Oxygen Health & Fitness

Oxygenfitnesskiama 2019 Year in Review – Part 1

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One of the Highlights of my Year is sending out the Oxygenfitnesskiama Yearly Wrap as it’s great to go back and reminisce over everything that has happened in the past 12 Months. I’d encourage you to do the same in your life as there is undoubtedly things you’ll have forgotten about and it’s great just to review what lessons you might have learnt and what things you have to be grateful for. It takes a while to compile but it’s always worth it and it helps give you an attitude of gratitude. 

Thanks to everyone who contributes to making Oxygen Health & Fitness – Kiama’s Best Gym.

Here’s our 2019 Year in Review:

Jan/Feb/Mar

New Year’s Revolution Challenge

The New Year‘s Revolution Challenge of 2019 was a 4 Week Program Block that kick started our year. Though Testing Week is nothing new to us here at Oxygen, it was advertised as a Program that focused on strength and helps establish a base for us to launch into the rest of 2019. This is opposed to typical New Year‘s Resolutions that start like a bat out of hell, with no real plan in mind other than lots of cardio and restrictive diets. The research shows that by February 40% of New Year‘s Resolutioners have already quit! By 6 Months it’s 60% and by year end it’s 90%!
 
We kicked off with Week 1 which got everyone alternating days of Barbell Lifts and Body Weight Conditioning. The idea was to start with a comfortable weight you can manage for 5 Reps, then as you progress through the Sets and your body adjusts to the technical aspects of each Lift, you add weight to challenge yourself. This is only if your technique looks good. If you hit a parallel Squat. If you touch that Bench Press bar to your chest each time. If you keep that full body tension pretty well. 
 
The Body Weight Sessions kicked off with Core work, aka Plank practice, and holy dooly 30 seconds may as well have been 30 minutes. Next up, a bit of Power work to fire up those fast-twitch fibres and then it was onto some Sub Maximal Tests for Body Weight Exercises like Push Ups and Pull ups mixed in with some other lower body movements to keep the heart rate up. They wrapped up with a stint on the Rowers and it appeared we’d all become pack-a-day smokers over the Xmas break, or at least that’s how a few people reacted (including me).
 
Freestyle Friday was a chance for people to come in and work on 1 or 2 Lifts, a few Accessory Exercises or whatever the hell they wanted really. Our Members always enjoy getting stuck into it on Fridays.
 
Weekend Warrior, which has always been the most popular Session in our week, was a typical Saturday slog. We hit some Power work first up to get the body fired up and then mixed in a heap of Strength Exercises with minimal Rest which made for an intense Cardiovascular effect despite the fact we were lifting Weights.
 
And I guess that’s the REVOLUTIONARY part of the whole New Year’s Revolution Challenge. It’s about making strength your foundation, not cardio. It’s about fueling your body with more food, not less. It’s about the weight on the bar, not the weight on the scales. It’s just about being more, not less.
 
If you’re sick of the same old New Year’s Resolution bull$hit, gettin out and goin for a jog, boring cardio, restrictive diets, joining a new gym (cos it’s 24 hours and THAT’s what you’ve been missing all this time), going to the same gym (and convincing yourself you’ll be disciplined this year), telling yourself you know what to do you just have to do it (despite the fact that you’ve been telling yourself the same thing for years and never actually done it), if you’re tired of all that and you need the expertise of a Coach and the accountability of a Group of like minded people, join the 2020 New Year’s Revolution for just $197. Register Now, it starts Monday 6th January.
 

Kiama Precision Nutrition Coaching

For those of our Members looking for some extra guidance with their Nutrition in 2019, we followed a Precision Nutrition approach to focus on ONE HABIT AT A TIME.

PN have a detailed Curriculum which we delve into with our VIP Membership but a similar approach anyone can take is to follow our FORTNIGHTLY HABIT & WEEKLY CHALLENGE.

There’s a certain level of accountability to “proving” what you eat versus “telling” us what you eat.

There were times when it may have be a pain in the ass and you did’t feel like playing along. No probs, we all go through dips in motivation throughout the Year.

What I can tell you though is those who have had the BEST RESULTS at Oxygen over the past 10 Years have proven to us on a regular basis what they’re eating.

So we kicked off 2019 with the HABIT to Eat Protein @ every Meal

The WEEKLY CHALLENGE was show us a Photo of Breaky, Lunch and Dinner and name the Protein.

Each Fortnight throughout the Year the HABIT changed, each week it was either Breaky/Lunch?Dinner or Snacks. Everyone kept each other accountable by posting their Photos in our Precision Nutrition Facebook group here.

Testing Done, Goals Set

Our first Testing Week of 2019 has come and gone and although I love all of these Quarterly Events (we do Testing in Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct) the January one is my favourite.

One of the reasons why, is because it usually results in a big shift in mindset. The kind that can lead to big breakthroughs. It involves having to swallow your pride a bit and hold a mirror up to yourself. Why aren’t my results as good as I’d like? How come I’m not as strong as before? Why does everything feel so difficult?

Drumroll……. You’re not in shape. Although technically round is a shape 🙂

There are a few exceptions, but a LOT of people (me included) ate too much, drank too much and weren’t as active during the holidays.

I can already hear a few people saying “but I was actually pretty good bla bla”. Maybe you were, maybe you weren’t. But pretty good ain’t gunna get you to where you want to go and so the mindset fork in the road is here.

Is what I’m doing going to get me to where I want to go? No.

Is what I was doing through the back half of last year going to get me there. No.

Are my Goals something I want bad enough? Yes.

What am I willing to change/sacrifice in order to get closer to my Goals?

For most of us, it’s not that we aren’t working hard enough. For most of us, it’s not that we need to attend more sessions. For most of us, it’s not that we need more exercises or advanced techniques.

For most of us, it’s NOT staying focused on the Goals we set for ourselves.

For most of us, we don’t stay focused and then make poor nutrition choices.

If you ask yourself those questions and you’re not quite prepared to do what it takes, that’s ok too. We all go through dips in motivation. But at some point you have to snap yourself out of a funk, get serious about what you want and make a plan to do it.

