Hi and welcome to another week,

Cheers to everyone who came down to Round 1 last week.  The classes were pretty fantastic if I say so myself – probably as challenging a week of sessions as I can remember – but it was the Friday 2-minute rounds that really stood out to me as one that just couldn’t be missed.  I guess it ties in well with what I am writing about in the ‘larger’ blog today, but there was punching (which is obviously a cardio/strength combination when you do it ‘right’), bikes (cardio), running (cardio), barbell work (strength), dumbbell work (strength) and kettlebell work (strength).  All wrapped up nicely in 45 minutes.  I was stuffed/exhausted (say what you will) at the end, I woke up the next day with that good feeling of soreness when you have trained hard and pushed yourself but aren’t so sore you are unable to walk/move at all and just generally feeling good.

Thanks also to everyone who had cause to email me/speak to me about all of the feedback in the survey last week…it seems a few members out there were more upset and agitated about what was said than I was.  Personally I thought some good points were raised and we will (of course) be working hard to make the gym a better place for everyone.  I think the upgraded flooring has already made a huge difference to the place…hopefully I can get to a point later this week when I can announce some pretty exciting equipment upgrades – it really is a great time to be training at Round 1.

OK – It is time for me to write my bit now and it is this part of the blog where I am going to say stuff that (I hope) doesn’t upset anyone.  All this fitness stuff doesn’t have to be that HARD.  The Beach Fit program seems to have inspired 100000 questions though about what goes with what and the timing of exercise and the timing of meals and whether it is OK to eat the same meal three times in a week or not and…anyway, on and on it goes.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks back, we train pretty hard at Round 1 but we aren’t aspiring to be Olympic athletes…we (well, most of us) are trying to lose a couple of kilos and look better in our board shorts.  And, if you are like me, maybe a little bit of a mental health boost that you only seem to get through exercise.  Given these pretty simple outcomes (and yes, I know that we are also trying to get stronger, faster etc as well but stick with me for a moment) we should all be able stick to a pretty simple programming solution.

First off – don’t stress about how many times each day you need to eat.  Just don’t.  A good starting point is to make sure you are getting a good breakfast, a healthy lunch and a good dinner.  Cut out the sugar, lay off the booze (a couple of beers once or twice a week is fine) and watch out for the snacking (particularly after dinner which seems to be a weakness for a lot of people I talk too).

Second – don’t WORRY about your training.  Just DO your training.  You know when the classes are on (they are at the same time, every day!) – if you show up and it happens to be a Beginners class, a Body Work class, a Boxing class…well, just do it.  Don’t get all up in your own head about whether or not that will be ok for you, whether it is too easy, too hard, too different, too whatever…just do the session, give it your best shot and you will be OK (and get something good out of it).

If you overcomplicate things – if you make things difficult for yourself – then pretty soon it will all end up in the too hard basket and bye-bye to achieving your goals.  Sure – some people eat 6x per day.  Maybe that works for them…who knows whether or not it would work for you???  First things first, cut out all the sweeteners, eat real, fresh food and establish a good rhythm with your eating…once you have that in place, THEN if you still aren’t getting results if might be time to think about making a change.  YES.  Absolutely some people do three (3) dedicated weightlifting sessions every week or do sprints on the treadmill or spend 30 minutes working on their pull-ups…and again, maybe all of that works for them.  Would it work for you?  Again, who knows?  Just like with your food plan, first things first with your training – build up to FOUR (4) or FIVE (5) sessions each week and establish a good rhythm with it.  Once you have that in place and have established it over the course of a few months, well THEN if you aren’t getting the results you are after it might be time to think about changing it up.  Don’t over-think this stuff.  Be consistent and just ‘DO’.  Assess the outcomes over an extended period (3-months is a good timeframe) and then make adjustments as necessary.

If you want to achieve the simple goals most of us are chasing, well, just take consistent action – do your training, eat fresh food and keep putting one foot in front of the other…if after a few months, you REALLY aren’t getting anywhere (note:  a few MONTHS, not a few years) then seek me out for a chat (or one of the other trainers if you don’t want to chat to me – don’t worry, I totally understand that emotion!) and we will see if we can make a bit of a course correction.  It might mean we want to get you into the ‘Food Matters’ program, there might be a once a week weights program for you to follow…maybe you even need to get some blood tests done???

