Hi and welcome to another week,

Welcome to another week.  It was great to get back in the gym on Friday after a week and a half over in Melbourne.  Whilst it was good to get away and experience some different training environments (Essendon footy club is truly a PALACE!), there really is no place like home.   Friday was my first day back and it was good – I got to take some classes, do some rowing and some squats…Saturday was better.  Took a couple of TANKS sessions then jumped into the 08:15am class with Zara and Sean – was in a great group of ‘4’ with some long-term members who were keen push hard – and 45 minutes later, all over.  Workout done, felt awesome, welcome home!

Thanks to everyone who offered wishes of support to me and the WA U18’s both before my trip and whilst I was away.  One of my favourite memories from my time as coach of the 18’s (3 years now) is receiving a photo of everyone in the gym gathered around the TV watching the last quarter of our game vs Vic Country last Wednesday.  Whilst all of those involved clearly need some burpee penalties for watching TV rather than training it really felt like a great show of support from everyone at the gym and it was really (really) appreciated at the end of what had been a pretty difficult carnival.  When you are losing it can really feel like the world is against you and feeling the support from everyone at the gym was just amazing.

The National Championships this year proved a really difficult experience for myself as coach – and of course for the players.  Not only were we performing below expectations as a team but many of the players – who are dreaming of the draft and AFL careers at the end of this year – were obviously feeling that there dreams might be slipping away.  And trying to focus on your role within a struggling team whilst also playing ‘well’ and attracting the eye of recruiters is a difficult thing for them to manage – they have their parents telling them one thing, their player manager another…and then of course there is what myself and the other coaches are asking of them – let alone the pressures of school (year 12) or University or in a few cases their first year at work.  It is a difficult thing for a 17-year-old boy to try and handle.  As a group we couldn’t seem to find the balance and I am pretty sure that players were frustrated, coaches were frustrated and – of course – supporters and the wider ‘football community’ were frustrated.  And why not – we were all working incredibly hard (I would estimate 35-45 hours of coaching ‘work’ for me each week over the 8 weeks of the carnival) however every time we ran out to play, there was nothing but disappointment.

The question is of course, if you are working hard and not getting the results you are after, what should you do?  From where I sit, the choices are pretty simple.  You either pull back, stop working so hard and start hoping and praying that a miracle will occur.  Or, you just double down on the effort, re-commit to what you believe in and focus in on small, measurable elements of the task that will – hopefully anyway – help to turn the ship around.  How did this manifest itself for us?  Well, in our second last game (the one we lost down at Geelong) – whilst the overall result wasn’t what we were looking for some of the ‘effort’ indicators we had been using showed a bit of a turn-around.  Now, in a 10-goal loss that might seem pretty tenuous but if EFFORT is high then you are always on the right track.  If you have a strong level of effort and commitment, AND you keep working hard AND you maintain a positive outlook about the path you are on, then things WILL (eventually) turn your way.

I will bring this back to the footy experience in a moment, but I think the message is consistent to what everyone is trying to do in the gym.  Whether you are trying to lose weight, get stronger/faster/fitter, if EFFORT is high and your work-rate is consistent – and you maintain a POSITIVE view about the path you are on, it will all work out in the end.  Now – you might need to seek some help or advice to ‘tweak’ the pathway you are following – but if you just look after the EFFORT and respond to setbacks with hard-work rather than just giving up then the results you are chasing will be there in the end.  One thing is for sure and certain – no-one ever got anywhere by simply giving up!

Back to the footy example, in our 6^th and final game the players somehow managed to turn things around.  The positive messages about their EFFORT during the previous game seemed to give them some encouragement.  THEY began to get a little bit of reward for effort on the field – some inside 50’s, some shots on goal – and despite falling behind early it became obvious by the mid-point of the 3^rd quarter that regardless of the final outcome they were going to fight the fight right up until the end.  Now the story has a bit of a happy ending in that we ended up with a two-point win but that isn’t really the point.  The message is that if you are able to maintain a positive outlook and just keep working hard then eventually things are going to turn around.  There is no secret to improvement – it comes from maintaining a positive mindset and consistent hard work.  Looking for quick answers or easy solutions is not the answer to ANY problem – work hard, get results.  Stay positive – get results.

