My name is Dale Hopkins and I am a software developer at VendAsta in Saskatoon. I joined Synergy in March 2009, so I’ve been working with Chad for over 2.5 years now!
When I started Crossfit, I weighed 210lb (20% + body fat) and I had a 230lb back squat, a 250lb deadlift, and a 100lb overhead press. I’m happy to say that I now weigh 200lb (10% body fat) have a 315lb back squat, a 425lb deadlift, and a 155lb overhead press.
I had tried a number of other gyms, and I built a gym in my basement, but for me I would train hard for about a year and then my progress would plateau, my motivation would drop and then I’d stop attending regularly and see my fitness decline and weight increase. This has been the biggest change for me at Synergy: It’s now been 2.5 years without me hitting a plateau and my motivation and drive for the gym is way higher than it was when I started and I am still improving.
Synergy’s obsession over measurement and improvement is key to the success of the gym. They help you measure your progress at the gym in terms of weights, technique, nutrition, and body composition. They then are able to give you feedback on how best to improve those measurements and when you do, they celebrate your achievements and let you know that they are genuinely happy for you.
There have been a lot of big accomplishments for me at the gym:
- I learned to do a hand stand pushup, and then improved to being able to do 14 in a row!
- I improved my 5k time from 28 minutes to 21:12
- I have successfully adopted a paleo diet, I used to pride myself on eating anything and everything I wanted in large quantities.
- I learned how to do the olympic lifts from Synergy and now compete regularly at Saskatchewan weightlifting meets!
- I have reduced my body fat percentage by over 10%, increased my lean muscle mass, and increased all of my lifts at the same time.
Dale Hopkins
Software Developer
