Hi and welcome to another week,

Can’t wait for tomorrow.  90 second rounds (always high energy).  Power ropes are out (my favourite exercise)…I dont want to think about reviewing last week – I just want to get on with my NEXT week of training!  Apart from the ropes, what else is happening?  Well, we have a bit of an experiment with using kettlebells in combination with speedball/floor to ceiling (Is it a good idea?  Is it too much trouble because of gloves off/on), we will be doing a new combination burpee / wall ball exercise, some oblique reverse crunches and – great news – mini-sleds are back!  Body work looks as punishing as ever (but then again, when isn’t it tough?) and Tanks could be the easiest session ever or the hardest ever depending on your ability to count to 30 without a pause.

As part of last week’s blog challenge – do three things that you often put off but know make you ‘better’/’happier’/’more efficient’ (‘whatever’) I spent some time on Friday writing down all the things about my job that I like.  Now – I know a lot of you probably think I have the greatest gig in the world…roll-up to the gym, press start on the timer and watch everyone else suffer – and I have to agree, much of what I get to do is pretty good fun.  But like everyone there are things about my job that are well down my ‘favorite’ jobs list and – as with anything you have been doing for a while, it is easy to overlook the good stuff and focus on the bad stuff.

So – to cut to the chase the thing that topped my list was that I get to watch partners / groups of friends / entire families training together.  It took me a while to figure all of this out but I guess the fact that I like it when I get to train with Vanessa and Marshall (and even Clancy when she decides that the mood has struck her!) has coloured my view.  On a surface level, the shared experience of training together gives me something to talk to them about whilst I hope that there is something a little more meaningful in there somewhere as shared experiences just bring us all a little closer together.

Like it or not, our training time/workout time/gym time (call it what you will) is part of our ever decreasing ‘social time’ in the modern world.  And – like it or not – it is probably one of the only waking hours we all have where we aren’t checking our mobile phones for messages/emails.  Given these things, if it is time we can spend with our close friends and family without distraction, then it should be the best hour of our day – as well as being one where we are deriving some real and long-lasting physical and mental benefits.

So for all of you guys who get to train with your mates/family – enjoy every second of it.  As with everything, I am sure there will come a time where changes in circumstances means that what you are getting to do right now wont last forever (though for us at Round 1 of course we hope it does!).  And for those of you who find yourself training by yourself more often than not – well, there is nothing wrong with that – put your head down and go HARD.  But if the opportunity arises for a chat to another gym user – well, don’t be shy.  Say hello and you never know – in a few months time you might find that you too are training with one of your friends…after all, you must have at least one thing in common.

See you in the gym,

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – Facebook Check-in Prize becomes “Go for Jo” fundraiser

Well, this all went a bit crazy!

We offered up 3 x PT sessions as part of the April Facebook check-in prize – which was won by Jackie Pereira.  Jackie saw an opportunity to raise a bit of money for Cancer research and help our R1 member Jo Ruddick get through her treatment and offered up her prize as three (3) x Train the Trainer sessions on Facebook…bidding teams quickly formed to train myself, Lloyd, Jason and Sean (somehow Lils maintains a reputation as the ‘nice’ trainer and got off scott free) and a couple of hundred comments later the sessions had been sold!

The dates for the event are still be finalised, but the idea at the moment is that each of the trainers will do their ‘Train the Trainer’ session one after the other whilst everyone who has offered to ‘Shave for a Cure’ will be having their head shaved at the same time…to this point we already have more than $1000 in pledges alone and are hoping to double that before the event.  We will obviously hoping to get a few spectators down to watch the whole thing unfold – it will be on a Sunday afternoon in July – and will be looking to have a bbq going, a couple of drinks etc and generally enjoy one-anothers company for a couple of hours (whilst raising some money at the same time).

Watch this space and check the whiteboard in the gym for more details.  Basically, if you want to see Sean O’Neill doing cardio, Jason Totten lifting weights or Lloyd Rogerson doing something (anything, please Lloyd) then the Train the Trainer sessions are going to be very entertaining and all of the proceeds are going to a great cause.

Gym Update #2 – May Special is underway! – only 6 left.

If you love your Round 1 sessions, then you will love the May Special – 10 classes for just $99.  Now – obviously if you are a member of the gym then you have unlimited classes included in your package, but if you are a casual user of the gym then this is a great way to go – you save more than 20% on the normal price ($120) and don’t have to mess about finding change/carrying credit cards etc when you want to hit the gym.

There are only 100 of these passes available and 94 are already gone…so – if you want one, be quick.  The passes are valid for 12-months – strictly one pass per user I am sorry.

Oh yeah – one other thing.  If you are a member and refer a new person who buys one of the 10-round specials, you will go into the draw for a free ‘Ring the Bell’ PT package – or 3 x free 30-minute PT sessions with the trainer of your choice.

Gym Update #3 – May Timetable ‘Trial’

Just a quick reminder about the May timetable changes – we are running Beginners at 5pm on Friday and Body Work at 10:15am on Saturday.  To this point there has been lot’s of positive comment about the Body Work class…not so much about Beginners on Friday – again, letting us know what you think is important but the best way for us to get the message is for you to vote with your feet and attend the session (or not as the case may be).

