There is absolutely no secret that the women at Compound Strength & Conditioning completely rule the roost. Every time one of our guest coaches come in to help out the overwhelming feedback is that as a group, the women at Compound Strength & Conditioning are making amazing strength, speed and power gains. This is not to say that the men are not - I have seen some of the biggest jumps in strength, technique and overall fitness from the male members- but as a little gym in a little village in South Nottingham, the woman are killing it.
So why is this? If I am honest, I have no clue, but I think some of the reasons maybe below.
Daniel Coyle wrote a rather interesting book called ‘TheTalent Code’, an interesting read and if you are off on holiday please ask andyou can borrow my copy. He suggests that there are 3 major attributes to a place and a person elevating their talent and progressing ahead of the rest.
If we look at the first one, deep practice, or ‘showing up’ as I like to call it: the group of women at Compound have it in abundance. They are in the gym day in and day out, they have their routine, and they practice.They ask questions to which sometimes I am scared I don’t have the right answers to, and they work hard on technique to enable the load to follow. They are also fiercely committed to each other, to making sure that they all succeed.Whether it’s spotting pull ups in the middle of a workout, telling each other to ‘stick a little more weight on the bar’, or supporting each other through the end of their workout - this group of women stick together and practice not just technique and reps but togetherness and team work like no other.
Ignition, or motivation as most will know this, can be found across the whole Compound community in abundance. I have not met a more motivated bunch in the gym - they come in filled with energy, which I will happily admit I need after working a full day, and are ready to focus on bettering themselves based on whatever is on the board. They have internal goals that they want to meet, very often not making them public until they have achieved them. When we as coaches workout, they shout at us to work harder too (often needed). I have spent the last three weeks with an extended hangover from various weddings and stag do’s. One of the girls deep in the middle of our part C out on a run turned to run back to the gym and, seeing me visibly struggling to put one foot in front of the other, shouted at me “come on Max you can do it”. We are motivated as a group and that motivation as a wider membership is amplified within the female membership.
Master coaching: now I don’t know about this, I mean Sam andI are great and all, we have been at this for a long time, but I think the power of a strong female in a gym environment is pretty important. In steps my little sister Juliet Rose Abbott!
When she first came back from her travels, I pushed Jules into the CrossFit environment to get involved, and now four years later Jules runs Compound Strength & Conditioning. Yes, Sam and I do our bit, but we are under no illusion that the majority of the time we are told what to do by Jules: keeping us two inline (two of the worst diary managers in the world) is a job in itself.Jules is the creative mind that sets up all the events, runs all of our social media, is the driving force behind our corporate business, and has time to respond to all our members individual issues; pretty amazing really. You then tie that in with the fact that she can push press more than most men in our gym, and takes her share of coaching and programming, it’s all very impressive.
Ultimately what I am saying is I (being bias) think we have the most committed group of women in any gym (and men) who are an inspiration, support and motivation to each other.
We then have my little sister who has gone through her fair share of stuff over the last few years and still manages to keep up with her older brother in a work out (haha), keep growing our businesses, and maintains an energy level when around people that sometimes means she has nothing much left to give outside of the gym. She puts all of her effort and time into what we do so really, it’s no wonder the woman are killing it at our gym and making progress like no other. They all walk in, shake off their day, push each other along, get the job done, and outcome is incredible - super impressive bunch of ladies.
- Max Abbott, co-owner and coach