Hi and welcome to another week,

Thanks to everyone who got down to the gym last week – we had some terrific sessions run, but regardless of the plan and the trainers who are running it, the best sessions come about when there is a group of highly motivated people doing them…when you look to your left or your right in a class and see someone really having a go, it certainly inspires you to keep on going.  Whether it was the weather or the cycle of the moon or something else all together, last week it seemed like every time I was in the gym the whole class was having a real crack at things!

I talk about listening to ‘The Paleo Solution’ podcast a bit in this blog – I wanted to start off this weeks little message with a quote from episode 192 of the show (find it here).  The guest on the program (Jim Laird) made the following observation (the spelling errors are from the transcript – they aren’t mine (this time) and they certainly aren’t Jims!):

‘…there’s nothing wrong with working hard where we got to work smart and we’ve also got to put as much effort into take care of our bodies as we do pushing it. Because, you know, especially women the, you know, the women that come into our gym most of them don’t eat enough food. I’ve never ever in my career seen a woman that’s come in that’s eating enough. Most of them their diet consists of yogurt, fat free yogurt and celery sticks and almond butter and then they go on like a huge binge. A huge binge wouldn’t be that bad if they actually ate good food and had a healthy metabolism. Their body would speed up and they’d actually lose some body fat but they’re so metabolically broken and you can comment on this whether I’m right or wrong but they’re so metabolically deranged their body is in a survival state and they’re trying to store everything they can. You know, it’s just they’re killing themselves with cardio plus they’re starving themselves at the same time and it’s really – it’s hard because you watch these people who are working so hard to get nothing out of it when they just need to chill out a little bit, take better care of themselves, eat better food.’

Now – all of this is interesting and continues to give me something to think about.  It is really hard for us at Round 1 watching some of our clients train their absolute butts off – but not getting the results they want.  So after a few months, their commitment to their training wanes – after all, why keep training hard if nothing is ‘changing’ – and we see them less and less frequently, and finally not at all.  Then 12-months later they come back to the gym determined to ‘be successful this time’ and the whole cycle starts itself again.  Diet?  ‘My diet is good – I know what I should be eating but I sometimes on the weekend I let it slip a bit’.  What I want to say is I really think you should try eliminating alcohol, grains, alcohol, all refined sugars, alcohol, all refined sugars, alcohol and dairy for the next 30-days and see if it helps (in other words, do the whole life challenge 100% – not 80% – for 30 days).  But no-one likes this idea, so what I do say is ‘OK – Great.  Try and stick to your Monday to Friday plan on the weekends for the next month or so and see how you go with that’.  This doesn’t really seem to work too successfully for most people though.

As per Jim’s comments above, we need to put as much time into taking CARE of our bodies as we put into pushing them.  Now I am a shocking example of this – I train every day, sometimes twice a day, and do very little rehab stuff – but having said that I do go to a bit of trouble with my food (well, I con Vanessa into going to a bit of trouble with my food) and I do spend 10-15 minutes most days laying on a foam roller.  Could I do better?  Of course!  Maybe a massage here or there (even though I hate them), maybe try and get in a 20 minute walk a couple of times a week.  I think that sort of thing would help me quite a bit.  But what about those of you reading this?

If you are reading this and you are boxing, running, lifting, PT’ing and WOD’ing five (5) or more times each week, I really would urge you to have a serious think about the food you are eating and the time you are allocating to rehab and recovery.  Sometimes less REALLY is more.  And whilst your determination to train and push yourself again and again is something that I personally find really admirable – I get a lot of enjoyment from training hard and appreciate effort when I see it in others, remember that your body is the ultimate determinate of how far and how often you can push yourself and you can only over-ride the messages it is sending you for so long before injury will strike and bring your training to a dead-stop.

See you at Round 1,

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – Start Getting Ready for the ‘Golden Gloves’ Challenge

The next Round 1 challenge – ‘Golden Gloves’ – will be starting THIS THURSDAY.  The details are as follows:

You must complete twenty (20) BOXING classes during the month of August.  These have to be ‘BOXING for FITNESS’ OR ‘Beginners’ classes – Body Work and TANKS (and PT) don’t count for this challenge!!!

You must also complete three (3) sessions of ‘ROAD WORK’ every week.  This means three (3) runs every week – (treadmill is acceptable!) – for at least fifteen 15 minutes each session.  This is about steady, consistent running – only looking for your heart rate to sit at around the 130bpm mark here.