Then every 3 Months throughout the Year, we’ll gauge your improvement with Testing Week to see how much you’ve imp[roved at a range of skills. We guarantee if you get better at these performance skills, your physique will change as a by-product.

Winners are grinners

On a very hot Autumn afternoon in March, Oxygen Mixed Touch Footy Team played 3 Games and took out the B Grade Premiership. It was a great effort in the conditions and also considering we had a really disjointed Season with people constantly away, 3 Forfeits, 3 cancellations and a few other hiccups. We played awesome all day and strung together some awesome Team Tries resulting in every Player getting a try during the Season and avoiding the dreaded Nudie Run. We’ve had a Team in the Jamberoo Comp for almost 10 Years and at one point we lost about 10 A Grade Grand Finals so it’s nice when you actually win one, even if it is B Grade. Well done Team!

Willo’s know how to party

In March we celebrated the belated 50th Birthday bash for long time Oxygen supporters Leanne & Jamie Williams. They both turned 50 late last year but couldn’t find a time in their busy schedules to fit in a party but the Kiama community knew that was never going to stop the celebrations.

The theme was 70’s and everyone made the effort to dress up for an awesome night at Casa de Williams. They have a lovely home, there was a sensational dance floor, it was catered with delicious food and there was plenty of different drinks to keep the crowd entertained.

Well done Willo‘s and thanks for a great night!

Apr/May/Jun

Firefighter Training begins

I took off for Wellington, about 6 hours west of Kiama for the week doing Phase 1 of my Retained Firefighter’s Training Course before heading out again a few weeks later for Phase 2. I was a bit frustrated to miss 2 weeks of training after a really good start to the year but I still got some good workouts in and definitely sweated. Having not lifted a weight for 2 weeks. I got straight back to training when I got back and wow, it was a struggle.

I was active with the Firefighter training but it’s not the same thing. They did feed us enough food but it’s not how I normally eat and it was a bit low in protein. Combined with the heat from Wellington temperatures, the heat from wearing the Helmet, Breathing Apparatus, Firefighter Turn-out Gear and also being in an 800 degree shipping container I did lose a few kilos. With a lower protein diet, some of that will certainly be muscle. The way I struggled with my strength training, no doubts about it.

I had been on a such a roll too through Jan/Feb/Mar so naturally I was a bit disappointed that it felt so difficult. But there’s nothing I could do about it other than to pick myself back up and get back into it. I had to just to accept it as a small hiccup in my progress.

All this led to me chatting with Joy after that week of training. She noticed I was struggling and we got to talking about how tough it must be for people who constantly miss training. Here for one week, then they miss the next. Here for 4 sessions the following week, one session the week after.

Everyone’s got their own reasons why we need to miss training here & there. That’s life.

But if you’re doing this consistently you’re seriously not prioritizing your training. It’s not important enough to you.

And with that sort of sporadic attendance you will NEVER see results.

I’m sorry if that’s confronting but we can’t sugarcoat that to you.

Strength is the foundation of every meaningful fitness goal.

Progressions in strength take time. Not stacks of time but time nonetheless.

But they are still worth it.

If you’re haphazard with attendance, these progressions are so much harder.

The message from your Kiama Personal Trainers was to stay consistent. Attending anything less than 3 sessions per week is not enough.

If your schedule allows it, aim to exercise daily. Oxygen is open 6 days per week and not everyone can attend Saturday so that may only mean 5 days availability for some people. But you need to overestimate how many times you will exercise because inevitably life will get in the way.

Let’s check out a real example I’ve gone over with a client before.

You intend to come 3 x week and those days are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Monday is out by choice. Tuesday you get held up at work so you miss training. Wednesday you again choose not to come. Some bull$hit about hump day and needing to relax at home after work (with a glass of wine). Thursday you get to training, tick. Friday rolls around and you’re exhausted from the work week and running the kid around so you decide to skip training and tell yourself you’ll get up early (when you normally don’t) for the 7am Saturday Session. But you inevitably sleep in and so a week has disappeared and you’ve only managed to get here once.

Over the weekend, Saturday arvo comes around and you’re invited by friends to head out for a Dinner & a few drinks that night. This of course takes much more effort to get ready for a night out than to just get you daggy gym wear with messed up hair and no shower after work but, you manage. You order a Burger & Chips, knock off 5-10 drinks and although you’re not hungover the next morning, crave a greasy breakfast, so you indulge again. And you managed all that last night with minimal notice, you just moved your plans around to fit it in. You prioritized it.

That same level of priority needs to go into your mid week routine if you want results that last.

Challenge Week Series 18

We completed the 18th Series of our International Award-Winning Team Fitness Event, Oxygen Challenge Week during April. Over the course of 1 Week we challenged you to attend as many of the 10 Sessions on offer that week to earn points for your Team. Within each Session we used Barbells, Dumbbells, Rowers, Battle Ropes, Body weight & more in all sorts of different combinations.

Everyone battled soreness, tiredness, laziness and the odd bit of grumpiness to keep rising to the challenge for their Team.

The Finale coincided with my 37th Birthday and so we battled through a heap of 37 second Stations which proved tough. Just when a few people thought it was over we had to endure 37 Sled Laps…each! That took some time but we got there in the end and as usual, survived. Just.

At the end of week Presentation Night, Team Blue were awarded the Challenge Week Cup as the Winning Team. This was especially well deserved as they hadn’t won the Cup since Series 11 but had finished Runners Up many, many times. Special mention to Kraig Crowther who, after a lean few months leading up to Challenge Week, turned up to 8 Sessions and was crowned MVP.

Congrats Blues!

Festival of Sport

We kicked off the Oxygen Festival of Sport with an awesome game of Foot Golf out at Jamberoo. It was great to see so many people there having some fun and giving it a go. There were some great kicks, a few shocking mis-hits and plenty of laughs as well. That’s what it’s all about and that’s why we created a schedule with a different Sport or Activity on every week for the rest of the year!
 
The following week we took on a different challenge for our usual Weekend Warrior Session, tackling the 6km stretch from Kiama to Gerringong on the Kiama Coastal Track. It was such a beautiful morning for it, no wind, not too hot, not too cold, juuuuust right! The dozen or so Oxy Members who did it were glad they made the effort and a little surprised at how beneficial walking can be to their physical & mental health.
 
