Hi and welcome to another week,

OK.  Somehow attendance has been ‘mostly’ holding so far – we were actually UP in class numbers by nearly 25% on the same week last year which is impressive…sure – a couple of classes have dropped noticeably (5am and 4pm in particular) but the 9:15am and 12/1pm sessions have jumped up at the same time.  In reality, I want you to train whenever you can – just train – but this week in particular, please DO CHECK the Christmas time-table before heading along…there aren’t many changes but there are a couple.  Also – there ARE Body Work classes and No Rules classes than run in the middle of the day…if that isn’t your thing, then please make sure you CHECK the program before heading along.  It always seems that this time of year we get 2-3 people coming along each day to train – only to have missed a session time or come to the ‘wrong’ class!  So here’s the link to our Christmas hours in case you haven’t seen it yet!  Christmas Hours

So.  I think everyone’s kids have finished school by now and I have been holding off on this little post until then.  As most everyone is aware, we recently ran a ‘Developing Athletes Program’ to teach some kids how to ‘lift’ but more importantly how to TRAIN.  We covered conditioning, strength work, hypertrophy, core work, sprinting, you name it.  We also gave them all a 30-odd page booklet that included a heap of that info – and it also included some food fundamentals.

Now I can talk about this in context with my kids at footy as well – and unfortunately also with a heap of full grown people at the gym – but there are a lot of people who when it comes to making food for themselves don’t seem to have the foggiest idea where to start.  So here’s the thing:  LEARN.

If you can change one thing in your life that will help you FEEL better and get closer to your ‘ideal’ body composition, then it wont be changing your training.  If you are in the gym 2-3 times per week (and I am guessing most people reading this are like me and closer to the 6-7 or more times per week!) then you are DOING ENOUGH.  What you need to do is support your training by making good food choices – which starts with being able to cook your own healthy food.

I said to someone a few weeks ago that all of us gym owners could probably help more people by replacing all of our expensive equipment in our gym with some plastic tables and chairs where we could sit with people and go through their eating plans – I guess it would be OK to stick a couple of heavy bags, some assault bikes, a kettlebell or two and a squat rack down in a back corner somewhere – but ‘most’ people we could get them 75% of the way towards what they want to achieve just by dialling in their eating.

Now of course that wouldn’t address the mental benefits of training, wouldn’t give us any real muscular development etc – diet isn’t the WHOLE story and I am not trying to say it is…but for most people walking ‘new’ into the gym what they want is to LOSE WEIGHT – and generally that can be fixed by food alone.

Now – what has teaching your kids (and any partners and room-mates out there who wear their inability to cook like a badge of honour!) to cook got to do with fixing your diet?  Because if you start cooking you will quickly get an understanding of exactly what you are putting into your body – and you will get a better correlation between what happened in the kitchen yesterday and what is going on today in terms of how you look and feel.  Pale and lethargic versus bright and energetic.  Heavy?  Light?  I am sure you all have those ‘days’ and those feelings – they are directly related to what you have put in your body the day (days?) before!

Knowing how to cook is just so important.  You don’t need to be a genius in the kitchen to be able to cook three or four ‘reliable’ meals – things you can bang out by rote that guarantee a good outcome and a great meal for anyone who happens to be in the house.  Pick four things that you like – Spag Bog (noodle free version of course), Beef stir fry, Roast chicken and veggies and perhaps a great salad that only ‘you’ know how to make to go with your steak on the bbq.  Done.  You could have those things every week for the rest of your life and probably be perfectly happy…as time goes by you will add more things to your repertoire – or maybe just create some cool variations to those you have already perfected.

You also need to work on developing that ability to ‘create something’ out of the five (or four, or three!) ingredients that remain in the fridge when it is 7pm at night and ‘shopping day’ is tomorrow…because it is THIS ability that fends off the fast food more than anything.  You know those moments when you can answer the “What’s for Dinner?” question with ‘All we have is canned tuna, baby tomatoes and a bag of sweet potatos – I guess we are calling for pizza’ OR you could say ‘We are having sweet potatoes stuffed with tuna and diced tomato – they are going to be AMAZING’.

