Geelong's Gym

Recently, one of our Personal Trainer’s received this cartoon from his client.

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!

I can almost guarantee that the majority of times you eat out at a cafe or restaurant, the conversation inevitably turns to diet, food and exercise… maybe because you’re all feeling a little guilty about what you’re indulging in!

(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.

Our Personal Trainer, Tom Ovens, has brought you a cracker of a workout this week!  It’s all about using your own bodyweight, so it requires very little equipment and can be done almost anywhere!  Plus, anyone can do this, no matter what level of fitness they’re at.

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.

How have your workouts been going?

Today, our Personal Trainer, Tom Ovens, is going to show you not only a great workout for people who are looking to move away from weights machines and into free weights, but also what order to do your resistance exercises in.  This is a fantastic upper body workout for beginners.

Make sure you complete 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps.  Watch the video for instructions on the exercises, then read the tips below.

Dumbell Flys – you want to try and pre-fatigue the major muscle groups first.  Aim to bend your elbows slightly as you bring the weight down, then straighten as you push it up in front of your face.

Incline Dumbell Press – as we have already done our chest isolation exercise, we can now move onto a compound exercise (more than one muscle group).  Doing this on an incline will also slightly change what part of the muscles we are working.

Dumbell Reverse Flys – this is an isolation exercise for your back and shoulders.  Make sure you are leaning over far enough that your back is nearly parallel to the floor.

Dumbell Single Arm Row – moving on from the isolation back exercise, now we are doing a compound back exercise.  You will be able to lift a much heavier weight than reverse flys.  Keep your elbow tucked into your side and let your arm go totally straight at the bottom.

Dumbell Lateral Raise – throughout the other exercises in the program we have worked on the front and rear of our shoulders.  This exercise will work the centre of your deltoid (shoulder muscle).  Use a weight similar to what you used for the dumbell flys and reverse flys.

I had an interesting experience recently when I was in for a workout, which I thought I’d share with you.

One of our Personal Trainers was finishing a session with a client in Zone 10 and she had just paid her client a very positive compliment… and I mean, really positive!  I watched as this woman rose to her feet from the floor with a larger than life smile on her face – she literally looked like a light beacon!

Now, this member has a reasonable amount of weight to lose… which immediately got me thinking about what a huge decision it would have been for her to join the gym and start the long journey towards a healthy body.  Good on her!  It’s not easy for overweight/large people to walk through the doors of a health club.  It’s unfortunate, but a lot of people believe only fit people go to the gym.

About 30 minutes later I was sitting at home eating breakfast.  I happened to notice a photo which immediately put a smile on my face, just as big as this woman exercising earlier.

A stop on my cycling journey around the world

You see, it’s a photo of me sailing from Fiji to New Zealand and it made me think back to how I got on that boat.

I had been traveling around the world on a push bike (but that’s another story) and one night, while sitting around a bon fire, I met a Kiwi who told me you can sail from one country to another.  I thought, “Wow” and immediately bombarded him with thousands of questions.  The very next day, I rented a car and drove around the whole island looking for a yacht to sail.  Within a few hours, I was in a one man tinny (little paddle boat) knocking on the side of boats, saying, “I’m Gerard and I’m looking for a boat that needs crew.”

A few days later I was off to New Zealand on my first sailing adventure (my second time on a boat was sailing the Sydney to Hobart!).

59' Nautor Swan

You might be wondering where all this is leading.  Well, my point is, I had the most amazing experience on that sailing trip from Fiji – an experience I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t knocked on those boats.  I’m sure my face was glowing a lot like that woman who had just got off the Zone 10 floor after her Personal Training session.

Sometimes you just have to put yourself out there, like she did when she first walked through the doors of our gym determined to turn her life around.  I’m confident many people have thought to do this or that, but for some reason don’t take the initiative, probably because doubt and negative self-talk get the better of them.

It’s said that those who stretch themselves to learn and grow in some area of their life, find that other areas and things improve in their lives as well.

So, make sure you go and knock on whatever your boat is!

Have you ever thought about the effect exercising in the heat has on your body?

I love the heat… when everyone else is retreating to the indoors and air-conditioned buildings, I’m starting to come to life.  And the hotter the better… or so I thought.