Throughout the Year, some events were popular, others not so much but we enjoyed challenging ourselves in different ways and having a bit of fun along the way. Tennis, Cricket, Squash, Soccer, Boxing, Touch Footy were all good fun. Keep an eye out in 2020 for historically one of the highlights of the Year, the Oxygen Olympics to coincide with Tokyo 2020.

Click here for Part 2

Oxygenfitnesskiama 2018 Year in Review – Part 1

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One of the Highlights of my Year is sending out the Oxygenfitnesskiama Yearly Wrap as it’s great to go back and reminisce over everything that has happened in the past 12 Months. I’d encourage you to do the same in your life as there is undoubtedly things you’ll have forgotten about and it’s great just to review what lessons you might have learnt and what things you have to be grateful for.

It takes a while to compile but it’s always worth it and it helps give you an attitude of gratitude. You don’t have to write a long Blog Post about it, but maybe like our 2 Time Member of the Year Leanne Williams, you could just write a letter and post it to relatives and friends at Xmas time. I know I really look forward to reading her letter.

Thanks to everyone who contributes to Oxygen Health & Fitness – Kiama’s Best Gym.

Here’s our 2018 Year in Review:

Jan/Feb/Mar

First Program of the Year

A few committed peeps started their 2018 training straight away, like January 2nd. For  only the 3rd time ever, we remained open during the Xmas/New year break and a few people joined us Coaches for a few Sessions. For most Members though, it all resumed January 8th with our 3 Week Back to Basics Program.

The Group Timetable was split into 30 Minute blocks in January with the options to come in for 30, 60 or even 90 Minutes of back to back Sessions. This gave everyone a bit of structure but also some flexibility. That time of year often sees people coming in with one of two mindsets:

  1. no idea what to do except for the fact that they need to burn off their Xmas calories
  2. a way too complicated routine involving advanced supersets, body part splits, intermittent fasting and 2 sessions a day programs of strength in the morning and cardio at night

This Program helped everyone focus on the basics again, re-establish some technique for 2 or 3 Main Lifts and finish with a short bout of Conditioning at the end.

We were setting everyone up for long term success. We knew a lot of people just wanted to get in and smash it out of the park, to get after those Goals. But this Program created something sustainable so they didn’t fall off the wagon come February when that initial motivation tapers off.

After a big wake up call for a few muscle groups in that first week, Week 2 of our Kiama Strength Program was kinder on the body. Getting back into the groove of lifting weights again was great with Members focused predominantly on Technique.

Kicking off that first Set with a manageable weight and really nailing the exercise technique is a great confidence builder. With each corresponding Set we encouraged everyone to add a little bit more weight, only if you are still in control. No ugly grinding Reps. By that 4th or 5th Set everyone was using a challenging weight and finishing off the exercise well.

It put everyone in a good frame of mind leading up to the first Testing Week of 2018  in Week 3.

New Year’s Revolution begins

Body Transformation Challenges are a dime a dozen these days. That’ s not to say it’ s a bad thing there’ s just multiple different options at your disposal and they certainly have become a great way for fitness companies (including ours) to market their services. Obviously you want to check out the Company, their track record of success, how long they’ve been in business and their methods. Plenty of them will get some great looking Before & After Photos but what sort of sustainable Results have they been able to achieve for people in the long term?

People often throw themselves into these 30 Day, 6 week, 10 Week & 12 Week Challenges with excessive Exercise Programs, they drastically reduce Calories, Carbs, Fats etc in a misguided attempt to lose weight and get ripped. It’ s not a sustainable approach and inevitably the fat soon returns and the metabolic damage is severe. This causes yo-yo type effects which people can be stuck in for years. Each failed attempt sapping away at their motivation that they will ever ” get it right”.

In 2018, Oxygen Fitness Kiama had the New Year’s Revolution Challenge with a Long Term Approach to help sustain those hard earned Results.

Challengers got Open Gym Access from 6am-8pm Monday-Friday. They could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted but each week we showed them the Program that full Oxygen Members were doing for best results. We also sent them the Conditioning and Workout of the Week via a Video to show them how it’s done. We created Programs each month for:

  • Strength
  • Muscle Gain
  • Fat Loss

Although it may seem easy to just create a new Program every few Months, a lot of thought has to go into what exercises to include, what exercises pairing work well together, what regressions or progressions can we include, what makes best use of the space, what will work based on the number of Members we expect will attend a given Session and many other factors. Throw in the fact that Programs caters to 3 different types of Goals (Fat Loss, Strength or Hypertrophy) and the variables are massive.

There was also plenty of activity in our Precision Nutrition Coaching group to guide people with healthy eating to meet their Goals. Sometimes we asked them to keep a food diary. Sometimes post a photo. Sometimes both. Sometimes, they were free from that responsibility all week BUT we might ask to see your weekend meals. Ah yes the famous weekend binge.

FitChicks Sessions return

Back in 2013 a brave group of Boot Campers took on my suggestion to try a 6 Week program of lifting heavy weights. We did that outside at Surf Beach in all weather conditions.

5 Years later, it’s transformed our business and with a well equipped Strength & Conditioning Gym, Fit Chicks Club is now our Signature Female Membership.

When we first opened the Gym in 2015 it was female only Sessions (Fit Chicks Club) or Male Only (Spartan Training Club).

Then we made Unisex Strength Sessions in mid 2016. Unisex Strength continued in 2018 but Fit Chicks Club Kiama, women’s only Sessions, made a comeback on the Timetable during February as a few new ladies come in for a 4 Week Intro Program.

The first 30 Minutes of the Session, FitChicks predominantly worked on their Main Lifts geared towards Strength, Fat Loss or Muscle Gain. Then, the second half hour the Coach took those girls off to work closely with them on targeted exercises for specific areas of the body those girls want to improve. It led to the introduction of some great New Members, one of which went on to become our Rookie of the Year (Kyla Reeves).

Community

During my 18 year career in fitness, I’ve been an Independent Sub Contractor doing 80 PT Sessions a week in a Gym, a Sole Trader, a Business Partner, a Boot Camp Trainer for over 250 people at a time, a PT Course provider, a Celebrity Trainer, a Gym Employee and now a Company Director of Oxygen Health & Fitness.

