New Years Day

We will be open from 8am to 6pm on Monday January 1st 2018

Thanksgiving Hours

Wednesday & Friday regular hours. Thanksgiving 9am to noon.

Schedule Change

The Wednesday evening Flex & Flow will be moving from 7 pm to 6 pm. See you then!

Labor Day Hours

8am to 6pm

Closing Early 1/4/17

Gym will close at 7pm tonight. We should be open tomorrow at 6am for normal hours. Check here or the Facebook page for updates.

1/4/2017 - Snow Update

Gym is open. Come get your workout in if you can travel safe.

Phone Problems

We having some phone problems today. We are able to get voicemail but can't make or receive phone calls.

Friday, July 22nd

Friday, July 22nd the gym will have different hours. The gym will be closed for 2 hours from 1pm to 3pm. Additionally it will close for the night at 7pm. Regular hours on Saturday.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you - Chris

Open House & BBQ

This Saturday the 25th we are having an open house and inviting the neighborhood to join us for a bbq at the gym from 11 am to 2 pm.

Check it out on Facebook

End to End Conditioning Workouts

At Cascade Peak Performance we love having a large open area for workouts. One of the simple but effective conditioning formats we use, end to end, involves having a station at each end of the 100ft stretch of turf and a locomotion exercise between them.

For example the two stations could be push-ups and pull-ups with a sled push as the locomotion. The goal would be preforming the exercises at a reasonable pace for a predetermined amount of time. This builds work capacity and burns a lot of energy.

The great thing about and end to end workout is how it can be scaled for most fitness levels. Instead of sled pushing or sprints, the locomotion could be a carry exercise working on walking mechanics.

Also the stations at each end can be high force/high intensity such as jumps or squats, to simpler exercises like step-ups or planks.

End to end conditioning workouts will get you up on your feet moving with purpose.

Schedule Changes

Class Schedule

• Yoga - Wednesday at 6:30pm, Saturday Yoga has been cancelled.
• FitCamp - Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm, and Saturday at 9am

Gym Hours

• Monday/Wednesday/Friday - 6am to 8pm
• Tuesday - 7am to 8pm
• Thursday - 9am to 8pm (formerly 7am)
• Saturday - 9am to 1pm (formerly 8am)
• Sunday - closed

Lose Weight With Simple Changes

There are thousands of diets, and most of them are temporary change. While someone may see results on the latest fad diet, what really matters is if the results are sustainable. This is where we need to talk about the power of habits.

During the temporary environment of a diet, habits aren't being modified, it's more of just a vacation away from the choices that put the weight on in the first place. By developing new and lasting habits sustainable results are possible.

Here are some change strategies. Pick one where success is most likely. Spend a few weeks locking it in before adding another change.


Track Food Intake - Quantity does matter. Eat too much and the spare tire inflates. It doesn't matter if pen and paper are used or a smart phone app. What does matter is tracking increases awareness of what gets consumed. Often when someone starts tracking intake, better choices are made simply because who wants to put a box of cookies on the food log?

The second benefit is being able to see how many calories are eaten daily. With this information, calories can be adjusted to meet goals.

Remove Temptation - Get the junk out of the house. If it is there it's still part of your diet. Donate it or throw it out if possible. Better yet, don't bring it back in. Removing easy access will limit opportunity. If the craving persists then it also easier to have a controlled treat vs killing the whole tub of ice cream.

Limit Liquid Calories - These add up very quickly. A slight over pour can be lots of calories. Often the type of calories in beverages stick to the body very easily. Improving water intake can make it easier to drop the liquid calories, and many could use more water anyway. Calorie free drinks such as coffee and tea are also acceptable, as are lightly flavored water products.

Eat More Veggies - Veggies are low calorie and high nutrient, which can fill up the stomach decreasing some signs of hunger. This also makes them great for snacking. Other options are shredding veggies to add into other recipes.

Decrease Portion Size - Yes just eating a little less is on the list. Put less on the plate, often times people won't notice a 10% decrease in food volume. It is easy to over serve a plate, so purposely take a little less.

No Second Helpings - After preparing a meal, take out what you intend to eat right then and put away the rest. Don't make it easy to take just a little more.

