Hi and welcome to another week,

Really proud of everyone’s efforts in the last couple of weeks (months really).  We have gone through a bit of a training adjustment on the assault bikes, rowers and skis in that there has been more of an endurance focus and less of a power focus with our training efforts.  This has caused a fair amount of pain for everyone as we now tend to chase distance efforts/continuous RPM efforts more often than short duration maximum effort sprints.  I will be the first to admit it has been a VERY uncomfortable transition for my legs, heart and lungs but I really do believe we have all broken the back of the transition.  I know for me – and no doubt the acquisition of the SPARC trainers has helped as well – the idea of some longer efforts on any of the cardio equipment now presents as a challenge rather than a horror movie…my aerobic base has definitely improved and this is carrying over well into the rest of my training.

I have a bit of an “IDEA” (pun intended) about what I am going to write today and it all stemmed from a phone conversation with a new client during the week.  Please be warned though – I am not really too sure where this is going to end up going and I really don’t want it to come across as a sermon…at the same time, I do hope you can find something in your own situation that it is relevant too.

It sort of goes like this.  You don’t need any new ideas – what you need to do is take some action relating to the things you already know.  I guess the sort of thing I am thinking about is that if you want to wander the beaches of Perth with a 6-pack (sorry – an 8-pack according to this article:  https://www.menshealth.com.au/article/fitness/ultimate-8-pack-abs-move) then you don’t need to start reading up about fancy new abdominal ‘sculpting’ exercises – what you need to do is the sort of stuff you did on the 28-days Later challenge.  Eat some protein at every meal, earn your carbs (and be super smart about eating bread, pasta etc) and get in 3-4 training sessions every week.  And train hard.  And then keep doing that for – well – around 6-8 months or so…and then keep doing it some more.

You don’t need new ideas.  They might make you feel like there is a better, easier way – or that all you need to do is ‘X’.  But that isn’t true.  You don’t need new things – you need to take ACTION pertaining to the things you already know.  New exercises, new diets, new whatevers – they aren’t the answer to whatever your problems are.  There is no ‘NEW’ or amazing machine or exercise that is going to turn your results around…it is the actions you take not the ideas you read about or hear about from a friend/work colleague that is going to help you achieve your goals.

I guess there is a caveat here.  If you have a new idea that gets you to DO something, then sure – that might make a difference.  But results don’t come from thinking – they come SOLELY from what you do.  For example, if you read that article I linked to above and decide to add some Turkish get-ups to a program that already includes a well structured eating plan and 3-4 training sessions every week, well, they might just help you get the ‘8-pack’ the article refers to.  But if you read the article, think it sounds like a cool exercise and might be something you can do once every couple of weeks to counter-act the impact of a fast food diet, well, it isn’t going to help too much.

So – what has all of this got to do with my phone-call?  Well, the client in question wanted to know if we included the barbell Turkish get-ups that are detailed in the article I linked to above in our sessions because he wanted to get an 8-pack…and according to the article if you want an 8-pack, that is what you have to do!  When I explained that we do regularly do kettlebell-based Turkish get-ups in our Body Work sessions, we don’t tend to do the barbell versions as they are super tricky and a little bit dangerous, well, let’s just say that wasn’t the answer that he wanted to hear.  Because as the article says, you need to do the barbell version if you want an ‘8-pack’.

Again – you don’t need new ideas.  If you have been training with us for a while – and especially if you have completed a food challenge or two – you have all of the knowledge you need.  You just have to be disciplined and actually do it.  It really is the simplest thing in the world – that doesn’t mean it is easy, but it is super SIMPLE.  Go to the gym and train as hard as you can.  Eat like a grown up – no chocolate or ice-cream treats after dinner, sensible portion sizes, stay away from those grain-based carbs…it will all work out.  And it goes without saying – when you ‘cheat’, cheat once.  For a meal – not for an entire weekend when you wipe out an entire weekend of ‘good behaviour’ in one foul swoop.  Oh yeah – and if you have had a few days (or weeks?) off for one reason or another, well, don’t wait until ‘next Monday’ to come back and right the ship – do it today.  The quicker you get back on track

Some people need our regular challenges to keep them focussed and on track – need that external commitment to really drive them to stay on track with their food and training – but it is those people who make the training and eating part of their life-style, part of who they are, who are ultimately successful.  You don’t need a new idea of what to do – just take the time to do the stuff you already know.