Why I am telling you this is that what I know for sure, is there is so much power in having a Coach take care of this stuff for you. Look at professional athletes. They’re fitter, stronger & faster than most people you’re ever likely to meet. Yet they still have Coaches taking care of this stuff for them. I’m not saying we know it all, but we kinda know a thing or two.

The other important thing I know, and I’ve structured my business accordingly, is Group Training is one of the best ways to achieve Results. Regardless of how experienced you are, training in a group of like minded people pushes you to continually improve yourself. Sure you might have periods of time where you’re focused and motivated but no successful person in any area of life ever got to the top on their own.

Sometimes being in a group of more experienced people is a great way to improve yourself. It forces you to aim up or you can feel like you get left behind.

Other times being in a group of less experienced people is also a great way to improve. You can be more of a leader. You can teach others what you know. You can be a mentor.

Oxygen has always been a great community of friendly personalities. We encourage everyone to get to know your training buddies. Introduce yourself. Ask questions. Encourage someone and give them a yahoo. It adds value to our community and everybody wins in the long run. Conversely, if you stick to yourself, don’t get to know anyone, don’t show much enthusiasm and only worry about yourself, well, that’s doing yourself & others a disservice.

Nutrition Habits

We ran a few different 21 Day Habit Challenges earlier in the Year for those wishing to improve their Nutrition. No huge commitment, and it wasn’t even mandatory, but anyone interested in fat loss or muscle gain benefited from focusing their effort for a few Months with our Kiama Nutrition Coaching.

The Challenge over the first 21 Days was to show the Protein you were eating once per Day. Breakfast one week. Lunches Week 2, and the last Week was Dinners. Those participating were asked to state what they believe was the Lean Protein in each Meal. Simple, but don’t overlook how important simple little things like this are.

Of all the people Precision Nutrition have worked with over the past 15 years (over 200,000 from all over the globe) 85% of them weren’t eating enough Protein. As the most important Macro nutrient, that’s where we started. Just the accountability to keep posting, showing us that you’re living up to your end of the deal is important for long term results.

You can’t make physique changes without changing nutrition habits and if posting a photo is too much work, then changing your body composition might be too. Congratulations to the people who committed to the process and showed great accountability.

It can seem like a waste of time, it can seem a bit tedious, it might annoy your friends, but it’s a simple task that everyone can do because we all have a camera.

It’s one thing to say “I’ve been eating healthy” – prove to me that you ate healthy.

It’s one thing to say, “I didn’t eat that much” prove to everyone what your portion sizes look like.

One of the best parts of this is just the ongoing accountability to keep proving it.

Anyone can be on their best behaviour for a couple of weeks.

That first up focus on Protein was great as it’s the most important Macronutrient in regards to improving your physique. However, it is also highly acidic and a chronically acidic diet can lead to negative health outcomes. The best way to counteract these issues is to focus on the Precision Nutrition rule:

“Eat Vegetables every time you eat”

Apart from all the obvious benefits like antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fibre, veggies are powerful acid-neutralizers so the Next 21 Day Habit Challenge people were asked to demonstrate what Veggies they eat.  No pressure to post ALL the time. Some people do, others don’t. We all forget here & there.

But if you want to tidy your diet up a bit, there is a certain accountability to sharing what you’re eating.

Those who got engaged, who shared what they were eating, ended up leaner than those who didn’t. Those who shared the odd thing here & there had some success too. But those who show us nothing in regards to that side of their health often didn’t progress as well as they’d like.

Apr/May/Jun

Awesome April

Over the first few months of 2018, we advertised a few different offers on Facebook that required people to comment on our post to get more information. It allowed us to attract some great new people into our community who tried out our 4 Week Fit Chicks Club offer or Learn to Lift Program. In April, it was the Kiama’s Greatest Athlete Challenge.

This was a Challenge we ran back in 2016 and although it was pretty successful, at the time I thought it was a tad too long (10 weeks). This time around, it was only 4 weeks and it really was a good all round athletic challenge again. Sport. Barbells. Body Weight. Indoors. Outdoors. It had the lot.

It all kicked off right after Easter (Tuesday 3rd April) and continued all April. In the middle of that I celebrated my Birthday which always involves a killer Workout Session.

It’s honestly one of the best packages we’ve ever put together that gives people a taste of what Oxygen is all about.

Over the 4 weeks, people took part in all sorts of different fitness & sports activities at our Group Sessions.This included things some people had never tried before. Fun was the name of the game but it was definitely still a great workout.

Week 1 tied in with the Commonwealth Games, which was on at the time. For the Oxywealth Games, Strength workouts consisted of Powerlifting, Gymnastics & Weightlifting Challenges. Conditioning came about from Boxing for the first time in ages and Rowing. Then on top of that we tried our hand at a heap of Sports such as Volleyball, Squash, Hockey, Basketball and Rugby 7s. My personal favourite was Squash but all of it was fun and a great way to kick off the month.

Week 2 was Testing Week. It’s something we do every Quarter to assess how everybody is going, whether they’re getting closer to or further away from their Goals.It’s always an inspiring week especially when you see the newbies surprising themselves with what they can do. Despite a few people being unsure, not too confident, nervous, we got in and gave it our best shot anyway. THAT is what it’s about. If you hide away from it, you get nowhere. Congrats to everyone for pushing themselves.

In Week 3 the Bi-annual Battle between Blue, Green, Red & Yellow was into it’s 16th Series of our International Award-Winning Team Fitness Event called Challenge Week. Over the course of 1 Week Members were challenged to attend as many Sessions as they could to earn points for their Team. Within each Session there were Barbells, Dumbbells, Rowers, Battle Ropes, Body weight & more in all sorts of different combinations.

After suffering from low numbers last Series, RED turned up in droves and performed strongly all week. Yellow were snapping at their heels, whilst Green, and especially Blue had the lower numbers this time around. There were some seriously tough sessions through the week but the Finale on Saturday morning was up their amongst the toughest workouts we’ve ever produced. Four 15 Minute Stations with ascending Reps. No finish line. Just keep going up. 72 tonnes later it was over and we all celebrated with a Beer and a laugh at the Blue Diamond. Red did just enough to keep their lead and were crowned Series 16 Champions.

