Spring is here! We still don’t know what to do with our hands!

Our 20 Questions series has been a huge success, as we absolutely love learning more about where our community wines, dines and unwinds. Now we want to go a little deeper on the fitness side of things with a new “Community Spotlight” series, asking people how they got started with Yard Athletics, what their goals were when they started and how they feel they’ve progressed.

Without further adieu we wanted to introduce Herve Nzeyimana, and learn more about his journey in the #YardHard crew.

When did you start training at Yard Athletics?

Herve: I started a year ago in April 2018!

What were your goals when you started?

My goals were to put on muscle! I was very toned but I was still quite thin and I wanted to add muscle to my body without doing CrossFit.

How did you first hear about Yard Athletics?

I heard through my coworker Dani – she had been going to Ilan’s classes here at the lululemon SSC and she highly recommended Yard if I was looking for a challenging but accessible workout

Tell us about the training sessions; what sort of exercises and routines were you doing?

The training sessions were great – they were simple movements that I was familiar with like deadlifts, back squats, single arm rowing/push presses and various movements with dumbbells which I could easily learn and scale according to my strength

How does each trainer (Ilan, Sam, Joce) approach your sessions at Yard?

Cumby has such an infectious energy. He always makes sure my form is on point when I’m lifting. He was the first person I met when I started Yard. I got lost and couldn’t find the gym.

Shawzo is so laid back and fun. He immediately puts everyone at ease and I know that I can do any weight or any movement I want when he’s teaching

Joce is a killer with hilarious check-in questions. I always leave her classes absolutely drained. She has a way of making me want to die but in a good way.

What would you tell someone new to Yard Athletics who is thinking of starting a similar program? What should they expect?

They should expect great coaching but nothing too complicated. It will be simply movements that will really help them put on muscle but it isn’t risk adverse.

What are you most proud of throughout this recent fitness journey?

Putting on 20 lbs in one calendar year – just through exercising at Yard 2-3 times a week and eating literally double what I was eating two years ago.

The post #YardHard Community Spotlight: Herve Nzeyimana appeared first on Yard Athletics.

MAY SUMMER SHRED STARTS TODAY!!!

Ilan — Wed, 01 May 2019 04:25:26 +0000

By Yard Athletics – May 1st, 2019

The Yard Athletics Summer Shred train keeps rollin on down the line! It’s gaining momentum, an unstoppable juggernaut, ready to blast through that winter weight and shred all participants into chiseled marble statues.

April’s Summer Shred sale was a massive success, so we are back for May with one little change – no limits on number of packages you can buy! That’s right folks, get em while they’re hot because May 3rd is the last day to get all the below deals.

To recap, see below for all deals which are now LIVE on the MindBody app.

May 1st, 2nd and 3rd, monthly flash sale on Customized Strength & Conditioning (1:1, 2:1)

For Drop-In sessions, you will get 20% off the 1:1 and 2:1 packages.
5 Pack purchase, 15% off
10 pack purchase, 10% off

There’s still a strict 1 month expiry on all packages because we want to see you in the gym! The goal is still to shred, shred, shred, so buy those packages and then book in ASAP using the MindBody app.

Saturday group classes have also been a massive hit, so we are still rollin on those, with the first Saturday of this month (May 4th) free of charge.

1st Saturday of every month is FREE
May 4th
May 11th
May 18th
May 25th

All packages must be purchased through the MINDBODY app, or directed to “info@yardathletics.ca”

See you in the gym!

The post MAY SUMMER SHRED STARTS TODAY!!! appeared first on Yard Athletics.

Happy Birthday Joce!!!

Ilan — Tue, 09 Apr 2019 04:49:16 +0000

By Yard Athletics – April 9th, 2019

Everyone, drop what you’re doing and go wish our #YardHard legend Jocelyn Erickson a very happy birthday!

If you’ve been to Yard Athletics (… that should be a rhetorical question??) you know Joce as the smiling, laughing, “10/10 energy level” trainer who can turn the so-called strongest person in the gym to a sweating, wheezing wreck in about 15 minutes. And we loooooove it!

Happy Birthday Joce from the entire Yard Athletics family! We’re still looking for the perfect crop-top sweatshirt as your gift…

Also of note, check out the latest Montecristo magazine for a wicked feature on Yard Athletics founder Ilan Cumberbirch! Very stoked to be included in this list of great trainers across the city; thanks again for the feature MC!

The #YardHard train rolls on…

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The Myths of Weighlifting w/ Ilan Cumberbirch

Ilan — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 05:44:38 +0000

By Yard Athletics – Feb 15th, 2019

Greetings! Today we are starting out a new series, diving into some of the myths that surround lifting weights, especially when it comes to gaining and losing weight, leaning out, bulking up, risk of injury, the works. And what better resource to ask than founder and director of Yard Athletics, Ilan Cumberbirch.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave with no access to the internet, Ilan is the all-seeing, all-knowing leader of Yard Athletics and a veritable guru when it comes to strength and conditioning.

