Get into 'Elite' physical shape

Looking for a complete, demanding and rewarding workout system to get you into “elite” physical shape?

In 2006 trainer Lee Jacobsen teamed up with Sonja Ehlers to bring Sidney an Elite Fitness program.

“Our name is Elite Fitness, but we teach the CrossFit method,” said Jacobsen. “We are not yet officially affiliated with CrossFit, but our goal is to become a certified affiliate. We are both certified through CrossFit.”

“We started this way before it became popular, and introduced it to Sidney, Nebraska,” said Ehlers. “CrossFit in general has exploded worldwide over the years.”

“When we started it, back then CrossFit was just a web-based program,” added Jacobsen.

Both Elite Fitness instructors have been fitness-inclined their whole lives, and said that they truly love what they do.

“I’ve done fitness my whole life; in high school and I also played a little college basketball, but most of it was when I got into the state patrol,” said Jacobsen.

“I was a TAC officer for awhile, so I got to do those fitness items and some of those guys I was with were military men who became troopers,” he said. “One of those guys was a former Ranger and we just got into CrossFit and finally we decided ‘You know what? We are doing this everyday why don’t we just get certified?’”

Jacobsen said that he was already a fitness instructor for the state patrol and participating in training for the bomb team and SWAT team.

“I just brought that stuff back here with the CrossFit and it really just started with working with my family - my kids, my wife and I,” he said. “We were doing it and then Sonja was interested in doing it.”

“Once you get started you just love it,” said Ehlers, who also came from a fitness training background.

The two introduced themselves to each other and that was the beginning of Elite Fitness.

The instructors began teaching in the same room at the youth center in Sidney that they recently moved back into this year, but they also hold some workouts at the Cheyenne County Community Center.

“The center has been very good to us,” said Jacobsen. “They were there for us, they backed us all the way, and they let us lease a room from them.

“The center was good about making sure we had the room to workout and we were allowed to use the equipment we needed. Overtime we built up with more members and people became curious, and the nice thing about it is they are group workouts.”

Elite Fitness is a program technically provided by the community center and participants in the program either need to be a member of the center or pay a daily member fee, in addition to the program fee.

The additional program fee is approximately $100 a month, said the instructors, but kids programs may cost less and there are discounts such as those for military personnel.

“Just recently within the last six months we contacted the community center and talked to them and told them we were overflowing and needed to expand a little more,” said Jacobsen. “We’d looked at other options and places around town and they finally came to us about using the room here again (at the youth center).”

The classes have recently been equipped with all new workout equipment, which was paid for out of both trainers’ pockets.

Something for Everyone

Both trainers said that Elite Fitness offers something for every age and that it offers one of the best workouts around.

“We like the challenge of it and that there is competition involved,” said Jacobsen. “People want to see what other people are doing. But on top of that, it’s just a great way for a multitude of things.

“You could build muscle, you can lose weight, burn body fat, and there’s competitions that you can go to like the Tough Mudder and this is the kind of workouts that will get you there.

“They say you drink the Kool-Aid when you join CrossFit.”

The two said that the workouts in general are about becoming a healthier individual.

“Our concept isn’t about losing weight. It’s about becoming more healthy and more fit,” said Jacobsen.

“It is about making the inside of your body healthier,” said Ehlers. “The number on the scale doesn’t always tell the story of what you are going through.”

“I use to do powerlifting and running and different kinds of aerobics exercises, but since I’ve done this it’s changed my idea of what fitness should be,” said Jacobsen. “The day I found out was the day that I was laying in the corner in a fetal position sucking my thumb thinking ‘I gotta keep doing this.’ It was just a ‘Wow, this is what fitness should be like’ moment.

“CrossFit is a sport,” he said.

“You’re an athlete when you get in here, and also it’s not a quick fix for anything. This is a lifestyle change,” added Ehlers.

Combined, both instructors have approximately 80 to 100 participants in the program, with each training about 40 individuals.

“We do different sporting programs too. We have an Elite Cross-Country program, an Elite Basketball and Volleyball program and Sonja works with younger kids,” said Jacobsen.

“I’m certified in CrossFit in general and then I am certified in Kids CrossFit and CrossFit Gymnastics,” said Ehlers. “So I started a kids program with the little kids age 7 and up and it’s basically having fun.

“It’s not just a scaled-down version of what the adults do. It’s specified specifically for the kids, and then we also take on the high school athletes.”

The trainers will hold more kids programs during the summer months.

Ehlers stressed that although the workouts might sound demanding at times, they have 75-year-old participants in the program.

“It can be modified for anybody to do,” she said. “They are all functional movements. That’s why you don’t see a lot of equipment. It’s all just functional body weight or core weight.”

“If you ever see a young child pick something up very rarely do they just bend over and pick it up. They squat and then grab it,” said Jacobsen. “They also do that when they learn to stand. So the 7-year-olds are actually better at that and at what we want to teach them. We don’t want to add a lot of weight to them but we want to teach them the movements.

“The concept is you crawl, you walk, and then you climb and then you climb higher. You run, run faster and then climb a wall. That’s the concept. Why stop at just walking?”

“We are bringing the kids back into the gym so that when they’re older they are comfortable in the gym,” said Ehlers.

“Kids are so natural at doing it,” she continued. “It’s play for them doing pull-ups because it’s like pulling up to a monkey bar or doing pull-overs. We learn to not do it. We’re born inherently able to and we gradually learn not to. We are just taking them back to basics.”