Week 4, the final week of April, was Kiama Boot Camp, flew by with the ANZAC Day Public Holiday in the middle. As the original Boot Camp pioneers in Kiama, we know every square inch of this town and how to use it to get a great workout. This WAS our Gym from 2009 until late 2015 before we opened our own Facility. There were  some indoor workouts at the Gym that week as well but it was a nice change of scenery to get outdoors and sweat all whilst getting a different perspective of our beautiful town.

We brought out the Boxing gear  for a few good combos and a good tough workout. Boxing always produces a few laughs. Then came the cries. ANZAC Day was tough. The Hero WOD (Workout of the Day) called “Murph” was the order of the day with a 1 Mile Run, 100 Pull Ups, 200 Push Ups, 300 Squats and another 1 Mile Run on the agenda. I scaled it back a bit by cutting out the second run and I also switched the first 1 Mile Run to a few hill runs up & down Brown Street. But we still had those 600 Reps to contend with.

 

May brings changes

Off the back of our Awesome April Timetable, I made the decision to implement a few changes in May. April was all about high energy Group Training Sessions, something we’ve always been renown for at Oxygen. Just like we promoted it, April really was awesome. Lots of different events kept things interesting but the common theme was Group Training and everyone loved it. So we kept it going through May.

Earlier in the Year, our promotion was the New Year’s Revolution and the idea was to offer a Gym Membership on par with anywhere else in regards to price. Once we attracted people in, the plan was to over-deliver by actually caring about the people and their results. That meant assessing people, showing how to improve some of their weaknesses in warm ups, designing their programs, showing people what to do and then re-teaching them (nobody nails their technique straight away). We offered them the usual flexibility of a gym membership that meant you could come in at a time convenient to them.

Throughout February and March, this resulted in people coming in at all hours of the day and it dam near killed me. It’s really expensive paying Staff to man the Gym for that many hours each day, especially when you’re not sure if or when people turn up. Because of that I was literally at the Gym from 4/5/6am until 6/7/8pm and not getting much business work done. It is nothing personal against any of the people that I was with, it’s just not a smart way to operate. In a building which we’ve successfully run groups of 36 people I was helping 1 or 2 people an hour, every hour, all day some days.

Open Gym proved not to work for us or the Client. I suppose for larger Gyms with hundreds of Members at any one time it’s different. From our point of view, we can’t be that Gym that lets you figure it all out for yourself. We can’t be that Gym who doesn’t care or that watches you train with poor form but ignores it. Some gyms can, but we can’t.

If you do things with poor form, or no intensity, or too much intensity with poor form, you get no results, or worse you’ll end up injured. Then you won’t rave about the experience and you won’t refer anyone or renew your membership when it’s due. But if we do help you, we’re giving away our time for free, we’re selling ourselves short and de-valuing our regular Memberships.

Some might say, “I’m fine, I don’t need help” but every single Client we left to their own devices trained less consistently, with less intensity, with less structure to their training and guess what, less than average results.

The sweet spot is Small Group Training where we can offer a personalised service for a more affordable price to Members. You get the individual attention of Personal Training with the dynamics and energy of a Boot Camp Session. There’s also accountability to not just us, your Coaches, but your other training partners. Sessions are exciting and interactive instead of quiet and boring.

I’d like to think we’ve over-delivered tons of value in 2018 to justify these changes.

My most important Blog Post ever

I told everyone this one was dead serious, that they needed to set aside 10 minutes to read this with no distractions. Don’t skip ahead, don’t miss paragraphs, just read it properly from start to finish. I broke up the text with pictures and videos to make it more interesting.

It was raw, true and insightful.

It explained my journey through the fitness industry, the ups & downs, the challenges we were facing and the next exciting chapter of my life –  fatherhood.

It was nice to feel the love from Clients, Friends & Family that Jade and I had a Little Lamb due in December!

Winter Warrior Challenge 2018

Since 2012, we’ve come up with a promotion to keep things exciting during the Winter months. Obviously, it’s a time of year that can test anyone’s commitment to a healthy lifestyle so we’ve tried all sorts of different creative ways to make things a bit more exciting.

Last year was certainly a tough Winter Warrior Fitness Challenge in Kiama as we set about tackling some advanced Programs like the Ladder of Death 300 Workout. We had some massive Sessions with 36 people at a time pumping out the reps.

In 2018, we again tackled some similarly tough Sessions but the entire Winter was split into 3 Stages.

Stage 1 – STRONG, started in June.

It had a specific focus on improving the Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Power Clean, Push Ups, Pull Ups, Plank & Rower. Sound familiar? That’s right, it prepares you for… Testing Week which was coming up Mid-July.

Prior to Winter Warrior kicking off, I was slightly concerned. Attendance across every Timeslot had been low. A number of people had been sick, a few Members had been away here and there with work or holidays and a number of people will admit they’d been just plain slack. Most gyms don’t care whether you attend or not and plenty of people will tell you that’s why they stop – there’s no accountability. We’re not like that.

That’s one reason we split your Year up into different Programs & Challenges. It keeps people engaged and motivated, or gets people re-engaged and motivated.

Challenge Week, Commonwealth Games, Sports, Olympics, Testing Weeks, Outdoor Sessions, Road Trips, Events to train for, as well as different types of Gym Programs and Challenges. It makes training fun, enjoyable and challenges you in different ways.

The Winter Warrior Challenge has traditionally been one of our most popular and challenging Gym Programs over the past few years. But it doesn’t matter how good our Program is if nobody shows up.

Thankfully, everyone got re-engaged, ripped in, and it was an awesome lead-in to Testing Week.

Strength was twice per week and it worked on the Barbell Lifts like Squat, Deadlift & Bench Press. These are all BIG Exercises, and to do all THREE in one Session, and do it twice per week ain’t easy. We kicked off Week 1 with 6 Rep Sets and 2 Minute Rest Breaks. Each week we knocked a Rep off (so 5 Reps the next week, then 4, 3, 2 etc) but added more Weight and a longer Rest Break.

