Hi and welcome to another week,
It was a funny training week for me last week. It started with my right arm in a sling due to my shoulder dramas, and finished down in Margaret River…somehow a ‘normal’ gym week seemed to pass me by! I took a kettlebell down south we me though and managed to do ‘a little bit’. Not too much I have to say, but a little bit. And I do feel better for it. With my shoulder, I still participated in classes but – rather than punching – I chose to skip instead. Fast punches = knees up skipping. Knock-outs = Double skips. Punching combinations = Multi-jumps. And every weighted exercise (push press, push-ups, bench press, you name it!) ended up being some kind of squat variation. The classes worked great this way – I was absolutely exhausted by the end – and all of the little tricks I have worked out to ‘slack off’ on the punching stations over the last few years were all taken away from me. What can I say – if you want to change things up for a session, choose an alternative exercise to punching and stick with it throughout the class…you will be amazed at how hard you work.
I wanted to talk this week about getting ‘set-up’ to be successful. I was really knocked off centre myself last week – with the kids back to school (drop off, pick up) and my shoulder dramas and my trip away, I just couldn’t seem to get a run at things. And whilst I didn’t miss any training days – I very well could have. And whilst I didn’t let my diet go, on one day I was up for more than 8-hours before I ate anything…not a good plan and not a good way to live. So – here are my basic ‘rules’ to be successful with your training and diet.
1. Are you training tomorrow? If the answer is ‘YES’, do you have all of your stuff ready to go and packed (or at least in a big pile ready to grab)? And this means shoes, socks, hand-wraps, water bottle…it means EVERYTHING. Nothing worse than being ‘ready to go’ only to find out that those socks you ‘saw’ in the washing pile either weren’t yours or there was only one of them or whatever it might be and now you are running LATE!
2. What are you eating for breakfast tomorrow? Have you got it all sorted? Does what you have organised include a decent serve of protein? It getting it ready in the morning a pain? Should you spend 5-minutes NOW chopping veggies (or whatever else you might need to do) to create a smooth road in the morning?
3. If you are training tomorrow, are you preparing TODAY? Can you spend 5-minutes rolling now to help loosen up that tight back or ITB that has been bugging you? Do you even have a roller at home? Maybe you should get one!
4. So – breakfast is ready. What exactly are you going to do for lunch? Have you got everything prepped and ready? If you are buying it, do you know what you will be getting? Do you regularly give in to temptation / peer pressure at lunch time? Maybe getting a lunch box ready will help you?
5. With breakfast and lunch ready, do you need an emergency ‘fill me up’? Maybe throwing a shaker and some protein in the same bag as your gym gear will be a good idea? After all, if the afternoon cravings come (and it can happen, even when your lunch is PERFECT) it is good to have a quick snack option.
6. OK. Tomorrow has arrived and you are at the gym. Well done. Do you have time for a warm-up before the session? When the bell rings, will you be ready to go? If not, should you be doing the class or maybe doing something else instead? Do you have a plan for what ‘something else’ looks like? If you are doing the session anyway, can you quickly and safely get warm so that you can joint in?
7. Along with the physical preparation (warm-up), is your brain ready to go? Have you reminded yourself why you are at the gym? Are you ready to put in a great effort…or are you listening to the little voice telling you ‘Just get to the end’? Be warm – and be ready to put in a great effort.
8. Everything has gone well to this point – it is now DINNER TIME! Is everything you need in the house – or do you need to go to the shop? Do you have time to cook properly – maybe you have to MAKE time (it wont take long).
9. Dinner done – time to relax. Start working through your checklist for tomorrow (gym gear, breakfast, lunch, shaker etc) and whilst you do that, jump back on that roller – or maybe grab a massage ball.
You can get a good result from your training if everything is not ‘perfect’. But getting it all together is not THAT hard. It just takes a bit of thought and a bit of planning. Effort? Well, I guess, but it is all stuff you are going to have to do anyway…but doing it a little bit ‘earlier’ than you HAVE to makes life so much easier…and the results so much BETTER!
See you in the gym.
Michael.
Month 2 – week 4.
