Hey Everyone,
Happy Sunday! I have rolled through a bit of a L-O-N-G day that started in the gym (thanks to everyone who came to train and a special thanks to everyone who came to do the skipping workshop!) and from there I headed off to Aquinas College for a day of watching/supervising a whole heap of 16-18 year olds as they went through a series of fitness tests. I SWEAR that watching is more work than playing (well, at least when it is me doing the watching) and I have arrived home pretty exhausted…or maybe that was the lack of a coffee van at the venue? Either way, the day has been long and exhausting.
I want to kick off with a quick reminder to any 28-days-Later challenge participants that weigh-ins can be done anytime from THIS FRIDAY! We have NEARLY made it. I know for me it has been a bit of a grind (taking on the 28-day streak was probably a mistake!) but I am excited that the end is nearly here (and quietly pleased with my own efforts). Getting to the end is such a great effort…but remember, the REAL challenge starts when you know longer have to ‘tick a box’ every time you stick to the food rules – you just stick to them ANYWAY.
A few of you might have noticed a bit of a change with some of the social media we have been doing for Round 1 lately – specifically that many of our posts have been focussed on the ‘STRENGTH’ side of the gym. This is 100% deliberate but it is not because we don’t love our boxing sessions – of course we do. It is because we DO need to get some new people to the gym…specifically, new people to the gym to do our Functional Fitness, Barbell Club and Developing Athlete sessions. I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone who has seen the new facility that we have spent a LOT of money in order to set it up…and the sad reality of spending lots of money is that you actually need to get money coming back in to make it ‘work’ (or at least make it work for the long-term). We are officially at that point. So all of the promotional ‘stuff’ targeted at the ‘new’ gym is exactly that – something we are doing to target any potential new strength training clients that may be ‘out there’ who might want to access a pretty amazing environment and some super classes. (And speaking of all of that, if everyone out there who checks out our posts to see what is in the classes, or to see if they were in the morning video, or whatever would give them a Like and a Share and whatever else you do to things on InstaFace, well, that would really help us out!).
Back to the subject at hand – the strength classes we run at the gym – Functional Fitness, Barbell Club and Developing Athlete – and how they are super AWESOME. Yes, they represent a different way of training to that which most of us are used to, and whilst the cardio challenge is not as ‘consistent’ as it is in boxing (and man, there was some tough cardio in boxing last week) the training on the ‘new side’ of the gym does bring its own series of benefits…which I have tried to list out (in my admittedly fatigued state) below!
Strength training is motivating because you can TRACK your progress and improvement.
The way the sessions are set up, you deadlift regularly, bench press regularly, squat regularly etc. You quite literally SEE the improvement in your performances because you keep putting heavier weights on the bar…and it is incredibly motivating. I was laughing with a few people last week because one of my PT clients successfully achieved a deadlift PB and celebrated by running up and down the gym ‘doing the aeroplane’. Meanwhile, I celebrated the end of my session that same day by laying on the ground in cardio hell, wondering when I was EVER going to be fit enough! It is different training – and the numbers on the bar make it very motivating.
The motivation of LIFTING helps you learn how to PUSH.
You really do ‘push hard’ (and pull hard!) when you are operating in a progressive strength program. You are kind of ‘forced’ to keep going up in weight…which (kind of) forces you to bust your butt just a little bit harder than you did last week. Which teaches a valuable lesson about ‘how to REALLY bust your butt’. Which, in turn, translates to your NEXT exercise, next day…
You learn to appreciate ‘slow and steady progress’.
The thing about doing some strength work – it gives you a real appreciation of ‘the long haul’. It gives you a real appreciation of the fact that even an extra 1.25kgs is, in fact, an EXTRA 1.25KGS! You quickly begin to understand that it is OK to move ahead slowly…the important thing is that you just keep on moving – and even doing something simple like adding an extra 1.25kgs to the bar each week will mean you are lifting an EXTRA 65KGS this time next year if you are just prepared to keep turning up and PUSHING!
You learn about MOVEMENT (and you learn that it matters)
So – you couldn’t lift the weight? Well, that means either one of two things is wrong. You might not be strong enough…which is of course possible. But ‘they’ say most of us are only lifting about 40% of our bodies potential (and here is a video of a 15year old doing a 210kg front squat for evidence – https://twitter.com/MashElite/status/1098273174079324163) so maybe it is something else…maybe we aren’t MOVING right, or efficiently. Maybe we could all move a little better, a little faster…maybe.
You learn that food REALLY, REALLY matters.
We have all had those ‘bad’ food weekends and rolled (probably literally in some cases!) into the gym on Monday and struggled through a boxing class swearing ‘never again’…but ultimately no harm, no foul – we all still get to the end, just with a little more struggle and feeling a little bit more worse for wear than usual. A strength session after a bad food weeked? Yeah….Nah. It isn’t going to work – your weights will be WAY down – which will lead to a real sense of frustration – and you will be really disappointed in yourself and your efforts…A strength session after missing lunch? Again, yeah…nah. It is not going to work. You quickly learn that if you want the benefits of the training, you MUST do things right away from training (particularly in the kitchen).
Your CONFIDENCE – in LIFE – just goes up and up!
So – here is a cool photo of what should be team ‘Girl Power’ from our Developing Athlete sessions.
Watching all of the DAP kids just growing in confidence with every pull-up, every deadlift, every squat has been amazing. And no matter what you say – confidence is an ACTION. You don’t ‘learn’ confidence – you EARN IT. By doing ‘hard stuff’ and succeeding. By challenging yourself to do things you never thought you could (or would)…and succeeding.
Is that it? I feel that there must be more than that? At the same time, that feels like a LOT of really (really) good stuff and benefits from doing a little EXTRA strength training…
Anyway, it is at the end of a really (really) long day. I hope you have all had enjoyable weekends and are looking ahead to an awesome week of training with us at the gym!
See you all there – and may all of you 28-Days-Later people experience nothing but ‘gentle seas’ on the last FOUR (4) days of your journey!
Michael.
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