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It isn’t MAGIC, New rewards program, Lots (and lots) of links

Hi and welcome to another week,

My abs hurt. For most of the last week my abs have hurt. We have (seemingly) done nothing but mini-sleds, bench press and abs for the past seven (7) days and it is me that is suffering…I suspect most of you would believe this is a fair outcome! There will still be some abs and core work in the next week, but our focus will move from mini-sleds to skipping, from Bench Press to sledgehammers and from abs to – well – a little more variety and certainly a few more legs.

Before I get on with the blog for the week, I would really encourage you guys to read the section below on the new rewards program we have up and running via ‘Perkville’. It means every time you come to the gym – and for every $ you spend on your membership or Personal Training – you will be eligible for points…and those points will translate into credits that can be used at Round 1. I am pretty excited about the whole thing because it will enable me to better reward the clients who are supporting us…if you want more info – and I hope you do because it means getting really cash benefits for something you are already doing – then check out the ‘Gym Update#1’ section below.

OK. We have had measurements for the kick-off of the Life Challenge Month #5 over the last week or so – and some people are happy and others are disappointed. And there are some others who seem to have just fallen by the wayside. In actual fact, we had 38 people at the weight-lifting workshop and so far only 36 people have been measured up (and some people who have been measured weren’t at the workshop). I of course wonder what this might possibly mean?

Does it mean that the idea of doing the weights is too intimidating for everyone to even try? Does it mean that after five months it is all just getting too hard? Does it mean something else entirely? I am sure each of the answers is very personal and reflective of individual feelings, thoughts and circumstances but before going on I just wanted to make mention that aside from the diet changes the addition of some ‘real’ strength training into the program was the second ‘BIG’ aim of the Life Plan.

There is no magic involved in losing weight and getting stronger. None at all. Like most things you do that are worthwhile, there is no secret formula. It is about being consistent and hard working (and being consistently hard-working!). It is about understanding that there will be days and times when you “just don’t feel like it” – and given we are talking about the rest of your life there will probably be more than a few – but those are the days when people who are successful do ‘something’ anyway and everyone else just blows it off. It is NOT magic. There will be times when you look at your chicken breast and broccoli and wish it was lasagne – but it is those times when people who are successful stick with the plan and everyone else gives into temptation.

I really (really, really, really) don’t want to be a parking inspector on this. I don’t. I hate looking at peoples ‘sheets’ for the plan and seeing they haven’t been sticking to their diet (or training, or doing the ‘extras’) – but even worse is seeing the look on their face when their measurements aren’t what they had hoped they would be. Or worse, their measurements are exactly what they knew they would be – the same as the month – before because they knew they hadn’t done what they should have.

There is no magic and you can’t “WISH” for things to be better. It is hard work that gets results, not wishing and hoping. If you need help with your deadlifts, seek it out. Sure – it might cost you $30 for a PT session with one of the guys but it might just be the best $30 you ever spend…certainly it will give you a skill for the rest of your life that you can use to help get stronger…don’t want to do that? As someone else who you see regularly in the gym if they want to do some training with you after your next class together – or if that is too personal, just pose the same question to a bigger audience on Facebook.

There is no magic. It is about working hard for results, not wishing it will happen. And yep, for some people it is two steps forward, two steps back at times – after all, genetics play a part – but the only thing that is guaranteed NOT to work is giving up entirely. Stick at it. If you are genuinely doing everything you can – and still can’t quite touch the results that you are chasing – going through your eating history with one of the trainers is a great first step (but only if you are honest!). There is no magic. Train consistently. Stretch and recover. Watch what you put in your mouth.

See you in the gym.

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – Perkville Rewards Program

Round One Fitness has partnered with Perkville to offer an online reward system. It’s a fun and easy way to earn cash credits for attending classes, personal training, referring friends…and just paying your membership fees!

HOW IT WORKS

Perkville integrates directly with our membership system (EZ Facility) so each time you check into the gym you’ll automatically earn points. Each time your membership payment is processed, you’ll earn points. You can track your points online at www.perkville.com. Once you earn enough points you redeem your points on Perkville and bring in a printed voucher to use as payment at the gym.

Perkville is a trusted partner of EZ Facility. Perkville will never share or use any Round One Fitness client information.

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

Create an account at www.perkville.com. Make sure to use the same email account that you signed up with at our studio. You’ll earn 50 points just for joining! If you try to sign up and can’t see any points allocated, just send me an email (info@round1fitness.com.au) and I will check out what is going on!

Here’s how you can rack up points:

Get 50 bonus points just for signing up!
Check into the gym = 2 points
Spend money on PT or your membership (1 point for every 1$)
Rave about us on Facebook = 2 points
Tweet about us on Twitter = 2 points

Redeem points for:

200 points = $10 credit.

400 points = $25 credit.