See you in the gym.

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – Get it Done ELEVATOR Challenge

Well done everyone who finished the challenge.  I was away last week but was so happy to come in on Friday and see a whole heap of names up on the board indicating those people who slogged there way through all those classes + extras during June.  If you finished the challenge but didn’t get your t-shirt, well – all you need to do is bring in your completed form and claim your (well earned) prize!

Gym Update #2 – InBody 570 Body Analyser

 We have completed around 70x scans now and I have been particularly happy with the results so many people are achieving.  If you haven’t done the scan yet ($25 members, $35 non-members) then I would really encourage you to give it a go – it enables you to see EXACTLY where you are at (no BS potential) and paints a pretty clear picture of what, where and how you should be looking at trying to improve.

Gym Update #3 – New Gear on the Way

Got a terrific update on our new gear that is on the way – MMA gloves, Bag Mitts (XL’s especially) and new ‘SHARE’ gloves have all shipped and I hope to have them in stock this week.  The new long sleeve hoodies have still not shipped but should do so this week – had some issues with sleeve lengths that caused us a delay.  These long sleeve hoodies will be the same design as the short sleeve ones – Round 1 on the breast, Boxing for Fitness on the back – and will be the same price ($45).

Gym Update #4 – Perkville Rewards Program

Just a quick reminder about our rewards program – PERKVILLE.  You can sign up for the program at http://www.perkville.com and – as long as you use the same email address that you have registered with Round One Fitness you will automatically start earning points.

How many points?  Well, 1-point for every $ you spend on your membership, packages (10-round passes, Tanks Passes) or personal training.  And 2-points every time you come to the gym and scan your membership card.  For every 200 points you earn you will get a $10 voucher for the gym – or wait until you consolidate 400 points and you will get a $25 voucher.

Gym Update #5 – 6-Month Life Plan (and what comes next!)

OK – our first ever 6 month Life Plan is OVER.  Well – almost over.  Our final measurements will be done this coming Wednesday and Friday between 4:30pm and 7pm.  From there, I will put together a little chart for each person who has finished the challenge showing the progress of their weight, skinnies and measurements over the 6-months.

When is the next one?  Well, I am thinking our next Life Plan will commence on September 1^st (so another month or so away) and we will use the InBody 570 Body Analyser for each of the measuring cycles.  I am also thinking September 1^st will also be the time when we kick off a new ‘style’ of gym challenge based around some weight-lifting and strength gain over a 3-month time period…the details are still coming together but both of these ‘long-term’ challenges look exciting right now.

Gym Update #6 – AFL Dreamteam and Footy Tipping

One clear winner in the tipping this week – “SHANEO” correctly selected eight winners, only missing the Essendon/Port Adelaide upset.  There were a whole heap of people on seven correct – with the North Melbourne/Hawthorn upset tripping up nearly as many tipsters.  Overall, “BOMBER” has snuck a point clear of “Toffeeman” with Ben Mac a point further back in 3^rd place.

Over in the Dream Team competition, top scores for the week were Lloyd’s “Gym Gods” (2212), my “Round 1 Bulls” (2106) and Roly’s “Bourbonators” (2100).  Roly remains one game clear on top of the DreamTeam ladder.

Good luck next week everyone.

Facebook Highlights

With no blog last week I was feeling far too slack to go back through Facebook to find all of the links that were posted.  Our Facebook group remains super awesome though and if you aren’t on there, well – why not?  For anyone out there who uses Instagram, don’t forget to follow us there at round1fitnessgym.  If you have your own gym photos you want to use, please use the # “#R1F”.  We are trying to work on a Instagram/website feed that would automatically scroll pics using that # directly on our homepage.

Link of the week

Being away in Melbourne for 10 days or so and feeling like I was continually explaining to people why I DON’T eat pasta and why I DON’T eat bread on an hourly basis, made me think it might be worth adding that explanation here.  As the Life Plan showed so many Round One Fitness members, there is an easy way to lose weight and just feel better every day and you don’t have to cut portion sizes to do it… What is the Paleo Diet.

See you in the gym!

Michael.