Or so I thought!

A personal training client of mine told me her New Year’s Resolution and it is very different from the usual run of the mill promises you make to yourself.

She plans to look up more in 2012. That’s it! Look up more.

Hmm, if this is what you look like sitting at your desk... maybe it's time you looked up more too!

Her work involves a head down position and her body is wearing the bad posture with a high degree of pain and dysfunction. She exercises regularly but it’s not enough to undo the hours she spends with her eyes lowered. Did you know that your head weighs 5.5kg and for every centimetre forward your head moves, it increases the weight of your head by 1.8kg? And unfortunately, most people’s heads migrate a lot more than that-often up to 7.5cm forward and that means you’re carrying around a 19kg head. Your poor neck and back having to fight against the unrelenting force of gravity!!!

By simply lifting your head, you can de-stress your spinal structures enormously.  Try it now, lift your head to look straight ahead and notice how you promote a lengthened back, your abs work more, you look taller and I bet your shoulders aren’t as hunched.  Ever suffered pain between your shoulder blades or back of neck pain? Look up more frequently and you’ll feel the difference.

The other reason she gave me was that by looking down, she feels she misses things… opportunities! In fact she said by keeping her head down, she avoids so many things. Obviously it was a coping strategy at some point in her life but now she’s missing too many good things.

I wonder how many behavioural patterns we still use, even though we no longer need them.

Look up! You might be able to finally outgrow behaviours you don’t need.

I think I’ll give this a go and keep my eyes up, my chin up and give my body a break and see what life has to offer. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It's time to indulge in a few Christmas goodies... just not too many!

Sometimes we get anxious about the Christmas period, worrying that we’re going to undo all the good work we’ve done in the months leading up to it.  But there’s no need to get worked up about it… you just need to know how to find the right balance between enjoying some yummy food and drink without going overboard.

Here are a few tips to help you get out the other side of the Christmas period without piling on the pounds:

• Add more dairy products into your daily diet – Research has shown that up to 800 mg per day of calcium increases fat loss.  Yes, that’s right.  Calcium has been shown to stimulate the breakdown of fat, inhibit the making of new fat and increase the loss of fat in faeces that might normally be absorbed.
• Start your day with low glycemic index foods - low GI foods will keep you fuller for longer, so you’ll be less likely to stuff yourself silly with Christmas goodies.
• Drink green tea – in between the glasses of champagne, drink green tea which increases fat burning.
• Drink a big glass of water before eating – it’s simple but true… water just before the big Christmas dinner will lower the amount of food you take in.

Remember, anything in moderation is fine and using little tricks like this will help you keep your intake of Christmas goodies at a moderate level.

Finally, don’t forget to keep up the regular workouts!  I know it’s a busy time of year, which is why we recommend you train with intensity rather than duration… which, by the way, has a greater impact on fat loss anyway.  And if you don’t know how to structure a quick workout that really counts, why not book in for a half hour Personal Training session and let one of our Personal Trainers give you a super effective workout!

Information in this post provided by Dr Peter Reaburn.

This month we were delighted to feature in the On Pako magazine as an example of how Gyms can continue to grow and be innovative in the health and fitness industry.  We thought we’d share the editorial with you, so you can see what we’re up to at the moment…

Tom Trezise in the early days of the Gym.

“When you’ve been around fitness for nearly half a century it can be easy to become complacent.  Not so for Geelong’s Gym, who continue to relish the opportunity to not only provide a great product with fantastic service, but also help the next generation do the same.

Geelong’s Gym has been the leader in providing exercise advice and innovative, creative programming, to the local Geelong community for 47 years.  Originally founded by Tom Trezise in 1964, it was the first Gym of its kind in Geelong.

Percy Cerutty with Tom Trezise

The £30,000 state-of-the-art facilities were described as “surely unique in Australia” by Percy Cerutty, the famous Australian athletics coach.

The Gym has been owned and operated by Gerard Spriet since 1995 and continues to pride itself on its unique approach to health and fitness.  With high levels of customer service, their core values and integrity stand out significantly as a key principle in the business’ method of operations.

So how do they ensure the on-going standard of what they deliver to the community and pass on their passion for the fitness industry?  How do they continue their heritage, whilst looking to the future?

Geelong "Cats" Footballer, John Scarlett, running with Tom Trezise

They educate the next generation of trainers, handing down the values, knowledge and enthusiasm which set Geelong’s Gym apart from other gyms.

That’s why Geelongs Gym was delighted to recently open its new training school, in conjunction with Training Sense.  This in-house school provides the exceptional opportunity to complete Certificate III and IV in Fitness in a fully functional, open to the public gym whose strength is in its personal training program.

So the iconic facility that is Geelong’s Gym is now the place for learning and thinking, as well as fun, friendly fitness.”

Resistance Bands are a great peice of equipment that can be used for many different purposes, such as rehab, toning and strength.  You have the ability to control the amount of tension on your muscles and keep that tension through the eccentric and concentric phase.

In this workout we are aiming at toning and strengthening your upper and lower body, whilst switching your core muscles on.  Make sure you check out the video below for a demonstration of all the exercises.

Lunge With Row (10-15 each side): Pulling the bands so there is tension, step back into a lunge followed by a row.  Keep your elbows high whilst performing the row and in line with your shoulders.  Alternate your legs coming into the row with each lunge.

Squat With Bicep Curl (10-15): Create tension on the bands and sit back into the squat, making sure all of your weight is towards your heels.  Come out of the squat (into a standing position) and break out into a bicep curl.

Trunk Rotation (10-15 each side): Have your feet shoulder width apart, keeping the arms as straight as possible and use your core strength/rotation to pull the bands towards your obliques.

