Hi and welcome to another week,

So great to get back into classes last week.  Back from holidays, knee felt “GOOD” (well, about as good as it is going to feel) and I managed to get six (6) classes done – including one Body Work, one TANKS and one No-Rules.  Now whilst doing so many classes meant I only managed two (relatively short) weightlifting sessions I am really happy with what I managed to achieve during the week and had a lot of fun doing it.  It is a hard to describe how much fun it is to train in a group setting but I know for me the busier the session is, the more people there are around me who are ‘going hard’, the higher the numbers on my heart rate monitor at the end of the session.

All of that said, it was a funny week in terms of training times.  I only did one of my ‘usual’ lunch-time sessions – on every other day I had something on that had me ‘away’ from the gym during my usual training time.  So it really did become a week of ‘do it when you can’ training – I did an 8pm’er, a 4pm’er, a 7pm’er and a 9:15am’er…as well as doing Body Work at 10:15am last Sunday and Tanks at 6:30pm on Tuesday.  I was completely all over the place and it really did take some organising to ‘get it done’.  It is one thing I really do admire about the way that Sean manages his time – he always has training gear ready AND meals ready to ensure that he doesn’t eat something he shouldn’t just because he is ‘hungry’.  Now if I could only get him to wean himself off that stupid pre-workout stuff…

The pre-workout comment kind of ties into what I wanted to speak about this week with regards the Whole Life Challenge and specifically how the people I have been speaking too have been managing their food to this point – as well as my own experience in doing the same.  Simplistically, I would say that – as we head into Week 4 of this, our third WLC – that those people who have ‘stuck at it’ can generally be divided into two (2) distinct groups.

Group 1 are those people who have ‘jumped in’ with both feet and made significant changes to their diet.  These people will be eating meat and veggies and not much else.  Group 2 are people who are still uncertain how to eat ‘this way’ and whilst they are sticking to ‘the rules’ their diets will contain a lot of fruit, quite a lot of nuts and will be full of WLC friendly ‘substitution foods’.  What does this mean?  When they once had milk, they now have almond milk.  When they once ate a muffin for morning tea, they now eat a ‘Paleo Muffin’, and…well, I am sure you get the idea.  Basically, they are following the same diet they always followed but they ensured compliance to the WLC rules (no dairy, no grains, no sweeteners etc) by swapping a few ingredients around.

Now – this WLC is the third one we have run at Round 1 – and I have to tell you all that the first time we did it I fit firmly into group 2.  Almond milk smoothies and loads of bananas became the basis of my day – it was quick, it was easy and I ‘understood’ drinking a smoothie and eating fruit.  It made sense to me – I have always liked smoothies and fruit has been a healthy snack option since I was a kid (it still is by the way).  And when the challenge was over I kept with the smoothies but went back to dairy milk.  I kept eating loads of fruit.  In fact, you could say I went back to my pre- challenge diet except now I was eating more fruit!  This is because despite the restrictions of the WLC I never really changed my diet – for example during the challenge my peanut butter/jam sandwiches snacks were replaced by dates filled with organic peanut butter…and at the end of the challenge it wasn’t much of a stretch to go back to the sandwiches.

By the end of the second challenge though I was firmly in group number ‘1’.  Less fruit, more veggies.  If I wanted a drink, I drank water – almond milk smoothies were a thing of the past.  And when it came to snacking, well this is where fruit fits in and two pieces of fruit each day – one mid-morning, one mid-afternoon – were really enough to see me through.  And this meant at the end of the WLC2 I pretty much kept on going with the challenge diet.  If I broke the ‘rules’, well, I broke them to have a beer, or an ice-cream (mmmm – peanut butter chocolate) – but aside from those obvious ‘treats’ by the end of WLC2 the new diet had ‘stuck’ – it was just the way I ate now.  Because of all of that, this challenge – Challenge#3 – has not been much of a challenge at all for me.  I am missing bacon – and when I looked up how to make it there is a LOT of sugar in it – and that Friday night/Sunday avo beer.  But the rest of it has been pretty simple – omelette for breakfast, chicken and salad for lunch, steak and veggies for dinner – done.

Temptation?  Well, the only answer I have here is just not to have foods that you ‘dream about’ in the house.  There is simply no doubt if the ice-cream that I love is in the freezer it is going to get eaten.  If it isn’t there – well, I basically wont give it a second thought.  The only way I can avoid temptation is by removing it – it really is out of sight, out of mind.