After three weeks numbers for 5pm Friday are up marginally – around the 5% mark – whilst Saturday Body Work has gone up by approx 30%.  This is good!!!  Would it be worth running Body Work at 10:15am on Sunday as well?

There is still one more weekend in May – if you want to influence the outcome of the trial, you need to vote with your feet!

Gym Update #4 – Broken Cross-trainer

As noted last week, the LifeFitness Cross-Trainer is STILL out of action.  Hoping to see that fixed up this week!

Talking to the maintenance guys, the problem with the CT has been caused by the ‘buttons’ being pushed too hard when setting up the ‘program’ you might want to use – basically it has caused the processor board to crack.  Why do I mention this?  Well – the repair bill is going to exceed $1500 and whilst I understand it is frustrating when equipment doesn’t respond the way you want it too, when it is electronic it is very rare that simply hitting the buttons ‘harder’ will solve the problem!

Gym Update #5 – Round 1 Fitness Dream-team and Footy Tipping

Well, as I type this I am the leading scorer in the Round 1 Dream Team competition…somehow I doubt things will stay that way through to the final siren, but I will admit it is a nice feeling!  Checking the ladder though, I have to admire the performance of Roly so far – somehow he is 7^th in scoring to this point of the year yet 2^nd on the ladder…not quite sure how he has managed that in a competition where high scores are king, but a remarkable effort.

Chaos reigns in the tipping contest though!  With Geelong finally losing, Brisbane topping the Bombers (that’s two losses in a ROW Clint Slomp) and my failing Bulldogs losing yet again (to the Gold Coast no less), there are some low, low scores to this point of the round!  Let’s see what the afternoon brings!

Gym Update #6 – Blog ‘Mini-Challenge’

The May Mini-Challenge has been great – not only is it a great workout, it has really given us a reason to change around the ‘standard’ stuff we do on the bikes in the classes and add in some distance targets (which we do in TANKS but have never really done in Boxing) – and these have been a great challenge for everyone.  It is one thing to sprint – it is quite another to sprint and know that you have to sprint until to reach a specified distance…

So – what was/is the May ‘mini-challenge’?  Each time you come to the gym, complete 100m in each gear on the bike from 14 to 24 and back down again.  This takes around about 12 minutes to complete and really gives you a bit of a ‘blast’ before/after your session.

Facebook Highlights

A really busy week on our Facebook group.  More than 200 posts relating to ‘Train the Trainer’ and some fantastic links like these:

Sleeeepppppppp:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qewMbJLo60

Get maximally lean:  http://breakingmuscle.com/kettlebells/how-get-maximally-lean-and-super-muscly-pat-flynn

Full video for strong lifts – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro3Mh9o7JPU&feature=youtu.be

Artificial lighting and cortisol impact on sleep:  http://robbwolf.com/2012/02/23/sleep-sleep-sleep-how-artificial-lighting-and-cortisol-impact-zzzs/

Box jumps:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1o9t2-hGzs&list=FLWZmmDqEJv277d7hBa1nRfg&index=6

Amazing workout:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=167111550121446

Link of the week

An interesting Paleo food journey:  http://everydaypaleo.com/danas-paleo-journey-unexpected-life-altering-results/

See you in the gym!

Michael.

Hi and welcome to another week,

Great week of training last week.  Body Work was an absolute ‘all-timer’, the TANKS ‘chipper’ style work-out was awesome and I thought the variety we were able to get into the boxing sessions was great – everything from isometric holds to tabata tuck-jumps…probably the only equipment we didn’t use last week was the power ropes and they are on the plan for NEXT week.  What about this week?  A couple of bodyweight circuits on Monday, some shadow boxing Tuesday, a Bike/Squat challenge on Wednesday, a kb focussed 1min Rounds on Thursday and abs galore on Friday…the sessions look great.

One week out from the challenge, I have to say I am not feeling great.  Sure, my diet is still fine (I have enjoyed a couple of cheat meals and a beer or two but aside from that have pretty much remained on track) but my lower back – a source of sciatic pain for pretty much as long as I can remember – is really, really acting up.  And the truth is, it is completely my fault.  I have gone from being ‘forced’ to stretch for 10-minutes every day (no stretch = no point!) to doing no stretching at all.  What it comes down to is that I am not a great lover of stretching (just find it really, really boring!) so I don’t do it unless I have too, but I know – and this was only reinforced for me by stretching every day during the challenge – that I just feel better when I stretch.  I feel better when I stretch – it is a pretty simple concept, but I don’t do it unless I have too.

The funny thing is, there are quite a few other things in my life that make me feel better/operate better etc, and I don’t always do those either.  For example, my Monday is better if – on Sunday night before I ‘shut down’ for the day I do a quick review of everything I have to do on Monday and make sure my ‘To Do’ list is clear and prioritised…but I don’t do that every day either.  There are more examples as well – and I am sure each of you have your own stories of things that you know are good for you that you elect not to do just ‘because’.

