Hi and welcome to another week,
Wow – last Monday’s session with that ‘Kettlebell – Bike/Jump Squat – Barbell’ sequence formed one of the toughest 12-minutes in one of the toughest boxing sessions I can remember for a long time. I remember finishing the last of the barbell static holds (which marked the end of the session) and just thinking to myself ‘I am so glad I started at station 1 – if I had to complete a 4-minute row right now I am not sure how I would do it’. Super tough. It has got to be good for you right? Last week also marked the kick-off for the new set of Body Work sessions – I only managed to get through one of them last week (Class B I think it was) and it was terrific – really challenging and gave me the chance to lift some heavier weights in a group training environment. Getting a Body Work class done once each week so I can complete all ‘5’ sessions on the schedule remains one of my training targets.
Mind you, my training targets seem like a bit of a far-off dream right now. I am still not sure how I exactly did it, but last Thursday night I managed to take a bit of a tumble in the gym and crashed pretty heavily into one of the treadmills. Luckily for me I didn’t bang my head (though I am sure a lot of people would say that is the least used part of my body) – however I did cop a pretty hard impact on my back and ribs. My ribs are particularly sore and I am finding simple tasks like walking, getting up off the ground and bending over to be a real issue. What it is making me realise though is how much I take for granted being ‘mobile’ and (relatively) strong. And further, how hard things can quickly become when those things are taken away.
When you are injured or struggling with soreness, you really only have a few options. The two ‘extremes’ – ignore the pain and keep going OR ‘stop everything and hope it gets better by itself’ really aren’t great though. I guess a couple of days of ‘total’ rest might be ok, but in my experience the more time I spend doing ‘nothing’ the more I struggle with all of my body – a sore knee becomes a sore back AND knee and then a sore back, knee AND shoulder and it is like some kind of inactivity ‘disease’ spreads through my body. Back when I was living the corporate life I felt I would continually go through this cycle. I would run every day at lunch-time, then – after a few weeks my knee would be aching all the time which would lead to me taking ‘a couple of days off’. Once I stopped running though, I wouldn’t replace it with walking or a weights session – I would replace it with sitting at my desk to eat lunch which, funnily enough, didn’t help my knee feel any better and also added to the tightness in my lower back…which is one of the reasons I started running in the first place. Three months later in desperation I would start running again – annoyed at myself for having to ‘start again’ with a super tight lower back that restricted my running and a set of lungs that caught fire after approximately 34.2 steps!
Mobility is about mobility. It is about movement. Given I am struggling at the moment – I am really not up to doing a class – but I can walk. And I am pretty sure I can skip a bit which is great for mobility. I don’t think I can bear-crawl or push a sled…but I can probably ride a bike. I can certainly do SOMETHING. And if I can just keep moving, make sure that my hips and lower back don’t start tightening up (which I am a bit prone too) then, when my ribs all start feeling better in a few days I will hopefully be able to get straight back into it.
If you are struggling with an injury – don’t give up. You don’t want to be going through pain for your exercise, but if you talk to your physio I am sure you will be able to get some help with things you can do that will not only not cause any pain but might actually HELP with your rehab…and we are pretty much always happy for people to modify things when the changes are about working around an injury.
If you are injured, stay positive and stay mobile. Keep on moving. The more you are able to move – to get up and down, to walk and crawl, the better you will recover and the more quickly you will start feeling ‘better’. You train to live a healthy life first of all – don’t forget that when an injury or some soreness threatens to derail you or your plan.
See you in the gym.
Michael.
Our latest MINI-Challenge will kick off on Monday, August 4th – just one week for now. Throughout the month of August, the challenge needs you do the following exercises every week for 4-weeks:
– Complete 3-classes every week.
In addition to the classes, each WEEK (not each session, each WEEK!!!) you must also complete:
– 50 Kettlebell Clean and Press
– 50 Push-ups (chest to ground on EVERY ONE!)
– 50 V-Sits
– 50 Goblet-Squats
– 50 Kettlebell Swings
– 25 Pull-ups
Now – those exercises need to be completed each WEEK, not after each session. So what you might do is complete 2 of the extras after each class (say, Goblet Squats and Pushups on one day, then Pull-ups and Kettlebell swings on the next day etc) OR you could do a few reps of each exercise on each day…This challenge is based around the famous 300 workout but I have swapped out a couple of exercises (KB Swings for Deadlifts, V-Sits for Floor Wipers, Goblet Squats for Box Jumps) just to make them a little more accessible for everyone. I have also cut the number of pull-ups from 50 down to 25 for the same reason…if you feel like sticking at 50 pullups though, you of course have my blessing!
