Woodlands Fitness Centre

The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 21st January 2019

Monday 21st January 2019

Hi,

I just want to remind everyone to book into the group personal training sessions - yesterday's 9:30am group should have been limited to 8 people but 10 people showed up. So please can you make sure you've booked in. There is another group at 11:30am - if you can't get a slot at 9:30am.

Right! So we're now 3 weeks into 2019! So why not make this the year you finally follow through (no "follow through" jokes please).

At the start of every year, many of us find ourselves wondering how to keep the New Year's resolutions we've set for ourselves. It's a bit of cliche that the gym crowds surge in January, only to then back out by the middle of February. Sometimes it just seems like resolutions are just meant to be broken.

Making resolutions is an effective way to set goals and intentions for the New Year. Deciding to make positive changes, like ditching a bad habit and adopting a healthier one, is always a good idea - one you should definitely see through to the end.

Often, what we don't realise is that the problem isn't that we aren't capable of sticking to our resolutions - it's that we need to do a better job making resolutions that are actionable and achievable. Otherwise, it's almost like setting yourself up to fall short.

Change is hard. We are creatures of habit. Unless you are very motivated, have good social support, and have the right environment, it is difficult to make lasting behaviour changes. The kinds of things that can hold you back from reaching your goals may crop up before you've even attempted to change a thing.

This subject is explored later in our article: How to Make and Keep Your New Year Resolutions

Not everyone needs 1-to-1 personal training. Actually, unless you're training for something very specific, despise groups of people or have a specific need (i.e. rehabilitation), very few of you need a 1-to-1 personal training session. At least not all the time.

I charge £21 for a 1-to-1 45 minute PT session - so if you have 4 sessions per week, that's £364 per month. The repayments for a new Audi.

If you have a reasonable understanding of most exercises, then you may only need a personal trainer to tell you what to do, how many to do and to keep checking up on you. On this basis, you could share this personal trainer with a handful of other people. So why spend £300+ per month when you could spend £35-£40 per month for a comparable service? So you can have the brand new Audi and the body of your dreams.

The Woodlands Fitness Centre now offers Group Personal Training. The premise is simple:

✔ 32 x PT sessions available every week.
✔Sessions can be used to burn fat, get fit and build lean muscle.
✔ Groups include HIIT, kettlebells, barbells, dumbbells and bodyweight exercises
✔ Max 6-8 people per session
✔ Come to as many sessions as you like
✔ Prices from £6.92 per week (Paid monthly)
✔ No contract options available

Each session will be a proper personal training session. These sessions will push you far harder than training on your own. So you'll get much better results.

So, £300+ of personal training every month for £35? Surely that's a no brainier....?

Group Training membership prices:

Joint/Student:
£30pm for 12 months, £35pm for 3 months and £40pm for 1 month.

Single:
£35pm for 12 months, £40pm for 3 months and £45pm for 1 month.

Here is a list of our group training sessions:

http://www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/group-exercise

Gym Only:

Single: £23pm for 12 months, £25pm for 3 months and £27pm for 1 month.
Joint/Student: £20pm for 12 months, £23pm for 3 months and £26pm for 1 month.

PT prices:

Here are a few examples of our most popular PT packages:

8 x 30 minute PT sessions
£112

4 x 45 minute PT sessions
£80

4 x 60 minute PT sessions
£107

All sessions must be used within 4 weeks. We use time limits with our personal training packages to encourage frequent and consistent training. Packages can be designed to your individual needs. We can adjust the time limits in advance to take into account holidays, business trips, etc.

All of our PT packages include Group Personal Training membership.

Opening Hours:

Monday: 7.30am - 9.00pm
Tuesday: 9.00am - 9.00pm
Wednesday: 7.30am - 9.00pm
Thursday: 9.00am - 9.00pm
Friday: 7.30am - 8.00pm
Saturday: 8.00am - 2.00pm
Sunday 8.00am - 2.00pm

We always want to know what you think of the Woodlands Fitness Centre - the gym, prices, personal training, group personal training, and anything else. Please speak to us at the gym, email any feedback and suggestions to the email address at the end of this newsletter.

Thanks,

GW


How to Make and Keep Your New Year Resolutions

If you want to set yourself up for the best chance of success, start with these smart tips for making better resolutions you can actually stick to.