Anyway, the point of this is that this week is going to be my ‘No Excuses’ week.  There are three things that I am going to do every day that I know make my life better that I too often neglect ‘because’ – where because is pretty much laziness!  Those things will be stretching, making my daily ‘to-do’ and completing my 30-minutes of reading….every single day!  No Excuses for me this week and I will be feeling better (and better about myself) this time NEXT Sunday!  Get it Done.

See you in the gym,

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – May Special is underway! – only 21 left.

If you love your Round 1 sessions, then you will love the May Special – 10 classes for just $99.  Now – obviously if you are a member of the gym then you have unlimited classes included in your package, but if you are a casual user of the gym then this is a great way to go – you save more than 20% on the normal price ($120) and don’t have to mess about finding change/carrying credit cards etc when you want to hit the gym.

There are only 100 of these passes available and 79 are already gone…so – if you want one, be quick.  The passes are valid for 12-months – strictly one pass per user I am sorry.

Oh yeah – one other thing.  If you are a member and refer a new person who buys one of the 10-round specials, you will go into the draw for a free ‘Ring the Bell’ PT package – or 3 x free 30-minute PT sessions with the trainer of your choice.

Gym Update #2 – May Timetable ‘Trial’

Just a quick reminder about the May timetable changes – we are running Beginners at 5pm on Friday and Body Work at 10:15am on Saturday.  To this point there has been lot’s of positive comment about the Body Work class…not so much about Beginners on Friday – again, letting us know what you think is important but the best way for us to get the message is for you to vote with your feet and attend the session (or not as the case may be).

After two weeks numbers for 5pm Friday are effectively unchanged, whilst Saturday 10:15am has gone up by approx 25%.

So – there are still a couple of weeks to go in the trial – so get along to the gym, give the changes a try and let us know what you think!

Gym Update #3 – Broken Cross-trainer

As a few people might have noticed, the black Life-Fitness Cross-trainer has been out of action for a couple of weeks now.  We have had the GymCare team out a couple of times and are waiting for parts at the moment…apologies for this.

Talking to the maintenance guys, the problem with the CT has been caused by the ‘buttons’ being pushed too hard when setting up the ‘program’ you might want to use – basically it has caused the processor board to crack.  Why do I mention this?  Well – the repair bill is going to exceed $1500 and whilst I understand it is frustrating when equipment doesn’t respond the way you want it too, when it is electronic it is very rare that simply hitting the buttons ‘harder’ will solve the problem!

Gym Update #4 – Facebook Check-in Prize

The winner of the April Facebook check-in Prize – 3 x 30min PT Sessions – is Jackie Pereira.  Jackie religiously ‘check’s in’ at the gym on arrival and has gotten herself a lot of entries in the barrel for each of these ‘check-in’ prizes…was probably only a matter of time before she picked one up.  I have already planned out JP’s PT Sessions and this is what she will be doing:

Workout #1:  Rowing intervals combined with barbell thrusters.

Workout #2:  Combining reps of ‘Cindy’ with decreasing clean and press reps.

Workout #3:  Fight gone Bad

JP – I hope you are as excited about these sessions as I am about running them!  Let me know when you want to start!

The May check-in prize will be one of the new Round 1 Fitness ‘Is there any Danger’ singlets soon to arrive on our doorstep!  Remember also – if your car is spotted by me on the streets/in the car park at the shops/anywhere (except the gym, smarty!) then you will receive a free set of hand-wraps.  So get a cool new sticker on your car and win some wraps.

Gym Update #5 – Round 1 Fitness Dream-team and Footy Tipping

The Dream Team scoring is well up on last week (as I type this anyway) and there could be a couple of upsets on the cards with Travis’ (1^st) in trouble vs Dale (Godsell version) and Roly (2^nd) in strife vs Dale (Klompmaker version).  Also good to see that Brad’s team does not currently have the lowest score in the competition though there are still a few games to play!

In the tipping contest, there are a lot of people with a perfect 6 at this stage of the weekend…but I am not one of them!  Final results won’t be in until tomorrow (Monday) but at this point it looks like Leigh and Ross will hang on to their joint lead of the competition.

Gym Update #6 – Blog ‘Mini-Challenge’

The May Mini-Challenge has been great – not only is it a great workout, it has really given us a reason to change around the ‘standard’ stuff we do on the bikes in the classes and add in some distance targets (which we do in TANKS but have never really done in Boxing) – and these have been a great challenge for everyone.  It is one thing to sprint – it is quite another to sprint and know that you have to sprint until to reach a specified distance…

So – what was/is the May ‘mini-challenge’?  Each time you come to the gym, complete 100m in each gear on the bike from 14 to 24 and back down again.  This takes around about 12 minutes to complete and really gives you a bit of a ‘blast’ before/after your session.

