Colin Lake · Great Lakes Method
One body.
One life.
Make them count.
Build the strength and movement to enjoy your life. Wherever you are today, your next step can begin now.
StrongFirst Elite · Coaching since 2009
Who I am
I practise
what I teach.
I’m Colin Lake, the founder of Great Lakes Method. I’ve spent nearly 20 years in the fitness industry and have been coaching since 2009.
I train with kettlebells, clubs and maces myself. I promote them because I believe in their usefulness and in the skills they help us practise. My enthusiasm comes from doing the work and helping other people learn.
My job is to help you understand the movements, choose appropriate tools and build a practice you can keep using.
Experience & credentials
Years of coaching. A practical approach to your training.
My background combines one-on-one coaching, group training, professional sport and continued study of strength and movement. The aim is simple: help you understand what to practise and how to progress.
My coaching career
2009–2010 · Group fitness
Began teaching group strength and conditioning, with a focus on mobility, stability and functional movement.
2010–2011 · Professional soccer
Played in the Canadian Soccer League with Milltown FC in 2010 and SC Waterloo in 2011.
2011–2018 · GoodLife Fitness
Advanced to Level 5 Personal Trainer and coached team training. Worked with individual and small-group clients and mentored junior trainers.
2018–2020 · Independent coaching
Ran a private training practice using kettlebells, steel clubs, maces and bodyweight to develop strength and movement skills.
2020 onward · Equipment, education & coaching
Built a fitness equipment and education business, hosted a fitness podcast and worked with coaches and educators. Today, Great Lakes Method brings that experience into personal coaching, group training, workshops and equipment guidance.
Certifications & continuing education completed
More than $60,000 invested in continuing education. This training history includes certifications, courses and workshops; each informs how I coach strength, technique and movement.
Strength & conditioning
StrongFirst SFG I and SFG II kettlebell instructor; SFL barbell instructor; SFB bodyweight instructor. CanFitPro Personal Trainer Specialist, earned in 2009. Darby Training Systems Level 1. TRX R4 course.
Movement & mobility
Fascial Stretch Therapy Levels 1–2; Neurokinetic Therapy Levels 1–3; Anatomy in Motion Modules 1–3; Flexible Steel; Ground Force Method; Functional Movement Systems Level 1; Barefoot Training Specialist.
Clubs & maces
Indian clubs instruction with James Neidlinger; foundational and advanced steel mace training with Rik Brown; club and mace mobility and rotational strength workshop with The Flowing Dutchman.
What I believe
Be ready
for your life.
I want you to have the capacity to take part: enjoy the outdoors, play, travel, work and meet the physical demands of everyday life.
Whether you’ve trained for years, are returning after time away or have never started, we begin with what you can do today. Your starting point gives us direction. It doesn’t decide how far you can progress.
My goal is to help as many people as I can enjoy their lives as fully, and for as long, as possible. That is the purpose behind the equipment and the coaching.
What I stand for
Useful skills. Honest effort.
A reason to keep going.
Start where you are.
You’re welcome here at your current level. Learn the basics, choose a manageable starting point and build from there.
Take ownership.
I’ll bring clear guidance and support. You bring a willingness to practise, listen, ask questions and follow through. Coaching works through that shared commitment.
Train for the years ahead.
Build skills you can return to. Keep practising, and what you learn can remain useful long after your first program ends.
Why these tools
Strength you can use.
Movement you keep practising.
Kettlebells
My foundation for strength and conditioning. Swings, get-ups, presses and carries offer plenty to practise with compact equipment.
Learn the swing and get-up →Steel clubs
A way to train strength through movement: control a lever, guide its path and coordinate your grip, shoulders and trunk.
Explore clubs →Steel maces
A longer lever that asks you to manage momentum, timing and rotation. Start light and learn to guide the movement with control.
Explore maces →Keep the movements that make you capable
Lift. Carry.
Swing. Rotate. Throw.
Using tools and learning physical skills are part of our human story. Modern routines can leave fewer reasons to explore those movements.
I use clubs and maces to bring controlled swinging and rotational patterns into training. They give us a practical way to coordinate the body around a moving load.
I also value the ability to throw. Throwing is a skill worth practising in its own right, with an appropriate object and space. For me, keeping these movements alive means keeping them part of our lives.
Your next step
One body. One life.
Start taking care of both.
You don’t have to have it all figured out. Tell me where you are, what you want to be able to do and what support you need. We can work out a useful place to begin.