Hey Team,

Welcome to another Sunday.  It’s been a busy day in my world – work, train, work, work…somehow it’s 3:30pm and I’ve suddenly realised it’s blog day and I had plans to write about stretching and, well, ALL of us getting our collective acts together…so here goes!  

Before I start, I want to quickly mention what is happening at the moment with our class bookings vs class attendance – PLEASE book into your classes.  You can do it via the ‘Member Me +’ app OR via the booking site (http://round1fitness.ezfacility.com ) – both methods use the same username/password combo as one another…all of the future planning I do for class times etc comes from this system – once upon a time I manually tracked session numbers but I have not done that since the first COVID shutdown (why would I since there is an automated system)…

If you FORGET to book, don’t stress…just do it when you get to the gym at the usual computer where you scan your tag.  It is super simple but if you can’t figure it out, please just ask for help…last Friday morning we had 32 book – and of those 26 people tagged in…but somehow there were 46 people doing the session.  Yep – apparently we ran out of skipping ropes…well…is anyone surprised when we have more people in the gym than the capacity of the class?  If you guys help us by booking/checking in, then making sure there is sufficient equipment for demand etc is something WE can do.  

Now we’re all booking in, I wanted to put out one FINAL reminder about our current special – and it will only be up for a few more days (the end of October is the end of the special):
3-sessions-for-$10 is without doubt the most cost-effective ‘Get Started’ package (https://round1fitness.com.au/3-sessions-for-10/ ) we have EVER done.  I know you don’t get the ‘Body Scan/Goal Setting’ stuff that we include with the two-week-trial (https://round1fitness.com.au/trial-2/ ) but for anyone out there who just wants to start…well, you can’t beat it.  Yes, you can do whatever session you want (Functional Fitness, Boxing, Body Work, Hammer Time) at whatever time you want…it is simple.  3 sessions, $10.  If you know someone who has been talking about getting a start, well – in a weeks time this special will be done so please encourage them to give it a go now.

Right.  What I wanted to talk about today was being prepared to ‘take action’.  There is one thing about the challenge (and we are two weeks deep in Summer Slam right now) tends to bring out in me more than any other – and that is the willingness to just ‘have a go’ at something.  My life is pretty straight forward and doesn’t really include much ‘superfluous’ stuff.  I go to work, I do some exercise and I try to be supportive of the things my family/kids do – watching sporting events etc.  I do those things ALL of the time.  When I am at my best – and this is probably not often enough – I also seem to find time to get some prehab/rehab work done, I do some meal prep (cooking dinner for the family is NOT meal prep – it’s being a member of a house!) and I have some more focus around my hobbies/relaxation…there is less crashing in front of tv and more ‘let me learn to play this song’ type activity.  Basically, I just get more focussed and therefore become more productive.

Well.  I’m going to put it out there that most everyone ‘out there’ is the same and so many parts of our life – because we are stressed out – revert to our worst habits.  Now those habits might be chocolate after dinner 5x nights a week, a glass of wine with dinner every day, being ‘too busy’ to prep lunch and heading to the cafe every day etc.  But a really common one I regularly hear about at the gym is “I’m so TIGHT – I really need to make the time to stretch/roll/etc”…and it seems our capacity to say “I need to make time” is far, FAR greater than our willingness to “make time”.

One thing I will acknowledge is that all of the worlds best intentions can sometimes come undone when there is a bit of a knowledge gap – sometimes just knowing WHAT to do is the key.  Now, I am a great lover of YouTube – there are 2000 bazillion free resources there can really help you do any number of things.  Is everything there amazing and accurate?  Well, probably not.  But here are a number of 10-minute yoga/stretch routines I have used and like:

10 minute yoga for Men (Beginners) from Sean Vigue:  https://youtu.be/2ymyRJwFtV8

It’s called ‘Yoga for Men’ but as the opening screenshot says, it’s great for girls as well.  It’s pretty simple and very easy to follow – I probably use ‘the bones’ of this one more than any other.

10 minute Yoga for Stiff Bodies from ‘Yoga with Bird’:  https://youtu.be/SvPKFsCiMsw

This is great.  Has a real focus on upper and lower back and whilst I find her voice annoying (I’m sure she would say the same about mine!) she definitely keeps it moving and unlike some presenters you aren’t left thinking ‘Yep, I get it…next’.

10 minute morning stretch with ‘Mady Morrison’:  https://youtu.be/ihba9Lw0tv4

For anyone who wants to just ‘get into it’, Mady is the go.  She has a timer on the screen that beeps for every change of pose/stretch and basically gives zero credence for explanations – she does the pose, you copy it, move on.  This has a bit of an issue in that you really need to watch it/practice it BEFORE you attempt it – otherwise your whole 10-minutes will consist of ‘how does this super flexible girl DO that’…

12-minute Hip Mobility with ‘Tom Merrick’:  https://youtu.be/jj2AAH6jbHk 

Tom is kind of the anti-Mady in that in his ‘follow-along’ session he gives full explanations and really does make it easy to follow along/understand.  I really like this session and in particular the focus on hips/lower back…this is the one that I sort of go to on the day after a run.  Be warned though, he uses ‘props’ in a lot of his routines and uses a yoga block in this one – but you can (and I do) complete it without one.

10-minute Morning Mobility Routine with ‘Fraser Wilson’:  https://youtu.be/Igzmhbghcd4

Fraser is a bit like Mady in that there isn’t much (aka any) explanation so you need to really watch/follow along.  However.  Whereas Mady does a couple of moves that are hard to work out on first watch, Fraser follows the KISS method and you can sort of watch along and say ‘oh yeah’ to yourself and get into position pretty easily.  Like Mady, he uses an on-screen count-down so you know how long you need to hold each position for etc.

There are literally HUNDREDS of these 10-minute stretching/yoga routines on the YouTube machine so if you don’t like these, I’m sure you will be able to find one that works for you.  And remember, if I have time to do one before getting to the gym in the morning, well…you have time as well.  All of us can spend our time complaining about how ‘stiff’ we are or we can dedicate a bit of time to getting on top of things…

See you in the gym,

Michael.