Hey Team,

Welcome back to Sunday.  Apologies for the lack of a post last week – my days (and weeks) have spiraled a touch out of control over the past fortnight…we have had a few staff away which has meant running a lot of classes (sorry about that everyone!) and together with footy pre-season in full-swing my days have been 4:30am-9pm odysseys from Monday to Friday with no rest on the weekends!  This week hasn’t been much better (I am trying to get this post written on Wednesday morning post 6am class as I am away on camp for footy from Friday night) but it has at least been a little more ‘organised’…

All of that said – and as I feel like I have constantly said over the past few years – the world has gone completely bonkers over the past few years and it is as if each of us now officially works 24x 7 – which I know for me can get completely overwhelming at times.  I know for me I feel like there was a time, long-long-ago when I remember having an actual day off work.  That NEVER happens anymore – as for having 2-3 days or, god forbid, a week away – that sort of stuff is a pipe dream.  Even when I was in Melbourne last year there were emails every day, questions to answer, programmes to write…”back in the day” people would leave work for the day and work would be there waiting for them upon their return…work comes to find all of us now!  

So what do I stress about?  Same as everyone – sometimes it’s work stuff, sometimes it whats happening at home, kids etc – other times it’s just the world at large particularly with the current levels of political unrest…I don’t watch the news/read the “papers” much because I feel like whenever I do it just lifts my anxiety about things I cannot control – on one hand, I used to take pride in knowing “what’s going on”, now I find myself living in a smaller and smaller bubble just to try and stay on an even keel.  I just think it is becoming more (and more) important for each of us to find a way to manage our anxiety AND maintain our mental and physical health.  Lucky for me, I own a gym because the best way I can think of doing this is through some exercise!

Spending an hour doing a class at the gym is an amazing way to help yourself face the challenges of the world:

-Because you are in a class you can genuinely turn off your brain and just ‘DO’.  

-Because you are surrounded by others you can achieve a feeling of community and belonging.

-Because there is a set start/finish time you can ‘arrange’ the rest of your day…unfortunately being able to engage your passion “anytime” so often means “never”…you need STRUCTURE to use time effectively!!

I will say as well – that when people think stress relief so often they picture themselves receiving a massage or meditating in a yoga pose…they don’t often think of boxing or lifting heavy things – but the sessions we offer at Round 1 offer a pretty unique set of benefits that WILL help wash away the worries of the world.  I guess this article was kind of inspired when I typed ‘de-stress’ into google and selected images…and it came up with a lot of pics of people in yoga poses on the top of a mountain, or someone laying on a massage table with pieces of cucumber covering their eyes, or sitting in a bathrobe at what looks to be a luxury hotel sipping tea.  Personally, I have no interest in doing ANY of those things and they wouldn’t reduce stress…they WOULD (particularly the massage thing) actively increase my sense of nervousness (sorry massage lovers – I am NOT a fan!).

What does enable me to DESTRESS and FEEL better?

Let’s start with boxing. There’s something deeply satisfying about hitting a punching bag – it’s like taking out your frustration on an inanimate object, which – whilst probably not being BETTER than taking it out on your boss or that peanut who cut you off on the freeway, is still pretty damned satisfying.  Best of all, once you ‘punch it right on the nose’, the the bag won’t hit you back – it wont even talk back…and it sure as heck won’t talk smack about “You call that a jab?  My Nanna has a better jab than that!!!’.  I mean, if you are a true believer, then during your session EVERY-SINGLE-ONE of your punches landed right on the button and was both hard and effective!

As for the Funky Fit classes, well, lifting weights and watching your numbers improve over time is a great way to get in shape and feel like a TOTAL BOSS at the same time. And there’s something just a bit ‘primal’ about being able to lift something ‘HEAVY’ – particularly something you didn’t used to be able to lift.  When you succeed you feel ‘STRONG’ for sure…but it’s somehow more than that.  It just makes you feel ‘CAPABLE’ – able to handle anything the world throws at you.  It’s why I’m such a believer in strength training for teenagers – it gives them a confidence that nothing else can…they do the work – they get ‘better’.  And it’s OBVIOUS they are better – it’s not some intangible feeling…the weights have GONE UP!  You have 100% gotten better!.  That same feeling applies to adults as well (I mean, of course it does!!!).

Of course, the benefits of these activities go beyond just physical strength. When we exercise, we release endorphins, which can help to improve our mood and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. And when we feel good about ourselves, we’re better equipped to handle whatever challenges the world throws our way.

Remember though, whether you are punching it out in Boxing or throwing some barbells around in the strength gym, you need to let yourself have a little fun along the way. Those punches you’re throwing – it’s OK to imagine them being aimed directly at your (real or imagined) nemesis.  Those weights your lifting – it’s (more than) OK to pretend that they are the worries of the world that you’re lifting off your shoulders.  And one more thing – when you see the guy or girl next to you giving it their all – if you take 3-seconds to let them know that “Rocky Balboa would have been proud of that right hook”, or that “not even Wonder Woman could have pulled that barbell off the ground”, well, you might be helping someone else along their way to a better day as well!

See you in the gym,

Michael.