Facebook Highlights

A really busy week on our Facebook group.  Setting aside all of the whining about sore quads and butts, there were some great links added:

Decide for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoQ3FBqQUk4

Ouch:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB15vyLZsls

Exercises for strength:  http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/6_best_exercises_for_strength

Rowing intervals:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HczNqLkcgA

Always go first, never do the math:  http://breakingmuscle.com/crossfit/two-cardinal-rules-crossfit

Link of the week

Killing the fat-man.  There are a series of videos here (the link is to the first one) that show an interesting transformation – mostly in someones outlook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD5axAX9U78&list=SP2933E03B622D0EEA&index=1

See you in the gym!

Michael.

Hi and welcome to another week,

Thanks to everyone who supported our sessions last week.  We had a great week in terms of class numbers despite the rain and colder weather and we really do appreciate your continued patronage…it really is motivating for all of us as trainers when there is a gym full of people trying their hardest to ‘Get it Done’!  What about the sessions themselves?  Well, most of the week had a bit of a quads and butts focus, with lots of sled, squats, good mornings and deadlifts.  Apologies for those of you wandering around on ‘tender’ legs but it will all be for the better (stronger?) in the long run.

Whilst on the topic of last week, I would like to make a special mention of Thursday’s one-minute rounds – I get fget feedback on lots of our sessions, but this one took the cake! I have received comments that range from ‘best session ever’ to ‘most boring session ever’.  OK.  Now – I never want to make the class ‘boring’ but I can understand how that structure – 5 lots of 5 stations back-to-back all featuring the same exercise (in this case, mini-sled, KB Deadlifts, Good Mornings, Wall Balls and Tricep blasters) could be perceived that way – but the intention was to overload each muscle group in turn.  For those who hated it – I do apologise, but as always the intention was to challenge you not put you to sleep or cause misery through drudgery!  The 5-round sequence is not something I do often with 1-minute rounds but do run occasionally – I personally find it a real challenge and try to take the opportunity to ‘beat’ my repetition count as I go to each station.  In any case, 1min rounds will be ‘back-to-normal’ this week and – as with all the sessions – I hope there is a little bit of something in there for everyone!

What’s on this week?  Well – a few less squats, that is for sure! TANKS features a really good looking Chipper that I am sure will challenge even our fittest/strongest members, BodyWork is tabata all the way and Boxing features a couple of Body Weight circuits, the introduction of Floor Wipers (often in BW and TANKS) to BfF and the ever challenging Bike/KB swing combo.  The feedback from the rest of the trainers has been a resounding “Can’t Wait” and I have to admit to being pretty keen to get into them myself…it is going to be a great week of sessions, that is for sure!

I guess it was pretty predictable that I would blog this week by stealing some of the stories and experiences from the Whole Life Challenge participants.  Before I do that though, I wanted to steal a quote from Allyson Felix who won the Olympic Silver medal in the 200m at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics before breaking through to win gold in 2012.  When asked about finally breaking through to win and ‘NOW WHAT’ she responded by saying:

I think the biggest thing is just kind of figuring out how to stay [motivated] and making sure that I’m working as hard as I was last year. That’s been the big challenge. I’m always kind of second-guessing myself, just making sure that the effort is the same.  (See the rest of what is a really cool article here.)

What do I mean by quoting that?  I guess it is a message to everyone who worked hard on their focus and achieved some great results by doing the challenge – the challenge might be over but the ‘CHALLENGE’ isn’t over.  If you want to maintain the results you achieved, now is not the time to relax – it is the time to refocus.  I am sure you all learnt some lessons about your diet in particular by doing it – if you want to stay on the right path then you need to maintain a high level of effort and focus.  Do you need to continue to be as strict as you were during April?  Well that of course is up to you.  But I would suggest that if you simply allow yourself to revert to your pre-challenge behaviours just because someone isn’t checking your points score every day, then you will not have achieved anything at all.  The quote that rings the truest to me on this subject is ‘If you always do what you have always done then you will always get what you have always got!’.

Anyway – on to the stories/quote from the WLC’ers!

Sugar would have to be what challenged me the most. It was a shock to realise each day the different things that actually did have sugar in them that I would have never thought before.

This challenge really has changed everything for me. I can now look at foods and have the complete will power to say no. It doesn’t have the same effect on me at all. My body is now not used to sugar and so when I have it, it rejects it.

By Week 2 of the challenge I was tired of spending half my life cooking – this led me to my second mistake – fruit OVERLOAD!!!! I was eating more bananas and apples then I though humanly possible. Sure, this was more convenient but my hunger was never satisfied.  I was still managing to go to the gym everyday but my energy levels were shot, my punches felt weaker, my stamina had taken a noticeable dip.  I think this is when you let me in on your sweet potato, steak, and veg dish. As soon as I tried that I felt better. My energy came back. Things were definitely looking up…except for the wheat withdrawals.

I pretty much spent some of my Sunday evening planning the week ahead, when I would do a class, when I would do the extra 30 mins, when I would do the extra weekly challenges – I had to plan these around family and work commitments which were already heavy for the month.  The plan was a great motivator to ‘Get it Done’ – I knew that the plan would help me achieve my goal and the time spent planning made answering the alarm call for a 6am class was a lot easier than it ‘usually’ is.

