We’d like to thank all our members, guests and Facebook and blog followers for your support over the past year.  Geelong’s Gym wouldn’t be the wonderful place it is without all of you being a part of it.  Here’s to a fantastic New Year with lots of new goals, plans and ideas to work towards.  And, of course, we look forward to bringing you even more exciting changes and developments at the Gym in 2012.

We wish you and your family a safe, joyful and blessed Christmas, whatever you’re doing.  We trust that you’ll enjoy the festive season and indulge in some delicious Christmas goodies… but not too many!!  :-)  May 2012 bring you all that you hope for.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From the Geelong’s Gym Team.

The Team and partners at the Christmas Party

Ann Cramp beside the Glass of Knowledge which looked at where men and women store fat

One of our Personal Trainer’s, Ann Cramp, has been heading up this particular area of the gym and she works really hard to find out interesting and informative facts about our bodies so we can learn to better utilise them in a healthy, safe way.

Afterall, the more we know about how our body works, the more we will get out of our workouts at the gym and the more motivated we will be  to strive for greater health and fitness in our life.

The information on this board changes regularly and has lots of different handouts alongside it which Ann has created for members to take away for free.

The current Glass of Knowledge focuses on how the knee works and functions.

The Glass of Knowledge which looks at the function of the Knee

I’m sure you know health and fitness is good for you and everybody else, but it’s also good for the economy.  Why?

Well, it has a huge impact on the cost of health care, employment and even our GDP.  Currently, around 1.73 million Australians are estimated to use fitness centres.  That’s a big number, true.  But here’s what Fitness Australia has estimated will be the impact if that figure increased to 10% of the population:

• An additional $204.8 million will be saved in health care costs
• 2609 extra full time employees in the workforce
• As a result of the additional employees mentioned above, an increased GDP of approximately $82 million

Maybe you’re a bit sceptical.  But the simple fact is, improving your health and fitness is the best thing you can do for yourself, your family, your community and your country!

You see, the fitter and healthier you and the rest of Australia are, the more energetic and productive we’ll all be and much more likely to participate in the workforce.  This, of course, is fantastic for the many businesses and industries we are involved in.

Maybe it's time to pull on the exercise gear and start getting fit and healthy

But that’s not the only benefit of health and fitness.  The four main diseases most associated with physical inactivity are:

• Type 2 Diabetes  
• Cardiovascular Disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Cancer

Did you know in 2004-05, the direct health care relating to these four diseases was $14.6 billion?

Now imagine the savings if we could reduce the number of obesity-related chronic diseases. Even if just 50% of gym users exercised regularly, the estimated savings in direct health care costs is $71.9 million – $49.8 million of that figure is just the avoided costs of cardiovascular disease.

And it’s really simple to achieve… all you need to do is start getting fit and healthy today!

Phil takes all our photos at Geelong’s Gym and he has the unique gift of being able to capture the essence of the people he is photographing.  As a special treat, Phil is offering a free $95 Print to anyone who makes a booking or buys a voucher for Mothers’ Day.

Phil has a quote from his favourite photographer which explains how and why he does what he does:

“We do not take photos with our cameras but with our hearts and our minds” Arnold Newman.

So why not make this Mothers’ Day one to remember and organise Phil to capture some beautiful memories.  I completely endorse Phil and I know you won’t be disappointed.

We have a knack of taking a verb that is alive and turning it into a dead noun.

For example, I have a gym membership. Woop-de-do!  Doesn’t get you any fitter or healthier does it, just because you have it?  You have a noun… a membership, nothing more.

Try being an active gym member who exercises regularly; it’s got a lot more potential than just saying you have a membership.  The verb of exercising takes you away from the noun into something dynamic and exciting.

Maybe we could all put some more “doing” into our workouts and into our lives.

And no, this isn't what I mean!

It’s true.  Most people have a huge misconception when it comes to stretching.  Some people don’t do it at all, while others do a couple of token stretches and figure they’re set.  But what if you could virtually eliminate the muscle pain after a workout?  Just by stretching?

