Fitness studio strives for personal best.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Catalyst Fitness - Company overview

Chris Cooper freely admits he wasn't the most gifted athlete growing up.

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Then the skinny redhead from St. Joseph's Island, near Sault Ste. Marie, says his body image probably contributed to some self-esteem issues.

It was only when he began working out in high school did he get an inkling of what his full potential was.

Now the still slender, but barrel-chested, owner of Catalyst Fitness surprises many when he dead-lifts 500 pounds at powerlifting competitions.

Since establishing the business in 2005, Cooper's downtown personal fitness studio has blossomed into one of the largest personal training studios in Northern Ontario with a client base of 230 members.

If you want a gym body, Cooper can deliver, but he finds it "rather formulaic."

He'd rather train professional athletes to achieve their maximum fitness potential, or devise a workout program for a grandmother to run a triathlon, or help someone shed a few pounds to fit into a skirt.

Catalyst offers a blizzard of programs ranging from beginner and advanced running and cycling groups, to yoga, women's soccer, dodgeball, pilates, a "Crunch Camp," a spring football conditioning camp, and a popular weight loss 'Flat Out Group.'

It forced Cooper to move last fall from some cramped space in a Queen Street loft to a larger studio nearby.

Walk into his naturally-lit studio, it's void of exercise equipment.

Those are tucked away in some private rooms for one-on-one training. Cooper confesses he's not a big fan of machines.

"If you have someone who wants to lose 10 pounds, the best way is to keep them moving and breathing hard," says the Lake Superior State University recreational management graduate. "We value hard work above everything else."

What's important is having room for clients to jump, run, carry and pull heavy stuff such as a weighted sled with a tug of war rope.

"We do things that most gyms don't do anymore such as strong man stuff."

And Cooper and his associates aren't fearful of breaking out a sweat themselves with their clients or to take a conditioning group outside to a local park.

"Our philosophy is a bit different. We don't get into the gimmicks that gyms will do to dredge up funds.

"We have a much higher tech approach but we stick to a lot of basic movements and we've developed exercises specifically for different people. It's way beyond the normal cookie cutter approach."

Catalyst Fitness is popular with many National Hockey League players returning...