Hey Everyone,
Welcome to another week.
I want to start this week with a Big Congrats to everyone who managed to finish the Summer Slam challenge (yah to ME). 6-Weeks – SIX – has certainly been an adventure. I had my first icecream since the challenge started last night (Saturday) and it genuinely felt like forever…4kgs down though? Pretty happy! That’s the remnants of my Melbourne holiday gone, now all I have to do is keep it going and undo the damage from the rest of this stressful year.
Other amazing results came from:
– Emma Mac – down 7kgs.
– Betty Brown – down 6.5kgs
– Fraser Northover – down 6.5kgs (all FAT) – just in time for his wedding next weekend (and congrats to him and the amazing Nicole…we love you two guys!).
– Lyn Doody, Steve Bamford and Carly B – all down 5kgs.
– Kelly Rundell, Greg House and Damo Kelly all down 4kgs.
Of course, there are a host of other people who did incredible things – remember, total kegs down has as much to do with starting weight as anything!! – and oftentimes 2kgs weight loss whilst gaining 500g of muscle is equally representative of dedication/effort as ‘big’ weight loss numbers…but at the same time a big change on the scales does ‘feel good’!!
I have said a couple of times that this was the ‘best’ challenge we have run and by that I do mean it was in so many ways the ‘most’ achievable, Being allowed to have 4x drinks per week I found to be a real benefit – you could go to a social event and at least sit on a couple of beers (which stops all of the questions about ‘why’, followed by the “life’s too short” commentary that I can seriously do without)…at the same time this challenge was SIX weeks rather than 4 and I did feel on a couple of times that 6-weeks and ‘FOREVER” seemed like the ‘same thing’. All of that said, I hope that everyone who participated has really been able to ‘reset’ their habits ahead of the silly season and is going into the December Christmas period not only a couple of kg lighter, BUT also with a clear plan of attack as to how to maintain their diet and training as the world gets ‘crazy’!
Challenge aside, the Round 1 world is a bit crazy right now. We have some cool and new stuff happening over the next few weeks – I have tried to capture these in the table below:
| What is it? | December 5th – Boxing Only Classes Introduced (BoxFIT45) |
| For a while now (more than a while really) I have been feeling that some of our boxing for fitness sessions have been becoming more about ‘general’ training and less about boxing. And whilst that’s OK, it really isn’t EXACTLY the way these classes are supposed to be. There was one class a few weeks ago where I wrapped my hands before the class – but didn’t punch the bags even once DURING the session. Now – of course, that was the exception but I have been feeling that in some ways saying the classes were ‘Boxing for Fitness’ based was at times a bit of a misnomer…they were fitness classes in a gym where there happened to be some punching bags and speedballs around the place.
So – a new class is coming. And we will be doing boxing for the entire session. Footwork drills, some technique based work, bag based conditioning (which will incorporate some body weight movements), combos and abs. I have been running the other coaches through these sessions over the past couple of weeks and the feedback has been as follows: That was HARD. That was FUN. 45-minutes felt like 10-minutes. The benefit of sessions such as these is that the mind-muscle connection is really exaggerated – you simply don’t have time to ‘zone-out’ and go through the motions…right throughout the class you are challenged to concentrate, to maintain technique and punch with power. |
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| What is it?? | December 5th – Rename of current Boxing classes – BoxPLUS30 and BoxPLUS45 |
| With the introduction of the new Boxing ONLY sessions, our existing Boxing for Fitness classes will be renamed to BoxPLUS30 and BoxPLUS45. These sessions will be much as you have been doing over the past decade or so – boxing intermixed with strength work and pure cardio work. I guess the way I have been trying to break these down is that it will be:
35-45% Boxing for Fitness 25-35% Strength 25-35% ‘Pure’ Cardio (Bike, Ski, Row, SPARC) 5-15% Abs and Core Obviously (as always) the % mix will vary from day-to-day but I think you get the idea. Our sessions in the strength gym – Functional Fitness, Fully Loaded, Boys Club, Ladies Lifting and Hammer Time – will remain as a sessions for people who want to complete classes without boxing. |
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| What is it?? | December 5th – Compulsory Hand wraps for any session in the Boxing gym. |
| This is all about safety and protecting people. With the renewed emphasis on boxing, we are changing our stance on Hand-Wraps from “Hey, we recommend it but they’re your hands” to “Hey, if you aren’t wearing Hand-Wraps AND suitable gloves you aren’t doing a boxing class today”.
