Welcome to another week!
Cheers to everyone who got a session (or more!) done over the last week or so. I know the weather WAS and IS terrible but remember, the training we do is done INSIDE and the work you do now will be well worth it when December rolls around. I always like to tell myself that sessions done on Friday after lunch are worth TWICE as much as those done on Monday…equally I think those done in June, July and August are worth double those done in the salad days of February and March!
Before I kick off, just a quick reminder about the ‘TRY JULY’ Challenge I emailed everyone about last week…pretty happy with the initial response but would (as always) like a few more people to have a go – I have written some more about the challenge towards the bottom of this blog if you are interested – suffice to say, it is gonna be AMAZING!
Back to the blog – and you wont be surprised to be know that I have been reading again. Or in this case, re-reading (again). This time one of my favorite business books – Two Brain Business 2.0 by Chris Cooper. In the book, Chris sets out the following challenge to the reader (and you will need to indulge me just a little bit here as I completely rip it off!
Step 1. Draw your mind’s eye vision of a CEO.
Step 2. Go back and look at your drawing – being sure that you have included his (‘cos stereotypes are in full swing here) briefcase, tie and comb-over hair cut.
Step 3. (And this is where I kind of break with what Chris was talking about) you have to imagine that the little guy you have drawn on the page is in charge of ‘setting the direction’ for your life over the next couple of weeks…and you have to write down all the things that he would want you to do.
(BTW – if you drew your CEO as girl, good on you and (of course) that 100% works…a lot of people would say that it works even better. Just assume all my “he’s” and “him” are “she’s” and “her”).
The CEO is in charge of setting DIRECTION. You are the COO – and you are in charge of carrying out his tasks. I am pretty sure the direction he will be setting is going to involve getting organised and eating some healthy food (not wasting money not to mention calories on take-away), it will involve doing some exercise, spending some time with your family, doing your best at work, taking the time to keep the house clean and tidy…I mean, there is a lot of ‘YOU’ specific things that your own personal CEO will have you doing, but I think the basics are pretty universal.
So – sit down and write your own list – write down the things your CEO wants done…then as the COO, make sure you have a plan to do them. Maybe the CEO has decided to mandate some R&R time for you later in the year – as COO, one of your immediate tasks might be to start stashing away some money out of the operating budget (lol) to pay for that. Hopefully this little example helps you get the idea.
We all – especially me – go through things from day-to-day-to-week-to-week (and so it goes) and we just get so incredibly busy doing the stuff we are ‘doing’ that we forget to think about or consider whether those are the things we SHOULD be doing! I know my personal CEO would be creating a plan that involves organising some regular time off from work, spending a bit more time playing guitar and getting back on track with my meal preparation (which is currently known as the ‘open the fridge and cook whatever is in sight’ solution).
All of us started at the gym – either a little while ago or a long-time ago – based on the advice of our imaginary CEO. He (she?) told us to get off our butts and do some more exercise…and do it a few times each week. It would make us feel better and more energised. It would help us maintain a healthy weight – maybe stop us shaking our heads when we saw our reflection in the mirror (well, maybe stop us shaking our heads quite so much!) and set a good example to our kids. We all started for a really good reason…
With all of that said, I wanted to go into a little more detail about the “TRY JULY” Challenge that will kick off in a couple of weeks. As per the email last week, to complete the challenge you need to complete 25x ‘FUNCTIONAL FITNESS’ sessions during July – and to participate is FREE (for members!) no matter your current level of membership. But (as always) there is a catch.
– You need to complete 25x Functional Fitness sessions – that doesn’t change.
– You will receive before and after body scans and a 10-day eating menu with recipes – that doesn’t change.
– You will receive “TRY JULY” t-shirt – that doesn’t change.
– BUT. If you fail to complete the challenge inside the month of July, well, you need to PAY for the T-Shirt (the princely sum of $25).
In other words, the challenge is FREE (for members) AND you get a free t-shirt…unless you don’t make it…in which case the challenge (and the eating plan) is still FREE but you need to pay for your T. All of which seems very fair.
Why are we doing this? Well…we have set up this new gym – and we want people to USE IT. Am I super happy at the numbers we see in every day doing the Boxing sessions? 100%. But the busiest sessions of our day should be at 6am, 5pm and 6pm (and by extension 5:30pm)….it’s that way at gyms the world over. Our Boxing classes are doing great – but numbers for Functional aren’t what they could be (or should be) and the classes are awesome…and when you are doing GROUP training it is a lot more fun to train with a GROUP of about 20-30 people than with a group of 5…too often right now, the 6am class has a group of 5 – and to be honest it is sucking the life out of the sessions. If we could add 10-15 ‘regulars’ to Funky at both 6am and 5:30pm that would be PERFECT!
Is the Funky Fitness class for everyone? Well, it doesn’t really HAVE to be for ‘everyone’. And if you are HAPPY doing boxing each day (which I have to admit I kind of am) then that’s perfect. But if – like me – you occasionally want to mix it up – it is a great session and more and more I am finding myself doing 2-3 boxing sessions and 2-3 Funky sessions and being really happy with the ‘balance’ of that plan. It is VERY DIFFERENT though. When you are used to doing boxing, every day is different – but it is all a variation on a theme (bag work, cardio, body weight exercises with some fundamental strength work using barbells, kettlebells or dumbbells thrown in. Funky is genuinely ‘different’ from day-to-day. There are ‘strength only’ days. There are ‘long duration, low threshold’ days (sled pushes, farmers carries etc). There are high intensity, short duration days….
This is why the challenge is for 25x days. Not every day will be YOUR personal dream workout. But that doesn’t mean it is bad for you, or that it isn’t helping you move forwards. It just means it is DIFFERENT! Anyway, I would encourage you to have a go…what have you got to lose (apart from the cost of a t-shirt!).
See you in the gym,
Michael.
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