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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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 7th in scoring to this point of the year yet 2nd 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!
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.
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
An interesting Paleo food journey: http://everydaypaleo.com/danas-paleo-journey-unexpected-life-altering-results/
See you in the gym!
Michael.
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