By week 3 of the challenge, everything was making sense, I admit I was feeling better, even looking better. Sweet potato had worn out its welcome by then and I moved onto other vegetables.  This week we also decided we needed a food processor. We got it and this greatly improved the time it took to prepare our meals. Finally the balance in our lives had been restored – now we were able to produce good “challenge friendly food” without spending hours in the kitchen.

What I can take away from this is that I can manage without sugar and can’t see myself using refined sugars again, that there are loads of other, healthier meal options available and that the clichés are true – “It’s not 80% exercise and 20% diet. It’s 100% commitment to both!!!” I have proven it and as of 30 April have lost 9.1Kg during the challenge.

What I loved about the challenge?  The way it made me feel; more energy, better concentration, not feeling lethargic, not feeling bloated, no hangovers.  Plus, finding healthy alternatives to all the “old” food, particularly “treats” e.g. pancakes with lemon and sugar is now coconut and almond pancakes with coconut cream and smashed berries.  It also gave us a great sense of achievement – and was much easier than I thought it would be.  We are going to continue with this eating “lifestyle” indefinitely.

The lessons learned here is that this “diet” is sustainable. I really think you need a good month to work that out, I could see how easily it would be for people to “give in” after the first two weeks.  Now that it’s finished I expect to maintain this diet 90% of the time with room for an occasional beer or “cheat” meal.

See you in the gym,

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – May Special is underway!

If you love your Round 1 sessions, then you will love the May Special – 10 classes for just $99.  Now – obviously if you are a member of the gym then you have unlimited classes included in your package, but if you are a casual user of the gym then this is a great way to go – you save more than 20% on the normal price ($120) and don’t have to mess about finding change/carrying credit cards etc when you want to hit the gym.

There are only 100 of these passes available and 41 are already gone…so – if you want one, be quick.  The passes are valid for 12-months – strictly one pass per user I am sorry.

Oh yeah – one other thing.  If you are a member and refer a new person who buys one of the 10-round specials, you will go into the draw for a free ‘Ring the Bell’ PT package – or 3 x free 30-minute PT sessions with the trainer of your choice.

Gym Update #2 – May Timetable ‘Trial’

The May time-table ‘trial’ is underway, with mixed results so far.  Whilst feedback has been positive for the idea of running a Beginners class on Friday at 5pm and a Body Work class on Saturday at 10:15am, numbers have been low.  I am more than happy to experiment a little with the timetable everyone but it isn’t enough to say it is a good idea…if you want the changes to stick then you need to support the sessions.

Get along to the gym, give the changes a try and let us know what you think!

Gym Update #3 – New Singlets on the way

As per the details in the ‘Facebook Check-in Prize’ section, we have some new R1F singlets on order with the ‘Is there any Danger’ slogan emblazoned across the front.  Hope to have them in the gym in the next couple of weeks.

Don’t forget the new hoodies – they look awesome and are very practical now that the weather has cooled right down – just $45 from the gym.

Gym Update #4 – Lost Property

Rightio – the lost property box is exploding yet again.  If you have left something at the gym, please seek it out THIS WEEK.  Next weekend is ‘D-Day’ and everything will be either getting thrown out or donated to charity.

Gym Update #5 – Round 1 Fitness Dream-team and Footy Tipping

I am the Super King!!!  Well – I am the DreamTeam winner for this week in any case – so, to everyone else in the competition – IN YOUR FACE!!!  I am sure this weekend is a clear pointer to the rise of a new DT Super Power so you may as all just quit now to save yourself from future humiliation.

In the tipping contest, there were a lot of perfect scores this weekend – getting even one wrong meant losing ground to the rest of the field.  Leigh and Ross have solidified their positions at the top of the table and are one point clear.

Gym Update #6 – Facebook ‘Check-In’ prize

OK – I have not collated the check-in details for April…but I will do that this week.  The May check-in prize will be one of the new Round 1 Fitness ‘Is there any Danger’ singlets soon to arrive on our doorstep!

Remember also – if your car is spotted by me on the streets/in the car park at the shops/anywhere (except the gym, smarty!) then you will receive a free set of hand-wraps.  So get a cool new sticker on your car and win some wraps.

Gym Update #7 – Blog ‘Mini-Challenge’

The May Mini-Challenge is in FULL SWING…we have been practising it in the classes so everyone can have a taste of what it is all about.  There are one million things you can do in the gym to help increase your levels of fitness…and not all of them involve doing classes.  I have been setting the challenges so that everyone will have some ideas as to how they can fill those empty 10-minute periods whilst waiting for a class to start – just standing around waiting is not the most productive way to do it!

So – what was/is the May ‘mini-challenge’?  Each time you come to the gym, complete 100m in each gear on the bike from 14 to 24 and back down again.  This takes around about 12 minutes to complete and really gives you a bit of a ‘blast’ before/after your session.