Tuesday, a couple of weeks ago, the weather was forecast to be 39 degrees celcius, so I advised my personal training clients to train early to avoid the midday heat.  We take all the precautions we can to ensure no ill-effects from heat related illness.

But then I found myself with a bit of spare time in the middle of the day, so what do I do?  I decide to go for a walk for an hour or so… congratulating myself, because I’m being sensible only going for walk and not a run!

On goes the sunscreen, light weight clothing, sunglasses, hat and 2 litre camel back filled with cold water… and off I go.

If someone (or yourself) is suffering from heat illness, follow these steps.

After an hour, I’m enjoying the heat and feeling fantastic… until I take a big shuddering breath and wonder what that’s all about.  I take notice of my pounding heart and decide to turn on my heart rate monitor to see where I’m at.  Now I usually walk briskly on about 110-117 beats per minute…

160 beats per minute!!!

That’s full on running heart rate… my body is working hard to cope with the heat.  While in my head I felt fine, clearly I’m compromising my health.  Fortunately I’m only 15 minutes from home and I stick to the shaded areas, while constantly sipping water.  But when I get there and look in the mirror, my face is beetroot red – not my normal response to a walk at all!

While having a cool shower, I chastise myself… WHAT’S GOOD FOR MY CLIENTS IS GOOD FOR ME!

As we’re currently in the height of summer, here are a few tips from Sports Medicine Australia Victorian Branch to remember when considering exercising in the heat:

• Exercising in hot, humid conditions can lead to dehydration, heat illness and sometimes even heat stroke.
• Symptoms of heat illness – light-headedness, nausea, headache, confusion, not sweating, agressive or irrational behaviour – be alert for any of these signs!
• Stay hydrated – drink water before, during and after exercise.
• Take rests, preferably in the shade.
• Wear light coloured, lightweight and loose clothing that allows easy evaporation of sweat from the skin.
• Wear sunglasses, 30+ sunscreen and a hat.
• Reduce the duration and intensity of your warm up.
• Do NOT undertake strenuous activity if you have recently experienced a high temperature, infection, diarrhoea or vomiting.
• If you have a medical condition such as asthma, diabetes, a heart problem, epilepsy or obesity, are taking medication or are pregnant, you may experience difficulties exercising in the heat.
• If you are suffering from heat illness – lie down in a cool place, remove excess clothing, wet your skin or use ice packs and drink cool water.  If your symptoms don’t improve seek medical assistance.

Here’s a helpful temperature guide from SunSmart:

Temperature: 31-35; Risk of Heat Illness: High-very high

Uncomfortable for most people, modify activities.  Reduce intensity, take more breaks and limit duration to less than 60 minutes.  Be cautious when relative humidity reaches over 50%

Temperature: 36 and above; Risk of Heat Illness: Extreme

Very stressful for most people, modify, postpone or cancel activities.  Reschedule to a cooler part of the day or cooler location.  Be cautious when relative humidity reaches over 30%.

Have you tried one of our TRX Suspension Training classes at Geelong’s Gym.  It’s a whole lot of fun and an incredible total body workout.  We thought you’d like to have a brief look at what it’s all about, so we’ve included a video at the bottom of the post.

This particular class in the video is run by one of our experienced personal trainers, Annie Cramp, and the participants love it so much that this is actually the second round of classes they’ve signed up for! 

At Geelong’s Gym we strongly believe in the importance of adding some personal training into your exercise routine, because it’s the best way to achieve fantastic results FAST.  That’s why we opened Zone 10, our Personal Training Studio, which is where this TRX class is taking place.

We have lots of different classes on offer in the studio and our members who take part in them are delighted with the results they’re getting – because these types of functional exercises really work!  But not only that, it’s also much more motivating to work out with other like-minded people, not to mention a great way to get to know other members of the gym.

So, if you need some extra motivation to improve your fitness and/or body shape… or want to work out with someone else… or just want to try out the TRXs and the other great functional training equipment in Zone 10, sign up for the next round of Small Group Personal Training… there are lots of different classes available (like Ultimate Fitness Circuit, Summer Fit or Cardio Express to name but a few), specifically designed to work out all your muscle groups in a full-on, action packed half hour session.

