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“Let’s get MOVING, Let’s get Stronger”

Hi and welcome to another week,

Just want to kick off this weeks post with a reminder that our October Membership Special – join for 3 months, 6 months or 12 months and get an EXTRA month FREE – ends this Thursday. So if you want to train at Round 1 for free, make sure you get in before Thursday – we WONT be extending the offer under any circumstances (it has been running for an entire month) so if you want the bonus, make sure you organise it BEFORE Thursday!

Anyway – sales pitch over. This week I wanted to talk a little bit about why Round One Fitness is set-up the way it is set up…why we have emphasised setting aside our most important commodity – SPACE – for our boxing/body work classes and more recently our TANKS/Starting Strength sessions rather than expanding our weights room and adding even more treadmills, elliptical trainers etc. Now – before I go ahead let me say that our gym isn’t perfect…and if I could start again I would configure the place differently – but I certainly wouldn’t have any less bags, circuit barbells, circuit kettlebells, circuit spin bikes or any of the other ‘group session’ equipment. And what I am going to tell you next is WHY (and whilst I am hoping it doesn’t come across as me being overly pretentious it probably will – sorry about that but it isn’t my intention).

Our focus at the gym is pretty simple – it is to HELP you get into shape. By ‘in shape’ I mean two things – to get you STRONGER and get you MOVING. Stronger means we will be doing resistance activities (e.g. punching, bodyweight, isometrics, lifting barbells, pushing sleds, lifting kettlebells etc) and moving means you will be doing some things that require some focus and co-ordination (e.g. lunging, box-jumps, burpees, skipping, punching) – by helping you move and making you stronger our idea is that you will become fitter and capable of doing even more things in your day to day lives.

Now I spend a lot of my time ‘programming’ for the gym – writing session plans for boxing, body-work, defining progressions for Starting Strength, writing weights programs for individuals – and the reason for this is I figure that if the people who came to our gym KNEW how to get in shape – if they new how to get moving and become stronger – then they wouldn’t need to come to Round 1 to achieve it. They would do a bit of body weight stuff at home, they might invest in a barbell or kettlebell or two, and they would be just fine. So what I spend a lot of my time on is putting together session plans that flow/progress from day-to-day / week-to-week and will help people become stronger and get them to move (if they stick at it of course). This is why you often see us go through ‘streaks’ of movement based activities – for example, ‘Bear Crawls’ – we do them several days in a row to give everyone a chance to do them and ‘regulars’ a chance to do them two or three times in quick succession. Some of the movement activities are a little bit tricky and they require some time and patience to get right – and as incredible as it seems you might not ‘get it’ in a quick two minute round – but even more than that, it is the ‘trying’ to do it that helps build the knowledge within your body to ‘do it’ successfully the next time.

Again, the idea behind R1F – and the reason we have our gym dedicated to group training classes and not ten rows of shiny pin-loaded machines – is to HELP people. We run a lot of classes – a lot of classes – and we run them so there are training times available that will fit in with the lifestyles of MORE people. I still remember back in my IT days when I would leave work 10 minutes later than I hoped – or simply get stuck in traffic – and know that meant missing the only class available for me to do at the gym. We have said up a range of training times at Round 1 to try and avoid this. Further to that, we have tried to structure things such that at those sessions we KNOW will be busy – Monday to Thursday nights and Saturday mornings – there are always two trainers on-hand to assist people through…we want you to get the HELP you need.

Again, the idea behind R1F is to provide a gym that helps people get moving and get stronger. It is not to provide a room full of equipment for people to use – or – and this is not me trying to have a go at other gyms because there are things we all do well and things we all need to improve – rather a range of equipment that people can pay a Personal Trainer to help them use. We dedicate so much of our floor space to our group sessions because we believe people come here looking for us to help them – not because they want us to simply provide them with a room and some equipment to use. Whilst we have just invested in some more treadmills and have a room upstairs full of pin-loaded machines, our focus is to use this type of equipment as a complement to your training – running on the treadmill might help with your cardio, but it doesn’t really help you MOVE! Running for two minutes followed by some box jumps, punching and bear crawls helps you MOVE. Doing pull-downs on the lat raise machine might help you build a bit of muscle – but doing some chin-ups intermixed with some punching and kettlebell swings then using the pull-down machine as a ‘finisher’ is the sort of thing that will make you STRONGER.

