Hi and welcome to another week,
Thanks to everyone for having a go at the ‘SWITCH’ warmup song. I KNOW it isn’t as easy to hear/interpret/do as ‘SALLY’. I know. BUT. If all we ever do for an occasional, fun little warm-up song is ‘SALLY’ then life will be a little bit dreary…so….’SWITCH’. We will continue to do ‘SALLY’ every now and again. And we will occasionally do ‘SWITCH’ as well. And hopefully one day someone gets a bit of inspiration and we will have a few more fun things to add to the mix…
Before I go any further this week, a big happy congratulations goes out to Alex and Cortney who tied the knot at St Joseph’s in Subiaco yesterday. The ceremony was beautiful, the reception was a lot of fun and if someone wants to bribe me then a video of Elie performing the dance to ‘Nut Bush City’ is available…I feel it needs to be made available ‘SOMEWHERE’ on the internet!
This week’s blog is a bit of a mind-dump that followed on from a Facebook messenger conversation I had with someone earlier this week. As I replied to their messages, I noticed that the conversation history with this person went back nearly 6-months. A bit more digging showed that they had ‘applied’ for a 7-day free trial on FIVE (5) separate occasions – and booked in to attend each time – but have never quite made it through the doors at the gym.
So this isn’t a replay of my response to them. This is a bit of a summary of all the ‘stuff’ I was thinking about as the conversation (and how long and frustrating are Facebook direct message conversations???) went along. As usual, it is a bit stream of consciousness so apologies if it doesn’t make as much sense as it should…one day I will get around to editing these posts (but I doubt it will be after a very late night attending an awesome wedding that was followed by a 5:30am alarm telling me to drive to Mandurah to coach a game of football…and of course we won!)
Right – back to the subject at hand.
Now that you’ve decided to make a bit of a change – and you have decided that you think that maybe we can help – you actually just have to come in and train. Just show up and give it a crack. I know from your questions that you have been watching every class video we put up – and there is pretty much one posted every single day – so you KNOW what you are in for. Just come to the gym and have a go.
Now I also know you are nervous because some of those videos and photos would have shown people doing all sorts of stuff that you either “can’t do” (YET!!!!) or aren’t exactly sure how to do. I promise that we will figure it out. And if you are worried about other people watching you mess something up and being embarrassed…well, I have two things to say. First off, most likely no one will notice. They will all be trying to figure it out for themselves/be in their own personal pit of doom. Second, if they do notice they aren’t going to laugh. They are going to help. Because they have all been EXACTLY where you are right now.
Forget about the ‘tricky moves’. You might be worried about not being ‘fit enough’ to go to the gym…you might be thinking you need to do a ‘pre-gym’ fitness program so that in a few months you might be able to ‘get through’ a class. Well. The thing you need to understand is that you are never, ever, ever going to be ‘FIT ENOUGH’ to do much more than ‘get through it’. Because as your fitness improves you will hit the bags harder, lift heavier weights, graduate from the ‘Fitness’ stream to the ‘Performance’ stream. As you improve, the sessions will become more challenging…you are forever going to feel that the sessions are ‘pushing your limit’. Hell, I think the hardest class I have ever done was only a couple of weeks back – and I have been doing them since we opened 8-years ago. Again, everyone in the class is in their own little individual pit of hell…it is going to be HARD but it is only going to be hard for 45-minutes! And further to that, if you need to stop for a break and a drink – well, guess what? Stop for a break and a drink…it will be OK and you aren’t going to get ‘in trouble’ (as if we care if you stop for a drink!).
There is something else. All of the time you have spend watching videos and reading articles (maybe even ones like this?) and *thinking* about doing something? None of that has put you on a path to looking and feeling better. Just like me looking at pictures of guitars and reading guitar magazines, the only thing that helps me actually play the thing any better is to regularly pick it up and PLAY it. The same is true for everything – you have to DO in order to improve. Want to get better in the gym, fitter, stronger, healthier? Don’t read about food preparation and search the interwebs for the ‘perfect’ containers for food storage and transportation…just DO your food prep – if you have to transport it around in a plastic bowl with glad wrap, well, that will work just fine! Don’t READ about the benefits of recovery…go for a walk or get on a foam roller. Don’t READ about amazing gym workouts…get to the gym, listen to the trainer and just work out. Nothing works like compliance!!!
What else? Whilst we all feel after a tough session that a sideways glance in the mirror will reveal a new leaner, more muscular version of the person who walked in…but it doesn’t work that way. It actually doesn’t work that way at all. It *SHOULD* because we all need positive reinforcement that the effort we are putting in is worthwhile but it DOESN’T. What we have noticed since I have been doing some anecdotal tracking over the past few months in preparation for out ‘PRESCRIPTIVE MODEL’ program (the pilot is running now) is that about a “DAY” of sessions is a good line in the sand as to when you should start noticing some kind of positive change. That is a ‘days worth’ of training – not a single training day. It means that when you have gotten through about 20 classes or so – usually, that takes around about 2-months – that you and your immediate family should be able to notice ‘something’ different. Certainly by that time you should be feeling BETTER and be more confident each session…hopefully you will also be genuinely ‘looking forward’ to the challenge of each session rather than dreading how hard it is going to be. Just as an aside, the ‘DAY of Training’ rule also works as a good guide when you are returning from an extended injury or holiday break as to when you will be ‘back in the swing of it…again though, how long it takes that ‘training day’ to pass is down to how often you show up in the gym! J
If only I could promise you that the ‘day’ of training would be enough to last you a lifetime. It wont. But I sort of hope by the time you have gotten that far you will have a nice little rhythm going and will be well on your way…at least until you hit the next bump in the road where the whole cycle (for most of us!) will start again!
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.
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