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Mahtab and I both met Pete Shaw through Jen Crichton. It was so long ago that we can’t really remember when we first met each other. Pete is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. The fact that he works as a trainer and a coach is fitting; he genuinely wants everyone to be and feel their best and will do what it takes to get you there. Pete is always happy to answer any questions when it comes to wellness and fitness and is truly interested in everyone’s wellness journey, no matter what that looks like.
When it comes to exercise, he is a wealth of knowledge and he really does practice what he preaches. Pete has qualified for the CrossFit games, not once, but twice. Both of us have had the experience of working out with Pete and know exactly how dedicated he is to fitness and wellness.
We are very excited to introduce to you Pete Shaw!
Please tell us a bit about yourself, both personally and professionally.
I am a father of two boys (aged 3 and 1), a golden doodle, and husband to my lovely wife Jen. My passions are spending quality time with the family through activities like skiing, hiking, swimming, and playing music! I also love to read. I try to mix it up between fiction and non-fiction.
CrossFit is a passion of mine professionally and personally. I practice CrossFit every day for my own health and fitness, as well as work for CrossFit LLC (the global education, sport, and gym business) and separately for a local CrossFit gym here in Ottawa (CrossFit 1855).
I attended Queen’s University from 2007-2013 where I received my BScH in Biology.
2) Can you talk about your journey with CrossFit and what it was like to qualify for the Games?
I began CrossFit casually in 2010 in my garage. A neighbour introduced me to the website as he saw me training in my garage for the upcoming hockey season.
In 2012, I became a personal trainer and started to use CrossFit more regularly for myself as well as for my clients. The results we saw were unbelievable, so I started to research more about the methodology.
In 2014, I joined a CrossFit gym and began to compete in the “Sport Of Fitness”. This was an itch that needed scratching since the end of my hockey career. It satisfied my competitive streak as well as kept me learning in my trade — strength and conditioning.
From 2014-2022 my athletic goals were to qualify for the CrossFit Games. I qualified in the individual men’s division in 2020 and in the team division in 2022. Qualifying for the CrossFit Games, for me, was the same feeling you get when you achieve a goal after an extended pursuit. Eight years of training coming into one competition was an incredible feeling.
From 2016-2021, I was part owner of a successful CrossFit affiliate in Ottawa, CrossFit NCR. My wife (Dr. Jen Crichton) and I have plans to open our own CrossFit affiliate with adjacent medical practice.
I currently coach part-time at a local affiliate, CrossFit 1855, and travel Canada many weekends of the year delivering the CrossFit Level 1 and Level 2 seminars. These seminars are the core curriculum for our coaches and gym owners looking to kickstart their careers.
3) What exercises do you recommend for pregnant and postpartum women?
I will start by saying that I have never been pregnant (!), so I am speaking out of my experience training countless women pre-, during, and post-pregnancy.
As with any exercise, it is always important that you are cleared by your doctor for physical activity. Every pregnancy is different, and as such, every training regimen will look different. As it is normally with exercise, it is even more important during pregnancy that women realize they can learn from others but ultimately, they are on a unique path.
To start, I would say that if you are someone who thinks they might like to have their own kids one day, don’t wait to start working out! As the Chinese Proverb says, “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second-best time is now.” You never know what will happen in the future (during pregnancy, or not) and your fitness is one of the best ways to prepare yourself.
If you are pregnant and looking to workout, it is certainly safe. The thing to keep in mind is that you should be working at a fraction of your pre-pregnancy capacity. If you worked out 5-6x per week before you were pregnant, then keep the routine! Simply lower your intensity during the workouts by lifting lighter weights, doing fewer reps, and taking longer rests. If you did not workout at all pre-pregnancy, then start a walking routine with some friends or your partner and build gradually from there!
Postpartum is a similar approach, however, you may want to take a step back immediately after you give birth. Birth is an intense experience for the body, and it needs time to heal. Give your body the time it needs to recover, however when you are ready, movement is the best medicine. Start slow and be consistent, have patience, be forgiving to yourself, and the progress will come.
The best exercises to perform during pregnancy are the same ones you’d want to perform when not pregnant! As a future mom, you will likely not stop climbing stairs, carrying groceries, picking things up, and getting up and down off the toilet so it would make sense to train these same movements in the gym. The only difference is that when your belly grows, switching to dumbbells and modifying the odd stance may help navigate the new anatomy.
Here are some of the best exercises:
Air Squat - https://youtu.be/rMvwVtlqjTE
Sumo Deadlift - https://youtu.be/wQHSYDSgDn8
Shoulder press - https://youtu.be/5yWaNOvgFCM
Visit www.crossfit.com for free daily workouts, instructional videos, and modifications.
4) Have you ever trained pregnant or postpartum women? If so, what is a common source of concern?
As I mentioned above, I have trained countless women through their pregnancies. All of them did CrossFit initially and kept with it throughout their pregnancy as well as after.
