Hi and welcome to another week,
Loved my training last week. With the challenge starting I did 1-minute rounds for what felt like the first time in ages on Thursday – usually I do the ‘No-Rules’ session – and I loved it. So much fun – just getting to really focus in on what I was doing, glance at the sign and get on with it was great…can’t believe I had gone so long without doing one of these. I also dragged out my MMA gloves for the session which was a great plan as I didn’t need to take my gloves off for the duration of the class. What else? Well, I could hardly not mention the return of the medicine ball froggy jumps on Friday – I had forgotten how much I HATE those stupid things and I must also pass on a special thanks to Brad Maher for making sure we all had to do our jumps up and down the driveway during the 1pm session…as if that exercise needed to be made any harder!
I hope what I write next will be seen as a little bit of instruction/motivation but I suspect I am going to come across like a school teacher. Clearly I don’t want that – but here goes anyway.
No matter how hard you are training at the gym, if you cannot get control of your food then you are not going to achieve what you want to achieve. What do I mean? If you want to drink a couple of cappucino’s from the local cafe every day and eat a subway sandwich with the works for lunch (actually, works or not it is not a great plan!), it is not going to matter how hard you work out – you wont achieve your goals. Your eating habits are saying to me that the short term gratification of the coffee/sandwich is more important to you than mid/longer term goals you keep saying you want to achieve. Want another example? If you want to continue having a few drinks after work a few times each week, or – if you are just getting started with your training, even once each week – you could do a TANKS session every single day and you wont see your body composition change much (if at all). Your drinking habit is saying to me that socialising / social drinking is more important to you than changing your body composition. Want another example? If you are sticking to a strict diet from Monday-to-Friday but then having an ‘explosion’ on the weekend in the name of a ‘Cheat Day’, then unless you are going into a massive caloric deficit from Monday – Friday those cheat meals on the weekend are not going to tell your body “don’t worry, we aren’t in starvation mode, you can shed a few pounds” (like all the magazines say it will – see page 55 of the June 2013 issue of Mens Health for an example of this) – all that will happen is that those extra calories from the weekend are just going to end up on your hips (girls) and stomach (guys). Yes – one ‘bad’ day per week can be enough to ‘blow it’ if you aren’t careful.
Now all of this might sound a little harsh – and it probably is a bit much when what I really want to do is be supportive, but it is really hard for me and the other trainers seeing people work so HARD in the gym yet be frustrated because they aren’t ‘getting anywhere’. The truth is if you are training 3-4 times per week, you ARE doing enough exercise – training more often or training ‘harder’ is not the answer you are looking for (and it could in fact make things worse). If you want results you have to show some real discipline when it comes to what you put into your mouth. If you want results you simply have to work as hard on your diet as you are working in the gym.
Cut out the processed foods. Cut out refined sugar. (And I would say cut out grains and dairy as well but that is another story altogether – check out the link of the week if you want to get some more info on this). Eat good, fresh food. Get some sleep. Train hard when you are in the gym.
See you at Round 1,
Michael.
The challenge has started and I hope you have all managed to get your Road-Work done over the last few days – those 15-minute runs aren’t much but it is amazing how trying to find that ‘extra’ time to get the challenge done can impact on your training schedule. Remember though – the runs don’t have to be done in the gym – they can be done anywhere (honour system applies) and they don’t have to be fast…a Cliffy Young shuffle (see this if you don’t know what I am talking about – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OD96zocXRU) is acceptable!
A reminder of the rules for those people who may have forgotten – this group of people would of course include Renae Fassom:
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…
I have been playing around with some potential time-table changes over the last couple of weeks and this is what I am thinking about:
Adding a 5am class on Monday mornings.
Adding 4pm classes on both Tuesday and Thursday afternoons – so there will be a 4pm class on every week day.
Converting the 10:15am class on Sunday morning from Boxing to Body Work – this means there will be a Body Work class available every day of the week.
Creating a ‘new’ class that we will run at 6pm on Tuesday and Thursday (immediately prior to the existing TANKS sessions). I have not named them yet, but they will be 30mins in duration and focussed on some very basic strength training – squats, front squats, deadlifts, bench-press, kettlebell carries etc – and targeted at Beginners. We will also cover some fundamental lifting concepts (sets, reps, super-sets, drop-sets, ladders etc) so that when you ‘branch out’ on your own the program you are trying to do does not sound like it has been written in double-dutch. These classes will be limited to six (6) participants and – like TANKS – will be at an additional cost on top of your membership. The idea of the sessions is not to provide a pathway into TANKS, but rather to provide people with some basic strategies that they can use to increase their strength in a safe environment. As I have often written, doing somewhere between 3-4 Boxing sessions each week supplemented by 1-2 strength focused sessions is a great way to meet your fitness and weight-loss goals – but it seems there are a lot of people who are not confident to do their lifting sessions even after getting a program from one of the trainers – so these classes are designed to fill the knowledge gap. If you are interested (or potentially interested), please let me know via email to mpratt@round1fitness.com.au.
All of our rowers were serviced this week – and are all back in working order. There is one that has a broken console/console signalling cable and I expect the parts for that will be available this week. Just so you guys are aware, the new console is worth more than $500 and this is on top of the service and maintenance costs. I know it is just the cost of doing business but please remember that commercial quality equipment is very expensive and if you see something that isn’t quite ‘right’, please let me know so that I can fix it before it becomes a major issue and expense.
As most people would have noticed, we are still missing an insert from one of the new racks. Here’s hoping we have it this week. I know it is a pain but the alternative was to wait for the insert BEFORE installing any of the new gear and I think this is the better compromise. Meanwhile, please be careful if you are moving the bench in/out of the rack that is missing the insert – it really is a two (2) person job so ask for help if you need it.
Anyone who has been using one of the 2013 Scoopons, please remember that they must be used before the 19th of August – which is just two 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.
Wow – low scores in DreamTeam this week and upsets aplenty in the tipping. After last week when it felt like everyone in our tipping competition was on track for a perfect score, with just one game left ‘5’ is the leading score and our leadeboard has been destroyed – unless Essendon complete a miracle comeback we will have a four (4) way tie on top of the competition at the end of this round between Leigh, Dayle, Ross and Steven with Lloyd just one point adrift.
Over in the DreamTeam competition, Clint (1st) is in trouble against Aaron (8th), Matt (2nd) is holding sway against Lloyd (5th) and Travis (3rd) is on top of Tony (4th). The games are generally pretty close and a couple of them (like mine vs Symon) might end up being decided by the player each coach selected as ‘captain’ for the week.
Some more great links on Facebook this week:
Burpee Variations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYRJtXfxFYI
Fats made simple: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/fats_made_simple&cr=
Burning Bridges: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfhsgzdNTC8
Simon Gie: https://round1fitness.com.au/rn_profile/simon-gie
Padwork fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcflkTOZ57k
What is a foam roller and how do I use it? http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/what-foam-roller-how-do-i-use-it-and-why-does-it-hurt
Another diet link this week. If you have been thinking about giving the WLC / Paleo-style diet a go, now is a great time of year to get started. It is before all of the summer season bbq / Christmas party craziness and will allow you to get some good habits ‘entrenched’ before temptation starts happening on a weekly basis. Not sure where to start? Well, this one-page quick-start guide tells you how!
http://robbwolf.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/thePaleoSolution_QuickStart.pdf
See you in the gym!
Michael.
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