Discover the Power of Moving Meditation in Nature
These sessions are more than just workouts—they’re an opportunity to reset, recharge, and rediscover the joy of movement.
April 18 to May 16 - Access Road Run Series
June 2 (ongoing) - Walk and Breathe
June 13 to July 18 - Track Workout Series
July 16 - August 13 - Teachers Only Walk and Breathe Group Coaching
August 5 - September 4 - 10-Year Anniversary Park Workout
September 26- October 24 - Form Awareness Run Series
Access Road Run Series
Dial in Pacing, Hills, Twists and Turns.
Nothing feels quite like gravel and dirt under your feet while running. Slight dampness of the morning as the sun is rising makes for a tacky interaction with your feet and the ground while the denseness of the air adds to the denseness of the forest around you. Enjoy the wonderfulness that the PNW outdoors has to offer guided by a Spears Strong Trainer to supply the motivation, expert run cueing and creativity within each week's group training runs in nature to keep you looking forward to getting up early every Friday morning.
April 18-May 16
Every Friday at 6-7:30 am
Includes at-home video workouts assigned by your trainer to do between sessions to recover and progress you.
Runs take place on access roads in Camas. Location sent on registration.
Cost for this limited space series: $170 (no drop-ins available)
Personal and small group training clients can use code ACCESSROADS for a $25 DISCOUNT
“The Spears Strong trail running series equipped me with the skills and confidence I needed to take in the beauty around me while on the trail, rather than focusing on my feet. Among other skills, I learned proper form for ascending and descending hills, which enables me to run more efficiently with less shock/stress to my body, and the camaraderie within the training group made the series a fun and encouraging experience.”
A perfect transition step from Spears Strong’s Form Awareness Run training program to take body awareness while in motion, or moving meditation, to a level of higher physical effort. Learn to become one with the ups and downs, twists and turns as well as each step your foot comes down on the imperfect terrain underneath. Feeling tall and strong from your glutes of the leg connecting with earth while your foot splays and your ankle calibrates and adjusts to every off camber pronation or supination mother nature is throwing at you. Knowing what to do with your arms and hands to counterbalance the terrain and giving your hips and lower legs the confidence to be free and run!
Instead of being discouraged by hills, Spears Strong’s Access Road Run Program will teach you how to let go of control of what you think your pace should be and how hard you should be pushing and let the inundations of mother nature along with your breathing, take over. Learn to use your upper body weight, instead of your feet and lower legs, to control your speed and guide you around turns. Integrating into your nervous system to take more steps going uphill with your pace slowing down and you being able to have the confidence to look around at this slower pace and appreciate the real reason you are in the woods with a group of like minded people early in the morning in the first place.
This program is running, make no mistake. That doesn’t mean you need to be a track star or marathoner to participate though. Training runs will be set up for runners of different speed and levels to not only challenge themselves the appropriate amount but also be able to be a part of the group. Camaraderie while challenging yourself in nature early in the morning releasing so many feel good chemicals the rest of your day and weekend will be positively amplified.
That being said, if you currently have injuries let us know and we can get you set up in a program to get rid of said injuries so the next time this program comes around you will be ready to go. Expect to run anywhere between 3 -5 miles at the beginning of the program and 5 -8 miles towards the end of the program. We’ll teach you how to hydrate, layer and fuel yourself with supporting material. You will also get an accompanying training plan with supported and individualized virtual workouts to keep you from having to guess what to do in between group training runs.
Track Workout Series
5-Week Track Workout Series for Enhanced Performance
All Levels Welcome! Every track workout will include an option for new runners and an option for those who are training for a race or performance. Must be injury-free to participate.
June 13 - July 18 (no workout on July 4)
Every Friday at 6-7 am
Includes at-home video workouts assigned by your trainer to do between sessions to recover and progress you.
Track location (Camas) will be announced on registration.
Cost for this limited space series: $150 (no drop-ins available)
Existing clients can use code SPRINT for a $20 DISCOUNT
Group Walk and Breathe
Mondays, 4-5 pm
Looking for an alternative way to relieve stress? Want to move more but you don’t love working out?
