Hi and welcome to another week,

Attendees at the morning sessions – both weekdays and weekend – would probably not be surprised if I was to say we have already had more members check-in to the gym in the first 20 days of February than we did in the entire month of January.  Admittedly, there are public holidays and what not in the other months (and there are not in Feb) but as a gym we are on target to have more people through the doors this month than in any other month since we were open…which is amazing when you consider the heat wave and all of that.  So well done to all of you guys for showing such great commitment and getting it done!

Just on the classes, how hard was that Wednesday session last week with the aptly christened ‘stations of death’ on the Floor to Ceiling ball and Speedball.  3x Burpees, 6x pushups, 9x Squats (or inch-worms, dynamic pushups and jump-squats for us at lunch time) every minute, on the minute for 6 minutes.  Tough, tough, tough.  Also really pleased with the efforts shown by everyone in the first week of our new Body Work block where we have introduced some more primal movements AND the Tanks crew who have been fighting through their clean escalation for a few weeks now and are starting to make great progress.

Has anyone noticed how the Easter Eggs can be found on supermarket shelves around about the day after Christmas – whereas once upon a time (you know, when I was a kid and dinosaurs walked the earth) they didn’t used to appear before the start of March?  And Christmas decorations now appear mid September (traditionally December 1^st) and any number of similar type ‘super early’ promotions and so forth?  I stole something from an ESPN writer whose name I have forgotten and he used to call all of this stuff part of the ‘Universal Theory of Creep’ – and I get the impression lately that a few people have been feeling lately that we have been doing something similar at Round 1.

Once upon a time – way, way back – it would be time for the class to start, we would tell everyone what to do on their FIRST station (no full class explanations!) and press the bell.  As it approached the end of the round, the trainer would wander around telling everyone where to go/what to do next and somehow it all seemed to work out.  Somehow.  I mean, seriously, we didn’t even used to write the barbell circuits or punching combos on the walls – hell, we didn’t even used to HAVE punching combos – it was, ‘Punch the bags, have fun’.

Over time, things have changed to the point that we now have warm-ups followed by full class explanations and details of what to do written up in (seemingly) unending detail for each and every station with options for Performance and Fitness…and now we are asking everyone to ‘Get their Chilli Hot’ (see the blog here for details on that one:  https://round1fitness.com.au/20160117) before any of that starts.  And this has now got to the point in the TANKS sessions where this ‘pre-warmup’/’Get your chilli hot’ is ALSO being programmed and we are asking everyone to have it done before the scheduled start time of the class.

So – I can sort of understand when there is a bit of push-back from people about us (as trainers) seemingly continuing to expect more (and more, and more) of you guys.  Once upon a time we just kind of said ‘go for it’, now we want you warming up before the scheduled start time AND we want you following what is a pretty tightly defined plan once the buzzer goes.  And as someone who is annoyed every time he sees and Easter Egg before the start of March, on one level I can understand exactly what/why this might be frustrating for you guys – particularly for long term members.

Whilst all this ‘extra’ stuff – the chilli hot, the warmup that starts before the demos – might seem like they are just another part of the universal theory of creep – the idea that ‘we want you in the gym earlier and earlier and doing more and more’, well, that is really only part of it.  And whilst I understand it might be impacting on your ‘catch-up time’ with your gym buddies (and believe me, I know that is an important part of coming to the gym as well!) there really is a bigger picture here.

What we have found over a long period of time is that the earlier we can get everyone focussed on the session they are about to do – and this is more of a mental ‘Get your mind right’ focus than getting your body ‘warm’ – the better the session runs for EVERYONE.  When everyone is engaged in their training before the warm-up, everyone pays more attention during demos – and therefore gets the exercises ‘right’ without having to rely on the other people in their ‘group’ as they move from one station to the next.  Which means two people get a better workout!  Or maybe a whole groups worth of people get a better work-out because a question asked by one person is often answered by 2 or 3 people…and the others in the group are thinking about it.

