Hi and welcome to another week,
Loved my training last week. It might be the mental commitment associated with the 12-days of Christmas or something else entirely – I really don’t know. All I know is I managed 7- classes in 6 days and somehow it all seemed fun from start to finish. I do have to say it makes things SO much easier when you can approach your training with a sense of fun and a positive outlook…I am not going to try and tell you it is always like that for me (it isn’t – I battle with finding time and motivation just like everyone else) but I do think it is important to ‘make hay when the sun shines’. When everything is ‘fun’ and my mind is right, get to the gym as often as possible – because just around the corner there is going to be a time when every day is a battle!
I do have a bit of house-keeping to cover today and I want to try and cover it all quickly. First off, bringing your kids to the gym is fine (I would personally say it is GREAT as I love the example it sets) but it is important that they sit quietly and stay out of the way. Other people shouldn’t be stressing about slamming a deadball onto the head of a 2yo…or worrying about them getting injured on the assault bikes/treadmills/rowers etc. After the class, when you can supervise them – I think you will find I am pretty relaxed with whatever they do as long as you are with them. During class, they need to sit down – if they are sitting by your feet, fine. If they are sitting by the lockers with an iPad or book, fine. Moving around the gym during a busy class? Not fine.
Secondly, I wanted to put in a quick link to our 2017 Christmas Hours. We have kept our usual policy of opening (pretty much) every day but reducing our hours– in this way people who are determined to get in a class can do so, whilst the staff at the gym still get the chance to enjoy a bit of family time. Anyway, here’s the link:
Christmas Hours
Right. Blog time. Today it is all about changing your training methods around WITHIN the group environment to make things ‘harder’. Before I start, I should probably tell you WHY you might want to do this.
OK. Making stuff harder and WHY. In whatever training we do, there are constraints on what we are able to do. Now whilst I agree that if you are doing your own weights session outside of class times on your day off at Round 1 – where there is pretty much unlimited time and all the equipment you can imagine – there aren’t too many constraints. Unless you are training by yourself in which case you might not want to go TOO heavy with no-one there to ‘spot’ you, or if you are working to avoid injury/returning from injury in which case you might not want to go TOO heavy…etc. No matter what scenario you paint there is going to be a restriction of some type. A typical restriction for someone who has been training regularly at our gym – maybe doing 3-4 Boxing classes every week for 12-months or so – is that there comes a time when all of the barbells on the circuit rack feel like they are not quite ‘heavy’ enough for you – or, more likely, that one weight isn’t heavy enough but the next one feels too heavy. Another restriction might be the fact that you have a busy week ahead and know that your usual 3-4 sessions might be – at best – TWO (2) this week.
So – how do you continue to progress/benefit when there are restrictions in the gym (like the weight of the circuit bars) or outside the gym (life gets in the way problems keeping you from your routine.
There is an answer – well, several answers really – and it is all about ‘economy’. Or making sure that you get more from less.
The first rule of training ‘economy’ is that you want to make your efforts HARDER rather than making them heavier. Picking up a heavier barbell/kettlebell/dumbbell is – no doubt – a solid way to create training overload (and there is a time for that, don’t worry). But equally, so is increasing the time you keep your muscles under tension.
Have you ever stopped to think why strict pushups are so much harder than ‘normal’ pushups? When you ‘PAUSE’ at the bottom of the rep, your core, arms and shoulders are forced to remain active for longer – so a single set of five (5) might be worth 12-15 normal pushups. More maybe? The same for fence pulls – add that ‘hold’ at the top, the difficulty goes up exponentially. And when you start taking the same approach with the barbell/kettlebell work, the same effect occurs.
If you are finding that the ‘circuit’ barbells aren’t heavy enough for you any more – or, more likely, that one weight isn’t heavy enough but the next one feels too heavy – then in the same way the push-up/fence pull ‘static holds’ I talked about above make those exercises harder, you can modify the weighted exercises to make them harder in a few different ways.
First off, you can SLOW DOWN the tempo of the movements. Instead of the rep count being up for one, down for one – it becomes up-one, two, three, down. Up-one-two-three, down. Or extend the count to five for an even greater impact. You could then reverse the count – up for one, down for one, two, three. By slowing down the lift, you put your muscles under load for an extended time which is a great way to create overload.
The second thing you can do (easily) is use the same ‘pause’ (isometric hold) strategy we used with the pushups with the bars/kettles/dumbbells. You can add the pause at any time that you aren’t in full extension – there is not much point ‘pausing’ a press when your arms are straight for example. When the bar is half-way up though…that’s another story altogether.