Facebook Highlights

A really busy week on our Facebook group.  Setting aside all of the whining about sore quads and butts, there were some great links added:

Full Body Workout:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL5A7wljN-o

Body Work, April 29^th:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6JWHkwJt0s

Paleo Friendly cheat day:  http://blog.paleohacks.com/how-to-have-a-paleo-friendly-cheat-day/

Twice as hard for half as much:  http://www.catalystathletics.com/blog/blog.php?blogID=1784

These (speedballs) are defective:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnLMAT5UCt0

Link of the week

I read a great article this week called ‘When to Foam Roll’ in a magazine I subscribe too called ‘The Performance Menu’.  Now – you too can access this resource – but it is a little tricky.  You need to go to the Performance Menu website (http://www.performancemenu.com/) and click on the ‘Download Free Issue’ link.  When you do that, be sure to select ‘Issue 100’ if you want to see the Foam Roller article which goes into a lot of useful detail about using this simple tool to aid recovery and when it makes sense/does good and when it doesn’t!

As an aside, there is a tonne of other cool and useful articles in the magazine that you might enjoy and subscriptions are $30 per year.

See you in the gym!

Michael.

Hi and welcome to another week,

Loved my training last week.  Body Work was an absolute ‘all-timer’ and the new kettlebell moves we introduced in Boxing (Floor-press to Situp and Figure 8 + Twist) were both a lot of fun and really challenged my body in a new/different way.  As for Thursday, well, that ’20 punches every 10 seconds/3 thrusters every 10 seconds’ session really is one of the toughest/best classes we have ever put together and it is one I am certain we will run again.  Most of all though, I loved the 25 minute ‘shadow boxing’ that we did last Monday.  I loved it because it was different, I loved it because it was challenging and I loved the interaction with the trainer throughout that part of the class.  I am not sure we will do that sort of thing every week, but I do want to persist with sessions of that type – maybe every 3-4 weeks or thereabouts.

I received a heap of feedback from the questions I asked in last week’s blog about Friday nights and Beginners classes – I really appreciate the thought everyone put into it and there were some great ideas.  In the short term, I have decided to try out a few things:

Beginners Classes

Now, these currently run at 8pm Tues/Thurs and 11:15am Sat/Sun – I have decided that we will add another Beginners session to the timetable at 5pm FRIDAY nights, replacing the Boxing for Fitness session.  (Please note, Boxing for Fitness will still run at 4pm and 6pm on Fridays).   This timetable change will be live on the internet SOON and will be trialled for the month of MAY only at this stage.

The other thing I am trying to do with Beginners is further ‘wind it back’ – essentially making the classes easier and more technique oriented…those people who have attended the Beginners sessions I have been running over the past couple of months (extended warm-up, punching how-to, skipping how-to etc) will get the idea of what I mean.  Now, I have had a few people indicate that in doing this we make it harder for people to transition from Beginners to Boxing, however Boxing for Fitness will – as it always has – remains a ‘go at your own pace’ session and I am convinced that if you have got through 4-6 Beginners sessions you are capable of ‘stepping up’!

Friday

There were a few people asking for an extra Body Work class on Friday nights – I am not going to do this.  We already run the ‘No-Rules’ session at 7pm (easily the most popular class on Friday nights) and that is a great option for people looking for Body Work.  As noted above, I have decided to introduce a Beginners session at 5pm Friday though – and in reviewing the timetable will add an EXTRA ‘BODY WORK’ class at 10:15am on Saturday mornings (trial for the month of May).  We did not previously offer a Body Work on the weekends, and should this experiment prove successful we will look to make both Saturday and Sunday at 10:15am a ‘Body Work’ class.

Summary of changes for May

So – in short we have made two changes to the timetable for the month of May:

5pm Friday changes from ‘Boxing for Fitness’ to ‘Beginners’.

10:15am Saturday changes from ‘Boxing for Fitness’ to ‘Body Work’.

One more thing – those people who want to see a ‘Beginners Body Work’ session, well – it isn’t really going to happen.  Body Work is an advanced class…to do it in ‘Beginners’ mode, simply drop the weights down, and – as with the earlier comments about Boxing for Fitness, just do it at your own pace and using the weights that suit YOU!

See you in the gym,

Michael.

April Whole Life Challenge – Weekly Challenge

OK – the rowing and bench-press is OVER…and there are only two days (and ONE challenge point) to go.

To achieve your last challenge point, you must write down at least 200 words describing the most difficult element of the challenge (for you) and the strategies that you used to overcome it.

For example, the hardest part might have been foregoing a glass of wine after a hard day at work – and you solved the problem by taking the dog for a walk.  Clearly coming up with 200 words means you need a little more detail than that, but I am sure you get the general idea.  If you feel like sharing, I would love to get the details via email at mpratt@round1fitness.com.au.

Quick Reminder – It’s (Nearly) Winter Peoples!

The weather is getting cooler and it is worth making mention of a couple of things:

1/.Our classes – as most people know – start on the hour (or on the 15 minutes on weekends) and oftentimes it is ‘straight into it’.  You might need to spend the first couple of rounds getting going in the cooler weather – or, even better – arrive 10 minutes early and do a bit of skipping before the class starts.

2/.We stretch down OUTSIDE and after your session it can often feel chilly.  So – bring a jumper (the Round 1 Hoodies are awesome!) and put it on after the session and before you head outside to stretch.