I would not identify a single common source of concern. The truth is that most women are trusting of their own bodies and I tend to defer to them most of the time in terms of exercise limitations. As I said before, there is no “new fitness” being achieved when pregnant, so if you know where you were at before and simply scale down then training is fairly simple.
In CrossFit there are some exercises that I would tend to stay away from for pregnant women such as box jumps and rope climbs for the risk of falling. Gymnastics style kipping is one I recommend against due to the dynamic needs of the abdominal recruitment. During pregnancy, women’s abdominal walls split apart to create room for the fetus, and the gymnastics kip can potentially make the reattachment of this more difficult postpartum.
Psychologically, I think some women have a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that they should stay active during pregnancy. Ten years ago, recommendations were to do little physical activity during pregnancy. In some specific high-risk cases this still makes sense! However, it is illogical for an otherwise healthy pregnant woman to not engage in physical activity. Everything a woman puts into her body will affect the baby directly and so will her physical state pre-, during, and post-pregnancy. It only makes sense to be as healthy as possible.
Women in CrossFit are really embracing this mindset and leading the way in my opinion. Many famous CrossFit athletes (Tia-Clair Toomey, Kara Saunders, Annie Thorisdottir) are documenting their pregnancy journeys on the Internet for inspiration and there are thousands more in CrossFit gyms every day.
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5) I know first-hand that you were involved in teaching your sons how to fall asleep independently. Can you please discuss what that process looked like for you?
I was certainly involved in sleep training the boys but it was not my idea! Jen takes the credit there and I am glad she pushed us to do it because it was life changing!
Until Jen educated me, I was unaware of this tool for infant sleep. But it makes so much sense! Once I understood that kids need to learn how to fall asleep, the purpose of sleep training held a higher meaning. It was for them and not just for us anymore.
The hardest part of sleep training was following the babies sleep cues and using the data to read what next steps should be. There are a lot of ways a sleep coach can help such as helping to read cues whether a baby is overtired or not tired enough. Either can have an ill effect on sleep patterns!
When you see the positive effect it has on the family, it’s really not that much work and it puts everything into perspective. A sleeping baby is not only providing them with a new skill, but its giving mom and dad an opportunity to get proper rest. We were both able to give the kids and each other so much more after sleep training. I would recommend it to anybody.
6) When I had my babies, I mentally could not get over the fact that I wouldn't be able to workout on a consistent basis. Realistically, until the kids were in daycare, working out more then 3-4 times a week was not feasible in my circumstance, and I know many others are in the same boat and This would make me not want to workout. I would think, "what's the point of exercising once a week/month etc.? I wasn't able to mentally accept that any exercise is worth it. Is there anything you can add to this that could motivate others to get out and move even if it's just once in a while?
Absolutely! This is a true challenge and a common one. Many people think about exercise as an all-or-nothing endeavour, and it really is the wrong attitude. Once per week or even per month is certainly better than nothing, but what’s even better than that, and arguably more doable is 5-15 minutes per day. It’s all about priorities.
To become someone who “works out every day” you need to strip away the image of going to the gym for 1-1.5 hours in your Lulus, taking a shower at home and prepping a post-workout protein shake. This can happen pre-kids (and maybe when they go to college!), but while they live with you the word “workout” takes on a different meaning.
Treat movement like brushing your teeth and showering. You do both of those everyday (if not, most days) and sometimes twice a day! Combined those daily habits take up 15-45 minutes total of your day. Now add in 5-15 min of movement/workout. Where? In your living room, bedroom floor, or kitchen. When? Immediately after you brush your teeth in the morning or right after your put your kid to sleep for their first nap of the day. The idea is to make it a non-negotiable part of your day. No matter what you are wearing, how you’re feeling, where you are, covered in puke or low on sleep—you will get something in.
Here are some workout ideas that need little to no warm-up to help kick start the daily habit:
- 2 min of Air Squats
- As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:
10 Air Squats
5 Push-ups
:30 Plank
- 5 min of Lunges
- As many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:
5 Air Squats
5 Push-ups
5 Burpees
- 7 min of Burpees
(If you have dumbbells at home)
- As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
10 Bent over row
10 Push-ups
20 Air Squats
Anything else you'd like to add?
Just that the definition of health should not be “free from illness or injury” as it is in Oxford’s dictionary. This definition only speaks to longevity and not quality of life. I don’t know about you, but I know a lot of people free from illness and injury who are not healthy!
Quality of life is about maintaining enough work capacity (physicality or fitness) to do the things you love. In the case of many parents, these things would include playing and doing physical activities with their kids, helping fix and paint their child’s first house, and even caring for and playing with their future grandchildren.
Working out is not about being shredded (although it can be a nice side benefit!), it’s about providing yourself the freedom to engage with the world physically for the rest of your life.
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