CrossFit coach trains mind and body

Try this for your next workout. Run one mile, do 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, then run another mile. All while wearing a 20-pound vest. As fast as you can.

This routine is known in the CrossFit world as the “Murph.” It’s one of the benchmark workouts Corey Salois used in her training to qualify for the regional CrossFit Games held last week in Kent, Wash.

Salois, 32, is a part-owner and coach at Big Mountain CrossFit in Whitefish. At 5-feet and 3-inches, and 125 pounds, her broad shoulders and strong legs have been shaped by five years of raw workouts like the “Murph” that take exercising back to the basics.

Enter the Big Mountain CrossFit gym on U.S. 93 South and noticeably absent are treadmills, stair climbers, weight machines or barbells. No mirrors line the walls, either.

Salois says if you’re busy ogling yourself in the mirror during a workout, “You’re not working out hard enough.”

Another reason for no mirrors — CrossFit isn’t about looking pretty.

“I don’t want people to think about what they look like in the mirror,” Salois said. “I want them to think about how they feel when they’re done with a workout and if they feel accomplished. That’s what makes the difference.”

To be certain, training four days a week at the CrossFit gym will get anyone in shape. But weight loss isn’t necessarily the goal — real life strength is.

In fact, Salois says throw away the scale because muscle weighs more than fat.

“When I started CrossFit, I weighed 10 pounds less than I weigh now,” she said. “But I’m four sizes smaller.”

Originally developed for police and fire department, CrossFit combines gymnastics, powerlifting, plyometrics and endurance.

“It’s kind of a mix of everything,” Salois said. “It’s a total body workout.”

“It prepares your body to do what you need it to do out in the real world.”

Salois first tried CrossFit in 2008 after friends at the Bigfork Fire Department recommended she give it a shot.

“I was spending three hours a day in the gym,” she recalled. “I tried CrossFit and fell in love, and only have missed a handful of workouts since.”

As much as she enjoys the physicality of the workouts, she is just as drawn to the competitive side.

In order to qualify for the Northwest CrossFit Regionals, Salois completed a series of four prescribed workouts as fast as she could. Based on the total of her best times and scores, she was one of 48 women invited to compete in front of cheering crowds at the ShoWare Center. The top three women at regionals move on to the national finals, which are broadcast on ESPN.

Salois has made it to regionals four times and is one of only two women in Montana to qualify this year.

As an instructor, she gets plenty of joy out of seeing clients become more physically fit and mentally stronger — especially the young women she works with.

“We’re teaching girls that it’s good to be strong and that it’s OK to have muscles,” she said. “We’re not going to look like the front of magazine covers.”

CrossFit continually pushes her and her clients to better themselves.

“I’m still getting stronger and faster,” she said. “There’s never an end point.”

“And it’s fun. It really bonds people together.”

To learn more about Big Mountain CrossFit, call 871-3460.