About:
My name is Pam Gabruch and I have been coming to Synergy since August 2012! I was actually pointed in the direction of Crossfit, and Synergy, by my cousin. She doesn’t do Crossfit, but had seen an ad on the internet, and it was the first gym to pop up on Google when we searched Crossfit gyms in Saskatoon. I was dissatisfied with where I was physically and going to a gym by myself just wasn’t super appealing anymore, so I decided to give Crossfit a try! I did Crossfit for about a year and a half, before I moved to the Powerlifting program. I decided I wanted to improve my strength in those 3 lifts before going back to Crossfit. But, I fell in love wih Powerlifting; went back to my old love of just lifting heavy stuff, and haven’t looked back.
I work at Kilburn Hall Youth Centre, which is a youth correctional facility here in the city. I work directly with the youth, in the capacity of a “staff” (aka guard) and wear many different hats; counsellor, teacher, hardass, therapist/sounding board, whatever is needed in a certain situation. It can be very interesting work.
Saskatoon has been my home base for almost 17 years; before that, I hailed from Swift Current. For a few years I lived in Yorkton and North Battleford, working at the youth facilities there, but Saskatoon has always been home for me.
Achievements:
What’s one interesting thing about you that other members may not know?
I’m a huge book worm, seriously haha a big one. I have 2 book shelves full of books, with almost all of the shelves having 2 rows of books. When I was younger, my mom used to come into my room at 2, 3 in the morning to tell me to go to bed. By the time I was about 16, she stopped doing that and it was my own fault of I went to school with only a few hours of sleep!
What is your most memorable moment at Synergy Strength?
I have to say I have a few memorable moments since I started coming to Synergy. One of them was when I did my first big deadlift during a test week; Crystal was encouraging me the whole time, and basically was like, yeah, we’re gonna put some more weight on there. I lifted 235lbs and it was amazing. That was at the old gym.
My other memorable moments are when I finally squatted 200 lbs, not long after I started doing powerlifting.
And another one was when I competed in my first ever Powerlifting competition in September; it was such a huge thrill, and I look forward to competing in more! Definitely caught the Iron Bug!
When you talk about Synergy Strength with friends, what do you brag about?
I tell my friends and family that I love Synergy. I have amazing coaches, who know when to push me, and how to improve my technique. They tell me to sit back doing my deadlifts, or to push my knees out when I’m squatting. It may be more expensive than other gym facilities, but I have the benefit of 4 coaches; more so, since I can talk to any of the coaches at Synergy if I have any questions regarding mobility or technique. I tell them that Synergy is an amazing community of people who care for each other, not just a place to work out and go home, not talking to anyone. For me, personally, that is was makes Synergy so special.
What does #synergystrong mean to you?
It means constantly striving to improve yourself and your lifts at the gym. It means to have that ambition to work on the weaker areas of your life, whether that be lifting or diet or lifestyle, and to continue working on the strong points, because they always need tweaking.
To me, it means family and community.
What is you favorite aspect of Synergy Strength?
The amazing people that I get to see every time that I’m there to train. The people I can go and catch up with, or just say hi to, before,during, and after workouts.
It’s being able to go up to a friend or a coach, all excited because you improved on a lift, or did a massive increase on an old 1RM, and they share in your excitement, because they are genuinely excited and happy for you.
You can make new friends all the time, because it’s a community atmosphere.
Best Lifts:
Squat: 102.5 kg/225.5 lbs
Bench Press: 57.5 kg/126.5 lbs
Deadlift: 137.5 kg/ 302.5 lbs
Basically all of the above are my favourite lifts; they are definitely the ones that make me the happiest!