See you all in the gym!

Michael.

p.s.  Tipping competition is go:  Click HERE:  Join the 2017 Footy Tipping Contest

p.p.s:  The AFL Fantasy Contest is go:  Join the fantasy (Dream Team) competition by going to ‘Fantasy.AFL.COM’ selecting ‘Joing a League’ and enter a ‘code’ of A3KRWNJS.  There are only 20 spots available here so be QUICK!

Gym Update #1 – Training rules and other stuff

I don’t want to turn this into a bitching session in any way, but please keep a couple of things in mind.

Training at Round 1 is not free.  If you have friends and family who want to come along and train with you, we really, really, really want to have them.  And we WILL look after them (and you) when they come in.  But if they want to access a week of free training via the 7-day free pass, well, they need to follow the rules and do a Beginners session first.  And they need to live within 10kms of the gym.  I know it is great when your family is over from over east for a few days that they get to come and train with us for free for a few days…but all it does is make things really uncomfortable for us when you bring them in and ask if they can do some free sessions and we say ‘no’.  Likewise when you show up at 6pm (or 6am) with a mate who just filled out a 7-day pass in the car-park…the terms and conditions of the passes still apply and it all becomes really uncomfortable and hard for us.  Please just do the right thing…and in all honesty, I am yet to have met anyone in the gym who wouldn’t benefit from a regular dose of ‘Beginners’ and that includes the trainers who run them!

Training at Round 1 is not free.  Our fixed term memberships are exactly that – Fixed Term.  If yours expires and you see a big red cross on the sign-in screen when you come in, well, that means you need to fix your membership up or pay for a casual session…or at the very least tell whoever is in the gym running the sessions that you need to sort your membership out.  I know – it is our fault for not having someone permanently at reception making sure that everyone who is coming in is paid up and doing the right thing (this is particularly an issue on Wednesday and Thursday mornings right at the moment) but at the same time you are under ‘some’ obligation to keep things up to date…check the screen when you sign in (your name and photo should appear!!!) and at least have the conversation if things aren’t as they should be.

Training at Round 1 is not free.  If you have kids, they need to be 12-years old to train with us…we cannot get insurance cover for them if they aren’t 12.  Not only that, they can’t just jump into the class with you for free – or run on the treadmills whilst you are training or whatever else.  Sessions for u18’s are really, really cheap – $11 per session/$49 per month – and we have left them at that price for more than 5-years (and introduced a family membership that is a massive 52% discount on normal pricing) because we want people to be able to bring their kids to the gym to train with them.  But there is some value associated with them being able to train here and I would ask you all to please do the right thing.

Gym Update #2 – “All Class” Challenge

So – Registration for the April Challenge – the so called ‘ALL CLASS’ challenge – is now up and available and you can access it from here:  ‘Sign-up for the ALL CLASS Challenge’.

It all kicks off on Monday, April 3^rd and you will have until April 30^th – 28-days – to get your 25-sessions done.  There are no ‘EXTRAS’ in this challenge but it will be REAL in every way – getting 25 classes done in a single month is going to be TOUGH.  As I have been saying over the past couple of weeks, this is truly a THROWBACK challenge – the first ever challenge we ran at Round 1 was constructed solely around classes and (until now) it is the only challenge we have ever run like that…

Looking back over my notes from that original challenge, there are a lot of comments about how motivating it was just to have to keep ‘driving ahead’ to get the classes done.  It also created a secondary competition with people pushing themselves to get the 25 sessions done in the fastest possible time.  According to my notes, that battle was won in 16 days by Anthony Lacey (who completed a session every day from Monday to Saturday then did THREE each Sunday to take the prize).

Anyway, I am looking forward to this one!

Gym Update – Footy Tipping and Fantasy

Join the footy tipping competition here:  http://www.footytips.com.au/comps/Round_1_Fitness_2017&p=speedball

Join the fantasy (Dream Team) competition by going to ‘Fantasy.AFL.COM’ selecting ‘Joing a League’ and enter a ‘code’ of A3KRWNJS.  There are only 20 spots available here so be QUICK!

Link of the Week

Some boxing for beginners ‘how to’ stuff here.  I have posted this before but it is a great little video and well worth the 10 minutes:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foT9yEmY3Ys