I have (painfully) written all of the activities up on the board for the challenge (the one above the treadmills) and all you need to do in order to participate is write your name up on the board and start recording your reps. I would really love to see 100 names up on the board – it is time to start thinking about getting ready for some warmer weather and this challenge will be the perfect thing to kick off your ‘ready for summer’ training plan.
Late in August we will launch the newest Round 1 ‘Life Plan’ – along with a new ‘Muscle Gain’ challenge. The launch will be at 4pm on August 31st when we will present a ‘Paleo Eating – How To Do It’ session followed by registration for the ‘Life Plan’/’Strength Challenge’. Participation in both the Life Plan/Strength Challenge will cost $55 and included in your registration fee will be FOUR (4) InBody Scans (usually valued at $25 each) AND:
– Life Plan: Monthly eating plan + Diet Restrictions + Exercise Guide
– Muscle Gain Plan: Weekly Exercise guide
I will continue to trickle feed information about the two challenges over the next month or so, but the key things to understand now is that the kick-off date is 4pm, Sunday August 31st – costs are $55 – and we will be completing monthly assessments on the InBody Scanner rather than using callipers.
The Perth Fitness Show (http://www.fitness-show.com.au) will be held up at the Convention centre on the weekend of 16th and 17th of August. We will be up there with the InBody Scanner trying to spread the word whilst also taking in what the rest of the show has to offer. The program looks awesome and hopefully a few people from R1 will have time to come up for a look. We are supposed to be receiving 50-discounted tickets to attend the show (I am not sure what ‘discounted’ means at this stage – I haven’t received the tickets) but will make these available to R1 members when I get them.
Our new skipping rope solution from ‘RX Smart Gear’ (http://www.rxsmartgear.com/) arrived on Thursday and I got them up on the walls on Friday. This means there is now a set of ‘speed ropes’ for use by all of our class participants – which makes skipping a LOT easier and really does make it possible for everyone to do double skips (yep, EVERYONE!).
Why did we go to this effort when the PVC ropes were doing the job? I guess I have just gotten tired of the continually breaking skipping ropes so I have decided just to throw money at the problem in one hit rather than the constant Chinese water torture of spending $400 on ropes every couple of months. That said, the new ropes are pretty damn expensive and need to be looked after – please make sure while you are skipping you don’t constantly whack the ropes into the chin-up bar or sleds (skip ON the CROSSES!) and DON’T USE THEM OUTSIDE! When you finish with the ropes, please put them back neatly in the rack – they go from smallest to longest (left to right) and each rope goes in its own little holder – don’t split them up.
Processed more that $400 worth of Perkville rewards vouchers last week – fantastic. If you want to get in on the action – access to ‘free’ personal training, Body Scans, gloves, whatever…be sure to register for the program at http://www.perkville.com.
The way it works is that for every single membership dollar you spend – either an ‘up-front payment’ or via the direct debit system – you get one point. Every time you come to the gym and SCAN YOUR MEMBERSHIP CARD (which is what I call checking in – please don’t think this is a ‘facebook check-in’ – you get TWO points. Those points then turn into Round One dollars – for every 200 points you earn you will get $10, or, if you wait until you have 400 points that is worth $25.
What can you spend the ‘money’ on? Well, anything you like. An ‘InBody’ Body analysis. Personal Training. New gloves. Protein. Whatever you like!
Sign up at www.perkville.com – all you have to do is register at PERKVILLE with the same email address you have registered at Round One Fitness.
Well, the split round is finally over, and the winner is – well, let’s just say football was the winner. We had a three way tie for the lead – on a very ordinary score of ‘6’ between Kristy Morris, Brett Schaper, Brad Mahar and Leigh Rodgers. ‘Bomber’ – and I am not actually sure who that is (even though I feel like I should know?) holds an overall lead of 1 ahead of Ben Mac and Kristy Morris.
Over in the Dream Team, there were some amazing scores with Kim Devereaux putting up a quite remarkable score of 2311 but STILL being beaten – a big well done to Dale Godsell and his 2316 points. Other big scores came from Lloyd (2310) and Cam Hobson with 2290. The ladder is very interesting with a nice family battle going on between Brad and Kade Mahar for a spot in the bottom half of the half.
Good luck next week everyone.
Deadlifts, sled and step-ups? Sounds like a great combo to me!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Rw_or6F4E
See you in the gym!
Michael.
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