Hi and welcome to another week, Well, interesting training week for me last week. In the aftermath of the marathon I really struggled with fatigue and couldn’t manage a class until Thursday. For someone who tries to bang out five (5) or six (6) group training sessions every week, this was a bit hard to handle but I am taking it as a signing of either increased maturity or old-age (look at it however you please) that I was prepared to give my body a short-term break in the hope that it would help me recover and enable me to train well later in the week. Typing this on Sunday afternoon, I feel like the plan has worked and I am actually feeling quite fresh and looking forward to a good week of sessions this week. I don’t like to write about Round 1 in this portion of the blog, but I am going to change gears and do exactly that this week as we implement the most significant time-table changes in more than 18-months. As part of these changes we are introducing six (6) new time-slots and two (2) new class types – and these are not things that we have done lightly. I will cover the ‘easy’ stuff first.
We have introduced a 5am session on Monday mornings for one simple reason – there have been support for the sessions at that time on Wednesday’s and Friday’s. Now – the numbers have not been great by any means, but we are getting pretty steady attendance by a dozen or so people which was the sort of commitment I was looking for before adding a 3rd session. So – if you are looking to train before work, we can help you out almost no matter how early you start and we are the only gym in the area to offer group sessions that are finished before 6am!
We have added two (2) additional 4pm boxing classes – these are now available on every week day. Again, 4pm is not a particularly busy time-slot for us but attendance is steady…and given that we have some members out there whose work/life schedule is suited by this time we have elected to offer the extra sessions. Again, we are the only facility in our area offering group training sessions commencing at 4pm.
This one might be a bit contentious however we have found trying to manage a ‘beginners group’ within our ‘normal’ classes is simply not working – either for us or those wanting to do the ‘Beginners’ version of the session. The complexity of some of the sessions – coupled with the short-breaks between rounds – have made the ‘Beginners Option’ false advertising in many ways and we cannot persist with it. Beginners sessions remain available five (5) days per week.
With the recent addition of Body Work to the Saturday timetable being well received, it made a lot of sense to add it to Sunday as well. Body Work is a class that polarises people – either love or hate – but it’s regular 7pm timeslot does make it very difficult for a lot of people who want to attend to do the class. Adding the Saturday session has helped more people get their fix – but due to junior sport commitments etc has still left a few people feeling excluded. Replacing the Sunday 10:15am Boxing session with a Body Work class will hopefully enable all of our members to have a chance to do a Body Work class.
Twice per week (Monday and Wednesday at 7pm) we try to run concurrent Boxing for Fitness and Body Work classes. Now – whilst this has been working reasonably well, there is no doubt that both classes have been compromised to support this concept so we have decided to make a change. Because the Body Work session generally takes over the rubber floor area – including all of the barbells, kettlebells etc – we remove all of those exercises from the boxing sessions. Further, because the Boxing class gets in the way of the rings, we have to remove those exercises from the Body Work class. B+ Boxing will allow us to be a bit more honest – the 7pm Boxing class will be ‘Body Weight’ focussed with the occasional use of weights if the Body Work session permits it. Essentially, we know that the 7pm ‘Boxing’ session has not been the same class as the one we have run for the rest of the day – now you guys will know it as well.
This is an idea we have been wanting to put in place for some time now – a simple, basic ‘Introduction to Weight Lifting’ that focuses on technique. Our primary concern has been that Round 1 members are used to training HARD – and the Starting Strength sessions won’t be particularly physical – and everyone will leave feeling ‘ripped off’. Oh well – we are going to give it a try anyway and hopefully the small group format (limit of six people) and one-on-one attention this will afford will give everyone a positive experience.
Now none of these changes have been made lightly. The addition of the extra classes have an impact on us in terms of resourcing and ultimately cost – but we believe they make our gym a better place. We are now able to offer more than seventy (70) group training classes every single week – which is quite remarkable when you consider that much larger facilities in our area offer no more than 45 sessions…To be honest I am pretty proud of this – of being able to support the lifestyle requirements of so many of our members with such a wide variety of sessions – but I also think I am just a little bit crazy offering classes starting as early as 5am and as late as 8pm…after all, no-one else does that and they have all been at this a lot longer than me. Or maybe it is something else? In any case, I hope you can see what we are trying to do and can appreciate the intention even if you can see some issues with our final execution!
To finish off, I hope you find all of the changes worthwhile and that those of you who have managed to book into the Starting Strength sessions in this, the first week they will run really find that they provide everything you are looking for.
See you at Round 1,
Michael.
Just a quick reminder that this Monday (September 2nd) Aubin Grove Physio will be conducting a 20-minute lecture on prehab and injury prevention commencing immediately after the 5pm class finishes. To facilitate this, the 5pm class will be starting ‘on the dot’ – we will be doing exercise demos before 5pm and pressing the start bell as the clock ticks over to 5pm. So don’t be late. I am planning on the 6pm class starting a little after 6:05pm…so we will be intentionally running a little bit late.
Well, the challenge is OVER and a big congratulations to everyone who ‘Got it Done’.
I failed in my efforts to complete the challenge in the end – whilst I finished the 20 classes I was unable to complete the three (3) Road Work sessions in the aftermath of the City to Surf marathon…unfortunately even a 15-minute run was beyond my toe!
We will be conducting the ‘draw’ for the golden gloves on Monday September 2nd – the same night as the Aubin Grove Physio presentation. So please make sure your signed form is ready for inspection after the draw…if you have already handed it in – great – it would have been ‘checked off’ prior to the draw taking place.
We have some more new equipment on the way:
Additional 4kg and 6kg Kettlebells
Additional Deadballs
New 10kg and 20kg weight vests
All of this gear should all be in the gym this week so keep your eye out for it…and some more two (2) hand kb work now we have some more ‘little’ kettlebells.
Well, Dream Team is OVER…and Roly’s run from seventh (7th) place on the ladder continued with a comfortable victory over Lloyd in the Grand Final. DT really is a funny contest – both participants in the ‘Plate Final’ (finals played amongst the bottom 8 sides during the regular season) comfortably outscored the Grand Final winner…it really is hard to follow!
So – congratulations to Roly – awesome season and an even better finals series.
Over in the tipping, a tipper going by the pseudonym of ‘Toffeeman’ – I am not sure who it is – has topped the table for Round 23 with 8 correct selections. That is an awesome effort with some of the crazy results we have seen this weekend. Up at the top of the ladder – with only finals remaining – Leigh and Dayle remain locked together on 150 points and they have opened up a 3-point lead over a host of tipsters including Ross, Rachel and Stephen. Good luck in the finals guys.
Some more great links on Facebook this week:
Rochelle Rodgers: http://www.watoday.com.au/photogallery/wa-news/perth-city-to-surf-in-pictures-20130825-2sjm1.html?selectedImage=67
Drop sets. Uuurgh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXbdLPcPHtA
Skinny or Strong: http://therxreview.com/amanda-allen-skinny-or-strong-whats-the-right-balance/
Muscle ups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAw6IMk3Ogk&list=UUEtMRF1ywKMc4sf3EXYyDzw
A really, really cool Paleo/Primal diet page is the subject of this week’s ‘Link of the Week’. If you are looking for interesting recipes and commentary on supplements etc, then have a look at: http://www.paleodietplusplus.com/
See you in the gym!
Michael.
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