Hi and welcome to another week,

Well done – a BIG well done – to everyone who managed to roll with the punches (the interruptions to their regular routine) last week and still find their way to the gym a couple of times (or more in some cases).  The classes themselves were pretty cool – how good is that new Warrior Press exercise?? – and I know for me that just getting through the sessions helped balance out what was a pretty average week in terms of diet.  This week is another big ‘social’ week for most of us with holidays, bbq’s and New Years eve all on the agenda – get down to the gym for a session or two – you really will be thankful that you made the effort.

With 2014 starting on Wednesday though, I know this is a time of year where a lot of people take some time out for reflecting on the year past and setting goals/targets for the year ahead.  It is in our nature I suppose to look forward with hope that our ‘dreams’ are going to come true – whether it is a promotion at work, change of career, new house, holiday of a lifetime, more time with friends/family or that perennial ‘lose weight’/’get fit’/’cut back on the beer’ etc target.

I don’t want to tell anyone how to suck eggs here, but pretty much all of the things you want to achieve in the next 12-months are really within your power.  If you really want that car/holiday/pool, then work out the costs, set up a savings plan and give yourself a deadline.  If you write things down and ‘ACT’ then you will be amazed at how often this results in success.  If you just think about things and allow yourself to drift along…well, in 12-months time you will still have the same dreams but nagging in the back of your mind will be the thought that you ‘failed’ last year so a part of you will expect the same result again…these negative subconscious thoughts will make accomplishing the same goals that much more difficult 12-months on.

When I look at Round One Fitness and the next 12-months, my plans for the business are relatively clear.

Firstly, I want to ensure that there is sufficient demand for the new 5am sessions so that we can continue to run them five (5) days per week right throughout the year – rather than just during summer (our current commitment).  I would also love to see the 7pm timeslot continue to grow – 6pm is obviously our most popular timeslot and creating a class at 7pm with enough appeal to encourage people to do some cardio/prehab from 6:30pm or so then jump into the 7pm session rather than putting more and (more and more) pressure on the 6pm time where all the trainers can do is ‘herd’ people around the circuit rather than provide any real coaching/input.  If we can make the 7pm session more of a success in 2014 then that will really define our ‘improvement’ as a business.

I want to continue to invest in equipment so that we can keep adding variety to the classes – it is critical that we have enough rowers to support a group fitness station (sooner rather than later), that we move to add the KrankCycles (or similar) type of equipment to provide another element to our training and that we continue to expand our lifting area.  It is also important to keep providing ‘different’ options and this is why parallettes and additional (class-based) torsonators are on the agenda for the new year.  There are a couple of ‘bigger’ things on the plan but some things need to remain a ‘secret’ (for now at least)!

I want to really formalize the ‘entry track’ into the gym – with both Beginners classes and ‘Starting Strength’ becoming more structured.  By this I don’t mean ‘within’ each class – what we are doing is certainly planned from week to week.  What I mean is through the connections between classes where there is a defined pathway and ‘path through’ if that makes sense.  We have really found that the Beginners classes provide new comers with a great ‘start-up’ solution (and long-termers who make mistakes reading the timetable get a lot out of them as well!) and creating a clearer pathway from Beginners to Boxing and from ‘Starting Strength’ to Body Work (and ultimately TANKS).

We need to make the office/reception area more functional and welcoming – this is a major issue for us at the moment and hopefully one that will become ‘better’ in the very near future.  Plans are quite well advanced here…the execution of them will be interesting – as I mentioned earlier, it is a matter of detailing the plan – writing down the cost and the tasks required – then just doing them!  Well, I am at the ‘doing them’ stage so it will be good to see how well I am able to follow my own advice!

Enough about ‘us’ – back to you guys!  I spent most of last weeks blog talking about the forthcoming ‘6-month Life Plan’ – and there is more on that subject today in the ‘Gym Update #1’ section of this blog entry – so I don’t want to do that again.  But please – if you are looking back at years past and your training, your diet, your lifestyle and saying to yourself that 2014 will be ‘different’, then I really would ask you to consider taking on the ‘6-month Life Plan’.  The outcome will only be different if you make it different and the ‘Life Plan’ is designed to give you a template/structure that will enable you to make it different…

Happy New Year – See you at Round 1,

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – 6-Month Life Plan

The 6-month Life Plan – see last weeks blog for more details – is about to kick off.  The Life Plan is a ‘stepped’ based lifestyle program that includes elements of training, food choices and rehab/prehab.  What does ‘stepped’ mean?  Well, the requirements of the program increase (slowly) as the months go by – hopefully the month by month changes are incremental enough that they are ‘easy’ to manage and the life-plan will therefore enable people to implement positive long-term changes to their food and training rhythm.

The first group of people who have indicated an interest in the ‘6-month Life Plan’ should have received an introductory email by now – if you have sent through your details and not yet received an email back then don’t stress…I will be sending out a message to the ‘next group’ tomorrow (Monday) which explains how things will work in ‘broad strokes’.  If you haven’t received something by the end of Monday then THAT is the time to stress and send me another email (see the address below).

If you are interested in getting involved – and I hope you are – please send me an email (mpratt@round1fitness.com.au) and I will include you in the ‘group’.  Because the program is an incremental one, some people might find that what they are doing ‘today’ is already more than what is being asked of them by month one (1) – or even month two/three of the ‘Life Plan’ program.  That is OK – the requirements should be pretty easy to fulfil then!  If you get involved from the start then the month to month ‘tweaks’ to the program will become second nature and you will find yourself better able to adjust to the ‘changes’ that come along as each month passes by.

I would absolutely love it if we could get 100 people doing this program (I have about 50 names at the moment) – I really believe that if you start the program and see it through you WILL get the results you are looking for.  There is no ‘dieting’, there is no measuring and weighing of food, there are no ‘crazy’ hours in the gym…it is about creating a sustainable platform that everyone can do – no matter their starting point and no matter how ‘busy’ their life is.  Sure – you have to ‘want’ it and there is going to be some sacrifices required – but if you follow the Life Plan you will get the results you are looking for.

Gym Update #2 – Opening Hours this Week

Nothing new under the sun really – but a quick reminder of our hours for this week:

Classes as normal on Monday (30^th).

Last class on Tuesday (New Years eve) at 4pm – gym CLOSED at 5pm.

Closed New Years Day (Wednesday).

Back to Normal on Thursday.

Again, my advice is to take a picture of one of the timetable sheets with your phone and that way you wont have to worry about getting it wrong!

Gym Update #3 – Next ‘Get it Done’ Challenge is Coming

I have received a few comments lately that we haven’t done a ‘Challenge’ for ‘AGES’.  I guess that this is sort of true.  We did the last ‘Life Challenge’ back in October and it is now (nearly) January…so that is two months.  To be fair though, setting up for the ‘6-month Life Plan’ has taken up some time – and if you have read this far you would know that is starting this week!

Our next ‘Get it Done’ challenge – based on completing classes – will be this February.  The rules will be as simple as can be – 25 sessions must be completed within the calendar month.  Boxing counts, Beginners counts, Body Work counts and Tanks counts.  Starting Strength counts.  PT does NOT count.  You will be allowed to do 2 x ‘Doubles’ (two sessions In one day) to help get to your total of 25!  There will be no extras associated with this challenge – it is based entirely on completing the group training sessions.

Facebook Highlights

Some great stuff on our FACEBOOK site last week – if you missed any of the links I have copied them all below:

Motivation trumps everything:  http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/12/06/motivation-trumps-everything/

Medrano:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=628788640516725

Deadlifts:  http://stronglifts.com/deadlifts-stalling-break-plateaus-busting/

Merry Christmas:  http://www.t-nation.com/powerful-words/merry-christmas-bob

Motivation (and pretty amazing motivation):  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=580716402035797

Enjoy!

Link of the week

For anyone struggling with flexibility, suffering from shoulder pain (especially) and who would like to be able to move more ‘easily’ – this link is for you.  The guy in the video uses a PVC pipe – we have broomsticks up in the TANKS area that can be used to do these moves just as easily:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_67qW3BcUo

See you in the gym!

Michael.