Are there times when the whole intent of the session is to go as quickly as you can to finish every rep listed before the bell? Of course there are – but the trainer usually makes that pretty clear before the sessions starts that’s what they are looking for. Generally though the idea is to challenge yourself by working through the exercises going as heavy as you are able for each one – if you are ‘stuck’ between weights or ‘maxed out’ on the circuit bars, never fear…try some tempo work or add in some pauses. You will be amazed at how hard it is and will find that this type of training gives amazing results. It’s all about the time under tension!
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.
Cam and Gabby Gessner have got their new health and fitness wear + accessories company – WODUP – up and running. You can access the website here:
https://wodup.com.au/collections/wod-up
The workout gear they are offering is all eco-friendly – which is (of course) – amazing, plus they have been part of our gym at Round 1 for almost 5 years now…so why would anyone want to buy anywhere else. PLUS – we have something even better…a cool discount code (see the members email for access to the code or ping me at michael@round1fitness.com.au if you can’t find it) for people wanting to order things before Christmas.
So – 1 week in and all is well. As always, I love challenge time. I guess what I really love is seeing people doing productive, extra ‘stuff’ outside of classes and class times because I 100% believe it is the ‘little extras’ that make all of the difference when it comes to ultimate results.
I know that I often say ‘just keep turning up’ if you want success/good outcomes from your gym time and that is true. But I think everyone who has done a challenge would have to acknowledge that whilst they rarely need to do ‘more’ classes than normal or that they work ‘harder’ in those classes, having to spend that extra 15 minutes in the gym 3x per week adds up to great results.
Anyway, I have left the sign-up link here because I guess you could start now and still finish…now THAT would be a challenge!
Sign up link is HERE: Register for the Challenge!
We have the most amazing membership special ever and it is available all the way up until, well, January 1st…but the sooner you take it up, the better the deal! This deal is available to anyone who is new to Round 1 (or to people whose membership expired more than 6-months ago. It is called the ‘EARLY START’ special and it works like this.
1/. Sign up to the gym now.
2/. Pay nothing until January 1st.
3/. There is no ‘3’. That’s it. Join now, don’t pay until January.
The only term and condition is that you MUST keep your membership active until at least April 30th, 2018.
The idea behind the ‘name’ of the special is that it gives you an ‘Early Start’ on your 2018 New Years resolutions. Why wait till 2018 when you can start working towards your goals NOW! If your goal is to drop 5kgs, well – who knows? Get to the gym 3-4 times per week and follow the simple eating rules from the Summer Slam challenge and you could very well achieve that BEFORE the new year comes along.
Tell your friends. Awesome special ahead!
There is more info a couple of sections down on Christmas hours – this is about some of the ‘temporary’ changes we have in place at the moment:
Saturday: 6am Boxing (last one until after New Year)
Wednesday: 4pm Developing Athletes Program
Saturday: 8:30am Developing Athletes Program
Our TRUE Protein order arrived last week and it has been great to see so many people giving it a go. It would be super helpful if you could share your experiences – at this stage it will be ‘taste’ and ‘mixability’ as opposed to the amazing gains you have achieved from taking the stuff! – to me via email (Michael@round1fitness.com.au) so I can try to figure out what to order next.
As most people know I am an infrequent supplement user – maybe once or twice a week dependent on how tired/fatigued I am feeling post training – but I do believe it can be very helpful in assisting people who have ‘dialled in’ there diet hit their nutritional requirements without having to sit and eat for hours at a time!
I have to admit, I am VERY happy with the True products price point and feel it offers amazing value for money.
Just as we did last year, there will be some changes to our hours over the Christmas/New Year period. Our policy remains the same as ever – open on as many days as possible, but run a slightly restricted timetable…the idea being that sessions run so everyone can get their ‘FIX’ but the staff at the gym also get a little bit of family time…
Here is the link for people who want to view all of the specifics:
https://round1fitness.com.au/2017-christmas-hours
OK – bit of a lame link of the week this week – but at the same time it is awesome. It is our long time home on PINTEREST (which I probably need to turn into a ‘proper’ business page but that is a whole other story) where recipes and workouts are regularly published. If you ever need a recipe idea, it is a great place to stop by:
https://www.pinterest.com.au/michaelpratt509/round-1-fitness/
We know this can be a daunting time. You’re probably wondering if we really are the right fit for each other. And it’s OK! Many people before you, have felt the same, and that’s why we want to offer you something special – our $29 Health Check.
Let’s work out together to see if we’re the right fit. Just hit the button below to let me know if you’re ready to see what’s included.
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