As an aside, we do offer personal training services for those people who really want that little bit of an extra PUSH or who want individual technique coaching…I think it is a really valuable service for some people – either for a short-term technique based ‘fix’ (“I really need some help with my dead-lift”) or as part of a longer-term training plan – but if PT isn’t for you then I would still encourage you (heavily encourage) to ask myself (or Sean, or Lils, or Lloyd, or Beth) for help and assistance whenever you think you need it. And if you don’t get the assistance you want – ask again or ask someone else…I know that you probably shouldn’t have to ask again or ask someone else but everyone is human and every work place has different stressors…if you don’t get the help you need it is more likely related to the timing of your question than to you or your question – never a good excuse I know but whilst we all try to be ‘better’ sometimes slip-ups do occur!

Now – I know not everyone likes ALL of our classes…BUT please remember, a new class plan is just a day away and you are not going to ‘love’ every circuit I come with. But if you do it with ‘enthusiasm’ every class will help get you moving and help get you stronger. I do understand that a few people out there are prioritising their individual weights training over doing classes and I understand that (we all have different goals) – but even for those people we do try to make your life as simple as possible at Round One Fitness. If you want a weights program, we will write you one – and – generally speaking, we will make time to run through it with you at no cost (though you will probably need to fit in with us in terms of times etc.) That said – remember, the Power Racks are there for you to use but TANKS, Starting Strength AND Personal Training takes priority – sorry guys but those people who are paying extra for services deserve that access.

Again, the idea behind the gym is to help people get MOVING and get STRONGER – our aim is not just to provide a room filled with equipment that those few people out there who know how to use it can use as part of their own programs. To be truthful, if that is all we were doing at the gym then I think it would be pretty sad.

Get Stronger. Get Moving. See you at Round 1,

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – Whole Life Challenge – Weekly Challenge

Our last challenge. Our last week. So far I have been very good – I lost three (3) diet points on my 19^th wedding anniversary – but aside from that haven’t missed a beat and the end is within reach.

This week’s challenge is the easiest of all – and this challenge maxes out at TWO (2) points.

You must do the following:

– Write down one meal/ingredient that used to be a regular part of your life pre-challenge but the challenge has made you realise you can live without. You need to attach a sticker to your fridge with that meal/ingredient on it and commit to not touching it for the ENTIRE month of November.

– Write down one meal/ingredient that you have started eating during the challenge that you will stick with going forward. You need to attach a sticker to your fridge with that meal/ingredient on it and commit having it at least ONCE PER WEEK for the ENTIRE month of November.

How can we enforce this? LOL – how can we enforce any of these rules. If you have been able to give up grains for the month, maybe have a go at giving them up for all of November as well. Maybe it is something smaller (Bacon). Maybe it is something else altogether (chocolate). This challenge is an attempt to get ‘some part’ of the challenge to ‘stick’ for at least another month. The longer you can eat this way, the longer you can live this way, the better your body will feel.

Gym Update #2 – 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 #3 – New Treadmills are HERE, New Medballs are Here, New Bar Rack is here!

Great news. We had a heap of the new equipment we had been waiting on arrive/get commissioned during the week. There are now two shiny new treadmills in the gym, there are a heap of 3kg and 5kg medicine balls, there is a new barbell rack…exciting stuff.

Meanwhile, in the shop the Boomers protein has arrived (great product) and we have finalised the cut-over to Gatorade in time for the hotter weather.

We ARE running a bit low on hand-wraps at the moment though – the new order is in production at the moment and should be in the gym ‘soon’.