Boxing Blog

    Unconscious competence, April Challenge on the way, March Special

    Hi and welcome to another week,

    Thanks to Jason and Leila for punishing me last week – I went through the punishment session (aka last week’s Body Work) with Jason on Tuesday then again (yep, I am stupid!) with Leila on Friday.  Very, very tough session and their continual encouragement and ‘reminders’ to ‘just keep going’ were most appreciated.  Well, after I finished I appreciated them.  During the session I mostly wanted them to go and press the ‘Stop’ button on the timer and tell me it was OVER!

    I have been doing some ‘skill execution’ reading in the past week or so – mostly footy related – and trying to understand the difference between being ‘consciously competent’ (able to perform a skill but must concentrate hard to get it ‘right’) as opposed to being ‘unconsciously competent’ which means you can do something at a high level of skill almost without thinking.  When I was reading, I tied all this to my semi-successful attempt at Crossfit 12.3 last week and how much additional time I need to spend on the technique of some moves.

    I guess what you are aiming for with complex skills is the ability to execute the movement ‘unconsciously’.  Where you have practiced it so often you can just ‘Do It’…and in fact you have difficulty in performing the movement ‘incorrectly’.  When I think about the way I train in a boxing class though, I wonder if the fact that I can do so many of the tasks ‘without thinking’ might just be impacting on the quality of my output?  That maybe by swinging back into ‘conscious’ mode would be beneficial to my training and therefore my results.  Is the fact that I am punching / doing pushups / squats / whatever without giving each move my full concentration actually holding me back?

    What might I actually be able to achieve if rather than just ‘doing it’, I re-engaged and fully focussed on each task?  If I focussed on each move as if it was a ‘new’ one, if I carefully (and consciously) reminded myself what I was supposed to be doing.  I guess this whole thought process reminded me of the pain everyone went through when the trainers at Round 1 made a decision to start challenging all of our clients on squat technique – we didn’t do any more squats, we simply re-focussed on what was ‘right’ and everyone complained of sore glutes and quads for a couple of weeks thereafter.  Imagine if we were able to do this for ALL of our exercises?  Imagine if you were driven enough to do it yourself – to ensure you were engaged with each activity right throughout the session.

    So – let’s have a go.  Think about every punch, every pushup, every squat, every ‘whatever’ and do it to the full.  Let’s really drive one another to treat each activity as a ‘new’ one – where we concentrate on our technique and maximise our effort – and let’s all reap the rewards!

    April Challenge:  IT IS ON!

    For those of you who can think all the way back to last October, we ran a challenge that required you to complete 25 sessions within the calendar month.  Everyone who successfully completed the challenge is now happily strutting around the gym in a charcoal coloured ‘Get it Done’ t-shirt.

    Well, we are back on again in the month of April.  The rules will be as follows:

    1/.25 sessions must be completed within the calendar month.  Double sessions (more than 1 per day) can only be used twice in determining the final total.

    2/.Tanks counts.  Running club counts.

    3/.Each person must nominate one additional personal ‘challenge’ that must be completed to the satisfaction of the trainers each WEEK during the month.  The challenge must be determined by the participant, but can be modified by the trainers if they consider it to be too easy or too hard.

    Get thinking.  Plan out your sessions.  Get a contingency plan together.  Get it done.

    Don’t forget the March Special – Join/Renew and WIN a new BIKE from Apollo

    Just a quick reminder about our ‘MARCH SPECIAL’ –  Join/Re-join/renew your membership in March and go into a draw to win a brand new bike from Apollo.  At the time of writing there have been 43 new contracts signed in March – so if it closed today you would have a 1 in 43 chance of winning…pretty darn good odds for such a fantastic prize!

    Now, it doesn’t matter if you choose to join for 3-months, 6-months or 12-months – you will go in the draw to win a fantastic new bike.  Remember that being a Round 1 member brings a whole range of benefits – unlimited classes, no need to ‘book’, full access to the weights, cardio and Olympic lifting equipment, access to TANKS, access to PT, access to personalised weights programs…it goes on and on.

    So join up in March – get your fitness campaign on track and maybe win yourself a bike as well!

    Gym Update #1 – Health and Wellness Lecture

    Thanks to everyone who attended our Health and Wellness lecture with Kacey and Kerry from Leeming Chiropractic last Monday.  It was a great and informative session – and all that remains is for you to get over the see the girls and have your screening done.

    I have approximately 20 more free passes for the cellular screen to hand out to gym members – if you are interested, please let me know next time you are in.

    Gym Update #2 – New gear, new gear…

    New kettlebells, dead-balls, power bands, plyometric boxes and sand bags all arrived at Round 1 last week!  Happy training!

    Gym Update #3 – Gloves, wraps and other stuff.

    Those of you with keen eyes will have noticed that we have run out of large bag mitts in black, and that our range of leather boxing gloves is currently a bit limited in terms of both colours and sizes.  The news is worse in that we are now also out of bags for our 12-month member packs.

    There is some better news though.  The new stock of leather gloves – together with an order of all leather weightlifting gloves – was shipped on Friday.  Our new bags – which will be another new design (a backpack) – is scheduled for shipping this coming week, as is the new order of bag mitts.

    Simply put, all of the gear will be here soon.  In the meantime, don’t forget to check out the new MMA gloves which have been proving the best possible way to up the ante during Thursday’s one-minute rounds.

    Gym Update #4 – Sunday Morning Running Club

    Well done to everyone who dragged themselves out to Runners Club this morning.  It was a very challenging session and I was so pleased with the way everyone fought their way through those 200m repetitions.

    If you stick at it, you WILL complete the 14km Run for a Reason in a little over 2 months time.  As we discussed at this mornings session, the 8km ‘ANZAC Day Run’ is on at Kings Park on April 22nd and will be a perfect lead-in to the longer event in May.

    Footy Tipping and Dream Team

    Footy season starts this week!  Get on board our tipping competition AND our DreamTeam league:

    To join the Footy Tipping competition, please select the following link:

    http://www.footytips.com.au/comps/Round_1_Fitness&p=speedball

    To join the AFL Dream Team competition, try this link:

    First, go to www.afl.com.au/.  You will need to set yourself up a team, get a team name etc.

    Once you have done that, select the ‘Create/Join a League’ button and enter code ‘399285’.

    Last year we ended up with a couple of leagues running so don’t worry too much if you miss out on this one – just let me know and I will create another Round 1 Fitness league.

    Facebook Highlights

    How to lose fat:  http://www.muscleandstrength.com/expert-guides/fat-loss

    Gluten Free Expo:  http://glutenfreeinwa.com.au/index.html

    Soft drink is THIS bad!  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/soda-and-heart-attacks_n_1343163.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

    Slow motion muscle-up:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKcnpJSAsbo&feature=related

    Add to that all the stories about the classes, Cross fit WOD’s, TANKS, running club and what seems like 100 different photo uploads…The daily activity on the Facebook site will help keep you focussed on your training.  Get involved!

    Links of the week

    Something for my Saturday morning TANKS crew…those TABATA thrusters were NASTY…you may as well get ready for the front squat version in a couple of weeks time!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6Ed0EzTXW0

    See you in the gym!

    Michael.

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