Making leaps and bounds at the PTC

Mark Armstrong is no stranger to a gym at Canada Olympic Park.

And because of a particular WinSport facility, it’s not just at the adjacent Calgary Gymnastics Centre where the world-class gymnast’s training takes flight.

The member of Canada’s trampoline and tumbling senior national team also bounces over to the Performance Training Centre (PTC) for an often-unsung element of high-level gymnastics. 

Renowned for their remarkable balance and flexibility, gymnasts such as Armstrong also need to push and pull plenty of plates to compete at the highest level of the sport. 

“It’s super important,” Armstrong says about his PTC workouts. “Gymnastics is an intensive sport. We do get a fair workout just from training alone, but coming in here and being able to use the weights and doing more of the lifting and technique is really good for coordination, strength, and agility for gymnastics.” 

Armstrong made his international senior debut in 2016 and has travelled to Bulgaria, Spain, Azerbaijan, Great Britain, Portugal, and Italy to take part in World Cups and World Championships. The Olympic Games does not include his discipline of double mini-trampoline.  

“It’s super great just to come in here and, first of all, just see other athletes working hard,” says Armstrong. “It’s easy to be motivated when you see those athletes doing their workouts and using all this great equipment in here. Having the trainers and the workouts planned too is just awesome.” 

The short walk down from the Calgary Gymnastics Centre to the PTC only makes it that much easier for the Red Deer native to extend his training routine from one gym to the next. 

“It changes a little bit throughout the year, but we’re fairly consistent with four days of training during a week,” Armstrong says. “We usually condition every day, so it’s four days of on-equipment training and then four days of conditioning, as well. Depending on where we are in competition season, that will (determine) how difficult our workout sessions are and how heavy we’re lifting.” 

While still full steam ahead in his own career, Armstrong also coaches young gymnasts, having done so since 2021. Many are provincial-level athletes and some also train at the PTC. 

Sport, age, and accolades aside, Armstrong and countless others have never swayed in where they train. 

The reason? 

There’s simply no better place to stick their landing.