Hi and welcome to another week,
Before I start, remember that our April ‘Get it Done’ Challenge starts this week. The list of extras look super awesome and – if you sign-up for the Body Scans – you get $50 worth of scans + the challenge for just $35. The scans are both terrifying and motivating – after all, they tell ‘the truth’ about what you have been doing in the gym and eating – but are an amazing way to track your progress and prove to yourself that hard-work, commitment and discipline really pay off in tangible ways. Sign up for the challenge here: April Challenge Registration.
I had a bit of a ‘funny’ training week. Loads of appointments and meetings really threw my schedule ‘out’ and I only managed to do one (1) boxing class all week. My timetable left me doing Boxing on Monday, then Body Work Tuesday, Tanks on Wednesday, No-Rules on Thursday and another Body Work session on Friday. On Saturday…I rested! It has been a tough, tough week of training but one in which I learned quite a bit about myself and the way that I train – when I am training well and when I am not training quite so well (and the ways I find to ‘hide’ when I am tired!).
I train well when I am engaged and training with a plan. I pay attention during the demos (and I know – I shouldn’t generally need to because I write the plans) but listening to the trainer and thinking about the class (not the work I have abandoned to do the class) seems to make a big difference to me. I pay attention, I make ‘mental notes’ about the weights I am going to use, how many reps I will do (or how long it should take to do them) and then I try to execute the plan. If there is a speedball station scheduled – which is where I most often ‘rest’ – I try to remind myself to keep my hands up, to mix up my hitting patterns, to hit the ball 250 times in each minute. When I train well I prepare well – I think through the plan and then try to ‘do it’ the way I ‘thought it’.
When I don’t train well it is sort of the opposite. Not only do I not listen to instructions, but half the time I start without a water bottle and towel…then find a reason to go hunting for them sometime during the class. Not only that – because I wasn’t paying attention at the start AND because I didn’t really ‘think through’ what I was doing, I would then spend way too much time looking at the instructions that have been scrawled on the wall or white board. It might be the second lap, but for some reason I need to go and ‘double check’ exactly how many repetitions it was, or what exercise/combination was it again?
It is also amazing how much more ‘slippery’ the barbells/rings/pull-up bars get when I am not concentrating. When I am ‘on my game’, I just seem to do the lifting/pull-ups, whatever. When I am not, I need to rub my hands on the walls to get some chalk, or re-wrap my hands because they are a bit loose and it is making it hard to hold on. Maybe I just need to put the bar down for a little while and rub my hands on the side of my shorts?
What else do I do? When I am training well, I train. When I am not, I ‘notice things’. That barbell is a bit loose – maybe I should tighten it up now (instead of lifting it up!). That bit of paper on the floor – I definitely need to pick that up and put it in the bin. I better re-adjust those kettlebells so they are all in one perfect row…sure – that stuff is important but it can wait 15minutes for me to finish training before I fix it.
Where am I going with all of this? Well, I think we all – all of us – have some great strategies that enable us to ‘weave our way’ through a session without getting the maximum value out of it. Some of the strategies are ones I use and have written above – there are a HEAP of others that I see every day. Whether you are doing it consciously or not, results don’t come from finding the path of least resistance – from finding the way to get to the end with the least possible effort being expended.
I have decided that this week that when I get the chance to train, I am going to be focussed and maximise my results. It is too hard to squeeze a session in these days to be able to waste sessions and just ‘make up for it tomorrow’. Who knows what tomorrow is going to bring – who knows when I am going to be lucky enough to get another session in? I need to make the most of the session I am doing right now.
See you in the gym,
Michael.
P.S. Before I go, remember that the footy season starts this week – don’t forget to join our competition at http://www.footytips.com.au/comps/Round_1_Fitness_2015]
P.P.S. Easter hours are listed in the ‘Gym Update #2’ so scroll down if you are interested in when we are open and what we are doing over the weekend.
Our latest gym challenge – the April 2015 ’30-50’ Challenge is up and STARTS WEDNESDAY. For the first time ever, there are TWO registration options:
1/.Register for the challenge AND 2x Body Scans (1 before the challenge, 1 after) for a cost of $35.
2/.Register for the challenge only for a cost of $10.
As this is a ‘Get it Done’ Challenge, everyone who finishes will receive a ‘Get it Done’ T-Shirt…we never sell these so everyone you see wearing one in the gym – including any of the trainers – has ‘earned’ their shirt through finishing one of the challenges.
So…what do you have to do?
1/.Within the month of April, complete 20x Group Training Classes at Round 1. All class types count (yes, including Beginners!). You must complete 20 sessions and have each one signed off by a trainer.
