Ferndale resident coaches elite fitness

By MIKE RICHESON

Bigfork Eagle

Don't worry, he's not as scary as he looks.

Buford "Coach Buf" Bennett, a former competitive powerlifter, recently opened CrossFit Flathead, a CrossFit affiliate, and is training his clients in a whole new way.

CrossFit is a unique approach to fitness that is rapidly spreading across the nation. Bennett, a Ferndale resident, says the idea behind the high-intensity workout is to combine functional movements with constantly varied routines.

"The workout changes every day," Bennett said. "It can't get old."

Bennett said his clients don't pick their workout schedule because he decides what the day's exercise will be. A large whiteboard near his office has what Bennett calls the Workout of the Day, or the WOD. Every person that comes in to exercise that day does the same workout.

"One of the things that is so fun is the WOD," Bennett said. "People come in, and they won't even say hi until they go see what is on the board."

Just as he said this in his office last Thursday, a member came in and made a beeline for the board.

"Good morning, Sue," Bennett boomed.

"Hey," she said, her eyes glued to the board.

His clients also check the board for another reason - the times. Most of the CrossFit workouts are timed, and Bennett writes each person's name on the board with their final times.

"There is a competitive side," Bennett said. "When we take exercise, and we put a name and a time on the board, we automatically make it sport."

The race for the best time can get pretty intense. Last week, two friends were "motivating" each other between breaths while doing the WOD.

"This isn't a typical gym atmosphere with spandex and headphones," Bennett said. "You're going to sweat and encourage each other."

Bennett, who coaches all his clients on proper technique, often follows people around with a stop watch and keeps them motivated.

"C'mon, c'mon, you're putting up a great time," he tells one member. When the client pauses to take a drink of water, Bennett lets him know that time is slipping away. "C'mon, you can rest when you're done."

CrossFit began in San Diego, Calif., by Greg Glassman, who is unapologetically bold about his program. One of his more popular quotes states: "We do your stuff nearly as well as you do; you can't do ours very well at all, and we do everything that we both don't do much better than you can. Not very humble, I know, but true."

In a strange twist, many of the CrossFit workouts are named after girls. Bennett normally has first-timers start out with "Cindy." Like many of the WODs, "Cindy" looks deceptively simple: five pull-ups, 10 pushups and 15 squats with no weight.

That's it? Yes and no. "Cindy" requires a person to repeat the 5-10-15 pattern for 20 minutes. Some of the best CrossFit athletes across the country can perform more than 35 rounds in 20 minutes. That comes out to more than 175 pull-ups, 350 pushups and 525 squats.

"Cindy" pops up on the whiteboard every few months as a way for people to gauge their improved performance.

Bennett scales the workouts to fit anyone from a high school student to a retired person who hasn't even walked past a gym in decades.

"We use the same routines for everyone, but we scale the load and intensity without changing the program," Bennett said. "People's needs differ by degree, not kind."

When Bennett first opened CrossFit Flathead, he went to the local firefighters and emergency service providers and pitched the workout to them.

"I wanted to let them know that this could really help them," he said. "The community was my first goal, and they are taking care of our community."

Volunteer firefighters ambulance members from Bigfork, Creston and Ferndale have been coming to Bennett since CrossFit opened.

"Coach Buf and CrossFit have gotten me in the best physical and mental shape I have ever been in," Bigfork firefighter Tim Page said.

Bennett's dream of becoming a full-time trainer came to fruition this spring when he teamed up with Mike Close, the owner of Bigfork Physical Therapy.

"Without him, none of this would have happened," Bennett said.

The man who would become Coach Buf grew up in the Swan and discovered weight-lifting in the eighth grade. He lifted in the morning, lifted at school and lifted when he got home because "that's all I had to do," he said.

Bennett finished high school at Flathead, where he continued to lift. He also played football and wrestled.

Throughout his 20s and 30s, Bennett was a self-described "gym rat." A close friend and mentor, Dr. Ed Wettach, introduced Bennett to the world of competitive powerlifting, at which he excelled.

Powerlifting events test the squat, bench press and the deadlift. The weight from each event is tallied, and the person with the highest score wins. Bennett's last competitive event occurred in 1996, when he took first place at the Inland Northwest Powerlifting Championships.

He combined a 650-pound squat, a 405-pound bench press and a 600-pound deadlift for a total score of 1655 pounds.

Bennett also discovered that powerlifting wasn't just a young man's game.

"I started competing in my 30s, and I got beat regularly by a guy from Spokane who was 62," he said.

Bennett's most enduring local legacy was the 16 years he spent volunteering as the weight coach at Flathead High School. After working the early shift cutting meat, he would drive to the high school and work with students in the weight room.

"I enjoyed it," he said. "It gave me a chance to coach and a place to lift. I liked working with the kids."

His guidance helped numerous students excel in sports, and many of them went on to play college or even professional football. In 1996, one of his students, Levi Smith, set a high school powerlifting deadlift record that still stands. Smith lifted 600 pounds.

Bennett still has the lifts of his students from years ago written down at home.

When he discovered CrossFit, he began introducing the routines to the football players.

"You could see the difference," Bennett said. "They didn't run out of gas like they used to."

Bennett's goal with the new business venture is closely linked with his past as a trainer: he likes to work out himself, and he enjoys helping others be healthy.

"It's about caring about people," Bennett said. "We care about the community."

On the Web

www.crossfitflathead.blogspot.com

www.crossfit.com