Hi and welcome to another week,

Mucho thanks to everyone who trained with us last week…it has been 3-ways of chaos at the back end with Alex off most of the week but I think (think??) we have managed to get through it all without TOO much impact on things.  I know I had to cancel a couple of PT sessions last Friday so special apologies to that crew…certainly wasn’t part of my plan and I promise to squeeze twice the work into half the time when we next train together!

There is a bit of stuff going on in the gym at the moment.

It is the last week of the Summer Slam Challenge – let’s all stick TIGHT to our diets and training (only 1x TRES HUNDO remaining – celebrate!) and don’t forget to register for your scans which are NEXT SUNDAY (November 5^th).

Next Sunday (yep, November 5^th) we will be getting together down at the Quarrie from 3pm for a drink or 3 and maybe a bite to eat as well.

Our M.S. Fundraiser is happening in TWO WEEKS (November 11^th) so if you are keen to participate in the ‘Train the Trainer’ auction get your syndicate together and lay your $ down.  We will also have our special Hero Workout (for a gold-coin donation – members only for that one) as well as a sausage sizzle, cake stall etc etc.

If you have any questions about any of this stuff, keep reading (I have tried to answer them all ‘somewhere’ in the blog today) or flick me a quick email.

OK.  Onto the stuff I have to say!

Not sure how everyone else runs their social media life but I have been getting more and more ‘OUT’ over the past few months.  I need to maintain a Facebook account because of the business but really don’t visit their much at all these days.  But I do use twitter – I primarily use it to follow different trainers and coaches around the world and get quick access to new articles, videos and all such things…I then save stuff that looks interesting to my ‘POCKET’ app (I wrote about this a few weeks back) and read them when I get a few spare minutes.

During the week one of those coaches – Eric Cressey – tweeted out something really simple:

https://twitter.com/ericcressey/status/923869782402916352

I – of course – loved it.  Whilst I (equally of course) don’t know exactly what he meant, what I do know is why it resonated with me.

We see a lot of people come through the doors at the gym – certainly over the past (nearly) eight years we have REALLY seen a lot of people come through the doors.  And the people who get the best results out of their training cover those two simple bases – they are AVAILABLE and they are DEPENDABLE.  It isn’t their ability to throw a straight left, complete a strict pull-up or perform a deadlift that makes a difference.  It is whether they are in the gym and ‘open’ to be coached.

Now – I am probably putting words in the mouth of Eric Cressey when I say this but to me being available doesn’t mean someone who can help me move house this weekend because they have a ute and no social life – I mean someone who is ‘OPEN’ to giving things a go, ‘WILLING’ to take on board new information and – I guess going to the ‘traditional’ meaning of the word – ‘On the Spot’…in other words, they turn up with no set agenda apart from having a crack and taking in as much as they can.

The Dependable piece – well to me that is an extension of ‘AVAILABLE’…they do all of that ‘STUFF’ (you know, the stuff they KNOW they should do and the stuff the SAY they are ‘gonna’ do) without being asked about it, told about it, reminded about it…it just gets DONE.

I feel like a big part of our jobs as coaches in the gym is trying to come up with plans and modifications for people who – for whatever reason – are unable to complete a task.  And this is actually a good thing…which might sound stupid but I am getting there.  It is a good thing because the REASON we are coming up with new challenges and processes for people is because they are trying to work around a ‘problem’ – which might be skill based, might be injury based, might be related to confidence…you get the idea – but the simple fact that we are setting up the challenge is because they are in the gym and have shown those two great ‘abilities’ – availABILITY and dependABILITY.

Want great outcomes?  Don’t worry about what you can or can’t do.  Don’t worry about what was never given (by genetics) or what might have been taken away (by age, by illness, by injury)…just be available and dependable and great stuff is headed your way.

Let me know if any of this sounds good (or not) with an email to Michael@round1fitness.com.au

See you in the gym,

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – SUMMER SLAM (October Challenge) is GO!

FOUR weeks down!  FOUR.  Which means just 7-days to go.

