Unlock Your Potential Retreat Teaches Athletes to Improve Performance Outside of the Gym

Stephane Bachellerie, with a Master of Science in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology and a slew of other related certifications, has traveled the entire world. From New Zealand to Canada and South Africa to Iceland, he’s coached strength and conditioning to the top athletes in the world in a wide array of sports. He has learned a lot from his travels and been able to glean lots of information and perspective from his years on the road. 

One thing stuck out to him, though: athletes aren’t using all the tools available to them to increase their performance. 

Sure, CrossFit athletes build on the foundation of sport every day inside the walls of their gym. Marathon athletes put in the work every day on the track to bring their mile times down. Professional football athletes have entire teams of coaches giving them drills, plays, and exercises to practice each day to ensure they’re ready to win on game day. So what’s missing?

• “I want to explain and show to the people that it’s not enough, for example, to do a CrossFit workout per day. You have to focus on nutrition, the grit work, your training, of course, and your recovery,” Bachellerie said. 

To bring this theory and his knowledge to light, Bachellerie is spearheading a new retreat available for athletes of all backgrounds. This exclusive experience, which takes place at the Santasport lodge in Lapland, Finland, will allow participants to gain knowledge and tools to increase their overall performance in a small group setting. 

The retreat includes various exercise practices, including a focus on technique work, swimming, running, gymnastics, weightlifting, mobility, and soft-tissue mobilization. While it can be exciting to stack weights on the bar, Bachellerie has a long-running policy of always putting technique first–if his athlete can’t execute a movement perfectly with an empty barbell, for example, he’ll never let them add weight. 

As for practices outside of the gym, Bachellerie teaches athletes to focus on nutrition–bringing more whole foods into their diets–and recovery. Participants in the retreat get to try cold-exposure techniques like ice baths, breathing exercises, and mindset commitment. 

While some of these practices may seem like far-away goals for some athletes, Bachellerie says that there’s not a single person who couldn’t take something away from his retreat. 

• “It’s for everybody. I can scale from fitness enthusiasts to high-level athletes and it’s for any sport,” Bachellerie said. “I think (participants)will  be excited about the impact and the experience, they’ll want to challenge themselves.”

Plus, it doesn’t hurt his case that the location of his retreat can bring in participants from across the world–from traditional Lappish meals to sightseeing and potentially catching the Aurora Borealis, Bachellerie hopes athletes have an amazing experience outside the programmed activities. 

There are several retreat weekends with spots still available for this summer, and you can learn more about the experience here. With his first weekend coming up soon, Bachellerie hopes to impart lots of wisdom to participants in the same way he’s experienced in his own life.

• “It’s very exciting for me to get more knowledge about the body,” Bachellerie said.  “I think my success with my athletes is from the power of knowledge.”