The whole escalation process (individual warmup, group warmup, group session walkthrough, ‘GO’) is also designed to try and add a sense of urgency to the start of session.  We start slow and build to ‘GO’ – and when we finally reach ‘GO’ you are not only ‘Ready’ to start but ‘EAGER’ to start.  Eager to start the circuit and give it your best shot.

The time spent in warm-up and preparation is – particularly with so many people dialling in their nutrition through the challenge – probably the single biggest opportunity for us to improve our performance and consequently results.  It is why we have been spending so much time stressing it over the past 3-6 months…we just want improved outcomes for everyone and know this is the route we need to follow in order to get them!

See you in the gym,

Michael.

p.s.  Cheers to everyone for letting me know that the photos that were appearing/should be appearing on our website are not doing so anymore – these photos come from InstaGram (see here:  https://www.instagram.com/round1fitnessgym/) and the link between InstaGram and the website is broken at the moment…hopefully it is back and active again sooner rather than later.

Gym Update #1 – 28-Days Later

One week to go.

It really is time to grit your teeth and push to the finish line.  In years past, it is in the last week where we see quite a few people just ‘drop out’ of the challenge – they just decide that it has all been too hard, they haven’t lost any weight and it “doesn’t matter anyway”.  Well – it probably doesn’t matter in the scheme of world events but why wouldn’t you just have a go and finish it off?  The weigh in is just a week away and even if you are in the “I haven’t lost anything, why bother” camp, well – who knows what might happen with another week of commitment and effort?

It would be amazing if we could see everyone who initially weighed in jump on the scanner again next Sunday.

Gym Update #2 – Beach Training  #2

We are planning to return to C.Y. O’Connor’s on Monday, March 7^th at 10:30am for a workout followed by a bbq with everyone who has time to make it along…so mark it in your calendar, pack some sausages and drinks in your favourite esky and we will see you there!

Gym classes will run as normal on that day.

Gym Update #3 – Friday Night Knowledge Bombs

Last week was core – this week is mobility.  I was so impressed with the turn-out for the core work-shop last week – there must have been 20 people in the gym working their way through the core program put together by Eden…hopefully everyone learned a couple of new movements as well.  (There is a quick video of what was happening here:  https://www.facebook.com/Round-1-Fitness-Gym-153944284640284/).

Eden noted that the turn-out last week was the best he has had and this could be related to one of two things:

–       Everyone is getting in the groove of the Friday night learning and wants to get better.

–       Everyone is still living in a mythical world where doing extra ab exercises will make your abs ‘visible’ when you take your shirt off.

I hope it is the first one.  Those abs MIGHT pop out when your body fat gets down to about 15% for girls or 8-9% for boys…but there is a bit of genetic influence there as well.  Further to that, there is a lot to learn about squats, deadlifts and all of the other stuff Eden has been teaching…and doing those movements right will do just as much to help your abs pop as a 30 minute core workout.

Lecture over (sorry about that).  See you next Friday night.

Gym Update #4 – New Gear is on the Way.

Tonnes of stuff still on the way.  New 15kg bumpers arrived last week – the rest of the bumpers and dumbbells should be here this week.  Further to all of that, new Quick Wraps are nearly ready to ship as are the XL and XXL bag mitts.  If you need some gear, just be patient as it will all be here soon!

Gym Update #5 – Casual Bookings (Including 10-pass Holders)

So – over the past month or so there seems to have developed a whole heap of confusion over which classes casual gym users need to book for and which ones they don’t.  So we have decided to make it easy for everyone – if you aren’t a member of the gym, please book for ALL CLASSES.  We are headed into what is generally a really busy time at the gym so if you are a casual user please just call the gym on 9414 1141 to book in for any/all classes you want to attend.  If you are a member you don’t need to book.  We will figure it out and find a way whenever you come in! J

If you aren’t sure when the classes are – or, more topically, when Body Work is vs when Boxing is! – check the timetable here:  Round 1 Fitness Class Timetable

Link of the week

I loved this:  http://www.theplayerstribune.com/jim-harbaugh-michigan-football-coach-ann-arbor/

Who’s got it better than us???  No-body!