Hi and welcome to another week,
Great sessions last week. I have been really happy with the way the classes have ‘turned out’ lately and the boxing sessions over the past few weeks seem to have hit a great balance of weights, cardio and skill development. I am really looking forward to this week’s introduction of a few new body-weight activities – new things are fun to try (and more fun to master) and are a sure way to keep challenging your body to become stronger and suppler.
There have been some really rewarding moments for Sean, Leila, Lloyd, Beth and myself over the past couple of weeks – it seems that October/November have been the months of ‘progress’ for a lot of our members with people ‘jumping up’ in weight, (literally) jumping up in terms of box jumps, finally breaking through to do an unassisted chin-up…I am not sure what it is but it just seems like every day one of us has been told (with some excitement) ‘Do you know that is the first time that I have…’. So congratulations to all of you who have been making ‘big steps’ – and for everyone else who just feels that they aren’t ‘getting anywhere’, firstly remind yourself that persistence is the key. Secondly try not to compare what you are doing with ‘everyone else’ – just try to think of your own capabilities today vs what they were six months ago and you might be surprised at how far you have really come.
It is important to remember that everyone progresses at different rates – and not only that, everyone progresses at different rates depending on each activity. Some people are able to go up in weights more quickly than others. Other people quickly adapt to the boxing side of things and find that the various punching combinations come easily to them. Still other people find that their cardio output jumps up relatively quickly – they become capable on the bikes and rowers and find the running activities ‘fine’ in relatively short order. Everyone is different. I am sure that there are people reading this right now saying ‘But I am not getting better at ANYTHING’.
Whilst I can try to assure you that is most definitely NOT the case – that if you are attending consistently you ARE becoming stronger, you ARE becoming more capable of performing a range of activities – what I would ask instead is “What criteria are you using to determine that you aren’t improving?” If you are waiting for things to ‘Get Easier’ before you are prepared to acknowledge your successes, let me tell you something right away – it is never going to get easier. All that happens is your fitness increases so you complete more repetitions of each exercise…or the repetitions you do are just ‘better’ (lower pushups, lower squats, harder punches etc) and after 45 minutes you are going to feel completely done. But that is the way it is supposed to be.
Whilst I don’t subscribe to the ‘harder is always better’ training idea – some days, just having a walk and a stretch might be the best plan of all – there is no doubt that those times you decide to jump into a boxing based group training session you will be pretty spent by the finish. And you will be spent whether or not you are a first-timer or budding Olympian. The sessions don’t get easier over time – you just become stronger and more capable of doing more. The key thing when thinking about your training is to focus on those things you can do – on the improvements that you are making – and continually remind yourself that being consistent and creating a lifestyle that includes time for physical exercise (including a component of STRENGTH training) is the thing that is important. Those things you can’t do? Well, they are only really things that you can’t do ‘YET’ – if you stick at it over time you truly will be amazed by the things you are capable of doing.
See you at Round 1,
Michael.
Well, believe it or not Christmas 2013 is just a few short weeks away – and with all of the social engagements, office parties, school graduations and such, it is going to feel like those weeks pass in a fortnight or so – and maybe even more quickly than that!
So – here is what I am thinking for Christmas opening hours for the gym this year…this is not set in stone yet and I would really encourage you to provide feedback on the proposal to mpratt@round1fitness.com.au:
Now – Christmas day falls on a Wednesday this year so our opening hours would be:
Classes as normal on Monday 23rd.
Last session on Tuesday (Christmas eve) will be at 1pm.
Closed Wednesday (Christmas Day).
Thursday (Boxing Day) would see us offer classes at 08:15am and 09:15am ONLY!
Classes as normal on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Last class on New Years eve at 4pm – close at 5pm.
Closed New Years Day (Wednesday).
Back to Normal on Thursday.
Love to hear your thoughts about all of this…fair?? Unfair??? Too much???? Not Enough?????
Spent some time last Friday moving around a whole heap of things to try and make moving around the gym a little easier during busy times. The circuit barbells (10kg, 15kg, 20kg, 25kg and 30kg) are now against the wall on the rubber, the tyres and hammers are underneath the speedball frame and a few other things have been moved ‘just a little bit’. Is it perfect? No – not really, but I do think it is better. And whilst it has created a couple of problems (access to the power ropes is the main one) I don’t think they are insurmountable…will just need me to remain focussed on the ‘structure’ of the gym when I put the class plans together.
The problem is of course that we have grown the gym so much (in terms of equipment) since we started – long term members can back me up here but rarely does a month go by without some kind of ‘new’ hitting the floor – that the original floor-plan is now so redundant as to be useless…and with the size of the bag frames making ‘big changes’ is not a trivial matter. Regardless of all that, I think the new changes have made a positive difference and would love to hear what you think about it.
There is some more new gear on the way to Round 1. First off, there are two (2) more rowers on the way – one day I will reach my goal of having enough rowers to be able to use them in the classes as an independent station…that day is coming closer!
The other thing that is on the way are four (4) Olympic-size barbells that will fit our power-racks but are only 15kg in weight (rather than 20kgs). Now – these bars are weight limited (can only add a maximum of 30kgs to them) but because of the lower starting point they should make it easier for some of the smaller people in the gym – particularly some of the girls – to get started with some weight training. I am not sure yet exactly how we will manage the weight limit issue (the bars are expensive so I don’t want them bent or broken) but I think it will make a difference to people keen to get started and started with good technique.
There are some awesome new bag-mitts and hand-wraps about to hit the gym. In addition to the usual colors (black, red, blue, purple, pink) our hand-wraps will be available in red/black ‘FIRE’ and pink/black ‘FIRE’ designs. They look super-cool. Remember when you are buying wraps that they are $10 each but you can get 2 pairs for $15 which is pretty cool!
Our most popular (practical??) gloves are also about to arrive in big numbers and colors…but this time the logos will be done in a glossy print that looks awesome. If you are thinking you might need a new pair of gloves, wait till you see these ones!
We are continuing with our change to the Monday night booking system – with no casual bookings being accepted for the 6pm class. This session is consistently our most popular of the week and as such we have made the decision to limit it to MEMBERS ONLY. As mentioned last week, this is not a decision we wanted to make – creating an inclusive environment that allows people to train at Round 1 as ‘casual users’ has been a key element of the gym since we opened – but there are still 11 other time-slots on a Monday when non-members can train so we hope it doesn’t inconvenience too many people out there.
One other thing on casual users – we had a policy last summer that access to the ‘gym’ (not classes) would be exclusive to members from 4pm through until 8pm. This policy will be re-introduced from THIS WEEK.
Some great stuff on our FACEBOOK site last week – if you missed any of the links I have copied them all below:
Frank Merdano: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFPsvF3UOdo
Supplement wisely: http://chriskresser.com/beyond-paleo-5?inf_contact_key=18a44f92063408f81b6d073ee18c2e4afc3c3a37487c2122fa46ad173c7aad17
Zuu Warmup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlKf1-AFtXE
ITB Syndrome treatment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwtw7-GUK6I
Early or Late? http://www.marksdailyapple.com/chronotypes-are-you-an-early-bird-or-a-night-owl/#axzz2jv2KCMk5
Enjoy!
Great article this week from one of my favourite sites:
See you in the gym!
Michael.
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