On alternate days, we tested everyone’s Muscular Endurance and Conditioning a bit more. We practiced the Body Weight movements like Push Ups, Pull Ups and Planks. We did a few quick little Tests at either the Push Ups or Pull Ups. We also got plenty of practice at both the 500m and 1km distance on the Rower.

Practicing all these things, all the tasks we do during Testing Week, gave everyone that little bit more faith in their abilities each week.

Congratulations to our Saturday crew that regularly attacked those brutal 300 Weekend Warrior Workouts. It was was exciting to see everybody complete the 300 Reps including the Advanced crew who did 100 Goblet Squats, 100 Incline Dumbbell Presses and 100 Ring Pull Ups in only 45 Minutes. I remember this took quite a number of attempts to complete it in 2017, so to knock it off in only our second attempt this year was very rewarding.

 

Click here to read Part 2

 

 

 

Oxygenfitnesskiama Weekly Wrap Jan 25th 2018

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The Weekly Wrap is back to catch up on all things Oxygen Health & Fitness Kiama.

Short week this week as tomorrow is Australia Day and most people are off work.

Saturday I’m off to the Foo Fighters with Jadey too so it’s going to be a great few days before a busy few weeks kick into gear at Oxygenfitnesskiama.

That all starts with our first Testing Week of 2018 next Monday 29th. Get there, get over yourself, get tested.

I know you’re not feeling your fittest. But you need a baseline for 2018 so you can smash it out of the park this year.

Happy Australia Day!

Check out this quick Newsletter below.

Dave Lambert
Oxygen Health & Fitness

New Year’s Revolution

Results and $5000 in Cash & Prizes is up for grabs.

We need New Members but this is a great opportunity for current Clients too.

If you have a Goal to lose 5kg, 10kg, 8% Body Fat, etc

or maybe you have a Goal to bulk up and add 5 or 6 kg,

if you’ve had that Goal every year for the past 5, 10, 15 years…

make 2018 the Year you make it happen!

Put your hand up for the $5000 Cash & Prizes with ridiculous odds to actually win. Not like Lotto odds, which is something like 1 in 45 million. These are good odds. But you got to be in it to win it.

In terms of Non Members, which could be your family, friends etc, price is one of the first things prospective Members always ask. And rightfully so. They need to know if it fits your budget.  Newbies will get Open Gym Access from 6am-8pm Monday–Friday and it’s only $60 per Month. That’s on par with a Gym Membership anywhere so this Challenge takes price out of the equation.

Best Transformations could be Fat Loss or Muscle Gain. We’ve really targeted Females in our advertising but this is Open to Men & Women and there will be Cash prizes for both.

Someone asked me yesterday why we didn’t just market it to Men & Women then. Truth be told we don’t have as much proof of our Men’s Transformations. Not as much as the women anyway. We’ve had a few ok pics but guys, who’s gunna step up here and transform  in this Kiama fitness challenge?

Members can enter for just $97.

Non Members can enter for $299. (There is a payment plan 5 Monthly payments of $60 if need be)

Starts February 5th! Click the image below to check it out but if you’re interested and have any questions call 4233 2963 and I’d be happy to help.

Weekly Wisdom

Friday 26th January

 

Australia Day – Come in early for an Aussie Day assault before you hook into your Sausage sangas. Open from 6am- 9am Only.

Saturday 27th January

The ever popular Saturday smash of Kiama Strength & Conditioning to kick start your weekend.Monday 5th February

Monday 5th February

The New Year’s Revolution Challenge. 5 Months, 5 Grand in Cash & Prizes. Click here to check it out:

New Timetable
Open Gym 6am-8pm
Extra Session Timeslots
Fit Chicks Club Sessions
& more…

Oxygenfitnesskiama Weekly Wrap Jan 12th 2018

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Welcome to the first Weekly Wrap of 2018!

This is one thing we always manage to stay very consistent with to keep our Members up to date with everything Oxygen. It’s normally a weekly Email Newsletter and still will be but it will also be on the Blog here giving more people an opportunity to see what’s been happening, who’s been doing well and what’s coming up in the world of Oxygen Health & Fitness Kiama.

Read on for the latest Weekly Wrap.

Dave Lambert
Oxygen Health & Fitness

Training through the Silly Season

For only the second time since Oxygen Health & Fitness Kiama first started back in 2009, we remained open during the Xmas break. Every year I get a handful of people who ask the question of what Hours we will be open during the Xmas/New Year’s period. Almost every time we have shut down for 2 weeks to allow ourselves and Members a bit of time off. December is such a busy time for everyone these days that most people limp into Xmas needing a break. From work, from training, from life. We’ re no different although I do believe time management, excuses & just general laziness combine well that time of year.

But we remained open this past Xmas/New Year albeit reduced Open Gym Hours but it at least gave a few committed peeps an opportunity to come in, burn a few of the extra calories off and just relieve some stress. Special shout out to those committed Members who popped in over the break, it’s certainly helped them this week as we resumed normal group sessions again.

Oxygen is well underway for 2018

As discussed above, a few people started their 2018 training straight away, like January 2nd. For most Members though, it all resumed this week kicking off this past Monday with this Kiama Gym’s 3 Week Get Moving Again Program (I just made that name up). The Group Timetable is split into 30 Minute blocks in January with the options to come in for Half an hour, 1 Hour or even 90 Minutes of back to back Sessions. This has given everyone a bit of structure but also some flexibility. This time of year often sees people coming in with one of two mindsets:

  1. no idea what to do except for the fact that they need to burn off their Xmas calories
  2. a way too complicated routine involving supersets, body part splits, intermittent fasting and 2 sessions a day programs of strength in the morning and cardio at night

Whoah fella, back it up a bit.

Let’s focus on the basics again, re-establish some technique for 2 Main Lifts in 30 Minutes, a short bout of Conditioning and then maybe a few higher intensity sessions.

Let’s set this up for long term success.

I know you wanna get moving again. I know you want to get after those Goals.

Let’s create something sustainable so you don’t fall off this ridiculously impossible to follow Program and you’re right back where you started come February.

Here’s the Timetable for January:

New Year’s Revolution

We’ve been working on something BIG behind the scenes since late last year. Given the time of year, with billions of people around the world setting off with hopes of losing weight, getting fit, looking ripped etc, transformation contests are all the rage. That’ s not to say it’ s a bad thing, there’ s just multiple different options at your disposal and they certainly have become a great way for fitness companies (including ours) to market their services.