This isn’t about insurance premiums and worrying about getting ‘sued’ – as someone said to me the other day, “I’ll just sign a waiver and not wear them – OK?”. It’s not about that. It’s about understanding that participating in boxing has the potential to cause injuries to the hand and wrist – in particular the TFCC (Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex) – has the potential to seriously impact not just your ability to train…but the REST OF YOUR LIFE. And it wont just knock you out of the gym, but can stop you doing any activity that requires the use of your hand to grip and hold things…even things as simple as a knife and fork. Do I want to implement the rule ‘NOW’? Yes, yes I do. Have I taken the softly softly approach to give everyone the chance to get used to the idea? Also YES, Yes I have. Is that me being ‘soft’ and not taking it seriously? Well, maybe – but I am 100% serious about December 5th as the drop dead date – no handwraps, no train. |
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| What is it?? | December 5th – Morning boxing classes – 5am starts and all morning classes ⇒ 45minutes. |
| The morning madness has simply got to come to an end. We are in a situation right now where the 5:25am class starts before the 4:50am class has finished. And the 6am class starts before the 5:25am class finishes. And everyone in the 5:25am and 6am classes is scrambling to find equipment and a spot to train because the previous class is still using it all…And none of those classes (4:50am, 5:25am or 6am) end up getting demos or a post-class stretch…it’s simply crazy and it isn’t the way it is supposed to be.
Remember, the 30-minute classes were introduced post-COVID for ONE REASON – because we had to limit sessions to 20-participants hence had to find a way to add more sessions…therefore we moved to 30-minute classes. But the 20-participant limit is a thing of the past and whilst COVID remains an issue, at the same time the world has moved on somewhat from the pandemic and we now treat it as we do any other virus/illness (but disinfecting post-session is still CRITICAL in my opinion so let’s keep doing a good job of that. Anyway, from December 5th we will be starting our first session of the day at 5am rather than at 4:50am. And all of our morning sessions will be scheduled for 45 minutes. NOW – if you need to leave at 5:30am – and I know a few people who are in this category – then as usual, go for it…30-minutes is WAY better than nothing…people already leave early from class for various reasons throughout the day – yes, it’s polite to explain this to the coach BEFORE you start but ultimately we want to support you. AND we want to do pre-class demos/post class stretching for EVERY SINGLE SESSION. |
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| What is it?? | December 5th – Restructure of 7pm time-table, |
| OK. 7pm has (forever and a day) been a bit of a black hole on the time-table. It is the witching hour in so many households – cleaning up from dinner, getting kids to bed etc – and we get it. But in recent times we have really been battling to get numbers at our 7pm Body Work class and it does seem that since the advent of the Strength gym/Functional Fitness class most of our ‘old’ Body Workers now do Functional Fitness. PLUS. Body Work is a ‘Boxing Membership’ class that has no boxing and really requires a lot of the equipment from the strength gym. So this is what 7pm will look like:
Monday: Fully Loaded – Lifting only strength class in the Strength gym. Tuesday: Ladies Only Lifting class Wednesday: Fully Loaded – As per Monday Thursday: Boys Club – “Training for Dad’s”. I have two post-scripts to this particular piece of news: 2/. Tracey will be reaching out to a couple of the 7pm ‘Body Work’ regulars with a potential solution to their ‘missing’ training session. |
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| What is it?? | Near FUTURE – New GLOVES and Boxing Equipment Partner |
| This one is a little tricky and I only mention it as it is looking more ‘LIKELY’ than unlikely right now. Our existing supplier of hand-wraps, boxing gloves, strength wraps etc is having some challenges maintaining price points given the challenges of Australian customs and world transport costs. As such, we are looking at moving to a new supplier and are negotiating with a few companies right now. This is what we are looking at:
Prices for hand-wraps and strength wraps will remain relatively static. Moving towards two solutions for gloves: Non-Leather bag gloves for approx $60 and Leather gloves available for approx $80. Now – Yes, I know this is a significant increase on our current price-point ($30) however given we essentially lose $4 with every pair of gloves we sell right now, it is something I am relatively keen to implement…in any case, if you want a pair of the existing gloves to put in your cupboard, then get some soon…once they are gone they won’t be back again! |
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| What is it?? | December 5th – Restructure of Round 1 ‘Get Started’ model. |
| Lastly, we are in the process of re-booting our ‘get started’ options at Round 1. It will look like this:
Option 1: 2-week-trial for $59. This will be for people who need a bit of support but are confident/comfortable with their ability to get around a gym…basically for people who are ready to jump into classes. Option 2: Health Check + 2-week-trial for $79: Option for people confident in the gym but battling with time management/scheduling AND looking for help with their food in order to maximise results. This package starts with a Health Check (Body Scan + 30 mins 1-on-1 with a trainer) then goes into a 2-week trial. Option 3: Health Check + Body Scan + 2x 30-min PT for $99. This option includes everything in option 2 BUT also adds in 2x 30-min PT sessions where we can cover the basics of Boxing OR Lifting in order to provide a great chance of success to the athlete when they jump into class… |
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Well…that all feels like a lot of information!!!
If you have any questions or comments about what is happening, I would love to hear from you – email to michael@round1fitness.com.au!
Don’t forget, the Christmas Party is this coming Saturday at Benny’s…if you want a ticket they are still available for $10: https://tms.ezfacility.com/OnlineRegistrations/Register.aspx?CompanyID=1214&GroupID=3299822
That’s it for another week…see you all in the gym.
Michael.