It’s true!  And we can also eliminate the pain on your wallet.  Buy the Stretching Handbook and you’ll receive a 100% money back guarantee!  That’s right.  If you’re a member at Geelong’s Gym we’ll take the cost of the book off your membership payments.  If you’re not a member, we’ll take the cost of the book off off your new membership when you sign up.  All you need to do is bring in your proof of purchase.  But back to the stretching…

A regular stretching program can lengthen your muscles and make your daily activities so much easier.  Just think, no more easing yourself down, centimetre by centimetre, onto the couch after that run you went for or that step class.

Stretching is something anyone of any age can do and the best thing is, you can do it while watching the TV, working on the computer or getting ready for bed.

A good stretch before your exercise will do wonders for your workout!

Here are just a few of the incredible benefits you’ll receive from regular stretching:

• Reducing muscle tension
• Increased range of movement in the joints
• Enhanced muscular coordination
• Increased blood circulation
• Increased energy levels

And if you really want to know about a full range of stretches for every part of your body, complete with step by step photos to walk you through each stretch, then I cannot recommend highly enough The Stretching Handbook.

Most of us see January as a time for goal setting and planning ahead what we want to accomplish over the course of the year.

I thought I’d share with you some funny goals I read:

Maybe your goal for the year is to lose a little weight.

• I will polish my pate – Bald Person
• I will do less washing and wear more deodorant – Executive
• I will not regale the same story at every function – Incorrigable Bore
• I will remember that Cake Day is only on the 29th of every month – Foodie
• Finally, remember that a New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other!

I’m sure that over the years you’ve set some New Year’s resolutions of your own, maybe you stuck to them and maybe you didn’t… so to help you have your Best Year Ever, we decided to help you keep track of your goals for 2010 and the progress you’re making.

You may have fitness goals, personal goals, business goals, relationship goals… whatever it is, Geelong’s Gym can give you a tool to make sure you don’t forget about it by the end of January.  And it’s free.  Simply click here to get started.  The page says “Make That Decision NOW”, so sign up and let 2010 be your Best Year Ever – remember, it’s completely FREE.

What a privilege to see how motivated and excited they still were after a physically and emotionally draining four days.  But they were all pumped for the cause they’re walking for and that attitude is contagious – and one of the main reasons why I chose to take Germain with me!

Check out the video below to find out a bit more of what it’s all about.

We were introduced to Wordle by Dr Marc Dussault from Exponential Programs.  He used it to create a Wordle of Power Words from Anthony Robbins’ Firewalk Seminar and also as a unique way to get excited about his New Year’s Resolutions.

Our first attempt with it was to create a gift for my son’s class at school.  We took all the students’ names and the teacher’s name and created a Wordle for the class.

Our use of it gave Marc an exponential idea – why not create a  Wordle of all the members of the gym?!  So here it is…

Don’t be distressed if you can’t see you name, it simply means your name is quite unique, or at least LESS COMMON that the biggest names, those which are most frequently found in our database.  Incidentally, the size of the name represents the FREQUENCY of the name in the list.

By the way, though it may not look like it, we actually have more women than men at Geelong’s Gym.  However, we seem to have a greater variety of women’s names, whereas men seem to be named from a much smaller pool of names and that’s why all the men’s names are bigger, because those same names appear most regularly in our database.

Pretty cool, isn’t it?  Why not have a go with your family members’ names or better yet, how about doing it with your health and fitness goals for 2010 and then stick it up on your mirror to keep you motivated.  Have some fun with it.

I was asked by Gerard Spriet, owner of Geelong’s Gym where I work, to train a group of people to walk a huge distance over 5 days. What grabbed my attention was that it was from Warrnambool – where I used to live – to Geelong, where I now live.

I love being active and there is nothing better than a goal to strive for. Training for this event has changed my whole mindset around everyday activity - walking for a purpose as well as for health and fitness.

There’s also a lot to be said for the ‘feel good’ component of giving something back to the community – whether it is in freely sharing knowledge, giving of your time or any other resources you may have. I’m honoured to be the trainer of these fabulous people who have given so much of their free time already to train for when they give a week of their lives to walk for a wonderful cause. Count me in!