3/.The ground is often wet.  So – before you come into the gym, spend a quick moment banging the grass/dirt off the bottom of your shoes before deciding to spread it all over the gym.  Yes – we vacuum every day (often twice a day) but it is very difficult to clean things up when we are running back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back sessions…take a moment or two and help keep the place clean and tidy.

Gym Update #1 – New Gear Part 1

As noted last week, the new dead balls, wall balls and kettlebells have been in the gym for a week or so now and getting a heap of use in the classes.  Good.  The new mini-sleds that arrived at the same time will be pressed into service this week…I cannot wait for this.  One thing I have learned over the past 12-18months is that pushing a sled is quite possibly the highest intensity cardio in the entire universe (big call I know, but try loading one up and sprinting down the middle of the gym with it a few times!) and being able to more regularly do this in the classes will only benefit everyone!

Gym Update #2 – New Gear Part 2

The ‘BIG’ changes to our TANKS area are getting ever closer.  More racks, more benches, more bars – changing the configuration so that the racks are back to back, adding some rack inserts to enable the benches to sit on top of the platforms…it is going to be AWESOME.  Not only will this provide more capacity in an area of the gym that gets quite busy due to PT and TANKS, it also allows us to focus a little more on some Olympic lifting in a safe environment (the racks allow squats, bench and shrugs to be completed with support).

Gym Update #3 – Round 1 Fitness Dream-team and Footy Tipping

I am writing this on Sunday morning, but it looks like I might actually maybe possibly record my first win of the Dream Team season…go the Round 1 Bulls!  There are some pretty impressive teams in our competition and competition is pretty hot – good on those guys up the top of the ladder!

As for tipping, well, half way through the round it is pretty safe to say I am struggling – that is what happens when you back the Pies and can’t see how Port could possibly win 5 in a row…oh well.  Be sure to check out the results HERE when the round is over.

Gym Update #4 – Facebook ‘Check-In’ prize

This month’s facebook checkin prize is a free ‘RING THE BELL’ PT pack.  So remember to check-in to the gym on Facebook and win 3 x 30 min PT sessions.

Remember also – if your car is spotted by me on the streets/in the car park at the shops/anywhere (except the gym, smarty!) then you will receive a free set of hand-wraps.  So get a cool new sticker on your car and win some wraps.

Gym Update #5 – Blog ‘Mini-Challenge’

A reminder again about the April ‘Mini-Challenge’.

Each day during the month of April you must do ONE (1) chinup for each day of the month that has ‘passed’.  In other words, on April 1^st you must do one chinup.  On the 2^nd – you do two, on the 3^rd you do three etc etc.  I have found the last week nearly impossible and split out to 3 sets on Thursday and then immediately having to do 4 sets on Friday.  Not really the plan!  Never mind – nearly done now!

The mini-challenge for May will be cardio based – each time you come to the gym, complete 100m in each gear on the bike from 14 to 24 and back down again.  It takes around about 12 minutes to complete.

Facebook Highlights

Some of the best links EVER added to our Facebook site this week.  The ‘Focus on the Task at Hand’ link in particular should be compulsory viewing…be sure to check out the links and comment on the Facebook site:

Pre-workout:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuizlXIO2rM

Marion Jones:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft8k9uET6tY

Focus on the task at hand:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6FIiVlpbtI

Rope Climb:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5fPZWKbG1c

Discipline:  http://www.catalystathletics.com/blog/blog.php?blogID=1774

Link of the week

Ab wheel FUN!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx_RyuA4DzU

See you in the gym!

Michael.

Hi and welcome to another week,

Great sessions last week.  I had loads of fun – particularly with the tabata punching class from last Tuesday…going from Light bags to Combo Bags to Shields, 10 seconds easy, 20 seconds ‘flat out’ for 12 minutes was really tough.  What else?  I liked all the abs in Wednesday’s session – haven’t done that many for a while – and always enjoy the box-jump/burpee/kettlebell swing combination which was part of Body Work (all week) and the Monday boxing class.  Speaking of Body Work – how hard were those ‘Isometric holds’ on the chin-up bar??

This week we have a new kettlebell exercise – or rather a new variation on an old exercise.  In fact, now I have written that I can say that there are two new variations on two old kettlebell exercises!   What else?  Well, we will have the barbells out the front of the heavy bags most of the week (so lots of combination lifting/punching) and a lot of variety between the round lengths.  This public holiday Thursday we will be reprising the famous (infamous) 20 punches every 10 seconds/3 thrusters every 10 seconds class from February – so good luck with that!  I also need to say that I will be trying something ‘new’ in Monday’s class and hope everyone supports the effort to continually provide a different experience…I am actually pretty curious myself as to how it is going to work out!

I want to talk a little this week about the gym and a few things that I would like suggestions on!

