admin

• 150g pitted frozen cherries
• 50g frozen blueberries
• 15g pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• 30g protein powder (natural or vanilla)
• 200ml unsweetened almond or rice milk
• 1 probiotic capsule (without the case!)
• Optional: add a ripe banana if you need extra energy, to have as a meal or post-training!

Time, we can’t ever get time back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Once a moment is over, it’s over.

Are you being present & investing your time or are you wasting your time, being distracted and costing you valuable time?

By investing your time wisely, you get a return on your investment. If you are wasting/spending time on things (like excess social media, distractions, binge watching TV) there is most likely no return on that time spent. Of course relaxation and recovery can come in some form of watching TV or scrolling Instagram and CAN benefit our mental state, but if you get stuck in the wormhole of Instagram and end up on your best friends-cousins-hairdressers-boyfriends-sister’s page, it’s most likely you need to put your phone down!

We live in a crazy world, we just bombed Syria and it’s not even in the news! Who knows what could happen tomorrow? Our time is precious. We live in an amazing 1st World  Country, and here we are complaining that our coffee was made to hot, or that you can’t make it to the gym as much as you like. You can afford to buy a coffee – well done! You can afford a gym membership and have transport to get to the sessions – well done! Let’s try to look at our TIME as a valuable commodity. Trade time for things important to you, like spending time with family (investment return of love and support), your fitness (return of health, strength and reduced stress), your passion (return of happiness and productivity), recovery (return of mindset and wellness) and even things like gratitude and giving back to others!

I like to relate this back to my training. When I am in the gym, it is an OPPORTUNITY to use my body to feel strong, capable and fit. It is an opportunity to push myself. An opportunity to sweat and feel invigorated. An opportunity to move, and feel good about myself. Many people don’t get the opportunity that we get. We have arms, we have legs, we can afford a gym membership, we can spend our TIME on ourselves for an hour at the gym. So make it worth it. Spend that time wisely.

But remember, this doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself in the gym. This means that you firstly, assess your stress and readiness to train, and if you feel great, go for it, but if you don’t feel that great, “time spent wisely” for you is simply coming in and going through the motions, maybe work on your tempo and perfect form instead of going crazy heavy. No matter what, you are investing that time much more resourcefully than if you were sitting at home on the couch watching Bachelor in Paradise (don’t deny, you know you are addicted!).

Change the way you think about your TIME 🙂

Coach Soni

I wrote a blog not long ago about getting nervous before training, that we as coaches also get nervous before certain workouts. Then I received an email from a member recently that inspired me to write this blog. This member was surprised to know that coaches can sometimes have a lack of motivation to train.

When most people think of Personal Trainers and Coaches, they think that we are always eager to train. That we eat, sleep and think about training all day. However, that isn’t the case, we are still human. We to go through periods where training becomes a chore. I could easily not train most of the time, especially when I’m tired.

With that being said, we still know that training and eating the right foods is an important part of keeping healthy. This is the message that I would like to get across; that you don’t have to start training, workout crazy hard and then expect to love it. However, we create a community that is enjoyable to be in, comrades to do it with and people who support you.

That’s why we as coaches train together, we pick each other up and motivate each other when we’re struggling, we also keep each other accountable.

If you are ever feeling a slump in your training or feeling that lack of motivation. Then chat to one of the coaches. We are here to help you, maybe there is something we can do to mix up your training or go through some goal setting. Whatever it is, we can relate.

I hope this helps.

Coach Alex

All the stresses of our normal life plus long working hours and late nights can have a big effect on our training. How often does the alarm go off and the thought of training isn’t as appealing as it the day before? Getting to the gym on time is a win in itself, you SHOULD celebrate those moments, clap your hands and pat yourself on your back that you have reached the gym.

BUT if you lack enthusiasm for your training session once you arrive then it’s going to be a loooooong hour and way less fun than it could be.

Let’s concrete the win of getting to the gym by training with intensity and the right attitude. You don’t have to go crazy and hit PB’s with every set but dragging your feet will make things worse and you will convince yourself that it’s harder than it needs to be.

When you arrive at the gym try and switch gears, this will not only help yourself but also the people around you to. If you are sluggish and not putting in the work, this lack of energy will flow on to others. It works the same if you train hard, the people around you will want to work hard to.

Sometimes you need to trick your brain and fake lovin’ it until you actually do love it.

Take this entertaining example… Jason, Brent, Soni and I experimented with this concept by being goofy and fake laughing. It didn’t take long for it to turns in to real belly laughing. So good for the soul. Try it alone or with a friend. No matter how tired you are, you will eventually laugh, PROMISE.

Watch Video

Let’s take this approach with us into our training environment. Think of a day when you’ve arrived at the gym and even though you’re not feeling like you want to train. Your first goal needs to be to put your tiredness to the side, be present and grateful you are at the gym and train your little heart out. Going to the gym is one of the best ways to use one of the 24 hours we have in the day so make good use of it.

Make your mantra: get to the gym, put the effort in and go home knowing that the time you spent there wasn’t wasted.

With laughter and good training intentions,

Coach Alex

Before I dive in and give you this one secret, let me first explain that I’m not about to give you some hidden secret that you’ve never heard of, which all these super human athletes are using. What I’m going to to discuss is is one of the most important factors of training that determines results.

Whether you program them but don’t use them, or you don’t program them at all, REST PERIODS are a must.

Ask yourself ‘Have you applied these into your programs?’, ‘Do they match up with the adaptation your programming is trying to achieve?’ and ‘Are you sticking to these during each and every session?’. I will even admit that there are times when I lack the programming and execution of rest periods, and my lack of adaptation (…results) is obvious! Now Im not just going to put it down to only this, but it plays a major role in achieving specific strength qualities.

Building WORK CAPACITY? Keeping rest periods 45 seconds are below are crucial here!

Chasing HYPERTROPHY? Depending on what type of muscle growth you are after, you may implement rest periods of 60 seconds and less or you may  need to implement 1-2min rest periods.

Want to increase MAXIMAL STRENGTH? Lifting heavy requires some decent recovery time, 3-5mins depending on what load your lifting

What to achieve more POWER? Well FULL recovery is important!!! 3-5min is a must!

(We can see that MAXIMAL STRENGTH and POWER qualities have the same rest periods, BUT these will be performed at different load %’s, which manipulates the ‘Time under tension’ and produces a different stress on your body.)

Rest periods are a major principle that we must use within our programming to ensure the right stress on your body, leading to the desired adaptation. If you want results then I would highly recommend making necessary changes to your rest periods and following these to the T.

Fortunately for MOST of us, this will achieve results INSTANTLY!

Thanks for reading – Coach Cal

One sentence has stuck with me and has completely changed the way I make decisions. A client once told me, READY! FIRE! AIM!

He had just finished his MBA and we were discussing why people take so long to make a final decision. It seems people are waiting for the water temperature to be just perfect before jumping in to the pool. My approach? Just dive in and see what you learn.

Learn to recognise and avoid analysis paralysis

Analysis paralysis is a common term and unfortunately common practice in business and fitness environments. I see it all the time especially with people experimenting with different nutritional approaches.

Here is how one example can play out: They read an article about let’s say, paleo that sparks their curiosity. They dig a little deeper. They’re about to try it, then read a conflicting article about why what they’re about to try is wrong/bad/pointless. So, they do nothing. NOTHING. This can continue for months, during which time they come up with different reasons for their indecision and inaction. This process takes up an unfathomable amount of precious mental brain space and prevents learning from experiences. In some cases, they finally think screw it and seek out an expert in that field. Worst still, they don’t even act on the advice of the expert once their spent time and money on it! You get the drift.

Don’t deliberate, act. 

We recently surveyed our members and the majority of them thought about starting training for six months before getting in touch with us. Imagine the progress they could have made in that time if they’d started when they FIRST thought about it. Would you believe we’ve even had people enquire about training with us a couple of times each year for the last 5 years. They just don’t ACT. They SAY they want to start training but instead of starting, they create scenarios and excuses in their head about why they can’t take action. They are not in the driver’s seat so they’ll never create the changes they want. Life’s too short for this attitude.

You are the driver, navigate your direction.

I’m saying that whatever it is you are ‘thinking about doing’ just go after it, give it a try. Take control of the steering wheel of your life. What’s the absolute worst that can happen? You don’t like it? GREAT, you tried, you learnt something – now you don’t have to WONDER whether you’ll like it anymore. Better still, what if you LOVE it. You may discover something that will reshape your life in the most positive way possible. One member has set a goal of trying something new in the gym each month, this month is Olympic weightlifting sessions, last month it was Movement classes. It’s nutritious for the brain and good for your soul.

Even if you don’t enjoy everything you try, you can take comfort that you tried. I guarantee you’ll learn something about yourself that you can add to your ‘life toolkit’, so make sure you take the time to reflect on what you learnt from the experience. The stars don’t have to align on every decision you make. Nothing is going to happen unless YOU step up, firmly take the reins and make it happen. Just think how exciting it is that we live in a world so spoiled for choice in opportunities to learn and grow.

This week’s challenge… identify that burning ‘thing’ you’ve been thinking about on and off for years (we all have something) and go and DO IT!

Thanks for reading Coach Cogs

It’s totally normal to feel stressed and worried at times. What’s not normal is when these feelings don’t go away when the source of the stress has been removed eg. a big project at work; someone we love is ill or has passed away.

When anxious feelings are ongoing, without a clear cause, things can spiral out of control and sufferers can feel that even the simplest parts of daily life really tough. According to BeyondBlue, anxiety affects 1 in 4 people (1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men) at some stage in their life, making it the most common mental health condition in Australia.

Help yourself, help others.

Talking about how you feel matters. R U OK? advocate that “a conversation could change a life.” And taking time to learn about how anxiety manifests can help you and others in two key ways.

1 – You’ll be able to recognise signs in yourself and better recognise when to seek help.

2 – Your awareness can help others. If you see someone having a hard time, start a conversation with them.

Keep up your training and ask for help.

One thing that research has supported, time and time again, is that regular exercise helps reduce the symptoms of both anxiety and depression. So even if you aren’t feeling ‘up to it’, getting along to your regular sessions is one of the best things you can do. Just be gentle and kind to yourself.

We pride ourselves on being a supportive community at P360, if you need to talk to someone – more than just a casual chat with a member – reach out to one of the Coaches and we can help.

If you are concerned about your own levels of anxiety or worried about a friend, there are many great resources available – go to R U OK? or visit BeyondBlue to learn more. If there are children in your life who may be showing signs, try Smiling Mind.

Credit: Positively Present via the Gottman Institute.

POKE BOWL

All amounts in this recipe are specific to the individual.

PROTEINS:

Choose 1 or halve 2

½ cup Edamame

1 piece Smoked Salmon or raw salmon

Sliced Tempeh

CARBS:

Miso rice – (brown rice cooked absorption method with 1Tbsp of miso paste)

Corn kernels (cooked)

FATS:

Choose 1 or halve 2

Avocado

Sesame seeds

Dressing: 2tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp soy/tamari sauce, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1tsp pure maple syrup or honey.

VEGGIES:

• Choose as many as you would like (All Thinly sliced)
• purple cabbage
• Spinach
• Carrot
• Cucumber
• Seaweed
• Cauliflower Rice

Step 1:

Choose your base carbohydrate ingredients and put a serving size into your bowl.

Step 2:

Arrange on top, your favourite veggies. The more colours the better!

Step 3:

Place your proteins on top.

Step 4:

Drizzle your dressing or add your fats on top.

If you want to go crazy, I like to add a little Japanese Mayo too!

I was chatting to a member last month and they asked me as they were about to do some Pull Ups…“How do you feel going into a workout?” They were surprised to hear that I to get nervous and anxious before certain workouts and quite relieved that Coaches get nervous to. So if you think you’re the only person who gets nervous before a workout, you’d be wrong.

I see training anxiety as a positive and like to hear when members have a few butterfly’s flying around inside. This show’s that you are fully prepared to do some hard work and put the body through a bit of torment.

If you turned up and you and weren’t a little scared before some of the workouts then how much are you really willing to suffer? Could your head be in the wrong place? Having a bit of fear is a test of your grit.

Like anything in life, anything worth doing takes hard work. The feeling of completing something easy doesn’t compare to completing something that challenged us. By turning up and going after it is proving to yourself that you have the tenacity and the commitment to get stronger, faster and healthier. This game isn’t for everyone, but having the courage to get after it and put yourself through a bit of discomfort will make you better physically and mentally when you come out the other side.

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear” – Mark Twain

Thanks for reading – Coach Alex

Fitness is a journey. Not a destination. What I think is wrong with the industry these days, is that everybody is focused on the end result: how you look, or what numbers you want on that barbell.

What motivates you? Why do you train? Are you chasing numbers on the scale or barbell??

The journey to fitness and health is forever ongoing. Remember the last time you took a few weeks off training and you felt so much weaker/unfit coming back? Our bodies are amazingly efficient at using up any muscle we no longer need. Fitness is a constant uphill battle. You can’t just reach a certain level of fitness and stay there by not doing anything. It must be worked on, hours must be spent, a proper program must be followed, consistency is key. I see so many people focus on the end result so much that they forget to enjoy the journey. The journey: Those early mornings turned productive thanks to the post-workout endorphin’s, the healthy greens in your lunch that are nourishing your gut and cells, the laughs with your fellow gym mates, the ‘rush’ of that elevated heart rate, learning a new recipe, seeing and feeling the improvements in your mobility. Fitness should be fun.

The other day I was driving and saw an ad from a well known gym, the billboard showed  a lady in exercise gear, smiling and holding a doughnut with the slogan: Do cardio things for sweet flings.

Now for me, that is sending the wrong message to the world. It is saying exercise to work off the “bad” foods. The ad is placing guilt around sweet foods. It’s teaching generations to feel guilt around “bad” foods and that you need to work them off. It’s basically telling you to try and out-train a bad diet, which we all know we cannot do. You can’t out train a bad diet.

No foods are “bad”. Foods just contain varying amounts of protein, carbs, fats, minerals and micronutrients. Sweet foods can be healthy in moderation and eaten at the right times. High fat foods can also be eaten in moderation in a balanced diet and exercise lifestyle. We all know HOW to eat healthy. But its the CHANGE and transition into eating healthy that is the hard part. Changing HABITS produces CHANGE over time.

Let’s dig a little deeper into biology for a second. Your entire body is made from cells. These tiny cells control pretty much everything in our body. Did you know your cell membrane (wall) is made up of lipids (also known as fats)? These fats are permeable, which means nutrients & materials can penetrate in and out of the cell wall to provide nourishment, energy and much more. Now if we are consuming lots of GOOD FATS, think nuts, seeds, olive oils, flax, fish, avocados etc, these types of fats a nice and fluid, and keep our cells functioning optimally. Now think about your saturated fats, like animal fats, coconut oils, palm oils etc which are solid at room temperature, and then lets even look into our processed fats used in foods needing a long shelf life, like trans-fats, margarine, safflower oils, soybean oils, corn oils etc. These fats, if consumed in high amounts, are alot thicker, less permeable, and will slow down our cell wall penetrability. This makes for sluggish cells, sluggish systems and a sluggish body, a foggy mind. Do you really want that?

You know what foods usually contain some form of trans fat? Store bought doughnuts, cakes, biscuits, microwave popcorn, fried foods and many more processed foods.

We don’t want sluggish cells and a sluggish body. The company promoting eating donuts because you workout is sending the total wrong message. Exercise makes us feel GOOD. It makes us crave healthy foods. Healthy foods nourish our cells. Unhealthy foods can be eaten, but in moderation, and we shouldn’t feel guilty about it because it rarely happens.

Life can be lived healthily and happily, and can include doughnuts… in moderation!

Now go eat a doughnut, smell it, taste it, enjoy it and sit on your bum afterwards.

Coach Soni