I continue to struggle with some of the food ‘stuff’ – certainly having to leave a 40^th birthday party last night to drive somewhere to find food was not a highlight of the week – but I am kind of hoping that the results are going to be worth it.  We had a few people finish the challenge after 4-weeks and saw the following results:

As you can see, the averages over this small sample size were:

Weight loss:   – 4.05 kgs

Muscle Mass:  -0.525 kgs

Body Fat %:  -3.05%

If I can achieve that – 4kgs down in weight whilst managing to ‘HOLD’ my muscle mass (a small drop I can cope with as long as there is an associated fat % drop) and a couple of %-points down on the body fat, well, I will be one HAPPY, HAPPY camper…as I suspect most of you will.

Other challenge stuff?

The ‘SIGN UP’ sheet for next Sunday’s weigh-ins are up and ready to go!  Just have a look at the little table in reception and you will find it there!

As mentioned at the top of the blog (well, in the PS section anyway) I want to try and get everyone together (challenge or no challenge) for a beer and a relax next Sunday afternoon down at the Quarie.  If you are keen, come along from 3pm!

Until then, let’s all just stick to the plan maximise our results!

Gym Update #2 – M.S. Fundraiser, November 11th

We are planning a Fundraising Day on Saturday November 11^th to raise funds for M.S.  This is the fundraising being done by Kirei and her team of intrepid cyclists who will be heading off on a bike ride of some unspeakable distance later in November.  We will have some raffles etc to run but the main focus of the day will be a WARRIOR WORKOUT which we will be chasing some participation ‘donations’ for as well as a ‘Train the Trainer’ session where ‘the people’ will have the opportunity to ‘Train the Trainers’.  The plan at this time is that you can BID to ‘Train the Trainer’ via silent auction – and not only are syndicates allowed, they are encouraged!

All of the bidding sheets are up on the cupboards in the reception area at the gym.  Grab a couple of buddies, work out which trainer you want to ‘work over’ for 15-minutes, place your bids and plan your workouts.  With the trainers, we have all made a deal that NO PAYBACK IS ALLOWED.  If you make Eden (as an example!) do barbell thrusters, sled pushes and assault bike sprints for 15-minutes, he is not allowed to get you back…

It is all for charity after all and what is a little bit of pain and suffering between friends.

At the conclusion of the ‘Train the Trainer’ sessions (those will start at 11am) we will have a sausage sizzle/bbq (+ maybe a cheeky beer or two) to finish off the day!

Gym Update #3 – Developing Athlete Program is G-O!

The DAP crew are through the initial ‘teaching’ phase and will be into the 4-week training block ‘proper’ from this week onwards.  Things started to ramp up a little bit late last week with both group pushing through the primal complex (goblet squats, step back lunges and step-ups) as well as continuing to complete their weighted carries…certainly the last couple of days gave the team a small taste of what is to come.

Really looking forward to seeing how much everyone can achieve during a 1-month focussed training block.

Gym Update #4 – New Gloves (and stuff!)

So we have a heap of new gloves coming in super cool designs!  (See below).

Now, the gloves you trust to look after your hands is a pretty personal thing.  I know the ones I use 90% of the time – my 16 o.z. sparring gloves – most people look at and think ‘no way, no day…too heavy, too hard to get on, too much’.  And that’s fair enough because once upon a time I thought the same.  Then the continuous boxing was causing my hands to continuously ache…hey presto, bigger, more protective gloves.  (I DO have a pair of MMA gloves for those special one-minute round occasions though!)

Most people training at Round 1 use our bag mitts and those are an awesome solution – decent protection/padding, good price ($25) and easy to get on/off.  But from there it gets confusing because if they aren’t ‘enough’ for you, the next size in the range (12 o.z.) are just ‘SO’ much bigger that they put a lot of people off.

A few months ago we quietly put a few pairs of 10 o.z. gloves on the shelf and to me, for most people training 3-4 times per week anyway, they sort of seem to be the perfect solution.  Not as big and bulky as the 12 o.z. gloves but offering a LOT more protection than the bag mitts…if you need some new gloves they are certainly worth having a good think about.

We have a heap of them arriving this week (well, about 20 pairs!) in the range of cool designs you can see in the picture above…they are $55 from reception.

Gym Update #5 – New Speedballs

Right – I know I said the new speedballs would arrive last week – let’s check that by saying the new speedballs will arrive THIS week!  Definitely. 100%.  Unless of course they don’t!  Really keen to see them arrive though!

Link of the Week

Here’s a little coaching article I enjoyed a few weeks back:

http://upcoach.org/cheerleader-or-drill-sergeant/