Hey Team,

Happy New Year to everyone.  I have put together a heap of stuff that is either half-written or 90% completed or just a sketched paragraph of an idea…but somehow I haven’t really FINISHED anything in nearly 3-weeks.  I feel like there has been lots of ‘busy’ work but nothing that has really moved the needle…some highlights of what I have been able to close off in the background are:

• New programming for Fully Loaded, Boys Club and Ladies Lifting all completed to the end of February.
• New BoxPlus programming finished up until the end of February – including a move from 3x moving classes per week to 4x moving per week from February 1st.
• New Developing Athlete sessions completed up until the end of February.  Really leaning into the 2x lifts per day model we kicked off back in September and looking forward to seeing the kids make huge strides before winter sport gets underway.
• Sketched out a new Funky Fit schedule – 6-weeks of trying to max out on Bench, Back Squat and Deadlift whilst doing some lighter, technique work on our Olympic Lifts on the ‘other’ days.
• The draft is ready for the new 28-Days-Later Challenge (kicks off in Feb) including the ability to set calorie targets, protein targets etc…it looks cool and should be a GREAT change-up!

Before we get into all the ‘new’ stuff, I did want to try and kick the year off with a bit of a “Here’s what I would do if I was starting NOW” type post…basically a list of the things I think that would get you ‘On the Right Track’ if you were starting off on a new fitness journey TODAY!  I’m going to try not to ramble too much!

1. NEVER go to bed not knowing exactly what you are eating the next day.
   Make sure you have a plan for breakfast AND lunch (in particular) the next day…and that plan cannot be ‘grab something from the cafe down the road’.  Pre-made breakfast (think protein powder, greek yoghurt and berries) and pre-made lunches (protein and veggies) are EASY and TASTY.
2. For the most part, eat the same meals every single day.  It makes life SIMPLE and it makes it easy to scale – feeling tired?  Eat a bit more.  Gaining weight?  Eat a bit less.  Make the process repeatable.
3. Go through your cupboards and get rid of the stuff you KNOW is bad for you.  If it is in the pantry, you WILL eat it.  Throw it OUT.  Yes, it cost money…but eating it will be worse than the $ lost.  And do you really want to inflict it on your friends.  Removing temptation is a cheat code!
4. Get some easy to eat/quick to prepare protein options in your fridge.  Bacon+eggs cups are great – easy to make and healthy…have them (or something like them) to grab between meals if you feel the need.
   
5. I guess the message from all of the first four steps is that food stuff is important but ‘removing speed-bumps’ is the key.  It doesn’t take long to make some healthy breakfast jars or do some meat + veggie meal-prep and the pay-off is HUGE.
6. As soon as you get out of bed, drink 500ml water then spend 5-10 mins stretching or doing a simple Yoga Flow routine…or foam rolling…just get yourself moving, iron the “kinks” out so that when you are having the internal debate about ‘exercise’ later that day, the ‘bad’ voice in your head isn’t complaining about your sore lower back.
7. Tracking your nutrition is a MASSIVE return on investment – it means you can make adjustments because you KNOW what you are consuming.  But just track total calories and total protein…forget the rest..
8. Kitchen scales are important if you want to be consistent and make progressing…anytime you are guessing, well…it’s not going to work.
9. Prioritise protein.  Girls 1.6g-2g per kilo of bodyweight.  Boys 1.8-2.2g.  This is a LOT…if you aren’t getting 30% of this number at breakfast you simply wont make it – and protein powder is a simple and easy way to achieve this.
10. Don’t over-complicate calorie management.  Most girls between 60-90kgs do pretty well on 1600-1800cals per day (assuming that protein target above is being hit).  Boys from 80-110kgs do pretty well around 2100-2300.  Start off with those numbers and weight yourself every week – if you are losing weight and feeling good…stay with it.  If you are gaining weight, reduce by 100cals and re-assess.  Don’t get frustrated – get scientific.
11. Split your daily food up into either 3x meals or 4x meals – and try to divide the calories pretty evenly between them.  Most boys can pretty easily do this in 3x meals – I have found it is harder for girls as they are generally not used to the sheer quantity of food they need to eat – and changing to 4x meals makes it SOOO much easier.
12. Sauces and Dressings can make all the difference…but they can also contain a heap of calories – be careful of condiments!
13. Remember, what you EAT will be the driver for losing weight and getting lean.  Your incidental exercise (steps per day) supports this along with a positive sleep routine.  Get your food right and make sure you are getting 8000+ steps per day and 7-8 hours sleep per day – those are the first steps and NONE of them happen in the gym.
14. You need a ‘non-work’, ‘non-family’ hobby that will give you a bit of a ‘mental refresh’.  Some people play golf, others meditate.  Some read a book, some play computer games.  You simply need to build ‘something’ into your week (a couple of times preferably) – something you are looking forward too and is about ‘YOU’.  I know how hard this is in 2024 but if you can carve out 2x 30-minute slots per week for ‘YOU’, well, it WILL make a lot of difference to your stress and mood.
15. Now we are on the right path, your TRAINING is the driver for feeling good, and being healthy.  3x sessions per week (that includes a strength element) 52x weeks of the year is the BEST rhythm.  If you can do more – well, that’s awesome…but the gym is a place to ‘Feel Good’ about yourself…you shouldn’t be ‘feeling bad’ because last week you missed that 5th session…you should be giving yourself a high-5 for doing 4.  Positive self talk is SO important.
16. I mentioned including some strength work in your training – a strong body is important to long term health and SUSTAINED fat loss.  Your ‘metabolic rate’ is based on your muscle mass…having ‘more’ muscle is pretty much always a good thing.
17. The gym gives you a massive return on investment – somewhere to be around POSITIVE people who will support you whilst you ‘work on you’.  I have never met a person who works as hard in isolation as they do in a group/team environment – allow the energy of the group to drive your workout – switch off and ‘just be physical’…
18. Listen to your coaches and really focus on trying to ‘Do Things Right’.  If you want progress, the key driver is correct technique…just slow down (a bit) and make sure you have it right.  Of course…there is a time to just ‘give it a go’…your coach will tell you when that time is! 🙂
19. Getting Stronger is a LOOOOONG process.  If you started doing 5 sets of 5 squats today at 20kg, you would probably find that pretty easy (even the newest Developing Athletes can achieve that).  If you repeated that twice per week for the next year, and increased by 2.5kg each time…well, by the end of the year you would be squatting more than anyone in the gym.  Small and consistent increments – tracked via the tools we provide you (aka the ‘FitBox’ app) are the key to long term success.  Not where you start.  Small, consistent increments carefully tracked.
20. The #1 thing about long term success is resilience.  You are going to get knocked off course, have a bad week/month, go on holidays, get injured, gain weight and generally ‘lose ground’ from time to time.  But as with everything, just being prepared to stick at it is the key.  Don’t get frustrated – You KNOW what you need to do.  Start by getting your food right.  Next, make sure you are getting your steps and sleep.  Do your 3x gym sessions per week (and really do them properly).  That’s it.  You have to remember though, that all of the different parts (food, your incidental exercise, sleep and gym) all work together and expecting to move ahead when even one of those things is wrong…well…it’s probably not going to work.  None of this needs to take a lot of time – meal prep = 1 hour on Sunday, 1x 30-minute walk each day, 3x 1-hour gym sessions each week…it’s achievable for all of us if it is important.

There you go…my “Here’s what I would do” mandate for 2024!

See you in the gym,

Michael.