Don’t forget to check out the video below to get a taste of what we’re talking about…

At Geelong’s Gym we strongly encourage Personal Training, because we know for a fact that it gets the best results in the least amount of time.  But here’s a tip to help you get even more benefit out of your PT session: eat food which powers and repairs muscle!

Cherries help prevent muscle inflammation.

Here are three foods which will get you the most out of your session with your Personal Trainer:

• Cherries – it has been proven that anthocyanins eliminate muscle inflammation and pain.  Cherries are loaded with anthocyanins.  Have about two dozen on them, either fresh or dried, ready to eat after your PT session.
• Whey Protein – consuming the essential amino acids found in whey powders during your PT session suppresses cortisol, a stress hormone which can hinder muscle building.  Before your session, mix about half a scoop into your water bottle.
• Low Fat Ricotta Cheese – the protein in ricotta cheese comes mostly from whey and so is full of the best amino acids to pump you up and speed up your recovery.  It’s also the best for building lean muscle.

A tasty way to get all that good stuff inside you is to whip up a smoothie straight after your Personal Training session: put 1/2 cup ricotta cheese in a blender with 1/2 cup skim milk, 1 scoop of whey protein and a handful of pitted cherries.  Blend until smooth and enjoy!

Do you want to get fit, fast?  That’s a stupid question really, isn’t it?  Because who wouldn’t want to get fit fast?!  One of the best ways to do it is with high intensity workouts the good old fashioned way, i.e. sweat, sweat, sweat… in other words, boxing!

Give your body a pre-Christmas blitz with some high intensity boxing classes!

Why is boxing so good?  Not only does it improve balance, coordination, core strength, speed, power, fat burning potential, aerobic and anaerobic fitness, it also is a fantastic way to boost confidence, develop discipline and relieve stress!  Whew, what a list!

An average sized athlete, roughly around 85 kilos, who does a one hour circuit style boxing workout will burn around 800 – 1000 calories per hour.

Convinced yet?  At Geelong’s Gym we’ve got a number of fantastic Cardio Box classes at various times during the week or you can check out our new Punch ‘n’ Crunch four week Personal Training course as a pre-Christmas body blitz.

Sometimes (in fact quite a lot of the time) when people get older they do less exercise and less strength work because they think their bodies can’t handle as much any more.

Unfortunately, in making this decision they basically allow their bodies to deteriorate.  What do you mean?! I can hear you crying out.

Let me explain a bit more fully.

Firstly, all forms of aerobic/cardio exercise are beneficial for overall fitness and great for the heart and lungs and should definitely be maintained.  However, aerobic activity doesn’t seem to be able to stop the muscle shriveling that accompanies aging.

If you want a life full of strength and vitality, it's time to start a weights program!

In fact, a Danish study carried out in the 90s provided some startling results.  Male athletes with an average age of 69 who had been training for at least a dozen years were found, unsurprisingly, to be extremely fit.  But, and here’s the scary bit… they had no more muscle mass or strength than their peers who did no exercise at all!  Worse, they were steadily losing muscle.  Yikes!

An additional group of men were looked at who did weight lifting.  And here’s where the results get really interesting… Men in their late sixties who had been training with fairly heavy weights for a decade or more were not only stronger than swimmers or runners of the same age, they were actually stronger than the average 28 year old man.

Biopsies of the weight lifters’ muscles showed the mix of muscle fibres was essentially like that of younger men, a blend of both slow twitch and fast twitch fibres.  The other group of men, despite their fitness, had significantly reduced fast twitch fibres, i.e. the instant strength which allows you to dodge cars.

Please hear me in this, aerobic exercise is definitely important for a variety of health and fitness reasons.  But, top physiologists believe that by middle age weight training is at least as important as aerobic exercise.  And for the elderly it’s even more important as it deters the kind of injuries which most often cause an old body to fail.

So, if you’re in your middle or twilight years and aren’t doing any kind of weight or strength training, I can’t emphasise strongly enough how vital it is for you to start doing some NOW!  And if you’re not sure where to start, why not come on in to Geelong’s Gym and book an appointment with one of our qualified Personal Trainers who will put together a weights program suitable to your particular needs.