Hi and welcome to another week,

Hope everyone enjoyed their training as much as I did last week!  I probably only missed one of my usual ‘classes’ (Friday) but it felt like I had been gone for a week during my regular Monday boxing class.  And then when I jumped on the assault bikes it felt like I had been gone for a month (at least a month!).

I just want to talk today – and it probably wont go for long – about trying hard to get some SLEEP.  Now I am sure that there are people reading this who work shifts or have young babies who have just read that last sentence and said ‘yeah, right’, but it is true.  If you want to train well, if you want to gain muscle or lose weight, you simply have to get some sleep.  If you want to manage your stress (I think that living without stress is a bit of a pipe dream for most of us) then you need to get some sleep.

I would love it if you would stop reading now and listen to this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s9C_8-OoxI

So, the question is, what is ‘some’ sleep?  What is ‘enough’ sleep?  Well, if you listened to the talk above (and I really hope you found the time) then you will know Dr Parsley talks about the fact that pre- IR people used to sleep for 10 hours (or more).  Post- IR that became more like 8-hours and more recently it has become closer to 6-hours.  I know for me that I regularly get home from the gym around 9:30pm and my alarm goes off at 4:00am so that I am ready for the 5am sessions.  You don’t need to be a mathematician to know that means even getting 6-hours is a real ‘push’ for a lot of people in similar circumstances to mine…and I know that I don’t sleep enough during the week.

So how much is enough?  I don’t think there is an answer but I do think we need to take some points out of Dr Parsley’s lecture.  If you are up late working ‘because’, go to bed and turn out the light.  You will be more productive the next day if you have given yourself the opportunity to get at least 8-hours sleep.  Of course, if you have a deadline to hit and you are up for a REASON (and there are times a lot of us are in that situation) well, you just have to suck it up and make sure you have a plan to catch up on that sleep ‘later’.

If you are up late watching tv ‘because’, go to bed and turn out the light.  The show you are watching can easily be recorded and watched tomorrow!  Of course, if you are up watching Japan tattoo South Africa in the World Cup (sorry, couldn’t resist!) then again, you just need to suck it up and have a plan to catch up on your sleep later.

I could make the same comments about computer games as tv.  Turn off the lights and go to sleep.  Reading?  Turn off the lights and go to sleep.  Anything else you are doing that is not related to a ‘deadline’?  Turn off the lights and go to bed.  You will be healthier, happier, less stressed – and your body will respond better to all that training you are doing/good food you are eating if you are getting enough sleep.

Back to me – and shift workers as well.  We are in trouble because our jobs have us working at different times and very long hours and achieving regular, consistent sleep is a real problem.  All I can suggest to you is to do what I try to do – clear out some time on whatever day passes for your ‘weekend’ and get some sleep.  Go and crash in the middle of the afternoon for a couple of hours – find a way to get the rest you need…if not every night, then maybe as an average over a week or two?  New parents?  Well, you guys are in trouble!  All I can say is to the boys out there…encourage breast-feeding – that way, there is nothing you can do!  (Joking of course.  But seriously, there is nothing you can do!).

Good luck with it.  And remember, it isn’t just about the training.  And it is just about the food.  There are lifestyle elements that might be holding you back from achieving your goals and sleep is certainly one of those.

Cheers – See you all in the gym,

Michael.

p.s.  Please keep the date October 31^st in your calendars.  We are planning to have a Halloween Party at Round 1 – dress up as something horrifying and head down to the gym for a couple of drinks and catch-up with all of your gym buddies!  None of us have any idea of the details yet (so please don’t ask) but we are planning for the event on Saturday, October 31^st.

Gym Update #1 – Summer Program – Monthly Beach training

We are planning to include a monthly ‘beach workout’ in the planning for this summer – starting in November.  I would love some feedback here on what you would like in terms of details (day?  Time?) to help in the planning.  At this stage we are looking at a Saturday morning around 09:30am …the idea will be just to have a bit of fun and do something a bit different.

Gym Update #2 – Beach Bodies#2 – Week 4 is Up

Week #4 of the latest Beach Bodies program has been published and is available to all participants.  Most of the videos published last week (and there were a heap of them) were related to the WEEK 4 program – so please be sure to check out the YouTube channel before hitting the gym.  As always, the time to ask questions is BEFORE the session starts, not when you get to the gym and the trainer is in the middle of a class (though we all understand it isn’t always a perfect world).

