This last year has proven to be a fascinating one. I started working with The North Face as one of their Mountain Athletics coaches where I and other trainers coach people of NYC to train for athletic events and to get people in better overall shape. Before this year my business was primarily focused to one on one personal training with me giving fitness classes occasionally for local fitness clubs. The North Face Mountain Athletics program has given me a ton more confidence training large groups and has opened up my mind to training with just your body-weight. The program has done more than that though, it’s also brought about new relationships with people from all over the New York city area. It’s made a new family for me which we termed the #MA_Crew on Instagram & Twitter, and although I only meet with them once a week I feel like I have a strong unspoken bond with them.
I started to think, what is this bond about? I believe it can be traced back to our primal instincts to a time before farming and cities. Back in our paleolithic days we humans worked together to hunt and forage for food. This pack hunting and foraging made us work together towards a common goal. We all had our own traits that made us good at certain tasks, some were better strategists, others were good at the hunt, while some were better at diversion tactics or supporting/consoling each other. Whatever the case we worked together to accomplish a goal and in the process it made us more interdependent and respectful of each others skill-set. In other words we worked as a family. 
Working out together in large groups, like in the Mountain Athletics training, is very similar. Although many of us are working towards different goals i.e. a Spartan Race, a Mudder Race or a marathon, we are working together and cheering on each other when things get tough. We’re all working hard and see that certain people are better at certain types of exercises while others are better supporters and cheerleaders. The bottom line is we all need each other for the training to go well and for our family to be strong. The bond of training together is as strong as the human bond to survive. Are you ready to train with us?
Although I am no longer with the North Face I am still friends with everyone that took part in the program. Which just goes to show that the bond we developed as a group is real!