Just like you are working on things in the gym every week – work on your ‘game’ outside of the gym as well.  Cook your own food – and if there are people in your house you care about, make sure they know how to do the same.  First off, there are going to be times when you aren’t there to do it for them – so give them the tools to support themselves.  Second, if they know what is going IN and the impact it has, well, they have got a much better chance of making good diet decisions whether they are in charge of the cooking that day or not!

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.

p.s.  Next Sunday (24^th) is Christmas Eve so there is a fair chance I wont be sitting down to blog…whilst my plan is to email everyone between now and then regardless, in the event you miss that let me just add a big ‘Merry Christmas’ from me and everyone at R1 to all of you.  It has been an awesome year and – if we can pull everything we are planning off, next year will be doubly amazing!  Merry Christmas everyone.

Gym Update #1 – Christmas Stuff

OK.  As most people would be aware we don’t have a MASSIVE retail store but if you do need something from the gym for Christmas we can always help out with vouchers and the like.  Other things that might be interesting are:

–       Black Roll foam rollers and duo-balls.

–       Rock Tape Massage Ball kits

–       PT Packages (5x sessions, 10x sessions, 30 minutes or 60 minutes)

–       Casual passes – 5-sessions and 10-sessions

–       The amazingly awesome 10o.z. gloves (just $55)

Then of course there is the option to buy some gear from Cam and Gabby at WODUP (https://wodup.com.au/).  If you use the code we emailed to you last week (no, I am not putting it on the internet…it is for R1’ers ONLY!!!) then you wont need to worry about anything relating to shipping…just come to the gym and your gear will be there waiting for you!!!

Gym Update #2 – December Challenge

The challenge is now two weeks down which means there is really only one week to go.  Personally I have smashed my classes but made zero impact on my extras…there might be a few L-O-N-G sessions in my immediate future…well, you make your bed and you have to lay in it I guess.

If you are in the same boat as me – or even if you are a bit further along – I think it is getting to be time that we all made a bit of a ‘Get it Done!’ pledge.  We all finish before the Christmas Break starts next Sunday morning and that is that.  No excuses.  Get it Done!

Gym Update #3 – Membership Special (New Members)

We have the most amazing membership special ever and it is available all the way up until, well, January 1^st…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 1^st.

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 30^th, 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!

Gym Update #4 – New Heavy Bags

So you know how we just had that big upgrade project down in our speed ball area – all new speedballs from COMMITTED (what a great bunch of people work there!), new swivels etc?  Well, the heavy bags are next.  The project is underway and we will be looking to upgrade every single one of the before the end of January.

The bags have been amazing but are sagging badly these days – whilst we can ‘top them up’ – which has been done a few times, believe me – the bags aren’t made to support an extra 30kgs + of stuffing…so at some point topping them up starts causing different problems (breaking straps and tearing seams) which make things worse rather than better…anyway, it is time and we will soon have an awesome new solution in place!

Gym Update #5 – New Products from True Protein

So our TRUE Protein order arrived and is now gone.  WOW.  I guess when I said that I was VERY happy with the True products price point and thought it represented amazing value for money…well, more than a few people agreed with me.

I have another order already on the go – they are telling me it will arrive on FRIDAY 22^nd…so let’s see how that goes (I imagine the various postal and courier organisations are more than a little busy right now!).  Regardless, we are out but more is on the way (the order status has already moved to shipped) so if it isn’t here BEFORE Christmas it will arrive pretty soon thereafter.

Gym Update #6 – Christmas Opening Hours

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

Link of the Week

So.  I have put this link in (it is about overcoming excuses for not coming to the gym) and I hope it might help a few people.  Truthfully though, I want you to WANT to come and train and be upset when you can’t make it…if there is anything we could be doing to help you get to that level, well, please let me know.

Link of the week:  https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/06/how-to-overcome-your-best-excuses-for-not-exercising/