Cornell Performance Academy: Break the Mold, Rise Above

01/07/2026

Root for yourself.

In the way that pushes you.

A lot of people won’t get it.
They’ll call you crazy.
They’ll question it.
They’ll talk you out of it with “logic” that’s really just fear with a better vocabulary.
They won’t mean harm, but they’ll still try to shrink you down to a version of you that feels safer to them.
And sometimes, they won’t acknowledge the work at all.

Cornell isn’t built on being understood.
It’s built on being committed.

You don’t get to choose who believes in you.
YOU do get to choose how you show up anyway.

You get to decide if you train when motivation disappears.
If you keep your word when nobody is is boosting you.
If you push your limits even when your mind is full of reasons to quit.
If you become the kind of person who can’t be talked out of their own life.

Self-inspiration is undervalued.
The fact that you can stand in your own corner, on your own hard days, and still move forward, that’s rare.
That’s leadership.
That’s a powerful receipt.

So if nobody’s in your corner today, build one.
Step under the bar.
Do the rep.
Leave with proof.

Root for yourself.
Then act like it.

01/03/2026

“How bad do you want it?”

Most people already know what to do.
They just don’t want the part where it costs them.

They don’t want the early mornings that feel brutal.
They don’t want the sets that make them doubt themselves.
They don’t want the weeks where nothing looks different yet.
They want the outcome without the ownership.

So when it doesn’t happen fast, they call it luck.
“Must be nice.”
“Good genetics.”
“Right place, right time.”

Luck might show up, sure,
but it usually finds you already working.
Already training.
Already showing up when nobody’s cheering for ya.
Already doing the boring reps that build the receipt.

Most people aren’t unlucky,
they’re uncommitted.

They want easy.
They want now.
They want a reason it didn’t work that doesn’t require a mirror.

Cornell’s not built for that.

This is for the ones who get hungry and stay hungry.
Who bleed a little in the process, burn off the excuses,
and put their name on their life with full burning effort.

So I’ll ask you again,

How bad do you want it ….and what are you willing to pay in time?

12/30/2025

Thirteen years.

If you’ve ever held your breath before opening a bill, walked through your day with a smile you didn’t feel, carried a body you didn’t recognize, or kept showing up while something inside you was fraying, then you already understand what that number costs.

Thirteen years is a notch in the frame, proof of what we’ve carried and what we’ve built. A place we kept bright on the days people came in running on fumes, and left with their shoulders higher.

Cornell was never just a room full of equipment. It’s where people come when life is loud, when confidence is thin, when the mirror feels like an enemy, when the calendar is packed, when the body feels unfamiliar, when the mind is begging for something solid.

This place holds real lives.

It holds the woman who walked in shaking and now loads plates like she owns the ground.
It holds the man who learned strength isn’t only for providing, it’s for staying present.
It holds the parent who trains between school drop-offs and bedtime stories, choosing themselves in the margins.
It holds the person carrying something heavy, still coming in, still doing the work.
It holds the ones who failed, came back, failed again, came back again.

That’s the spirit here, not softness, not shortcuts, not the pretty version of discipline people sell online.
Consistency with bite.
Effort with no audience.
Discipline that leaves ego at the door.

Cornell has been tested. Nights that stretched, mornings that started early, seasons that asked for more than we thought we had. There were months where everything felt heavy and the only option was to keep going anyway.

We are STILL standing strong.

Still built on work.
Still filled with members who don’t just attend, they carry this place. They bring the grit. They bring the refusal. They bring the heart that doesn’t waiver. Thank you!

Happy 13, Cornell.

If you’ve ever trained here, you’re part of the walls.
If you’re training here now, you’re part of the fire.

We’re still here.
We’re still building.
We’re still breaking the mold.

With Gratitude,
Raquel & Michael

12/27/2025

Perfection is a pretty lie people hide behind when they don’t want to face the messy truth, you are not “not built for this”, you are just not practiced at it yet.
Not practiced at staying when it burns. Not practiced at showing up when your mood isn’t showing up with you. Not practiced at being the kind of person who keeps a promise to themselves even when nobody is watching.

Most people don’t quit because the weight is heavy.
They quit since being seen trying is heavier.

Practice forces you to meet the version of you that still hesitates, still makes excuses, still wants an out. It drags your patterns into the light, the “I’ll start Monday,” the “I’m too tired,” the “I’m not motivated,” the “I’ve fallen off.” Practice doesn’t care about your storyline. It asks one question, are you coming back or are you staying comfortable?

Much of “perfection” is just fear dressed in clean clothes:

Fear of looking weak.
Fear of failing again.
Fear of realizing you’ve been negotiating with your own life for years.

So you wait until you feel ready.
You wait until you feel confident.
You wait until you feel like the person who does this.

Meanwhile, the only thing that turns you into that person is reps.

The dark, unsexy reps.
The days you don’t feel like it.
The days you’re mad.
The days your head is loud.
The days you’d rather disappear than be in your body.
The days you walk in here and your nervous system is begging for the old version of you, the one who always quits when it gets real.

That is the day that counts.

Cornell isn’t built for people who want a perfect week.
It’s built for people who are done being fake with themselves.

So don’t come in here trying to “crush it.”
Come in here to practice being the kind of person who doesn’t leave themselves.

Practice showing up, finishing, adding five pounds even when your ego wants you to stay safe.
Practice doing the work with no praise and rebuilding your trust in you.

Perfection is false.
Progress is brutal.
Self-respect is earned in the grind, in the dark, in the choose-again moments.

