Hi and welcome to another week,
It’s great to be back writing after a week (well – a couple of weeks really) away from the keyboard. I have been really happy with the way the classes have been going over the Christmas / New Year period – well, apart from the part where the new turf has made the sled really, really, really hard to push. To everyone who has attended a class at a different time-slot to their ‘usual’ time and found it harder/easier than normal – or found that the trainers are a little more focussed on the ‘rules’ at some times than others, remember, these things have evolved over time. The smaller classes at 7am and lunch-time have long been the times when our clients are pushed a little bit harder, asked to do a few more ‘extras’ than the busier times at 6am or in the evenings. Consequently, the regulars at those classes are at the gym looking for that extra push – that is why they choose to come at those time-slots. If you have walked into something you weren’t quite prepared for – remember that not every session is the same and that in the ‘quieter’ times we oftentimes do a little more than just run through the daily class plan. And remember, a couple of burpees or a sled run is not a personal attack – it is just a chance to do a little more today – and it is what the ‘regulars’ at the timeslot you are in are both expecting and WANTING.
It is that ‘resolution’ time of year and I thought I would weigh in with my own perspective on all of that. Last year I spoke about making sure that you are RESOLUTE when it came to your resolutions – that you were strong in following through on what you said you would do. This year I want to talk about something else – the way that so many people compromise their own goals with their ‘self talk’ – remember that it is “What I say to myself when I am by myself that matters the most”.
For example, when you say to yourself “I just don’t have time to get to the gym today” – you are really setting yourself up with an excuse to miss a session on any day. While there are no doubts some days are busier than others, I think it is also true that every day is busy. Rather than saying “I just don’t have time” try telling yourself something like “I feel better after I train – maybe I can duck out for a walk at lunch-time – that will give me a heap of energy for the afternoon and maybe I could still get to the 7pm session”. In this way, you are attaching your training sessions to a POSITIVE emotion and at the same time coming up with a fall-back plan that has the potential to become a positive habit in your life (going for a walk at lunch time!).
Now – you might not come up with the example I have given you straight away. But if you are able to note the negative impact of what you are saying then you have a chance to change gears, reset your self-talk and move ahead. The important thing is to understand when you have negative voices spinning through your head (and we all do) that it doesn’t have to be that way – you can take a moment and come up with a positive plan of action.
So keeping that line of thinking going – replace a negative thought with a POSITIVE emotion that has potential to reinforce a positive, long-term habit – how could you apply that process to other parts of your day? If your favourite meal is Pizza – and you are looking forward to eating some on Saturday night…well, that’s great. But rather than telling yourself that “Pizza is my favourite food”, maybe it is time to tell yourself that “Pizza is my favourite CHEAT MEAL – but I only eat Pizza that I make myself”. This way, you are reinforcing your ‘healthy eating’ ideal (Pizza is cheating implies that at other times there is NO cheating!) and you are taking control of ingredients and portions by cooking it yourself. Or how about “I have so much more energy for the day when I eat a good breakfast” rather than “I am too tired to get my breakfast ready tonight” when it is 10pm at night and all you want to do is crash on the couch/go to bed and you know that if you don’t chop your bacon/mushrooms/capsicum whatever then that morning omelette will just be ‘too hard’ to get ready ‘from scratch’ in the morning. Or back in my IT days when I would start to get concerned about ‘missing an important email’ and had to say to myself “I get so much more work done when I am not getting distracted – just check your email in the morning and again straight after lunch”.
It is the things that you say to yourself when you are by yourself that have the biggest impact on your actions. Make sure that those words are filled with POSITIVE emotions. Make sure that those words are helping you create/reinforce those habits that you are working towards – not making it easier to ‘back-out’ of them both today and in the future.
See you in the gym.
Michael.
p.s. I am ready to add some new profiles to the ‘Member Profiles’ section of our website. If you have a story to tell – and I know that everyone does – I would love for you to tell it on our website. Our member profiles are BY FAR the most read pages on our website and really help to paint a picture of the gym community that is Round 1. Please email me at mpratt@round1fitness.com.au if you would like to contribute.
In a couple of weeks Australia Day will be upon us and we would love it if everyone could join us for a bit of a get together / celebration down at C.Y. O’Connor beach. Our plan is to run a bit of a workout down there from 09:30am until 10:30am, then follow that up with a bit of a celebration from 11am.
