Tuesday, 31st May

Thinking strong is a massive strategy you need to work on right now. At least as important as training and eating right. Your strength of mind will ultimately dictate how far you go, how quick you get there and the long term success of your efforts. We have never put so much stress on this as a gym, and will continue to do so, it’s that vital!!

I am acutely aware of those who struggle to stay strong mentally, struggle with their progress full stop. This is why we strongly urge you to not bother with negativity each day whenever possible. We always talk about the forces who try to drag you down, throw you off course and stop you achieving something big.

Have you become more positive yet? We strongly encourage you to help yourself and see the world a different and more positive way. Not only does it make you feel better, everyone around you will become more positive too.

When someone looks to join the gym, it helps a lot if they are positive and open minded. Our environment is precious to us, and we know how powerful that a crowd of positive encouraging people can be to the overall success of all our members, that’s beyond any doubt!

We want our most positive members to become leaders, and to keep driving our positive culture. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, and some will complain. If you are going to complain though, please offer a solution because we are always about getting things down, and always looking to get everything resolved in super quick time and move on to greater heights.

My biggest effort every day is not only designing programmes, it’s getting people up for their workouts, and strongly encouraging them to fulfil their potential as often as possible.

I always strongly urge everyone to focus on the “process”, not always your end destination. If you haven’t got your process right, then you will never have success longer term. Your habits and daily rituals determine your success, and how long you are successful for. You can never get “burnt out”, all that happens is that you may forget why you’re in this in the first place, WHY you started and your deep down drive and desire to get better has to be burning like a furnace at all times.

Most people at some time write themselves off, they doubt themselves and hold back often when the most effort is required. The true secret is to continue at full speed throughout these difficult periods, because they will make all the difference.

Thinking right is massive for you right now, acting with positivity will overcome any challenges, and this will enable all of you to start and finish strong in every workout, every measurement and every area of life you want to be strong at, and gain great fulfilment from.

Wednesday, 25th May

Here’s a massive transition in terms of terminology you need to make, and the sooner you make it the better.

Doing “cardio” is often seen as the “let’s finish off by burning the fat off” part.

Unfortunately, this is not true. The true fat burning is done in your strength training in workout 1, and all your movement exercises in workout 2, and whilst the air assault bike, rower, ski machine, etc are very valuable and DO burn fat, they alone are not responsible for your massive results. One pound of fat burns 2 calories a day, one pound of lean muscle tissue burns 35 calories day-that’s a powerful fact right there about developing lean muscle, talk about raising your metabolism!!!

ALL of your exercises matter. If you didn’t do strength work, then you wouldn’t re-shape your body, not be able to burn as much calories at rest or fight against osteoporosis. Our weights workouts get you out of breath too, that’s why we only rest 30 seconds in between sets, it challenges you in ALL ways.

If you didn’t do your running on the ladders up the hill, or with bulgarian bags up the hill, or hit the prowlers hard, hit the steps etc, you wouldn’t get so out of breath and you heart and lungs wouldn’t be in such great shape.

If you didn’t do all our movement work in workout 2, you again wouldn’t burn so much fat, you wouldn’t be so flexible and ready for anything in sports etc. You get fundamentally strong doing this workout in all ways, and it can be deeply exhausting to do.

We are proud of all our balance work, they add an amazing amount to your all round ability, make you so much stronger on your feet, hit your core so much harder, create a much stronger back, hips and hamstrings and take a lot of stress off your back full stop. You will never develop such a strong core without balance work.

Our programmes are designed to be all rounders, working every single area and keeping your progress going strong everywhere, instead of being just good at weights or cardio, you NEED EVERYTHING so let’s embrace it.

See our programmes as huge fat burning furnaces, building massive strength levels, amazing heart and lungs capacity and being much stronger on your feet AND OFF your feet. See your programme as getting you ready for ANYTHING, creating huge energy levels and giving you all your inner self-confidence back that you may have thought long gone.

Let’s do it!

Monday, 23rd May

The perfect set of circumstances allowing you to get into great shape………..never exist.

I’ve never met anyone who has all day to train.

I’ve never met anyone who suddenly had 3 months “free” to get into shape finally.

I’ve met anyone who has had one shot at getting fit and it worked first time without any problems at all.

Here’s more like of what our members face on a daily basis.

Very little sleep due to children up in the night.

Very little sleep due to night shifts.

Most members have kids, a job and the whole family too to look after, yet somehow find time to do their workouts 3 times a week.