The last detail – which everyone who has spoken to me seems to be quite fearful of – is also pretty simple.  Every time you do a class (20 times for the month) you must complete 20 Pushups, 20 Squats and 20 Situps at the END of the session.  If you are a boy you must also complete 10 chin-ups.  If you are a girl you must complete 5 chin-ups (yes, using a band is acceptable).  That is it.

The challenge sheets are on the desk – when you take one, be sure to REGISTER for the challenge (don’t stress – it is free).  When you register, you will need to nominate for the SIZE of gloves you would like the opportunity to win – there will be one pair of Golden Gloves awarded in Small, Medium, Large and XL – the prizes will be decided based on a draw of all of those people who successfully finished the challenge.

Want a challenge t-shirt?  Sure – these are (as always) available for $30.  I would love to give them away to everyone who finishes guys, but I simply can’t afford it!  If I could, I would – I promise.  Each winner of the gloves will also receive a ‘Get it Done’ t-shirt – so each of the 4 prizes is worth $60…

Gym Update #2 – White Collar Boxing

Congrats to Aaron, Clint, Crystal and Viv who all took up the challenge and stepped into the ring at the Italian Club a couple of nights ago.  Talk about getting outside of your comfort zone – each of you have my unending respect for having a go…that you were able to perform so well is a further credit to the dedication each of you showed to your training and diet.

Gym Update #3 – Power Racks Update

The new power racks are in place and everything seems to be going well so far.  The promised Olympic weightlifting classes will be coming SOON – we are just waiting for delivery of the final rack insert so that all four (4) racks are able to be used properly and safely both with and without a bench.

Gym Update #4 – Scoopon Users – Get it Done!

Anyone who has been using one of the 2013 Scoopons, please remember that they must be used before the 19^th of August – which is just three weeks away.  If you have any sessions left on your Scoopon they will not be honoured after that date – so if you have been thinking about getting back to the gym get back to the gym NOW to avoid disappointment later.

Gym Update #5 – New Gear

I know – after all the new stuff in the last couple of weeks, what else could we possibly buy???  Well, somehow – despite adding 20 new red skipping ropes on July 1^st (yes, less than a month ago!!!) we have only got two (2) left.  So there are thirty (30) more on the way to the gym and I would ask you to PLEASE look after them.  If you are skipping and rope is being whacked against the wall, seats, chinup poles or whatever…that is BAD!  Find some room (there is always tonnes of space in the middle of the skipping circle) and skip there.

Sometimes they are going to break – I understand that – but they do cost real money and if we are continually buying ropes then it takes away from other things (cooler things) that we could be buying.

Gym Update #6 – Round 1 Fitness Dream-team and Footy Tipping

DreamTeam is continuing to drive me crazy.  Tony and I each have 6 active players at the moment, and the little projection thing has me losing by just 8 points.  I don’t know why I am surprised – in a game where the winning score is usually around 2100 points if things hold this will be the 6^th time I have lost by 30 points or less.  ANNOYING.  Meantime, at the top of the ladder Trav’s team (1^st) is under real threat from Lloyd (3^rd), Clint (2^nd) is cruising to a comfortable win and Matt (4^th) is in real trouble against Aaron who is sitting in 9^th.  There is still a bit left in the season and no real dominant side.

Over in the tipping competition, as I type this there are 28 people with a perfect 7/7 to this point of the round…but there is an upset brewing at Etihad (Go DOGS!) and that will knock out all but 7 of them…and each of those people have tipped the Swans over the Tiges so it is going to be a large group of ‘winners’ this weekend!  As you might expect, all of our leaders (Steve, Ross, Leigh and Lloyd) are in group who have 7/7 to this point so it will continue to be tight at the top at the end of this round.

Facebook Highlights

Some more great links on Facebook this week:

Death:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJP3wS4Mix8

Paleo weight loss:  http://blog.paleohacks.com/kimberlys-paleo-transformation/

Cheat days:  http://robbwolf.com/2013/06/18/episode-188/ (Fast forward to the 45:00 minute mark to listen to the pertinent bits!)

Boxing Footwork:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZALaJrUT-ks

Torture 240:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_2NxbcYJ78

Link of the week

I have posted a few facebook articles on intermittent fasting lately – here is one where Hugh Jackman talks about using IF as part of his preparation for ‘Wolverine’:  http://www.motleyhealth.com/celeb/hugh-jackmans-wolverine-workout-and-diet

See you in the gym!

Michael.