So, if you have been struggling with the ‘rules’ of the WLC – or have just been trying to eat a little ‘better’ outside of the challenge – stay positive when you slip and and remain focussed on your goals.  Remember that it is OK to have treats – but make them ‘decisions’ and not ‘impulses’ – and remember also that replacing one version of a food (exchanging a paleo muffin or low-fat muffin for a ‘normal’ muffin) is a really short-term solution.  What you need to do is eat in a different way – eat a banana instead – if you want your food changes to ‘stick’ for the long-term.

See you at Round 1,

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – Membership Super Special

Our Membership Super Special is STILL ON.  It is on for ALL of October!!!

If you join for 3 months, you get 4 months membership.

If you join for 6 months, you get 7 months membership.

If you join for 12-months, you get 13 months memberships.

This special applies to new memberships AND to renewals…and yep, if you want to renew early to take advantage of this you certainly can…after all, why should our most loyal clients be the ones to miss out when special offers come along?

Gym Update #2 – Whole Life Challenge – Weekly Challenge

In keeping with the usual “physical challenge followed by ‘other’ challenge” rhythm of previous challenges, this weeks challenge falls into the ‘physical’ category…this week you have two choices though:

Option 1:  Rowing.

Complete 10 x 250m Rows (Level 10).  You may have 30 seconds break after each effort.

Option 2:  Bike.

Complete 10 x 500m Rides (gear 16).   You may have 30 seconds break after each effort.

Going well and using the full rest each time this will take around 15minutes.  As usual, 1 point per attempt up to a maximum of 3 points for the week.

Gym Update #3 – 6pm Sessions – Monday Nights

For those who haven’t noticed, some of our classes are getting ‘beyond’ busy lately – and moving towards the ‘manic’ stage.  We have obviously set the gym up so that we can support ‘numbers’ – but there is such a thing as being ‘too busy’.  Monday 6pm sessions have been reaching this stage lately.

As such – until further notice there will be no casual users permitted to book into the 6pm session on Monday nights.  This includes 10-round pass holders/3-day pass holders.  Monday 6pm sessions will be strictly members only.

Whilst I am disappointed to have to make this change – I do understand that not everyone wants to commit to a gym long-term hence we have ALWAYS allowed casual users to attend – but to be fair there are still 11 other sessions every Monday that a non-member could attend.

Gym Update #4 – New Treadmills are HERE!

Thanks to the team at GymCare (http://www.gymcare.com.au) and particularly to Leigh Rodgers we now have two additional treadmills in and going.  These have made things a bit ‘squeezy’ in the spin bike area at the moment…please bear with us whilst we figure out the best way to lay-out the gear so that there is room for ‘everything’.  We really did need a couple more treadmills – it gets ‘busy’ at Round 1 in peak times – and upping the number available for use by 50% should help.

One other thing with the treadmills – thanks also to Dave Peisley from Dave Andrews Electrical (http://www.daelectrical.com.au) for getting the new power installed for the treadmills at such short notice.  Each treadmill needs to be on its own dedicated circuit (installing commercial treadmills is not a trivial exercise – it is certainly a bit more involved than wheeling one in and finding a double adapter!) and Dave was able to work in with the GymCare team and make sure that when the treadmills were ready the power was available.  Thanks mate.

Gym Update #5 – More New Equipment on the Way

I have mentioned it a couple of times but I actually believe that this week is ‘THE’ week when our new barbell stand and medicine balls will arrive.  I am particularly keen to get the medicine balls in – we had really started to use them in the boxing classes (med ball overhead throws are awesome for strength/power development) when three broke in quick succession….so look forward to seeing them in the gym!

Facebook Highlights

Some great weeks on our FACEBOOK site last week:

Burpees and Tailpipe:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDvq05VeuPY

Do more pull-ups:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnN8ksvVRIQ

Awesome Bodyweight vid:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ2_TGXcaMM

Lifting weights (and spirits):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flQZcosp2-k&feature=youtu.be

Pain and Gain workout (Wahlberg):  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1424172897805932

Enjoy!

Link of the week

You guys just have to read this (I have cut/pasted a key outcome that hopefully triggers your interest):

“In people sleeping less than 7 hours per night, genetics determined 70 percent of body fatness, while the environment (lifestyle/diet and ‘random’ effects) explained only 30 percent.  In people sleeping more than 9 hours per night, genetics only explained 32 percent of body fatness, while environment explained 68 percent.  In other words, in people who sleep more than 9 hours, the environment and not genes was the primary determinant of body fatness.”

The rest of the article is HERE:  http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/sleep-and-genetic-obesity-risk.html#more

See you in the gym!

Michael.