First off, Friday nights we are completely and utterly deserted.  We run 4 classes (4pm, 5pm, 6pm and 7pm) and for the last two weeks we have not had more than 10 attendees at any of them.  So – what would you like us to do?  Should we drop a class, make one of them a Body Work or Beginners class…what would you like us to do???  Now – I do expect Friday’s to be quiet’ish, but running back-to-back-to-back-to-back sessions for such a low number of people really doesn’t make much sense from a business perspective.  Happy to look at any suggestions you might have to turn our Friday’s into ‘something’!

Secondly, Beginners sessions.  Beginners is supposed to be a pathway to Boxing for Fitness – but we are having real trouble progressing people out of the Beginners sessions and into the ‘normal’ classes.  To illustrate this point, the busiest class last Tuesday was 8pm Beginners and the busiest session on both Saturday AND Sunday was the 11:15am Beginners.  Now, given the range of class times we offer I think it is really unlikely that these are peoples preferred training times (certainly the fact that Monday and Wednesday 8pm sessions aren’t Beginners classes and have much lower numbers indicate this)…so what should we do?  How can we create a pathway from Beginners to Boxing?  How can we enable people to make the transition more easily?  Certainly Beginners is a great class and our experience is that people moving from Beginners to Boxing are much more likely to become long-term clients than those who insist in jumping in ‘feet first’ and end up doing some kind of punching/thrusters/burpee combination and become far to frightened to ever return, but we have to find a way to make people feel more comfortable in progressing.

I would really love to hear your ideas on these issues everyone – I would really like to understand exactly what everyone is looking for from our sessions and whether or not the offerings we have today are meeting your needs.  Now – we are not going to be able to satisfy everyone but I cannot help but think we are missing the mark with our Friday night offerings and doing something wrong in Beginners that is discouraging people from moving ‘up the ranks’.

See you in the gym,

Michael.

ANZAC Day Opening Hours

This Thursday is ANZAC day and we will be open as per our usual public holiday hours – 8am to 12pm with Boxing for Fitness running at 8:15, 9:15 and 10:15 and Beginners on at 11:15am.

I have had a few people ask if we are running a ‘bonus’ public holiday session at 7:15am (as per the last couple of public holidays) and the answer is ‘NO’ – unfortunately it is too hard to commit to getting to the ANZAC Day service and back to the gym to run a class by 7am.

April Whole Life Challenge – Weekly Challenge

This is the last ‘full week’ mini-challenge and we are back to the physical – this time, a strength challenge.

5 Rounds – Row 250m followed by 10 Bench-Press.

Please use a weight that means completing 10 reps is a real challenge – if you don’t have to ‘drop’ the weights between the first set and the last set then I think it can be safely said that your starting weight was not heavy enough.

Gym Update #1 – New Gear Part 1

All of the new gear promised in last week’s blog has arrived which means we have:

-         New Wall Balls

-         New Dead Balls

-         More 20kg (Blue) kettlebells

-         New ‘mini-sleds’.

It is great to see new gear rolling in the door and having the opportunity to keep varying the Boxing and Body Work sessions.

Gym Update #2 – New Gear Part 2

Our new hoodies are in Perth – they just aren’t in the gym yet.  Looking forward to achieving customs clearance SOON and getting them on the shelves for winter.  The new ‘Is there any Danger???’ singlets are also in production and we look forward to having them available soon!

Gym Update #3 – Round 1 Fitness Dream-team and Footy Tipping

The DreamTeam ladder has not been updated as I type this – however I can report that the weeks top scorer was NOT me – in fact, I am (much) closer to the other end of the table.  Tony was the top scorer with 2200 points, with other notable efforts from Dale (2106), Lloyd (2105), Roly (2029) and Daniel (2020).

Over in tipping land, the weekends upsets caused a bit of havoc with a few people – but not with Leigh who successfully picked all 9 winners!  Amazing effort.

Gym Update #4 – Facebook ‘Check-In’ prize

This month’s facebook checkin prize is a free ‘RING THE BELL’ PT pack.  So remember to check-in to the gym on Facebook and win 3 x 30 min PT sessions.

Remember also – if your car is spotted by me on the streets/in the car park at the shops/anywhere (except the gym, smarty!) then you will receive a free set of hand-wraps.  So get a cool new sticker on your car and win some wraps.

Gym Update #5 – Blog ‘Mini-Challenge’

A reminder again about the April ‘Mini-Challenge’.

Each day during the month of April you must do ONE (1) chinup for each day of the month that has ‘passed’.  In other words, on April 1^st you must do one chinup.  On the 2^nd – you do two, on the 3^rd you do three etc etc.  The last few days this has been getting very tough (probably wasn’t such a great idea to do the Chelsea workout before attempting this yesterday either) but I am still managing to do them in 2 sets…will I have to split it out to 3?  How are you going?

Facebook Highlights

Another good week of info and fun for those of you on our Facebook site – have a look at these links:

Exercise for lower back pain:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcQ5FdX3qs8

Total body Kettlebell:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8JbTKR50rk

Skill transfer of the burpee:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_43ezrGPwIg&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

1-minute Rounds at Round 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq6r9JeCUig

Link of the week

Not challenge friendly, but they look particularly nice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx-zxQgFrKo

See you in the gym!

Michael.