Fitness for real life

Train Hard, Live Easy: No gym required

Steve Macdonald is co-owner of the Cranbrook business called Train Hard, Live Easy. — photo courtesy of Steve Macdonald

What started as a four-week boot camp at the College of the Rockies’ outdoor running track in the summer of 2009 has grown into a unique full-time business for Steve Macdonald, trainer and co-owner of Train Hard, Live Easy (formerly Total Fitness in Cranbrook).

Macdonald is ex-military and a former resident of the United Kingdom. The natural beauty and lifestyle of the Kootenays inspired him to make Cranbrook his home and also inspired the initial boot camp.

“I just wanted to do something to help people get fit,” said Macdonald, “not for the gym but for out there—for real life.”

At the end of the first boot camp, the four original clients asked Macdonald to continue with training. As word-of-mouth spread, so did his operations.

“Once the winter months set in we trained at the curling rink and sometimes T.M. Roberts Elementary School,” said Macdonald. “As long as people wanted to train, I was happy to find a space to do it.”

By 2012 Macdonald had a permanent space in a Cranbrook Street strip mall and in July 2014 moved to his current location at 1005 Kootenay Street North. The business has now grown to include two business partners: Lorraine Alderson provides nutritional coaching and co-owner Lisa Johnson, a former client, is a trainer.

Macdonald said he isn’t interested in becoming the biggest gym in town. The set-up is no-frills and simple. There are no expensive weight machines or TVs for your treadmill-viewing pleasure. In fact, there aren’t treadmills. What you will find are kettlebells, barbells, rowing machines and jump ropes.

The gym has an outdoor compound that looks more like a scrapyard than a training facility. Equipped with iron hanging bars, old tires, and a pallet for clients to load with weights to drag around, the compound is perfect for encouraging natural body movements.

Macdonald doesn’t train people for competitive exercise. He defines fitness as the ability to handle whatever task is in your way with strength, power and confidence.

“It’s about the body using itself to move,” he said. “Getting fit for real life.”

Train Hard, Live Easy limits intake of new clients to eight a month, and there’s always a waiting list. Macdonald said in the beginning he accepted everyone who was a good match for the program, which made it hard to really get to know each individual.

“To me it’s about knowing how to grow your business without losing what makes you special,” Macdonald said. “For us it’s all about happy clients. We realize that what we offer isn’t for everyone. That’s why we have a one-week free trial period, which is a chance to get to know potential clients and for them to get to know us. It’s about helping people who are willing to be coached, to do things a bit differently.”

In order to support whole-body health, Train Hard, Live Easy also provides nutritional guidance based in part on what’s often called the paleo diet: meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. Like Macdonald, it’s not conventional but it works.

“I’ve loved the last five years,” said Macdonald. “If you love what you do, you’ll never work again. I haven’t worked in five years.”