Tricep Pullover (10-15): Come into a sturdy stance with the bands above head height.  Pull all the way over until your arms are straightened (in line with shoulders).

Ab Crossover Punch (10-15): Sitting in a sit-up position facing away from the bands - create tension with the bands, engage your core by slightly leaning back and bring the bands across, switching on your oblique muscles.

Remember to control the movement on the working and the releasing phase of the exercise and focus on technique - Don’t rush… feel the burn!

Jimmy Reid, one of our Personal Trainers here at Geelong’s Gym, was mentioning the other day how many clients have been cancelling their early morning personal training sessions because they’re losing the battle with the doona.

Sometimes your bed just feels too cosy to leave!

So, we thought we’d drum up some tips for staying motivated during the winter chill and hopefully these will compel you to throw off that doona!

1. Arrange to workout with a friend - setting a time to meet a friend at the gym for a workout is sure to get you out of bed.  It just wouldn’t be fair to stand up a mate, especially at 6 in the morning!  Better yet, pick someone who’s competitive and set a challenge for your workout together.
2. Try a Group Exercise Class - add some spice to your workout by choosing a class you’ve never done before and make sure it’s an early morning one.  Make the commitment to be at that class and then make yourself accountable to someone that you’re going to be there.
3. Put your Ipod to good use – set up a new playlist, full of loud, fast tempo music which is great to workout to.  Put it beside your bed and when your alarm goes off, get those buds in your ear and press play.  A couple of minutes of pumping music will have you bounding out of bed, ready to exercise… or party!
4. Summer is just a few short months away – yes, that’s right.  Which means less concealing clothing and, horror of horrors, swim suits!  And every time you hit snooze instead of getting up and going to the gym, your hot summer body is getting further away.

Above all, remember, it’s only a couple of months you have to push through before it starts to get lighter and warmer in the mornings.  So, good luck and we look forward to seeing you in the gym in the morning!

Winter and Taylor in conjunction with Geelong’s Gym and Claridge Naturopathics recently participated in an 8 week Biggest Improver challenge.

Winter and Taylor participants hard at work!

Participants were split into three teams of mixed ability and from different work areas at Winter and Taylor.  Interestingly, some of the participants had not even met some of their fellow work mates!  So it was a great opportunity to get to know each other and build closer relationship within the wider team.

Through weekly individual challenges, weekly group challenges, and improvements made over the eight weeks, participants were scored and given rankings.  We’re delighted to announce the winners are as follows;

THE BIGGEST IMPROVER – Graeme Ruby

Most Consistent Male – Anthony Hopkins

Most Consistent Female – Meagan Anderton

Highest Point Scoring Team – THE A-TEAM (Trainer – Annie)

All of these winners came from the same team.  All of the winners exercised closely together and their enthusiasm fueled their efforts.

So grab some friends, get excited, and get exercising.

He wasn’t sure whether he should take it as a compliment or not!  But either way he had a good chuckle.

You see the thing is, the relationship you have with your Personal Trainer is often a love/hate one.  You love the results you’re getting from being pushed harder than you’d push yourself, but sometimes you really hate your trainer for putting you through, what can fondly be called, a “Torture Session”.

Regardless of the times when you could swear they’re trying to kill you in the most excruciating manner possible, having a Personal Trainer is the best thing you can do for your health and fitness.  Not only will you get great results in the shortest time possible, you’re also far more likely to stay motivated and attend the Gym regularly when you have someone to be accountable to.

So if you have never tried a Personal Training session, why not give it a go today and see for yourself what a difference it can make.

Oh and I promise, they’re not really trying to kill you… it just sometimes feels that way!

(On a side note though, it’s nice to know people are always talking about my product and service – the health and fitness industry).

Most, if not all, of us know that the diet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry which has a huge influence on how we think and behave around food – whether we get caught up in constant calorie counting or go to the other extreme and choose to turn a deaf ear to the plethora of overwhelming “advice”!

This can present a bit of a problem for those of us in the fitness industry.  Good nutrition and regular exercise go hand in hand towards gaining and maintaining a healthy body.  But the majority of fitness professionals aren’t heavily educated on nutrition.

Having been in the industry for 27 years, I’ve finally found the perfect fix… a system to bridge that gap.  Diet and nutrition is a big area of education and we are delighted to announce our partnership with Nutrition Complete, a comprehensive online nutrition program which really works!

It’s ridiculously easy to use… you enter in your goal (i.e. lose, gain or maintain weight) and measurements, your food preferences (e.g. dairy intolerant, no bananas etc) and the amount of time you have to prepare meals.  Then the program puts together a meal plan for you for the day, week, month… whatever you choose.  It even prints out a shopping list for you, so you know exactly what to buy!

We now make this incredibly powerful program available to all our members at a reduced cost and it’s also available to non-members as well.

If you’re one of our members with regular Personal Training contact sessions, we bonus it in and you pay nothing – a $444 bonus!  Great stuff!

I’m so grateful to have found it, so it can support our trainers and provide an outstanding option for a healthy diet and good nutrition.

If you want to find out more, come and have a chat at Reception or check out the information on our website here.

Here’s a break down of what you’re going to be doing:

Burpees – Step (Beginners) or Ground (Advanced)

Push Ups – Step (Beginners) or Ground/Ground with clap (Advanced)

Pull Ups – Under at a 45 degree angle (Beginners) or Pull up/Chin up (Advanced)

Crunches – Fingertips to knees (Beginners) or Wrists to knees/with weight (Advanced)

Squats – Standard squat (Beginners) or Squat jumps (Advanced)

Complete 2-4 circuits of this workout starting at 30 seconds for each station and build up to 1 minute for the ultimate bodyweight circuit!  Check out the video for a demonstration of each station.