Well done to everyone who ‘had a go’ at last weeks ‘extra’ challenge – the static squat hold (Life Plan) and the overhead squat (w. two kettlebells) for the muscle plan folks. If you didn’t have a try – please let me know ‘why not’? The exercises themselves would have taken less than 10-minutes of time (in total)…so that couldn’t be it. If it is just hesitation about trying something new or different, well…you guys just need to get over that! If you didn’t complete the challenge in week 3, then please take the time in week 4 to complete the challenge and post a score on your respective Facebook group.
We are two (2) full-weeks from the next weigh-in. Be focussed and clear on your plans for the next couple of weeks – don’t be the person standing on the scanner and ‘wishing’ that they had been a little more strict with their diet/thorough with their training. You will get exactly the results that you deserve…not necessarily the ones you are hoping for.
OK. This week will be the time to push forward again with the move of the power racks over to the ‘old’ treadmill location firmly on the agenda. I am really hoping to get this done in the next couple of days (one rack at a time)…once that step is ticked off, we will start working on the artificial turf!
As mentioned in last weeks blog, I have programmed a reboot of the ‘Starting Strength’ program to make it a bit more of a teaching session AND a workout rather than a pure ‘education’ session. Why? Well, the feedback has been that whilst it is great to ‘learn’ the sessions can get a bit boring…this will certainly change all of that. To make it work though, the new program will be set up in 6-week blocks (3 sessions per week) and if you commit you will be committing to attending all 18 classes.
I have also programmed a 12-week ‘Comp Squad’ program for those people who have the starting strength part ‘nailed’ but still want to engage in some short duration/hi-intensity training. Again, this would be an escalating program (3 times per week) that would be set up in 2x 6-week cycles…How will this differ from TANKS? Well, for a start, TANKS (generally) has a much greater strength focus (there is a 1-rm or 3-rm focus 9-weeks out of 10!) and we rarely complete activities in TANKS on a ‘for time’ basis. We work through the activities as a group and move on to the next phase as a group…
As with last week, please send me an email entitled ‘Starting Strength’ or ‘Comp Squad’ to info@round1fitness.com.au if you are interested in either session. Times seem the most contentious issues right now…if you have thoughts, SHARE THEM!
The new T’s arrived in the middle of last week – in blue and black. The colors look great and they are available in all sizes. Cost is pretty simple – $20 per shirt. These new ones have our ‘The Boxing Fitness Gym’ logo across the back.
What else? Well the new backpacks have been shipped (apologies to those people who have been waiting) and the new gloves are well into the production process. Looking forward to getting it all on the shelves!
There are two weeks left with the Perfect Pair ‘October’ challenge. I managed to complete my third effort whilst down in Margaret River (despite all of the Facebook heckling over the weight of the kettlebell I used!) and I was pretty happy to just ‘Get it Done’. It has been a great challenge – I love these ones where you need to finish a set number of classes AND a manageable number of extras. The Perfect Pair takes about 10-minutes which is something almost everyone can squeeze in pre/post session.
20 Kettlebell Swings
10 Push Ups OR 10 Goblet Squats
20 Kettlebell Swings
9 Push Ups OR 10 Goblet Squats
Complete 10 circuits reducing the Push Ups/Squats down my 1 each round until you reach 0.
To answer a question, you can do Pushups one day and Goblet Squats the next but you cannot alternate between the two in the same workout!
That’s it. Simple as! 3 times each week. Ready for summer! The white board is up and ready to go – if you missed week 1, no matter. Jump in on week 2. I have been completing the workouts and it is a great little boost to your week!
Perkville is awesome. It is a rewards scheme that gives you ‘credit’ in the gym for every time you pay for your membership/every time you scan your membership card at the front counter. You can then turn that ‘credit’ into TANKS classes, InBody Scans, Personal Training, Protein, new Boxing Gloves etc – whatever you want really!
Signing up really is simple – go to www.perkville.com , enter the same email address that you have registered at the gym and everything else is done for you.
Free stuff at the gym just for turning up? Sounds alright to me!
Link of the week
Jump rope, hill runs…I have an equally ‘simple’ workout on the drawing board for TANKS in a couple of weeks. Can’t wait!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub5JaaN0cO8#t=145
See you in the gym!
Michael.
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