Lots of Challenges will get great looking Before & After Photos but what sort of sustainable Results have they been able to achieve for people in the long term? People often throw themselves into these 30 Day, 6 Week, 10 Week & 12 Week Challenges with excessive Exercise Programs, they drastically reduce Calories, Carbs, Fats etc in a misguided attempt to lose weight and get ripped. It’ s not a sustainable approach and inevitably the fat soon returns and the metabolic damage is severe. This causes yo-yo type effects which people can be stuck in for years. Each failed attempt sapping away at their motivation that they will ever ” get it right” .

Thankfully in 2018, Oxygenfitnesskiama has the New Year ‘ s Revolution Challenge with a Long Term Approach that helps you sustain your hard earned Results and a big Reward to sweeten the deal. Stay tuned…

Weekly Wisdom

Friday 12th January

Oxygen Mixed Touch Footy resumes (6pm Field 2)

 

Saturday 13th January

The ever popular Saturday smash of Kiama Strength & Conditioning to kick start your weekend.

 

 

Monday 29th January

Testing Week is important to get an honest Assessment of where your Health & Fitness is at. Regardless of whether you want to lose weight, gain weight, get stronger, be more athletic, anything, you cannot reach your Goals without Testing yourself. “If you’re not assessing, you’re just guessing.”

 

Oxygenfitnesskiama 2017 Year in Review – Part 2

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If you missed Part 1 of our 2017 Year in Review, click here to check it out.

July

Strength101 with added extras

Following on from the success of our Winter Warrior Challenge, which ended mid July, we had many of our New Members asking what’s next?

Knowing we would be transitioning back to a more traditional Strength Training routine, we ran another Strength101 3 Week Workshop Series to get back in the habit of lifting heavy, perfecting technique and preparing ourselves for the mid year Testing Week that was coming up. A few of the newbies weren’t 100% sure about it but signed on anyway and everybody had the added extra challenges of not just a 500m Row Test but a 1km Row, 2km Row and for those willing to test themselves, a 5km Row.

We were lucky enough to gain three really important Members of our community from this follow up Program, Jake Wadsworth and Rachel Sheppard (a Husband & Wife duo) as well as Carolyn Mackenzie. Rachel & Carolynn came via Jade’s Soccer Team and Jake joined us via Rach raving about her experience during the Winter Warrior Challenge. Rach & Carolynn proved to be real success stories improving their strength & conditioning out of site, increasing their performance on the Soccer pitch and re-shaping their bodies in the process. Carolynn has also helped out by way of her Graphic Design Business Switch Up Design. She’s created some great graphics for us including the Transition Slides for our Oxygen TV Episodes.

Jake was an instant hit in our community, his infectious energy made him a great training partner and he was genuinely thankful after every session that he’d been introduced to our community. He impressed us so much that he took out our Rookie of the Year Award at the Oxygen Member of the Year Awards. In some great news, Rach & Jake are expecting their first child but unfortunately for us, they have now moved back up north around Port Macquarie to be closer to family. We wish them all the best and it was pleasure meeting you both.

New Memberships

We re-worked our Membership Packages in July. We needed to do this anyway but with several of our Winter Warriors flowing into Strength101 they were again looking for answers as to what to do next. This led us to fine tuning 3 Main Memberships and we re-engineered them all slightly with different features and benefits. We’ve since added an extra option into that mix with Open Gym.

1) The Transformation Project is a minimum 12 Month Commitment to rise up the Rankings of Performance in FitChicksClub for Women or Spartan Training Club for Men. This has commonly been referred to in the past as our “12 Month Membership” which, it still is. But it’s actually more than that. It is a Project to transform your current abilities and physique. It takes hard work, effort and desire. It puts the focus on improving your Performance first, and your physique will follow.

You have Full Access to ALL Sessions, Events, Workshops, OPEN GYM Timeslots + Free Entry into any Challenges we run.

Conditions are that you must provide a Testimonial, Before & After Pictures.

Results are 100% Guaranteed or your money back.

2) An Athlete Challenge is a 3 Month Commitment to meet the slightly higher “Athlete Rankings” in Fit Chicks Club or Spartan Training Club.

Previously, this was a 12 Month Membership however we have reduced it to 3 Months for several reasons. First, many people might only want to train with us for an Off Season or Pre Season leading up to their Sport so a Short Term Membership will suit some. Secondly, previous holders of this Membership have not lived up to their commitments or changed their minds about how hard they want to work.

It’s not an Athlete Membership, it’s an Athlete Challenge. Work hard, get the Rewards.

You’ll have Full Access to ALL Sessions, Events, Workshops & OPEN GYM Timeslots.

3) Express Memberships come in 12 Month, 6 Month & 3 Month Membership Terms and include access to all our Express Sessions (45 Minutes or less). These include our popular Warrior Sessions, OPEN GYM Timeslots & 30 Min Workshop Sessions like Mobility, Core, Power, Strength 101, Conditioning, Workout of the Week and more.

August

2nd Anniversary of Oxygen HQ

17th August 2015 I got to celebrate Opening Night for Oxygen HQ after the business was on it’s knees just a Year earlier. I’d been left in a crippling financial position by some ex Staff Members with no idea how to get out of the hole I found myself in. Opening my own Strength & Conditioning Facility in Kiama was a dream I’d had for years but it would never have come to fruition without  Jade Lambert . We met together many times throughout the year to go over many aspects of the business to figure out our next Plan of attack and I couldn’t be where Oxygen is today without her.

For that official opening back in 2015 we had Member for Kiama Gareth Ward cut the ribbon to declare us officially open. It was great to have Gareth there as he was so helpful in speeding up the process between Kiama Council and Department of Planning. Yes, as much as it took 11 months for us to finally get in, it could have been longer had he not been cracking the whip. Gareth even hung around to push me on the Sled in a pair of jeans and blundstone boots, not an easy task. 17th August is definitely a date each year we celebrate each year.