HOW DO I EARN POINTS FOR REFERRING A FRIEND

You’ll need to sign in to your Perkville account and enter your friend’s email address to send them a referral email. When they come in for their first class, we’ll ask them for their email address (it goes on their membership application form). If the address they give us matches the address you entered into your Perkville account, you’ll automatically earn points (50 points in fact) for referring them when they make their first purchase.

WHAT DO I SAY WHEN I POST TO FACEBOOK?

Share your experiences! Tell your friends what you love about Round 1. To earn points, be sure to post through the Perkville website though, not from your Facebook page. This seems to be pretty straight forward as there have been a few people do it already. If you are a twitter person – you will also get points for tweeting about the gym. Just mention @RoundOneFitness in a post and you will have two (2) points added to your account.

Gym Update #2 – 6-Month Life Plan

OK. The new month – month 5 – is a week or so in. For anyone who has not been measured yet, I will be around this Monday and Wednesday nights to do it. I will also do measurements on Friday night by appointment. We have had great buy in to the program for 4 months now but I have to say there have been quite a few people drop out this month…the results you want will come through persistence and effort – not through hoping and dreaming. Stick at it. It is not too late to re-commit yourself and there are only two months to go.

The rules for the new month are pretty same as the rules for the old month:

Training

3x Round 1 Group classes each week.

Complete the kettlebell and Barbell program detailed in the ‘Weights’ section each week.

Prehab

Two (2) x 30 minute walk/stretch sessions per week.

Diet

– No Pasta permitted at all.

– One serve of rice permitted each week.

– Breakfast cereal permitted only ONCE per week. Oats is the only acceptable cereal.

– One serve of sweets (lollies, chocolate, cool drink etc) per week.

– No product with any added sugar/sweeteners except as part of your ‘Free Eating Day’ (or your one serve of sweets each week’).

– No Bread. At ALL!

– No more than three (3) pieces of fruit on any given day. No Fruit Juice AT ALL.

– FIVE (5) alcohol free days each week – only two (2) drinks permitted on those days when you can drink.

– TWO (2) free eating days per month.

– Three (3) serves of dairy per week.

Weights

Kettlebells

– Two sets of 100 swings each week. You may break up the swings as you please (eg. 5 sets of 20) but all 100 must be completed during one ‘session’.

Barbells

– Two sessions per week.

– Session 1 = 5 Sets of 5 Squats AND 5 sets of 5 Benchpress + core circuit.

– Session 2 = 5 Sets of 5 Deadlifts AND 5 sets of 5 Overhead Press + core circuit.

The core circuit is 3x 60 second bridge, 1x 60 second side bridge (each side) + 3x MAX Rep chin-ups (30-seconds between sets)

Good luck everyone. Everyone has been doing so well to this point – the lifestyle changes should be WELL ingrained now that we are up to month number 5…making the changes (dairy) this month should be pretty straight forward!

Gym Update #3 – Bags and Shields

Our two brand spanking new combo bags are already up in the gym – they are still ‘settling’ and will need to have some extra stuffing added in the next week or so before they are completely ‘in service’…that said, they are hanging so if you want to hit them now, knock yourself out!

The two new shields are also up on the walls – the difference is AMAZING! I have also managed to get two of the new inner foams installed but it stopped there last week…need to try and get at least two more done this week!

Gym Update #4 – Retail Gear

Our new range of sleeveless t-shirts have arrived. These are a really simple design and are SUPER awesome! Red with a big logo, white with a small logo – heaps of sizes, just $20.

In addition to the t’s, we have some cool new yellow wraps (yellow ‘fire’) in stock as well. Not sure how long we will carry these for so grab some whilst you can.

Gym Update #5 – New Retail Solution

The new POSiSales retail solution is up and running. The team are still ‘learning’ to use the product and whilst it is pretty simple it does present a new way of doing things for everyone who works at the gym. Simple is good – but even a quick and simple product requires a little bit more time and brain power than taking cash and throwing it in a cash-box. As such, please have a little bit of patience with everyone as we bed the system down/iron out the kinks and make sure that we have a much more professional way of managing our ‘store’.

Gym Update #6 – AFL Dreamteam and Footy Tipping

GWS v West Coast is still playing as I type (and Blues v Saints is obviously tomorrow), but given the current score it is reasonable to say that West Coast have won which means 5 games have been decided. At this stage we have six people – including Tim Smith and Ross Derepas – equal on top of the Round 8 tipping ladder. Toffeeman – who I believe is Steve Pendleton?? – maintains a 1-point lead at that head of the overall ladder.

Over in dream team – with the bye round causing chaos – the results are all over the place. Bourbinators (Roly) is the top score on the board as I type, closely followed by Kade’s Kings (Kade) and Dalesdreamers (Dale). There looks to be a few upsets on the cards though as top teams including Lloyd’s Gym Gods struggle whilst 16^th placed Brett’s Twitchie Dishlickers look well placed to win!