Hi and welcome to another week,

Great sessions last week – I loved the new kettlebell squat to press to windmill exercise, hitting tyres with hammers is always fun and my abs are telling me that there just must have been a heap of ab work – I guess it was all of those v-ups on Wednesday?  My favourite class of the week was definitely Body Work though – lots of short burst exercises (sets of 7) which made completing each set ‘unbroken’ a realistic goal…which in turn kept my heart rate super high.  700+ calories in 45 minutes is always a good result!

The week ahead?  Well, we are bringing back an old exercise in a new way.  We have tried to do gorilla swings in the classes before with only limited success – but that was with the kettlebells.  This week we will be doing them with the dumbbells and hopefully the smaller size/lesser weight make the exercise more achievable for everyone because done properly it creates a real burn.  What else – some tabata in Body Work, a new kettlebell exercise (well, new for non-TANKS people) Wednesday and a fun body weight circuit on Tuesday – the sessions look great.

With Christmas nearing (and the challenge already underway – with 2 days down nearly 10% of the allowed time has already passed!!!) I wanted to talk today about how we all need to continually look back and critically assess our execution if we want to ‘Get It Done’ this holiday season – and throughout the rest of the year as well for that matter.  What do I mean?  Well, I am not talking about how well you are doing your reps in the gym (although that is important too).

I consider time spent training to be ‘me’ time – or time that you have set aside inside the larger parameters of your life that is dedicated purely to yourself.  Now, for most people the biggest threat to their ‘ME’ time (training time) is the commitments – the external commitments – they have to do ‘first’.  In other words, the activities involving others that have to be done before you can be ‘selfish’ – obviously work and family are the top two on that list.  For you to get your ‘ME’ time – something has to give, or, in most cases, you need to be so efficient when completing your other tasks that getting access to your ‘ME’ time is never an issue.

How can you improve your efficiency?  In three ways:

–         (The simple way):  Focus on time when planning your day

Pretty simple.  Try to set things up so you don’t have to back-track.  Don’t book a meeting in the city, then one in Freo, then another back in the city.  It is just inefficient and it wont be work or family time you are eating into – it will be your ‘ME’ time.  Sure, there will be times when you simply have to cop it sweet – and just do things ‘out of order’ to fit in with the demands of a client or boss or family member or whatever, but don’t allow it to become the ‘norm’.  Value your time, reduce ‘double handling’ wherever and whenever you can and you might be surprised at the time left over at the end of the day.

–         (Something that requires a bit of discipline):  Focusing on creating time when hit by a curve- ball.

When little things go wrong during the day – a client cancels a meeting, you mix up the days when you were supposed to take the children to the dentist, whatever – you can react in a couple of ways.  First off, you could celebrate your ‘free time’, grab a coffee and relax for a while – in other words, you could choose to take back the time as ‘me’ time straight away.  The other alternative is to try and get some credits up – after all, the meeting/appointment/whatever will be rescheduled – and really focus on creating yourself some MORE free time with the hour or two that suddenly became available.
When you have been under pressure to deliver, a gap in your calendar oftentimes feels like a license to coast and recover – instead you should look upon the free time it creates as something to be treasured and taken advantage of – remind yourself, this means I can get ‘whatever it is you need to do’ done and STILL get home to have dinner with the kids/get to the gym/whatever your priority ‘ME’ time is for the day.

–         (Something that is Really hard to do and requires a LOT of discipline):  When the day/week is over – think back to how well you managed your time.

And this last suggestion is how to make lasting change.  At the end of each week, go back through your diary (or at least think back through your week) and make some notes about all of the times you allowed time to get away from you.  The time you went and had a coffee when you could have finished the task you were working on, the time you didn’t get your travel scheduling right which led to some backtracking – whatever it is.   Write then down.  Commit to fix them next week – and make sure you follow through.

As Pacino said in ‘Any Given Sunday’ – “The inches we need are all around us”.  We are all let opportunities to be more efficient pass by us every day…and by the time we finally realise we are doing it, 3 months (or more) have passed and that lost time can never be retrieved.  If it is happening – get disappointed in yourself – and DO something about it.  Get the time back.  Give yourself more time for yourself, more time for your family, more time for ‘real’ leisure – like going to Round 1!