Many times when people first approach lifting weights, they see it as intimidating not only because they might not know proper technique of the exercises (or even the exercises themselves) but because they feel like it won’t get them the results they want. Maybe someone told them squats cause you to balloon up 4 pant sizes in a week, and therefore they stick to the eliptical machine.

Ilan is here to change all that! We have a laundry list of questions to throw at him, but as always if there’s something you’re not sure about just send an email to info@yardathletics.ca and we can include it on the blog.

Q: Ilan, what are the main questions you get asked when someone is interested in starting a lifting program?

A: The questions vary depending on the individual asking.

Generally there are skeptics due to preconceived ideas about the “Golden Era” of bodybuilding, and watching Arnold, Ferrigno and Stallone on the big screen. They either believe that they will instantly morph into super-human beings by touching a weight, or that weight training is bad for their body. Quite the opposite…

Many people feel that they “know their body”, but have apparently tried everything under the sun in order to attain their goals with little to no success. Questions usually include:

– “What makes your program different than others?”

– “Will you be able to work around my injuries? I read that squatting past 90 degrees is bad for my knees”

– “I enjoy doing spin 5 days/week, pilates 3x/week, Crossfit on the weekends and ultramarathons every 3rd Sunday. I want to put on 20 lbs of lean muscle mass, have busting biceps, washboard abs, and sweeping legs in the next week: can you do this?”

– “I don’t want to get a big neck, legs and shoulders, I just want to ‘tone’ my arms, shrink my waist and have a Kim K backside.”

In terms of my response to “What makes your program different than the others?”; there probably isn’t much difference between the program I prescribe and programs you might have followed in the past. We do not have to reinvent the wheel. If anything, the program I am most likely to prescribe will be extremely simple. A large focus will be on technique, full range of motion, and hammering home the fundamentals to ensure that the individual moves in the most bio-mechanically efficient manner they are physically capable of. What will vary is their willingness to commit to the program and comply to the prescribed sets, reps, intensity, rest periods and exercises on a consistent basis. Nothing beats hard work and consistency.

“How will you be able to work around my injuries? I read that squatting past 90 degrees is bad for my knees”

Over the course of one’s lifetime, we all experience injuries. Finding ways to work with around these injuries them is what differentiates those who are willing to succumb to said injuries and those that want to overcome them. Now, by no means am I a proponent of the old adage “No Pain, No GAIN!”. Quite the opposite. Working through a pain free range of motion is imperative to longevity and health through one’s lifetime. Finding variations of different movement patterns which allow you to move pain free is what we are after. If a back squat is not achievable due to poor shoulder mobility, let’s utilize a front squat, goblet squat, belt squats, trap bar deadlifts, or more unilateral work. If overhead barbell work is not achievable due to past shoulder injuries, let’s utilize landmine variations and single arm dumbbell variations. Let’s address the limitations and strengthen your weaknesses. As the other old adage goes, “there are many ways to skin a cat”. Training through one’s full range of motion not only strengthens the musculature, it also strengthens the ligaments, tendons and bone structure due to the loads and stressors placed on them which will have a very positive impact on your physical abilities, especially into the latter years of one’s lifetime.

“I enjoy doing spin 5 days/week, pilates 3x/week, Crossfit on the weekends and ultramarathons every 3rd Sunday. I want to put on 20 lbs of lean muscle mass, have busting biceps, washboard abs, and sweeping legs in the next week: can you do this?”

1) I cannot do anything, I can only assist you in achieving your goals. Often times clients look to their trainer for the answer when the answer lies within them. Be truthful and realistic with yourself, we are simply here to facilitate your success and provide you with the greatest likelihood of achieving your goals.

2) Less is more. The minimum effective dose required to achieve a desired outcome is what we are after. It may be difficult, however there eventually becomes a point of diminishing returns on one’s physical investment into their training, where we begin to see neutral or negative adaptations. No point beating your head against a cement wall. People are so over programmed these days, under the false misconception that doing 2-3 workouts/day is the only way to achieve their physical goals, on top of managing their careers, family and social life. We need to be realistic in our expectations and demands of ourselves and remember that it is a process. There is no overnight recipe or quick fix. It is a lifelong journey which is meant to be enjoyed, not something suffered through all in the hope of attaining a bikini body by spring break in Cabo for that one hot Instagram post a week before you leave.

3) Rest is a weapon. If you’re going to break it down, you have to build it back up. Rest is where the adaptation takes place, so we need to prioritize adequate sleep, nutrition and recovery over increased training stimulus.

“I don’t want to get a big neck, legs and shoulders, I just want to ‘tone’ my arms, shrink my waist and have a Kim K backside.”

We will address this question in the next blog post, so stay tuned…

The post The Myths of Weighlifting w/ Ilan Cumberbirch appeared first on Yard Athletics.