If you’ve been waiting for a sign, this is it.
Get back under the bar.
Get back on the floor.
Get back in your life.

12/19/2025

Rachel isn’t just someone we train beside.
She is family to us.

She walked into our gym almost ten years ago, and over time, through shared life, shared moments, and shared seasons, she became someone we love deeply. Not just as part of this community, but in our real, personal lives.

She’s the mother who loves with her whole body and soul.
The wife who stands unwavering beside her partner.
The pastor who has spent her life carrying others through their hardest moments.
The musician whose voice has lifted hearts when words weren’t enough.
The friend who shows up, stays present, and loves deeply.

Last year, while quietly going through cancer treatment, Rachel still showed up to the gym every single day. She built strength. She kept moving forward. She never complained. She never stepped away from her life or from who she is.

Now the cancer is back.
Rachel has stage 4 cancer that has spread.

Rachel and her family are pursuing treatment outside of Canada that could slow the disease
and give her what matters most, more time.

More time with her kids. More time with her husband. More time with her friends. More time to keep being the woman who has given much of herself to others.

This is not just a story we’re sharing here, this is our heart asking you to stand with someone who is deeply loved.

If you feel this, please help us support Rachel and her family.

Link in bio to donate.

Please help us spread her story by sharing this post.

With deep gratitude,
Michael and Raquel 🙏

11/29/2025

Consistency exposes you.
It reveals every place you’ve been hiding, every promise you broke to yourself, every goal you only loved when it was convenient.

This is why ease is dangerous, it lets you stay unchanged and still pretend you’re trying.
Hardship doesn’t destroy you, it introduces you to the parts of you you’ve been too scared to meet.

At Cornell, we don’t glamourize the grind, we teach you how to stand inside it without running from yourself.
Because if you can’t stay with the discomfort of your own life, you’ll never stay with the discomfort of your reps.

This gym isn’t built on hype.
It’s built on capacity, on ordinary people doing the unglamorous work no one cheers for.
It’s built on men and women who show up in the dark, in the doubt, in the days they don’t feel strong, and still keep going.

If you want easy, you won’t last here.
If you want to meet the version of you that finishes….really finishes, walk through the door.

Cornell wasn’t built to make you comfortable.
It was built to make you capable.

11/25/2025

Everyone wants the result.
Very few are willing to become the repetition.

Consistency is the most underrated brutality there is.
It will break your patterns,
your habits,
your excuses,
before it builds your strength.

You want change?
Start with the rep you don’t feel like performing.
That’s the one that alters your entire life.

At Cornell Performance, we don’t sell motivation.
We build discipline.
We build identity.
We build people who outwork their own doubt, one rep at a time.

If you’re ready, step in.
If you’re not, come back when you are.
The grind isn’t going anywhere.
Rise, our people ✊🏼

01/06/2025

GET A ONE WEEK FREE MEMBERSHIP!

With the new year comes new years resolutions around health and fitness. And we love to see people prioritizing these things and committing to themselves. However, in the new year we also see a lot of 6 week promises - 6 weeks to a new you, 6 weeks to a total body transformation. While a 6 week challenge can be a great way to kick-start new habits, they can also burn you out with extremes and create false expectations. Real change is a slow and steady process that takes time, dedication and a belief that you are worthy of long-term commitment.

At Cornell Performance Academy, we want to see our members show up for themselves for 6 weeks, 6 months, 6 years, 6 decades. We want to see people fall in love with the gym and to discover their strength and power. If you are ready to commit to yourself, join us for a free one week membership! DM or call us for details!

Send a message to learn more

12/09/2024

Trying to find the perfect gift for the gym rat in your life? Cornell Performance Academy gift cards do the heavy lifting for you. They can be used for gym memberships, personal training session, cold tub and sauna recovery and physiotherapy. Available in any amount. Inquire with a staff member to pick up your gift card and give the gift of health to your loved ones this year!

12/06/2024

There's still time to use your 2024 physiotherapy benefits right here at Cornell Performance Academy with our in-house physiotherapist James Kim.

With a Masters’s in Physiotherapy from McGill University, James brings a wealth of clinical experience, particularly in working with athletes from various disciplines, including rugby, hockey, track and field, soccer, and Olympic weightlifting. And with his dual expertise as both a physiotherapist and personal trainer, James ensures his clients continue to excel both in and out of the gym.

Book on our website or send us a DM to get your physio session booked!

12/04/2024

There could not be a more fitting group of women to feature in our Women of Cornell series than the women of Lively Dragon. What started as a recreational dragon boat team has grown to become a movement of strength, unstoppable goals and achievement. In order to launch their Lively Dragon team to new competitive heights, they came to Cornell Performance Academy to train with Coach Michael Cornell. Women in their 50s, 60s, 70s and even 80s, who had never experienced strength training before, discovering rep after rep, set after set, that they are more powerful than they could have imagined. They are now in their 2nd year at CPA and are fully locked in and committed to their training and excited to see their strength and skills grow. Though their work and wins on the water are consistently impressive, their individual and team wins as they relentlessly push themselves to achieve more are what consistently wow us. They are true examples of how strength belongs to everyone!

11/26/2024

Looking for a gift that inspires, motivates and empowers? Cornell Performance Gift Cards are now available 🎁🎁

Treat your loved ones to an Elite Membership, Boxing Membership, Personal Training, Physiotherapy, Cold Tub and Sauna Sessions and more. Or let them know where to find the perfect gift for you 😉

Available in any amount! The ideal gift for anyone ready to elevate their fitness journey. Speak to our staff to pick up your gift card and cross fitness off your shopping list!