1). Make smaller resolutions:

You think: "I'm going to spend less, work out more, and get promoted." All great aspirations, but creating a resolution that's too big sets you up for failure. The first key to success is focusing on one goal, not three. Then do a quick reality check. Look at the level of commitment it will require to achieve, and consider if you'll be able to match it. Are you really going to be able to swear off chocolate completely? Unlikely. Limiting your chocolate consumption to a few times a week would be much more achievable.

2). Get specific with your goals.

"lose weight" is a good goal. But how? And how much? Without some definable parameters, your best intentions can get lost in the shuffle. The more detailed you can be - "I'm going to lose 1 Ib a week by watching what I eat and working out morel" - the easier it is to stay focused on what you have to do to succeed.

Using The Mifflin-St. Jeor equation, let's do the sums for a 62 year old female who is 5' 9" tall and weighs 13 stone. Her BMR is 1,443 calories per day. This person is lightly active so we increase her calorie target to 1,984, which is fairly standard for a female (according to most food packaging).

If this lady wants to lose 1 Ib a week (3,500 calories), she will need a 500 calorie daily deficit, which is approx 25% of this maintenance level.

Normally I would recommend a 20% calorie deficit as dieting with a high calorie deficit puts a lot of stress on the body. Long term diets increase cortisol, a stress hormone, which means you might start retaining water.

Setting small, specific goals also keeps you encouraged along the way - each time you meet one, you have reason to celebrate your progress.

3). Write down your goals.

People who write down their goals feel a greater sense of accountability and have a much higher chance of accomplishing them. Post your goals on your fridge, write them in dry-erase marker on the bathroom mirror, or write them down in a journal. A journal can help you reflect on your progress. Honest reflection can help you to see how you may be sabotaging yourself or to recognise patterns of behaviour.

4). Make your resolutions public:

We're more likely to achieve our resolutions when we make them public. Sharing our goals holds us accountable, so it's harder to back out. While sharing with your journal and bathroom mirror help, too, they don't count as "other people." Tell your best friend about your New Year's resolution, and check in with her on the reg to chat about it and make sure you're on track. Better yet, get her on board so you're both working toward the same goal.

5). Plan your follow through.

No, this doesn't involve packing a change of underwear. Behave!

Your resolution should never just be another item on your to-do list. At first, your goal was new and exciting, so you were inspired to make time for it; three weeks in, the novelty may wear off. If each morning you have to find a way to make your goal happen, you're more likely to decide based on whether you feel like doing it, which we rarely do.

Schedule a week's worth of workouts each Sunday so you don't have to think about how to fit it all in. And attach your goal to another activity. For instance, if you want to meditate more, plan a nightly session for right after brushing your teeth.

6). Check in with yourself regularly.

Reassessing your goal throughout the weeks and months it takes to get there is essential. Once you start making changes, you may find your original goal was a little unrealistic. Instead of sticking with it once you find it's probably not possible, feel free to tweak the goal as you see fit.

I would encourage people to, even after a month, to revaluate their goals. Look at your lifestyle and revise your goals to make sure they really work fit in. Then share with the person that you're sharing accountability with. Or write it down.

7). Celebrate small successes:

If your focus is just on the endgame, it's easy to feel discouraged when progress plateaus around the one-month mark. That's why it's crucial to recognize and reward the smaller successes along the way. Rather than waiting until you've shed all 10 pounds, give yourself a mini self praise each time you drop 2. If your goal is to run a half marathon, don't save the party for the finish line. After each long run, reward yourself. To help you track important milestones and stay motivated along the way, use your journal.

8). Remember that it's OK to slip up

This is, of course, based on you getting back on track!. If you've faltered, know that you're in good company: Having a lapse is common. In fact, 75 percent of resolution makers slip up within the first two months.

What really matters is how you handle it; there are those who spend several days feeling guilty over their misstep - and then those who acknowledge the screw up but get right back on track. Guess which group is more likely to succeed?

One setback shouldn't undo all your efforts. Instead of stewing, figure out how to prevent it from happening again. If you exceed your calorie allowance on one day, find a way to reduce calories for the remainder of the week to average out.

9). Don't rely on others to get you where you're going.

Asking people for support is smart, but to make your resolution stick, now is the time to learn how to be your own cheerleader. In fact, relying too heavily on a pal or family member to get you to do something can actually decrease your motivation to work toward your goals.