Often, the simplest approach is the way to obtain the greatest results.

See you all in the gym.

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – 12-Days of Christmas

Well, it is that time of year when the 12-days of Christmas Challenge hits the Round 1 calendar.  This is (of course) an awesome challenge and one which I find really important personally…it is the time of year when social pressures really can get the better of all of us and this challenge – or my determination to not let any of these challenges get the better of me – will have me getting 12x classes done AND 12x challenge workouts done between December 1^st and December 24^th.

I don’t know what it is about challenges but somehow the mere fact that I need to get ‘someone else’ to sign off that I have attended a session or not has me pushing back on nights out/saying no to early beers and getting to the gym…all of which (I hope) sees me hit the new year in GREAT SHAPE!

If you are keen to have a crack, the cost is $10 to participate.  Online registration only:

https://tms.ezfacility.com/OnlineRegistrations/Register.aspx?CompanyID=1214&GroupID=1721063

Gym Update #2 – Beach Fit 2016 – Workout of the Week

So – Beach Fit is well under way but I have had a few people say to me, which workout do I do WHEN???  Well, it isn’t really as simple as that …but at the same time, it is as simple as that.  These little challenge WOD’s have been designed to be done after (or before) a boxing class…they are kind of like the ‘FINISHER’ routines we all do in TANKS (or to a lesser extent Body Work).  Now – would some workouts fit better with some classes?  YES!!!  Does it really matter in the big picture of things???  NOT REALLY.  So, here goes:

It is week#2 of Beach Fit.

If you are following a ‘1-workout per week’ rhythm, you should do WORKOUT#2 this week.

If you are following a ‘3-workout per week’ rhythm, you should do WORKOUT#4, #5 and #6 this week.

Either way, if you want great results, be sure to be completing these extra workouts…they are the basis of the ‘extra push’ you need to really get ‘Beach Fit’.

Gym Update #3 – Food Matters Blog

So, week 4 of the ‘Food Matters’ Blog went up last week featuring my all-time favourite, ‘Sweet Potato Hash’ as the recipe of the week.  I hope everyone is enjoying the recipes and getting something out of the weekly food ‘Challenges’…if you stick too them, by now you would be drinking more water, validating your protein quantities and watching out for the after dinner snacking as well as trying out four (4) pretty cool new recipes…access last week’s recipe HERE if you need a refresher:  https://round1fitness.com.au/food-matters-tip-of-the-week-4

Gym Update #4 – Summer Holidays?  What about the Pooch?

Ness and I find ourselves without a dog for the first time in our lives since we moved into a pretty dodgey 2x bedroom fibro house on Moolyeen Road Brentwood back in 1991…that’s when our beloved Kelpie Lucy joined the household and our dog love affair started…unfortunately for us, our greyhound Sharna passed earlier this year and we have been without a dog since then (which is something we hope to change pretty soon).

If like us, you are a dog owner and lover, I know how stressful it can be when you are planning a holiday – even a few days away – and you are going somewhere that the family pet can’t join you.  If you are anything like us, you spend as much time stressing about what will happen to the pup while you are away as you do planning the trip…

Anyway, I will skip the life story and get to the point.  If you aren’t sure what to do with your dog when you are away and you really want to have peace of mind, do what we used to do with our greyhound Sharna and board her at J-Lo’s (Jenna works at Round 1 reception every Wednesday night) when you are away.  The kennel is in Southern River (find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/barkosboardingandrescue/) so it is pretty local to most of us at the gym and they do an awesome job.

Gym Update #5 – Christmas at Round 1

This is the part of the blog where I say to everyone that we have a shop at Round 1 and if you are interested in Round 1 gifts for the fitness person in your life, well, we have them.  First off, there is a heap of new foam rolling gear from Black Roll on the way, we have our usual range of gloves, mitts, gymnastic grips, weightlifting belts etc…and then there are the options of gift vouchers, 10-round passes etc.  You might want to get someone a Body Scan…who knows.  We have ‘stuff’ at the gym and large quantities of it are as cool as cool can be…so if you are looking for a gift for the fitness person in your life, maybe we can help??

Link of the Week