They call themselves the most audacious fitness community in Canada, and they're looking to foster a Culture of Funk in the Energy City.
It's called Funkology - not a scientific term - and it's the basis for a robust workout that encourages fun, friendship and pushing yourself to do better. Founded by Levi Clampitt with Cara Lee getting in on the ground floor, the workouts sprung up from humble origins in December 2012.
It all started with the Funk Walk. Unable to enjoy the outdoors in the middle of a Prairie winter, the group took to the Estevan Leisure Centre, donned weighted jackets and walked around the track in Spectra Place.
A couple more people joined in, more activities were added to the workout and when May rolled around and the group was able to exercise outside, Funkology really took off.
Clampitt said there are now about 60 people who will attend the weekly sessions on a regular basis, with about 20 showing up for each one.
On July 31, I threw on gym shorts and running shoes to see exactly what this Culture of Funk was all about. Clampitt summed things up pretty quickly with an offhand remark to the participants following the warm-up.
"Who knew working out could be fun?" he said.
Clampitt and Lee are resident Funkologists, setting up and running different exercises with fellow organizers Blair Tinant, Rico Tomsha and Anastasiya Shved. Together they create a safe and friendly atmosphere that truly does make working out fun. It has to be fun and non-intimidating because that's what keeps everyone coming back.
"We put the fun in funky," Clampitt said. "It's that fun that you get from overcoming obstacles. You feel empowered. Over on my station, there's a lot of people who are hating in the moment, it's not fun for them. But afterwards, they pat themselves on their back."
The group is a non-profit entity. As Clampitt and Lee put it, they don't make people pay, they let them. There is a donation box at each session, and participants can drop in some money if they choose. The money goes into a communal pot for team T-shirts, equipment and events as well as charities. The group's last fundraiser for Get Active 4 Autism brought in $418 at one session.
Growing from the Funk Walks to the Funk Sessions, Clampitt said everything has grown organically. He said they try to challenge everyone but also give people breaks.
"And we reward them with ice cream," added Lee, noting everyone who wants to come get ice cream after a session is welcome to join the group. "There's always a lot of laughs here. It's not like when you go to the gym. In a way, it feels like gym class, but gym class when you were seven years old and it was still fun."
The Funkology group also wants to help the participants build relationships outside of their weekly workouts. Aside from getting ice cream, they host barbecues and events in lots of casual environments.
"This is a lifestyle. It's not just a workout. It's like-minded individuals and just meeting with them for dinner, parties, movies, whatever. Just being in their lives is what the funk is about," said Clampitt.
And when he says you need to experience Funkology to really understand it, he's right. For those intimidated by fitness groups, the Funkologists and everyone else attending will put you at ease and let you go at your own pace. You're only competing against yourself. Tomsha noted Clampitt repeatedly tells everyone, 'There are no egos here."
When I attended a session last week, the group set up at the Estevan Comprehensive School's football field. The exercises were divided into four stations and the larger group was split into groups of four. With small numbers of people in each station and then moving from spot to spot, the workout keeps everyone active regularly with some moments for breaks.
Things started easy enough in my group with two sets of 20 lunges, followed by leg lifts. We quickly moved into military crawls before getting back on our feet for agility steps and high-five planks.
The next session involved a series of burpees, planks, one-arm planks and insect crawls, running each for 40 seconds at a time.
The next station involved simply pulling a weight on a makeshift sled through the grass. Thirty seconds was all you needed for that one.
The final station was for tire flips and pulls. I would have preferred the tire flip, but put up with the tire pull.
The session ends with what the Funkologists call The Challenge. It's a different activity each time. At the end of the previous session the group split into teams and pushed their cars to a finish line. This week the evening closed with the cone game, a mad dash around the field picking up and knocking over pylons to help your team win.
Clampitt and Lee are now moving out of Estevan, but Funkology will continue under the guidance of Tinant, Tomsha and Shved who are looking forward to keeping the funk alive.
The new Funkologists have been part of the team from almost the very beginning and wish to keep things going with new and innovative workouts.
"I think we just want to keep on switching things up. I think that's one of the best things Cara and Levi did, was every week was something new and different," said Tomsha. "You see the tires over here, it's amazing how much you can do with a tire."
"We want to keep it funky. It's not just an exercise, it's something unique," added Shved.
Anybody looking for further information about the fitness group may check out the website www.funkology.info and through the website people are able to connect with the Facebook group.