As with my instructions from last week, if you are following the BB#1 linear progression, it really is time to start pushing the weights – drive up HARD when you are squatting and pressing, pull HARD when you are deadlifting.  Remember, it is OK to fail a lift occasionally – it doesn’t make you a bad person – it just means you are starting to get close to your limits (which is where progress happens).

For anyone still wondering whether or not to get involved, the structure of the program will be similar but different to BB#1 – each day will consist of 2x programming streams.  Stream 1 will be for those people just getting started and will (for example) include a linear progression similar to the one that we followed for nine-weeks in the current program.  Stream 2 will be more focussed on the supportive exercises etc that we are all doing now in the ‘back end’ of BB#1.

Other elements of the program – classes, conditioning, stretching and pre-hab – will be largely unchanged.

How will you know when to move from the linear progression to the supportive work?  Well – you’ll ‘know’!  As those people who did BB#1 can no doubt attest, after nine weeks of progressions they were pretty much ‘ready’ to jump across to the supportive work because ALL of their progressions had pretty much plateaued.  If your linear progressions are still going UP – well, stay on the linear path until your progressions stop and then jump across…

Costs will be pretty straight-forward:

–       $99 for new participants.

–       $49 for anyone continuing on the training pathway who participated in BB#1.

As with BB#1, these prices include monthly Body Scans for participants – if you have participated in BB#1, the price you will pay is less than 50% of just getting the four (4) body scans done!

Registration link is below:

https://tms.ezfacility.com/OnlineRegistrations/Register.aspx?CompanyID=1214&GroupID=1369966

Gym Update #3 – October Challenge NEARLY Go

Really looking forward to the October Challenge.  A heap of new ‘Get it Done’ T-shirts have been ordered…for the first time ever they will be in a colour other than ‘charcoal’.  People who complete the October Challenge will be receiving the a ‘NAVY’ GID t for the first time.  A few people have expressed a concern that the challenge will conflict with the AFL Grand Final weekend and that will prevent them from taking part?  Don’t STRESS – the challenge starts on the Monday following the GF.

As promised, the videos for the two weekly challenge circuits were published to the YouTube Channel during the week – seems like a lot of fun to me!

Some details of the challenge have been released so far – these include:

–       Complete 21x classes within the challenge time-frame (Monday October 5^th until Sunday October 31^st).  Double sessions are permitted.

–       As well as having a ‘food restriction’, each week of the challenge will include a food challenge!  An example of this is to ‘Eat a healthy, balanced breakfast every day this week’.

–       The October challenge will feature our first ever ‘SLEEP CHALLENGE’.  Now, we cannot regulate how LONG you sleep for, but the challenge will be a simple one – be in bed with the LIGHTS OUT and TV OFF at least EIGHT (8) hours before your alarm is scheduled to go off….shift-workers might need to have a chat to me on this one!

The challenge forms are ready to go and the registration links will be emailed out during the week ahead.

Gym Update #4 – New SMALL Bag Mitts

As promised everyone, the new SMALL bag mitts are now in the gym and available for purchase.  If you need a new pair of gloves – bag mitts, mma gloves, leather gloves, sparring gloves – please check the gym before you go elsewhere.  We offer quality products at really good prices and will definitely stand behind the products if they don’t meet expectations.

Gym Update #5 – New HIRE GLOVES in the gym this week

Our hire gloves are due for replacement and the new order has been shipped.  I know this doesn’t impact a lot of you guys but (hopefully) if you do forget your gloves you will be happy enough to use a pair of our hire gloves (it only costs $2!) and know that you are getting a product that has been replaced regularly.  We do INSIST that anyone using our hire gloves wears a set of inner gloves/hand-wraps underneath them to maintain a level of hygiene.

Gym Update #6 – Hylete Gear

I will keep talking about this until they arrive – and they will be available for sale ‘soon’.  When they arrive, there will be a choice between a couple of different slogans and (hopefully) one of them strikes a particular chord with you.  We have gone with a limited choice of colors to start with (grey or charcoal for boys, pink or charcoal for girls).

There will also be a range of crops (3/4 pants) available for the girls – in fact there are some more of these on the way.

As noted last week, when they go up the t’s and singlets will be $35, the crops will be $65.

Link of the week

Great article on use of supplements from Gym Jones via Breaking Muscle:  http://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/5-health-based-supplements-to-build-your-strength-platform-0