If you’re prone to overwhelm, panic attacks or just can’t get motivated to move or get outside - try our Walk & Breathe to get some relief.
Every session of our Walk and Breathe will include just that: walking and breathing. We’ll have some elements of walking: from slow and intentional strides focusing on body awareness to walking and chatting with a partner to stopping mid-walking to take in nature and get the restorative and focused in-the-present time that you (we all!) need. We’ll always do some guided focused breathing, taking a moment to pause and feel our diaphragms in action.
Life is hard and hectic. It gets away from us, technology takes over and time and again the intentions we had to go for a walk, meditate, cook a healthy meal, get to bed early or establish meaningful goals … go unfulfilled.
One step at a time we can make progress but it takes commitment and it takes consistency. Joining a group of others challenging themselves to cultivate positive changes makes that commitment to doing the work easier, and more fun.
Every session will also include a focus on the current Spears Strong Theme of the Month and how we can get traction on all the things that affect how we feel and perform. Our themes include: Sleep, Mindset Training, Nutrition, Breathing, Movement Improvement, Off-the-Grid and Healthy Holidays.
Mondays 4-5 pm (ongoing, locations announced on sign-up in Camas/Washougal)
PRICING
1x $27 (single-use drop-in)
4x pack $96 ($24 per class, expires in 5 weeks)
8x pack $168 ($21 per class, expires in 5 weeks) Use this option if you’re doing 2 or more per week.
Spears Strong members get 20 percent off. Use Discount Code GROUPWORKOUTS
Teachers Only Walk and Breathe Group Coaching
Summer is the perfect time to develop healthy habits for yourself before going back to school. Whether you teach kindergarten or college, you need time to decompress, get outside, move your body, and … breathe.
July 16 - August 13
Wednesdays at 10-11 am
Includes access to our Foundation Program video library, a variety of 5-20 minute movement routines and guidance on when to do them between walk and breathe sessions.
Locations announced on registration (Camas/Washougal).
Cost for this special series $125 for 5 weeks (no drop-ins)
You work hard, you sacrifice your personal time, and you care … a lot. Teachers know how to put others first and get things done. You are meticulous, organized, and passionate.
Quite often, though, that passion for a child’s education means you put yourself last and maybe your health suffers. Your job requires you to be ON all day, giving your energy to young minds and putting yourself out there for a very important cause. You’re either on your feet talking or behind a desk planning and grading. Maybe even you forget to take a break or eat, or hydrate!
Take it from someone who knows what it takes to teach. This special series is led by a Spears Strong Health Coach who also happens to be a former teacher! She knows firsthand the stress that comes with leading an entire group of young people who all think and motivate in different ways. As a journalism instructor at Clark College, she experienced firsthand weekends of grading and preparing lessons for the upcoming week. She knows how thirsty you get after an hour or two of lecturing, how draining being the one in charge can be.
Take some time this summer to evaluate your health and fitness and use this series to create routines and tools you can take into the fall, feeling re-energized and ready to balance out life as a busy teacher with your own health and fitness.
This series is specific for TEACHERS ONLY - no administrators, no parents, no kids, just a group of folks with a lot in common. Through the series, you will experience the power of a group to come together, with expert guidance, and put their physical, mental, and emotional health first.
Every session of our Walk and Breathe Group Coaching will include just that: walking and breathing. We’ll have some elements of walking: from slow and intentional strides focusing on body awareness to walking and chatting with a partner to stopping mid-walking to take in nature and get the restorative and focused in-the-present time that you (we all!) need. We’ll always do some guided focused breathing, taking a moment to pause and feel our diaphragms in action.
We will focus on what teachers need most: stress relief and meditative movement outside, but we will also focus on hydration, nutrition and sleep, giving you resources and tools to take home and progress on as you prepare for the fall term.
This program also includes access to and guidance on our Spears Strong Foundation Program - a series of 24 rotating (for variety!) 5-20 minute movement videos led by Spears Strong Trainers and Coaches to complement your walking sessions. The videos include routines to start your day, break up and stretch after sitting, unwind at night, and warm up and cool down for your walks.