There you have it – We are all busy and all have multiple responsibilities, and never is this statement more true than it is over Christmas.  If you want to make time for ‘YOU’ – if you want to get more ‘ME’ time (which to me means more time for training! J), then look for those moments in every day where they are flashing by unused…and grab them back!

See you in the gym,

Michael.

Round 1 Fitness – November Specials are OVER

The November specials are (sadly) over.  The draw for the winner of the ‘SUPER’ membership will take place after the 6pm session this Wednesday December 5^th.  At last count there were only 27 people in the draw so the odds are pretty darn good! – Good luck everyone.  And remember, the ‘SUPER’ membership is now available as a package – $1350 up front or $120 per month.  Remember that it does include access to 1 x TANKS session per week as well as 10 x 30min PT sessions…that is more than $700 worth of training on top of your 12-month membership,  plus you receive extra gloves, wraps, t-shirts etc.

Gym Update #1 – Saturday, 7:15am is GO (and thanks)

Thanks to everyone who got along and supported our new 7:15am class yesterday.  Really appreciate the effort everyone took to not only talk about wanting the class but also getting along and getting it done.  That we had solid numbers at both 7:15am AND 8:15am (and by adding the new session we didn’t just split the 8:15am class in half) went a long way to justifying the extra cost associated with adding a new timeslot.

Gym Update #2– December Challenge starts Saturday

The 12 Days of Christmas challenge is underway and more than 150 challenge forms have been taken from reception.  Great to see so many people thinking about challenging themselves this festive season…now all that needs to happen is for 150 people to get it done!

As per my comments last week, if you want a shirt for completing the challenge, please be sure to register your name and t-shirt size with reception – and pay your $30.  I will be placing the order this coming Friday so anyone who has not registered by then I will not be able to guarantee a t-shirt for.

Gym Update #3 – Proposed Christmas Hours

A few people have been asking so here is what I am thinking – closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years day.  Early close on Christmas eve and New Years eve (4pm class the last one to run each day) – this is based on the fact that we have had less than 6 people attend the 5pm session each of the past two years (and I want to spend some time at home as well).

Comments/questions about the proposed times?  Send me a note at mpratt@round1fitness.com.au or just catch me next time you are in the gym.

Gym Update #4– New Share Gloves

The saga with the gloves and singlets continues.  Whilst I said last week that everything was in Australia, that turned out to not be strictly true – three out of five packages have arrived in Australia, but I don’t know what is IN them.  Further, the couriers don’t know where the other two(2) boxes are (though ‘either Singapore or Dubai’) is their best guess.

Anyway, the three boxes that have arrived were cleared by customs Friday – and will be in the gym tomorrow.  If it is the gloves that arrive, the $2 hire fee for these gloves will be applied starting tomorrow.  If the singlets arrive, these will be available for sale…sometimes it is just all too hard!

Gym Update #5 – Backpacks

We are all out of members bags at the moment – there are 30 more on their way from overseas and given recent events with the importer I have placed an ‘Emergency’ order for some bags through an Australian supplier.  These will all be in the gym soon.  In the meantime, don’t stress if you don’t have your pack  – it is literally on the way.

Facebook Highlights

An awesome week on Facebook.   We have made a real push lately to put up some photos of the classes and other goings on in the gym.  There have been some fantastic shots put up in last few weeks – be sure to check out the pics.  As always, below are the links added to our Facebook group this week:

What girls want:  http://grablifebythebells.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/want-women-want-not-featuring-mel-gibson.html

Trying to get the right message across:  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/updating-the-message-to-get-americans-moving/?smid=fb-share

Olympic Lifting:  http://www.catalystathletics.com/media/video/video.php?videoID=482

Anabolic Chef Omelette:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Noht44rDeqA&feature=em-subs_digest

How safe are supplements:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/fitness/how-safe-are-protein-supplements/article5469960/

Using a foam roller:

http://www.runnersworld.com/stretching/foam-roller-video-series?cm_mmc=Twitter-_-RunnersWorld-_-Content-Video-_-FoamRoller

Squat stance and Olympic lifts:

http://www.catalystathletics.com/articles/article.php?articleID=135

Make sure you join us on the site (click HERE) and get involved with the daily conversations – it really does help keep you focused on your training and diet.

Link of the week

I love this article – embrace your need to feast?  Yeah!

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/5_holiday_diet_tips_that_dont_suck

See you in the gym!

Michael.