Some members don’t always have babysitters to come down every day, instead they are encouraged to bring their kids WITH them. This has worked well over the years, and we had a 9 WEEK old baby at the gym last week.

Many members have 30 minutes to train and want to make the most of every moment due to work, kids etc. This is easily achievable and all we do is ramp up the intensity.

Many members are afraid to join due to anxiety issues, once they do join though they find there are MANY with the same issues and are working their way through them. We are a very positive and supportive environment for such challenges in life.

Some members work with very negative people, often being discouraged to go to the gym. This negativity can build up into jealousy as you succeed more and more, and constantly putting you off, but as you spend more time with us in the gym, they learn to spot these people for what they really are, and learn to stay positive and take action for themselves.

Some members have daily lives that are often huge challenges because they care for others 24 hours a day. Not only do they find a small slot to train with us, many are our best performers and always slam in huge workouts.

Some members say a blessing every day that they are still alive, can get out of the house and whatever is wrong with them, they appreciate what a workout can give them and how much value it adds to their life. This is one of my most humbling conversations i have regularly with certain people.
This is for all of you who struggle to leave the house, find it a huge struggle to get through the gym door, and to get through a barnstorming workout, never complain about it, act with unbelievable humility at all times, and say quietly you enjoyed your workouts you hope to see us tomorrow.

There is never a perfect time or set of circumstances, there is only today, this week so never quit and keep on showing up no matter what.

Wednesday, 18th May

Once you are comfortable in your own skin, you can set your OWN records, your own shape, your own progress, your own level of happiness and on YOUR own terms.

It’s pointless comparing yourself to others, because we are ALL different.

We have a massive variety of individuals each with their own gifts, their own challenges and their own different situation.

Someone who has just had a baby (we have many), will have far different goals than someone who plays professional sport. Comparison is pointless.

Someone who has high blood pressure will have different goals to someone who wants to raise their self-esteem and self-confidence.

Someone who is struggling with their mind to function day to day will have different goals to someone who is 70 years of age and suffering from osteoporosis.

Someone who is 14 stone who wants to look exactly someone 8 stone is unrealistic and the heavier individual is not celebrating how good she can look if she maxed out her OWN potential. Comparison will eat you up if you let it especially when it’s pointless and always self-defeating.

We have members looking amazing at 8 stone AND a few stone heavier full stop.

Mark lewis will bust me up pulling that tyre up the hill in terms of time, but instead of crucifying myself inside about it, i celebrate the fact that i can do it myself, and doing it, EVEN if it takes me much longer, it is a victory for ME.

The message is to be happy what you are doing, appreciate the progress you have and ARE making, how far you have come in ALL ways since you started and celebrate all the big things you can still do and ASPIRE to do and are totally within your reach.

All of this makes you far happier in your own skin, puts a sense of perspective on everything we do and totally celebrates you as an individual, what makes you unique and how you stand out as someone who may have overcome the odds and the chances are that many ADMIRE you either publicly or from afar.

Monday, 9th May

Here’s the chances you have of great success over the next 3 weeks in the new programme starting officially today!! We have just had a huge morning and i want to spell it out to you what you need to do.

You need to hit every workout with real intensity, with focus and a true desire to do better each time. Hard work leads to results, no excuses, you need to put it in often so expect hard work to be the cornerstone of your overall results.

You need to show up a minimum of three times a week without fail. Showing up is half the battle, because you know once you get to the gym, you will be guaranteed to have a big session.

Eat right. If you are putting all of this work in, then you want to maximise your results. Don’t waste any of the effort you put in by eating rubbish. Concentrate on shopping for good food and make sure you eat good quality, made by yourself meals regularly. No ready meals, cook from scratch whenever possible.

Drink plenty of water. If you’re not taking enough water in, then your performances will dip quickly, you will get dehydrated and you will develop headaches which will destroy your progress. Water is vital for all sorts of reasons!

Sleep well. If you don’t get enough rest, you will show up half-hearted, irritable and half the energy you need. Get to bed early and your body will recover well, and come back with a big bounce ready for your next workout!

Get your mind right. Associate with positive people whenever possible, write down your goals and review them regularly to see how close you are getting. If you get all the previous things right, then your mind will be clearer, more focused and more positive so you hit this programme like a train!!

This sounds like a basic list but will give you everything you need to outperform over the next 3 weeks and conquer this latest very demanding programme!