It will be pretty casual – if you want to eat, bring down some steak/sausages. If you want a beer, bring down some of them. If you want to play cricket, bring down a bat and ball. There is a grassed area down there, a couple of bbq’s and lot’s of white sand/blue ocean. Bring your sunscreen, bring your kids – whether you want to stay for the day or just stop in for a hello and a quick swim would be fine with all of us…but as usual with these kind of things, the more the merrier!
To answer the next question, Australia Day is a Monday this year and the gym will still be open until 12:30pm even with the beach-based training session happening at 9:30am and the Australia Day celebration starting at 11am.
At the end of the Muscle Plan – and at the end of the Life Plan – and at the end of the ’12-days of Christmas’ Challenge, I have had a series of people ask me a simple question: ‘All of the extras you have been setting out for us – I love them. Now the plan/challenge is over, what extras should I be doing?’. Well to this point I have been handing out weights programs, cardio plans, suggesting strength programs (Crossfit Football, StrongLifts 5×5, 5-3-1 etc) depending on the person but NOW I have a new plan. A better plan. In the gym there are FOUR (4) brand-new whiteboards. On one (upstairs) is a full-body weights program for people who are looking for a once-per week, full-body program to help with general strength development…if you were to say your goal is ‘toning’ (and I hate that word) then you might do this once a week alongside your boxing sessions. On another whiteboard (behind the treadmills) is the cardio plan of the week – this is for people who want to do some extra cardio and are looking for some direction beyond ‘run on the treadmill for 20 minutes’. On another is a strength plan (behind the power racks) which is for people looking to become stronger and have the time/commitment to dedicate two (2) sessions each week to their lifting (the format here will be familiar to muscle plan people) – and last but not least, next to the list of standard WOD’s (behind the rigs) is the WOD of the Week – a weekly MetCon to really challenge people who are looking to take their general physical prep to another level…if you are doing TANKS and Body Work regularly, this will be a good supplement to your training.
We have spent a lot of time programing the sessions (on a 13-week and I hope you find them all really valuable…never again should there be someone in the gym who “isn’t sure what to do”!
Over the past 6-months or so (maybe a bit longer) we have been uploading videos to YouTube. Some are of our classes, some are ‘How To’ videos – they all have a consistent look and feel and whilst I am never going to be a great presenter (or great user of iMovie!) there is some pretty good stuff there and some really helpful information.
Why am I telling you this – because I want you to subscribe to our channel and, when you find something useful that we publish, I want you to share it with the world! Selfishly I want the time spent making the videos to feel worthwhile, and this can only happen when the videos we publish are actually VIEWED by people…so click on this link, hit subscribe, and share, share, share. (Or – if you hate them, tell me that you hate them so I can do a better job!).
The gym refurb is STILL NOT OVER. The next phase will be happening this coming week – a series of wall-ball ‘targets’ will be installed on each of the rigs over on the rubber floor. In addition to that, three (3) new cells will be installed (well, actually, two (2) cells and one (1) bridge but why quibble?) on the wall directly in front of the mirrors. The idea here is to just give us a little more flexibility/expansion room for pull-ups, fence-pulls etc during busy sessions. The six cells at the moment are amazing but we are still sending people over to the boxing frames for extra rings on a regular basis.
In addition to that, we have ordered a heap of new replacement bikes that will be here around the end of Feb/March. When that time comes, we will be looking to sell off a number of our existing Keiser M3 Spin Bikes. Reconditioned, these usually sell for around $1000 (look here if you don’t believe me – http://www.graysfitness.com.au/cardio/exercise-bikes-and-spin-cycles.php) and we will be offering them to our members first. If you are keen on spin bike for home, send me a note and let me know – be aware though, they wont be available until the new gear is available.
There is a Spartan Event – a sprint race (7kms, 20 obstacles) coming up next April 18th. This has never really been my thing but I just have an idea that – given the 7km distance – we could get 200 Round 1’ers signed up and ready to race in the event…I was thinking we might arrange t-shirts, a ‘special’ Sunday morning training squad (to help everyone get through the running) and who only knows what else! Now – a heap of people have noted on Facebook that they are keen – awesome. If you want to save $45 on registration, then you have to do it THIS WEEK!!! Go to:
http://spartanrace.com.au/event/perth-sprint-18-april-2015
Our team name is ‘Round 1 Fitness’ – choose the ‘Intermediate’ category. The team password is ‘speedball’.
Email info@round1fitness.com.au if you have registered so I can try and keep track of things!
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!
I have been reading a heap of older content on Breaking Muscle lately – here is something I found pretty useful: The three pillars of fat loss – http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/the-3-pillars-of-fat-loss
Michael.
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