Tag Archives: team building

We Are Rugged Maniacs!

We Are Rugged Maniacs!!!!

The trainers at Excel Fitness take pride in their knack for creating a fun environment to work and workout. Every month we get together for staff bonding events, usually in the form of bar-b-ques and the like. This month, we tried something a little different…RUGGED MANIAC!!!

Rugged Maniac is a 5k obstacle course, designed by the Navy SEALS, through the mud, over walls, up planks, under barbed wire, over rolling logs and into massive pools of muddy water! It was hard, it was messy, and it was so much fun! Jeff, Ilicia, Chris, Heather, Gary and Andy met at the motocross track in Southwick, MA on Sunday, September 30th pumped and ready to get dirty. We started off the race strong and for the most part were able to stick together as a team and help each other through some of the more challenging obstacles. Gary came out way ahead, finishing the race in about 35 minutes while the rest of your rugged trainers finished in about 45 minutes.

By the end of the event, we were exhausted, filthy, and smiling ear to ear! Asked to describe their experience, the trainers of Excel Fitness had this to say:

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think Rugged Maniac would be so challenging! What a rewarding experience to push myself and bond with my coworkers! We cheered each other on and supported each other when obstacles got overwhelming.” –Ilicia Balaban

“Going into Rugged Maniac I was a little nervous about how I would do, but as I was doing it, I thought to myself, ‘I just want to finish.’ After I was done, I just wanted to do it again.” –Andy Fazzina

“Great time had by all! Team-building and bonding! Added bonus: NO INJURIES.” – Jeff Roux

“I was so nervous going in but I left it all out on the course! Awesome experience.” –Heather Claflin-Coy

“When I finished the race I felt proud and accomplished!” –Chris Caruso

“Training for the Rugged Maniac gave me great motivation to push harder in my workouts, plus it was a good excuse to get real dirty, have a few beers, and a few laughs with some friends!” –Gary Maher

The general consensus:

WE CAN’T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN AND NEXT YEAR YOU’RE ALL COMING WITH US!!!

Excel Fitness Team Builds

Excel Fitness took its staff and advisory board on a TEAM BUILDING event at Saint Joseph College on August 16th, 2011.   Saint Joseph College’s Adventure Course leader, Justin McGlamery took us through a three hour highly organized and educational course on learning and Team Building Tools.  Using such terms as: TRUST, COMMITMENT, Communication and Success.

After two hours of passive tasks and some drills to encourage communication and sharing, we attempted “The Helium Stick!?!?!?”  I would love to explain more, but let’s say it took someone in our group to do modified “lamaze breathing” techniques to finally get a rhythm going .  Justin said, “Every group has their own way to learn “The Helium Stick, aka The Stick of Death,” why this was ours I do not know.  The third hour we did a tire swing relay with our group.  Wow, was that harder than I thought it would be!   All of the events built upon one another and we succeeded with this task as a group, not as individuals.

I encourage all businesses both big and small, institutional departments or other groups to participate in something like this to not only get out of the office, but to learn about one another.  Want to be successful?  You got to try something different.

One of our trainers told me they were so happy to work for a company who really wants to keep getting better.

Shawn O’Brien – twitter  @shawnexcelfit