Hey Everyone,

Happy Sunday one and all.  It’s been an exciting week at the gym with the increase in the number of Fully Loaded classes we run each week, the addition of the Olympic Lifting program AND the integration of the HyRox training session into our weekly ‘SPARTA’ time-table spot.  On top of all that, we debuted the ‘new’ boxing gym which is now set-up for “Moving Day Every Day” – which has been achieved through a lot of work and, honestly, the REMOVAL of a lot of equipment to create a series of ‘stations’ rather than trying to have one of everything for everyone… 

For me it’s been stuff I’ve been working on for a long time so to finally see everything happen was a great relief.  There’s still a fair way to go with all the things I want to get done this year – but just for a moment I’m going to chalk week#1 up as a success and try and have a mini-reset!  Next cab off the rank will be the replacement of the second grass run with rubber flooring in the boxing gym…but let’s just take a breath for ONE SECOND!

Now – I’m not usually a fan of using this forum (blog) for writing about the ‘stuff’ we do at Round 1.  I try to pack it with information that will help you guys with your training and body comp goals and not make it about ‘the gym’.  This week, well…I’m probably going to cross the line a bit and it’s going to mostly be about the ‘stuff’ we do/offer.  Or really, what we offer as of TOMORROW!

Back in 2010 – and we are fast approaching that 14-year anniversary! – I opened the gym and started running the classes I wanted to do myself.  Group-training sessions with boxing at the core but including cardio efforts (running, bikes and rowers) and strength efforts (barbells and dumbbells).  I was pretty happy with the way all of that was going and (at the time) would have been happy just doing that for the rest of my life.

But – what can I tell you?  Times change and people – even old ones like me – have to change with them.  Before too much time we were adding loads of equipment to the gym – until the place reached bursting point and we had to take over the building next door – and the strength gym was born.  More stuff changed of course.  Once again, back in the olden days I pretty much flat out refused to take on any PT clients.  To be truthful, I didn’t ‘pretty much’ refuse – I 100% refused…it just wasn’t my ‘thing’ and whilst I understood that some people ‘WANTED’ to do it, well, it wasn’t for me.  And because I never really did it, it wasn’t ever something we really pushed as a gym…

After nearly 14-years though I do understand that Personal Training has a place – particularly when it is used as a supplement to a group training regime and targeted at attaining a specific goal for an athlete.  It might be a skill based target, strength based target or body composition based target – but if the goal is SPECIFIC and both athlete and coach are on the same page, well, PT is certainly the ‘super-highway’ to achieve that goal…

Anyway, whilst I have been doing the review of everything else at the gym over the past couple of months, doing a bit of an assessment of our “Personal Training” offerings has also been part of the to-do list.  For so long it has been a pretty simple system:
– $35/30-minutes OR $350/10x 30-minutes + 1x session free (10% off). 

It’s been that way since 2012 when – with Sean and Jason working as trainers at the gym – we introduced Personal Training as a way for those guys to supplement their income derived from running classes.  In the 11-years since, NOTHING has changed in terms of how we price PT, offer PT and run sessions…and when I sat back and really looked at it, it quickly became clear that putting together some specific packages for different personal goals would make SO MUCH SENSE.  After all…it is PERSONAL TRAINING!

But moving forward we do want to implement some changes and put in place a group of offerings that cover ‘everything’ from long-term, ongoing sessions to short-term blocks to single sessions.  The following table summarises the options that are now available:

Why am I telling you all about these various PT Options?  Well – last week alone I did 16x PT sessions.  Which – when you consider I also ran 21 classes is a lot – and I have really come to believe in the benefits of Personal Training.  I still think that group-sessions should be the FOUNDATION of what MOST people are doing – in terms of convenience (morning, noon and night) AND bang for buck it is simply impossible to beat.  PT can be harder to organise (both you AND the coach need to be available) and it is comparatively expensive.  BUT PT can also help in some really specific ways:

– New Clients (or Strength clients adding some boxing to their regime/boxing clients looking to add some strength).  A couple of simple ‘how do I do this’ type sessions which allow you to go into your group session and be immediately COMFORTABLE and PRODUCTIVE can be golden in terms of both your mindset and the outcomes achieved.

– Athletes who want to do ONE THING that they can’t get support for in the group environment.  The obvious example here are Pad-work sessions – but outside of that maybe a boxing client who wants a once per week strength session etc.

– Athletes with a TRAINING GOAL.  If you have a specific goal, you will almost 100% need a specific program that will provide you with personal and direct attention. I guess I know this as well as anyone – I deal with high level athletes in my footy life every week – and they are quick to demand more personalisation and attention than any one coach can give them in a group environment. So one-on-one training OR at the very least regular one-on-one program reviews that look at progress, plans and problems can be so beneficial.

– Group training focussed clients who just want to ‘get there’ a little faster than ‘normal’.  They might need/want just a little more help than you can provide in that setting – and this is particularly true when it comes to nutrition and life-style support. Group training plus personal sessions or consults really can help drive progress.

So – there you have it.  PT stuff.  We do it.  🙂

See you in the gym,

Michael.