Eat Slower - It can take 10-20 minutes for the body to register being full. Slow down. Enjoy the food. Racing to shovel down everything almost guarantees overeating. Take smaller bites. Chew a little longer.


Remember consistency is how goals are reached. Building better habits are the foundation of long term success. If you need help reaching your health and fitness goals, come see us at Cascade Peak Performance.

Thanksgiving Hours

We will have regular hours this week, except for Thursday. Which will be from 9am to noon. Have a happy and safe holiday!

November Update

Core/Torso/Ab Training Workshop - Thursday, November 12th at 5:30pm. This free 30min workshop will cover core training beyond crunches. This will be hands on, so come ready to workout. Bring questions and friends.

Lift Off is Back! This is the event where we get the members together and test progress on a the main barbell lifts. Talk with your coach if you are interested. See you Saturday, November 21st at 11am!

Here are some of the burppes from the check-in challange:

Holiday food tip: If you can't get away from the junk, use smaller plates/bowls/glasses. It will help with portion control. A small plate will have the appearance of a full serving, vs a large plate with the same size serving looking mostly empty MORE INFO

In the gym challenges are back. In the old gym we had a few sled challenges. Next week the challenge will be doing a bear crawl the length of the gym.

Office Worker's Daily Stretches

News articles have now declared "sitting is the new smoking." While it is a sensationalist headline, sitting all day can leave the body tight and de-conditioned. Here are a few things those who work at a desk probably already know or can feel:

1. The hip flexors get tight. These muscles are on the front of the pelvis and lift the leg. Because they are shortened in a seated position all day, they adapt to become shorter altering pelvis position and function.
2. The shoulders roll forward. Arms out in front of the body at a keyboard will produce another adaptive shortening of the chest, and often this new position causes the upper traps to tighten.
3. The head moves forward. This partly comes from the tight neck from point #2, but also from staring at a computer screen or leaning into read.

The best thing to do is engage in a corrective strength training program specifically designed to address these issues. And might I add, at Cascade Peak Performance we do a very good job of this. Even with such a program, during the workday one should do the following things:

Chest Stretch: this can be done sitting or standing. Get the spine tall. Spread your arms wide causing the shoulders blades to come together. Keep the palms facing forward.

Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch: Keep posture tall. Squeeze the glute on the down leg to stretch the front of the hip and thigh.

Forward head position.

To stretch the neck muscles, make a double chin by pulling the chin into the neck. When done correctly a stretch can be felt at the base of the skull. Standing against a wall can help to learn the position.

Also, get up and move whenever able. Going for a walk on breaks and lunches can help counter the de-conditioning effects of not moving at work.

Our Favorite Conditioning Equipment

At Cascade Peak Performance we are big fans of movement, specifically people up on their feet doing exercises which burn plenty of energy and have benefits to real world activities. While we do have a few cardio machines, most conditioning work will be done out on the turf. Here are some of our favorite toys in the gym.

Sleds: Pushing or pulling sled work can be done with heavy loads or shorter and faster with moderate weights. We love them because when pushing against a load the whole body has to brace to apply force to the ground.

Battle Ropes: This is a low skill/high effort activity which can be used by virtually anyone to work hard day one in the gym. Many exercises take practice for full effort to be safe. Ropes are just shaken violently til the round is over.

Heavy Medicine Balls: These are wonderful for developing whole body coordination and athleticism. To throw a ball farther/harder the entire body must work together, and the quicker and smoother this happens the bigger the throw.

Straps: These get thrown into nearly every conditioning circuit at Cascade Peak Performance. There are many great exercises to do with the straps, but the best part about them for conditioning circuits is how easy it is to change intensity. Just step in or out to adjust. The more vertical posture is, the less pressure there is on the hands making the exercise easier.

Kettle Bells and Dumbbells: Can't leave these out, very good tools for loading almost all lifts used in conditioning circuits.

Barbells: You are only wondering why this is here if you haven't had the pleasure of doing a barbell complex.

Bonus Toys: The tractor tires and sledge hammers have a brought smiles to many people after a day at work.