Your significant other might be great at getting you out of bed for your morning workout, but what happens when they are out of town? Without any motivation to hit the gym on your own, you and the snooze button will become best chums. To remind yourself why this goal is important to you, write little notes and post them where you'll see them - your desk, the mirror, and that snooze button.

However, you will benefit from having a personal trainer. Going to the gym is only effective if you know what you're doing and have a plan.

A personal trainer will hold you accountable. How many times have you gone to bed and said to yourself, 'Tomorrow I'm going to wake up, go to the gym, and do an hour workout before I get ready for work', and then woken up and decided to sleep for another hour instead of exercising?

This is where a Personal Trainer is critical to ensuring that you commit and stick to your fitness goals. If you've made an appointment to meet you trainer for a session, then you are far more likely to still go than if you are just telling yourself you should go to the gym.

When some people go to the gym, they wander in, spend 10 minutes on one machine and then drift slowly over to another, before half-heartedly trying bicep curls for five reps and then walking out. I guess it's better than nothing - but that's not the basis of comparison you really want?

Sometimes it takes a workout buddy to hold you accountable. Working out with a partner not only makes it more likely that you'll work out, it makes most people try harder than they would on their own. Your partner can cheer you on to finish that last half mile or to finish those last four deadlifts. And let's not forget the power of good old-fashioned competition. If your friend is doing 50 squats, don't you suddenly feel inspired to do 51?

So maybe don't rely on others to get you where you're going - but get help whenever and wherever you can.

10). Stick with what works.

Once your behaviour starts to feel routine, it's easy to assume you have this in the bag and can let down your guard. But that's when you become vulnerable to missteps. You may think that because you haven't smoked in more than two months, you can lift your ban on going out with friends who do, or that you can stop keeping a food log because you've got the diet down. But those techniques were crucial to your success up to this point, and taking them away can dissolve your resolve. Whatever you're doing is working, so don't stop!

11). Believe in yourself.

Henry Ford once said (I know this because I was there), "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." People say that they want to make a resolution, but they don't believe that they can actually accomplish it. If you know you're capable of making your desired change, then believe it wholeheartedly. If not, let's re-think how we can phrase or re-format your resolution" to be something that you're confident you can achieve.

When you reach your goal, it's time to celebrate, of course. But it's also time to plan how you'll stick with them moving forward. Reaching a healthy weight, developing better eating habits, or getting into a regular fitness routine are all healthy lifestyle changes that are worth sticking with for more than just the year.

Use your sense of accomplishment to further fuel your healthy habits so that you can keep feeling good - and proud of how you've bettered yourself - for years to come.

I'm sure all of the above makes sense but if you have any questions please come and ask me.


Beef and Tomato Stew

Ingredients:

900g chuck steak
3 tablespoons oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
1 fat clove garlic, crushed
450g tomatoes, skinned and thickly sliced
1 heaped teaspoon Herbes de Provence
½ teaspoon brown sugar
Seasoning
Additional

Method:

Preheat the oven to 150˚C. 300˚F. Gas mark 2.

First trim the meat, then cut into 2.5-4cm cubes.

Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole and fry the meat over a fairly high heat until the cubes are nicely browned.

Add the chopped onions and garlic to the pan, turn the heat down a bit and continue to cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the onions are softened.

Next add the tomatoes to the casserole with the Herbes de Provence and some seasoning.

Stir well, cover the casserole and transfer to the oven to cook slowly for about 2-2½ hours, or until the meat is tender. Then taste and sprinkle in the sugar, and additional seasoning if necessary.

This is delicious served with buttered noodles.

Enjoy!


Useless Facts

Length of beard an average man would grow if he never shaved would be 27.5 feet

Adam Coleman once won a game of Connect Four in 3 moves.

Over 60% of all those who marry get divorced.

A copy of Detective Comics #38 exists with an error that has Batman constantly refer to his sidekick as 'Stuart Pearson'.

400-quarter pounders can be made from 1 cow.





The Woodlands Fitness Centre Ltd
A: Unit 27, Molyneux Business Park, Darley Dale, Derbyshire, DE4 2HJ
T: (01629) 733 123
E: woodlandsfitness@yahoo.co.uk
W: www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk