Hi and welcome to another week,
Tough week for me last week – even though I own a gym somehow I wasn’t able to train last Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday…with staff away I was running extra classes, with staff sick I was working at reception, with footy starting I was off coaching – somehow life gets in the way sometimes and even when you are in the gym for 12 hours a day there STILL isn’t time to train. The problem is of course, as a result of my lack of ‘sessions’ I also allowed my stretching and pre-hab to slip. And as a result of the lack of training coupled with the lack of stretching, my back has been so sore – I know the solution is to get moving but somehow when I am ‘sore’ it is just that much harder to get up and going – which of course contributes to it further tightening up and being even more restrictive than ever.
It is amazing when these things happen. We all ‘know’ – we know that if we eat some ‘bad’ food that the result will be feeling tired and lethargic – and oftentimes for a couple of days. We know that if we don’t ‘get moving’ and do some real mobility work (and a boxing class is a good example of this!) our muscles will just tighten up and even ‘simple’ movements (getting up and down off the floor for example) will become hard. But still, we allow these things to happen to us again and again and again. And isn’t it always the way that when you let one element of your life ‘slip’ (for example, your food) that the other falls away as well? That when you aren’t eating well, your training also falls away. Or is it when you stop training that your diet slips? And why do we do all of this stuff to ourselves when we KNOW what is best.
I think the first thing to do is just acknowledge what has happened and ‘WHY’ – and be honest. In my case, I honestly looked back through my schedule from Saturday until Tuesday and really just shook my head. I couldn’t have done a class but I COULD have done some training. And I most definitely COULD have done some stretching. Basically, I allowed myself to get a bit stressed out and overwhelmed by things and because of that just allowed my schedule to dictate to me rather than the other way round. Somehow, it took me four days to see what was happening and get myself back and moving – and somehow on the day I was back training I also managed to teach eight (8) classes, spend two (2) hours at a business planning meeting and put together the template for month 4 of the Life Plan. It wasn’t time that was holding me back (though I blamed it) – it was my own willingness to be ‘flexible’ with what I would/could do and maybe my own willingness to make a bit of sacrifice in order to ‘get it done’.
What do I mean by ‘be flexible’? Well, I like to do the classes – I just do. I am happy to do some cardio / lifting / kettlebells (whatever in all honesty) as an ‘extra’ (20 minutes or so after a class) but really do struggle to make that my session. So on the days when I couldn’t do a session (even though we do eleven classes a day, when you are running eight or so of them it can still be hard to do one of them) I still could have done ‘something’…in all honesty, I just should have done something – a 15 minute run, 15 minute kettlebell circuit followed by some squats is pretty easy to do – I just made it too hard.
What do I mean by ‘sacrifice’? As stupid as it sounds when you are at work from 5am until 9pm, there is still time available to train and stretch. Getting to the gym 15 minutes earlier and laying on the foam roller – even with a 5am start – would not have been impossible. Likewise, making sure to roll at the end of the day – either after I finished packing up/setting up but before heading home or when I got home would not have been that hard. I have also told myself 3million times that my back gets sore when I get lazy and forget to do my back extensions…yet even as my back was getting sorer I still didn’t find the 5 minutes (and it really is, only 5 minutes!) to knock out 30 or so (3 sets of 10) and start to get it all working. As much as I have said it is ‘sacrifice’ and ‘flexibility’, sometimes it is just a matter of getting your lazy butt in the gym, pressing the reset button and getting started.
See you at Round 1,
Michael.
The April Mini-Challenge starts on April 1st. The rules for the challenge are pretty simple:
– Complete three (3) sessions per week.
– At the end of each class, complete 1x Bin Run (or 1.5km bike in G16), 25x Squats (weighted – girls min 15kg, boys min 20kg), 25x Pushups and 50x KB Swings.
We will do a really simple ‘weigh in’ test (weight only pre/post April measure) and record our progress on the white board adjacent to the treadmills. For anyone looking to just ‘change it up’ a little bit, this might be just the trick to break through a plateau and put you back on the pathway to improvement.
One other thing – you guys who train in the morning and need to leave ‘on the dot’ to get to work – no trouble. Do your reps BEFORE the class and you will still receive sign-off.
This Friday is the first Friday of the month of April – which means this Friday is ‘weigh-in’ day. Unfortunately given Sean’s absence and Elie being sick, I will be running classes next Sunday so it is ‘Friday or Never’ with regards getting your measurements done.
Whilst the new rules are only a week away from coming into play (see the Life Plan Facebook site for a preview!), the Month 3 rules will continue to apply until April 7th – one last reminder of what they are:
| Training:
Three (3) Classes per Calendar Week (Must be signed by trainer) |
| Diet Rules: |
| NO PASTA permitted – AT ALL! |
| NO BREAKFAST CEREAL permitted – Monday to Friday |
| ONE SERVE of Sweets – Lollies, chocolate, cool drink (soda), icecream or biscuits/cakes etc PER WEEK. |
| No bread – At ALL! |
| Five (5) alcohol free days each week – and only two (2) drinks allowed on the other days. |
| Two (and ONLY 2) days during the month when you can eat/drink outside of the ‘rules’. |
|
Prehab rules: |
| 1 x 30 minute walk/stretch per week. (Mark on sheet with PH) |
Remain focussed, keep your sheets up to date and stay positive – after all, if you aren’t getting results by following the plan, do you really think that falling off the wagon is going to help??
Long-time member Kylie Stevens has a great new business – Delicious and Nutritious. (Find more info here: ). As part of launching her new idea, we have some ‘Green Smoothy’ jars in the fridge at Round 1 for people to try – these are valued at $5 (you get a $1 refund for returning the jar) and are a great value, nutritious snack. Green smoothies aside, Ky is offering a range of ‘JARS’ to suit any (every?) occasion and I would encourage everyone to check out her website and give it a try.
We have been ‘out’ of medium size bag mitts for nearly 3-weeks now. The products are in transit and we hope to have them in stock sometime this week. Apologies to everyone who has been waiting – we hope to have them on hand soon.
DreamTeam still doesn’t start ‘for real’ until next week so it is a bit difficult to update you on the ‘progress’ – I will say though that my season is looking miserable before it has even started. Somehow, the collection of players I have put together scored really (really, really) poorly during Round 1 and I cannot seem to figure out how to spend the money I have a bit more wisely! It looks like ‘Professor Max’ is going to be off to a winning start in Dream Team Round 1 (next week).
The tipping is a bit easier to figure out. Six (6) games into Round 2 of the season (there are three games today), Oatesy has already raced to 14 points which means he has only gotten one match result wrong to this point. Let’s just say that I am currently 42nd on the leader board and have gotten quite a few more wrong than that.
Lots and lots and lots of links on FACEBOOK this week – get into them!
Paleo desserts: http://www.thepaleomom.com/2011/12/breaking-habit-of-dessert.html
National training in Russia: http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-fitness-program-2014-3?IR=T
Sports parents: http://breakingmuscle.com/family-kids/how-not-to-be-that-sport-parent-6-positive-actions-you-can-take
Exercise on an empty stomach: http://greatist.com/fitness/why-you-should-exercise-on-an-empty-stomach
Bridget’s jump for cancer: https://acrf.everydayhero.com/au/bridget
How fast can you make (and pack) breakfast and lunch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfAIeMd0bXU
A fun 30 seconds – it’s a supplements ad but a fun one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtEMlg-e8D8&list=UUluEX7NZWCtiGoZg5xLcAPw&app=desktop
Jogging? http://www.t-nation.com/training/jogging-delusion
Enjoy!
Good video on building and developing your core strength:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfV8ukfVYhg
See you in the gym!
Michael.
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