10-Year Anniversary Park Workouts
Grab your yoga mat and go back in time with us to where it all started: local park group workouts. Experience a challenging but fun workout led by our founder and original trainer, Jonathan Spears.
August 5 - September 4
Tuesdays and/or Thursdays at 9:30-10:30 am
PRICING
1x $27 (single-use drop-in)
4x pack $96 ($24 per class, expires in 5 weeks)
8x pack $168 ($21 per class, expires in 5 weeks) Use this option if you’re doing 2 or more group workouts per week.
Spears Strong members get 20 percent off. Use Discount Code GROUPWORKOUTS
Spears Strong began 10 years ago with a big dream, a big goal, and a big ambition by Jonathan Spears. On his own with no funding, no investors, and no facility, he started holding group workouts at local parks from East Vancouver to Camas. Rain, wind, sun, frost … he and our courageous Spears Strongers braved the elements for fun and fitness.
As we celebrate 10 years as a small business, we are bringing back Park Workouts for a limited 5-week series! Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to get fit outside in the way that started it all.
You’ll need a yoga mat or a large towel for these workouts, as you’ll be both on the mat and on your feet. Locations to be announced on registration. Must be injury-free to participate, but all levels are welcome.
Form Awareness Run Series
Improve your running, get into running, and connect with your body.
Spears Strongers on a Form Awareness Run. Photo by Sara Westby
Moving meditation in nature is the easiest way to describe this experience. The Form Awareness Run is led by a Spears Strong trainer who will guide you through a body awareness cycle of cues to help you connect with your body. Awareness of how your foot is connecting to the ground and what your shoulders and hands should be doing while connecting to how you are breathing. To accomplish this, we slow it down and focus on creating muscle memory on how to disengage your foot from the earth in a non-ballistic way with a solid and supple posture.
This is great for the avid runner who has recurring running injuries or is interested in mixing it up and slowing it down, someone getting back into running, and anyone else who is looking for a different way to connect with your body in nature. The FAR is done in complete silence except for the cues from your trainer and questions and guidance during the group warm-up and cool-down.
“The Form Awareness Run is harder than you would think. Not huffing and puffing hard but more mentally challenging and getting you to fully connect with your body. You learn what to think of and how to hold your body at a slowed down pace. It works your body too. Even though it’s slowed down, expect your muscles to work and get firing in the right way.”
Moving meditation in nature is the easiest way to describe this experience. This very slow jog is led by a Spears Strong trainer who will guide you through a body awareness cycle of cues to help you connect with your body. Great for runners and want-to-be runners.
September 26 - October 24
Fridays at 6-7 am,
Locations will be outdoors in Camas. Specific location sent when you register.
Cost for this limited space series: $150 (no drop-ins available)
Current Spears Strongers use code FAR to get $20 discount.
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One of our mantras at Spears Strong is “Practice when it’s easy.” So what would be the easiest way to practice working on connecting with your body and breath while running? Slowing it way down and having someone guide you through a moving body awareness routine. Helping you not just connect to earth or where to pick your knee up from on your body for the next step but how to connect and engage with your upper body including your arms, hands and head to minimize the stress on your lower back, knees and feet.
But check it out, that last paragraph is actually just the floor of what you are going to get out of this five week series. Spears Strong definitely wants to give you the guidance and confidence to know when you are going out for your next run you are progressing your body with the runs after effects rather than regressing your body and getting closer to a runner’s injury as the after effects of your run.
So what could be even better than that? Moving meditation progressing from a FAR to any and every run you go for in the future. The more connected you are to your body while running or moving through nature in any manner the less connected you are to the rest of your life. Your responsibilities, your desires, your shortcomings, your hardships, your stressors.
Turning future runs into opportunities to stay connected and paying attention to how your feet are reacting when connecting to the ground, where your torso currently is compared to your ankles and hips while calculating how high you should, or shouldn’t, pick your knee up for the next step down a decline, the less opportunities you have to contemplate solutions for the current problems in your life outside of your runs. Your runs, or time in nature, becomes an opportunity for you to recharge rather than just ruminating and rummaging through the drama of a modern life.