Also sandbags and water filled implements are great for carries (literally picking something up and moving it across the gym) because they are "live" objects. The sand or water moves, changing the center of gravity.

Stop by the gym and try them out!

October Update

Ribbon Cutting with the Springfield Chamber of Commerce

Last month we had the ribbon cutting for our new location. Thank you to the Springfield Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Lundberg for coming down to help us with the ceremony. See the pictures HERE

Next Thursday the 8th we will be hosting Fat Loss Fundamentals. This free talk will cover exercise, nutrition, and mindset of effective fat loss programming. Bring your questions and a friend. Find out more HERE

Tomorrow Saturday the 3rd, Cascade Peak Performance coaches will be doing our burpees from last month's check-in challenge. Chris will be at 9am, Alex at 10am, and Karan batting cleanup at 11am.

October 12th - 17th is Bring a Friend Week. As a Cascade Peak Performance member you are welcome to bring a friend to any of your workouts at no cost- we just want to share what we do with more people.

Improve Your Workouts With a Foam Roller

Most everyone needs some soft tissue work. A massage therapist is going to getting in deeper than what can be done in the gym. However, the frequency might be lacking. Few people are going to get a massage every week. What can be done in place of, or better yet, between massages?

In the gym when we talk about soft tissue work it refers to pushing on knots with a variety of tools. The most common used at Cascade Peak Performance are foam rollers and lacrosse balls. Massage sticks, vudu bands and softballs are often thrown in the mix.

Soft tissue work fits well to start a workout. It will help to relax tight muscles. Increase internal temperature and blood flow to those muscles. This also allows the muscle to go through a better range of motion with reduced chance of strain. Many chronic issues can be managed/lessened with the right soft tissue program.

There are two general ways to apply pressure to muscles and the knots in them; moving across the area repeatedly, or holding on a moderately painful area for 10-20 seconds. Overall soft tissue work should be the first 3-5 minutes in the gym. Going beyond this can take away for the actual workout.

Staying too long on any one area has the potential of effectively bruising the muscle. If the soft tissue work is being used to help a chronic issue frequency is more important than intensity, i.e. a little every day is better than one big session once or twice per week.

Post workout can be beneficial for large muscle groups. Moving back and forth over the muscle will produce the desired effect of improved recovery. However, this should be done sparingly because the total amount of time foam rolling a particular area increases the chance of bruising it. Non-training day soft tissue work is great for problem areas and recovery. It only takes a few minutes to get the desired effect.

The firmness of the roller or ball matters. Start with a low density large surface area tool and overtime work into a firmer/low surface area for detail work. Causing pain is not the goal. Moderate pain is a good guide of where to work, but sometimes a low pain area can still be highly productive for blood flow and range of motion purposes.

There are common spots most people need to work, upper back and hips. There are also techniques which are only needed for specific issues and mobility limitations. At Cascade Peak Performance we can develop and teach a program specific to your needs and goals.

September Update

Labor Day Hours (9/7/15) - 8am to 6pm, regular hours for the rest of the week.

6am FitCamp is cancelled for Labor Day week 7th-11th

10am Monday Yoga will be moving to Tuesday at 10am

No evening Yoga Labor Day week, but will return the following week.

In partnership with the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, we will have a Ribbon Cutting Friday the 25th at 10am for the new location. This also marks 3 years in business.

August Update

Lift-Off Saturday August 22nd at 11am
It's back! We missed one because of the move. The Lift-Off is a chance for members to test their strength and progress on a couple of barbell lifts every 3 months. If interested, talk with your coach and get your name on the sign-up sheet at the gym.

Trial Membership
The trial membership is an easy way to get started in the gym. For $49 dollars a new member gets 3 coaching sessions and unlimited group training classes (Yoga, FitCamp and Guided Lifting) for 30 days. Our goal is to give someone a full sampling of everything the gym has to offer.

Check-In Challenge
Starting Monday the 17th and running to the end of the month, every post workout Facebook check-in will cause a coach to do a burpee. We will keep a total and at the end of the month then the coaches will get to work.

Adding More Yoga Times
We are adding Monday and Wednesday at 6:30pm to the schedule with the help of our friend Natacia. Learn more about her HERE

Wes is 1!