2/.In addition to the classes, you must also complete FIFTY repetitions of THIRTY different exercises. You can break these up however you like – 10 at a time, 20 at a time, 2 at a time for all I care – as long as on the 31st of April you have done 50 reps of each of the nominated exercises you are DONE. Now – don’t stress about me tricking you and including things that you just haven’t learned to do ‘yet’ – I have included ‘alternative’ exercises for anything that I think might be in that category on the sign off sheet and if you have issues with any of the others I am sure I can come up with a replacement for those as well.
The list of exercises has been published on FACEBOOK and the sign-off sheets can be collected from Reception for all registered users from MONDAY morning.
Keen? The registration link is here: April Challenge Registration.
This coming Friday is Good Friday – and the Easter weekend follows. Our opening hours will be:
Friday: 08:15am Boxing, 09:15am Boxing, 10:15am Body Work, 11:15am NEW CLASS: CONCEPT.
The new class is a 30-minute ‘Rowing Only’ session that is limited to 8-participants. If you want to do it, you MUST BOOK. This is a trial class for a new class-type (I have written a series of rowing only AND assault bike only work-outs) that I will run once per week if there is sufficient interest.
Saturday: Normal Saturday hours.
Sunday: Normal Sunday hours.
Monday: Normal Public Holiday hours (same as Sunday).
There are some signs up around the gym as well…
We have some pretty new gym tags in – they double up as bottle openers and the registration number has been laser printed on the back so it should never, ever need replacing. You don’t even have to do 10-burpees to get one (but they do cost $5!).
As mentioned in the ‘Easter Hours’ session, I have been working on creating two new class types. Both of these are 30-minutes in duration and will be based around the concept II rowers or the Assault bikes. These sessions are tentatively going to be run on either Tuesday or Thursday (potentially BOTH) with a start-time of 5:45am…I am really keen to get some feedback on whether or not anyone is interested in these sessions or if I should abandon the preparation work now!
I have also been doing a lot of thinking and spit-balling about our 7pm time-slot in particular. The Body Weight Boxing session (B+) really hasn’t taken off the way I would have liked and we often have less than 5-participants. My thought process at the moment is:
Mondays: Move Body Work to 8pm and run Beginners at 7pm.
Tuesdays: As is.
Wednesdays: As with Monday, move Body Work to 8pm and run Beginners at 7pm.
Thursdays: As per Tuesday – run Body Work at 7pm and Beginners (NOT 1-min Rounds) runs at 8pm.
This would all mean the end of B+, the addition of two additional Beginners sessions AND the moving around of two of our Body Work classes.
Thus is not ‘happening’, but I would like everyone’s thoughts on it. Please email me at info@round1fitness.com.au if you have any thoughts or opinions.
Thanks to everyone who made it too our rope climbing session at Anning Park this morning. As I noted, a bit of practice will go a long way and the ropes are always available in the gym for anyone who wants to have a go. The other part of Spartan of course is the running – it is 7kms of running on the day – so remember to keep banging out those post session gym runs…come race day it will be well worth it (and the day AFTER race day you will be glad you made the extra effort during the preparation phase).
Next training is scheduled for Sunday, April 12th. Stay tuned for the venue.
There is a tonne of new gear on order – bag mitts, mma gloves, leather gloves, weightlifting gloves and – a new product – gymnastic grips. Hopefully everything will be ready to ship by the end of the month so keep an eye on the ‘shop’.
I have started up a NEW Footy Tipping league for 2015. So whilst in past years your membership to the Round 1 competition has just ‘Rolled Over’, this year if you want to be in you will have to rejoin. The league name is Round 1 Fitness 2015 and the link to join is HERE: http://www.footytips.com.au/comps/Round_1_Fitness_2015
The password for the league is ‘speedball’.
Good luck everyone!
I have intentionally hidden this down the bottom of the blog but I am approximately 50% of the way through a 3-month ‘Beach Bodies’ program that I am planning to run from June 1st until August 31st. The program features daily programming – cardio, strength, core, plyometrics – and integrates some Boxing classes as well. The program features separate programs for men and women (although there is some overlap of course) and a simple food plan – similar to the one used for the muscle plan but split up with different quantities for different body sizes.
This is by far the most complete programming effort we have undertaken and will require a fair bit of commitment to complete from anyone who wants to have a go…the results should be pretty impressive though!
The idea of the plan is to do the work over winter so that when summer rolls along, you will have already done the work…you wont be scrambling to fit into your boardshorts (or your bikini).
If you have read down this far and might be interested in the program, please email me at info@round1fitness.com.au and I will make sure you receive future updates.
This is one of my favourite ever articles – it was written by Jim Wendler (author of 5-3-1) and published a few years ago now. Well worth a re-read…
https://www.t-nation.com/training/the-walk-on
Michael.
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