Beyond the Gym

Not only does Elite Fitness focus on gym exercises to become healthier, but the program also delves into what goes on in participants’ kitchens.

“Your pyramid is based off of health. So the first thing is nutrition – that’s the basis of everything,” said Jacobsen. “You could be the greatest and strongest guy in the world and eat terribly and die of a heart attack.”

Jacobsen said that the next step of the pyramid is actions such as running, rowing and biking, and that the step after that is what is called “gymnastics.”

“Everything that we just said is natural to the human body. Gymnastics is pull-ups and when you sit down on a chair you are squatting, for example,” said Jacobsen.

“At the very top is Olympic weightlifting,” he said.

“An Olympic lift is defined as you start at your core - your center - and you move out to the extremities – it’s a full-body movement,” said Ehlers.

“I taught weightlifting so I am not anti-weightlifting at all,” she continued. “I’ve been certified and CrossFit is different because it is constantly varied. You never have the same workouts. They are constantly varied except for benchmark workouts, which are going to measure your fitness.”

Ehlers said that every workout changes because the participant will see changes in their performances like a heavier weight used or a faster speed they can travel.

Jacobsen said that although they use the CrossFit method, the trainers also can adapt any workout for any individual.

“We also have fitness backgrounds that allow us that if somebody wants to work on certain areas they can, even if it comes to a power lifting thing,” he said. “Some are okay like benching, we still do those workouts.

“We base cross-country workouts more on kicks or have more vertical jumps for volleyball players,” he said.

“We can be sports specific,” said Ehlers.

Ehlers said that through the program some participants have gone on to compete in CrossFit competitions.

“We have competitors in Sidney, Nebraska,” she said. “We have taken them to the Cornhusker CrossFit States Games and we also have several that are competing in the Open CrossFit Games. We’re small but we have competitors here. There are also competitions for kids at even age 7.”

Elite Fitness classes are offered during the early morning, mid-morning and the evening they said, and two different types of fitness classes are offered.

“Because we expanded so much we now offer two classes simultaneously,” said Jacobsen.

“It’s not like we are going to just throw you into a strong CrossFit workout,” he said. “We have two different sets. One is called EliteFit and one is EliteFreak. EliteFit can still be pretty taxing on the body, but we allow it to be less dynamic in reference to the Olympic lifts that you have to do.

“We break it down for them in EliteFit and what we find is some members say ‘This is where I want to be,” and like the level that they are at. Then you have other members that say, ‘What else? What is next? Give me more, give me more.’”

Those that want more join Ehlers in EliteFreak workouts.

“There is never ever a level that you can always reach and say you’re at the top because there is always the next step,” said Jacobsen.

“Everybody has their own place that they want to be and that is fine,” added Ehlers.

Jacobsen works with more of the EliteFit participants at the community center and Ehlers trains more of the EliteFreaks at the youth center, but both share and can train any level of participant.

Jacobsen’s classes start at 4:15 a.m. and run until about 10 a.m. During the summer kids programs will begin at 10 a.m. after the adults.

“Whatever the workout I can modify it and go up and go down,” said Ehlers, who holds classes starting at 5 a.m., mid-morning classes from 9-11 a.m. and evening classes starting at 5:30 p.m.

Her kids programs start after school at 4:30 p.m. and all times are subject to change during the summer months.

The classes are an hour long and usually consist of a warm-up, a workout of the day, and sometimes educational items.

“A lot are also involved in the Get Fit program, so we try to work in coordination with some of the Get Fit people to say we’re going to do some high-calorie burns,” said Jacobsen.

Both trainers said however that the program can fit into anyone’s time restraints.

“If you have a half an hour we can get you in and out and you will have a good workout for the day,” said Ehlers. “It’s your own workout.”

Both trainers stressed that although there are many benefits to working out in groups, it is the individual’s workout and that they should not been intimidated to come to the gym.

“While we can offer a one-on-one I think it’s more beneficial for people to workout in small groups,” said Ehlers.

“What’s nice about this is the community,” said Jacobsen. “People want you to come in and they will tell you when you are on the ground not feeling good because it’s your first workout, ‘We’ve been there.’ Every one of them has been there and they know how you feel.”

“We have people that have never done it in their entire life and they come in and the thing is we understand that,” said Ehlers. “There is more empathy. Not sympathy because they know they are going to get through it, but empathy. When you come in, you can leave all expectations at the door.

“It doesn’t matter who you were before, or what you were. You are starting over right here,” she said. “You need to come in and do what you need to do. It doesn’t matter what anybody else is doing in here. You come in and do your own workout.”

“They have a good bond when there are more people working together, but we break it down for you - we want you to succeed. If you can’t do something there is a progression to work up to that,” said Jacobsen.

Ehlers said that it is amazing to see the power and confidence that individuals gain from accomplishing things they never thought they could do.

The trainers said that one goal they have is that when participants move or leave the gym for some reason is for them to be able to continue the workouts on their own.

They recommend for those interested to talk to a physician to see if the workout is for them, and to see what physical strengths and weaknesses the individual might have so that they can work with that.

“It’s not easy. If it was easy they would call it an easyout, but it’s called a workout,” said Jacobsen.

To sign up for Elite Fitness, anyone interested can contact the community center to get more information, visit the program website at http://www.elitefitness-sidney.com, or email Lee Jacobsen at [email protected] or Sonja Ehlers at [email protected].

There is also a Facebook page for members of the program to discuss different workout styles and healthy eating habits.