Rach reveals secret

We were thrilled in August to find out that Rachel Henry was pregnant and due to give birth to a little (or big) boy in early January 2018. Loving her fitness work and wanting to be as healthy as poissble for her first child  Rach was interested to learn how she could incorporate fitness into her pregnancy and what things she would have to modify.

We signed up to the Moms Gone Strong Program delivered by THE AUTHORITY in female fitness, Girls Gone Strong and Rach became our first client for Pre & Post Natal Fitness Programs in Kiama.  We have since had another Rach jump on board, Rachel Sheppard before she recently moved back to Port Macquarie. It’s getting close now girls…

Oxygen TV Re-launched

Big thanks to some our Clients Brian & Nardia Guillaumier & Carolynn Mackenzie for their help with the re-launch of Oxygen TV in August.

It’s something we had on Youtube many years ago but whatever reason slipped off the radar. with the importance of Video in today’s online world, we thought it was a great time to resurrect it and showcase what we do here at Oxygen.

Each week the aim has been to keep the Episodes to around 5 Minutes and we highlight the Latest News, a Member of the Week, Upcoming Events and lots of other hints & tips.

Touch Grand Final Day

Another Season of Jamberoo Touch came to a close with the August Grand Final Day. Thanks to the photographic Team at NEG Photgraphy and Elev8 Aerial Images we got some fantastic photos and footage of the day. Having played in about 15 back to back Summer & Winter Comps in a row there isn’t a whole lot of evidence so it was nice to get a few photos that we can look back on in years to come.

September

Member’s Grand Final Success

There were a heap of great September Success Stories from some of our Oxygen Athletes. Starting off at WIN Stadium for the Illawarra Rugby League Grand Finals, Jason Lynch who is Sports Trainer for Collegians Under 18’s, wrapped up a successful campaign with a Win so well done to JL for keeping all those young Stars healthy all year.

Following that game in Reserve Grade, Coach Nathan Hore playing Fullback for Thirroul, scored the First try of the Match and went through to claim a thrilling 1 point Win over Collegians. Well done Nath, that’s a great achievement anytime but especially after the injury setbacks you have faced in the last few years.One of our young Stars Zane Mitchell, who gets his Cricket training here every week, managed to take out his local Grand Final playing a different Sport, Soccer, for Albion Park.

A week later we had Nardia Guillaumier winning her 4th consecutive Grand Final in the Sydney Women’s volleyball Competition.  I mean plenty of people play Sport their entire lives and don’t even get to contest a Grand Final. Many more play on the big day and never win one. Then there’s a select few who will always savour the satisfaction of winning one. Maybe you get lucky, like I have, and win multiple Grand Finals. But to win 4 in a row is some feat.

The Boys Ryan Smith & Mark Ulcigrai from South Coast United Football Club won back to back Premierships in the Soccer. The Game was tied 1-1 at the end of regular time and in a Penalty Shootout Goalkeeper Mark came up with a crucial save to guide his Team to the Win.

Lazy Chicken Salad

We love quick, easy, healthy Meals here at Oxygen. In September, we came up with the Lazy Chicken Salad  promote our Kiama Nutrition Coaching.

3 Ingredients. Easy, Quick, Delicious. Check out the 1 Min Video by clicking the image below. Seriously.

Oxober

Yellow take out Challenge Week Series 15

Team Yellow became the most successful Team in the history of the Kiama’s Best Fitness Challenge – Oxygen Challenge Week.

Series 15, like every other one, was a tough affair. Although each Challenge Week you can guarantee you’re going to Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, Sled etc  the structure of the challenges was different this time around and we really like what we came up with.

Blue did their usual race out of the blocks early in the week. Although the make up of the Teams changes each Series, Blue always seem to turn up in numbers and fight hard. Blue stalwarts Jade & Rach only played minor roles this time around so it was up to a few others to step up. That they did and because of that attitude were always gave themselves a chance at the business end of the week.

Yellow, on the other hand, have a Team full of long term established Members who know what Challenge Week is all about. They know that it’s about turning up, Sessions after Session, day after day with sore, tired bodies and continually giving their best. That they did, taking the lead late in the week, and holding on for their fifth win in 15 Series.

Green had a few missing persons from their successful Series 14 win so they had to battle a bit harder this Series. Still, they banded together, worked as hard as they could and managed a few Session wins.

Red suffered with the least numbers for most of the week, especially in the mornings when many Reds were unable to get there even if they wanted to. A couple of troopers in the mornings kept them in the hunt until the night sessions when the Red re-enforcements would arrive.

Congratulations to our MVPs from each Team. They battled hard and attended almost every Session for their Teams:

Red – Carolynn Mackenzie.
Green – Caitlyn Jamieson.
Blue – Jake Wadsworth.
Yellow – Kat Hayward.

2017 Member of the Year Awards

Our Member of the Year Awards coincide with the end of Challenge Week & Oxygen Fitness Kiama’s Birthday each year.  For our 8th Birthday, we went to the Kabari Bar down at Surf Beach.

Rookie of the Year went to Jake Wadsworth.

The Kings & Queens were:

  • Squat: Joy Briggs & Dave Lambert
  • Deadlift: Kelly & Jason Lynch
  • Bench Press: Jade Lambert & Kraig Crowther
  • Power Clean: Caitlyn Jamieson & Nathan Hore
  • Push Ups: Rachel Henry & Ryan Smith
  • Pull Ups: Leanne Williams & Jamie Williams
  • Plank: Kylie Strong & Tyler Smith
  • Rower: Nardia Guillaumier & Aaron Henry

 

Conditioning Queen: Leanne Williams
Conditioning King: Val Perkovic
FitChick of the Year: Kayla Wrigley
Spartan of the Year: Kraig Crowther

Member of the Year: Kevin Mikilewicz

Unfortunately Kev The Killer couldn’t be there on the night but he was quite humbled to receive Oxygen’s highest honour. Here’s what he said below:

November

5-3-1

Our Last Program for 2017, one Joy and I have both done before and made great improvements with, was a 4 Week Program called 5-3-1 .

In Week 1, the Main Lift each Day saw us do 4 Sets of 5 Reps with just one Accessory Exercise afterwards. All done within 30 minutes. A Half Hour bout of Conditioning/Warrior type stuff followed on from that.

In Week 2 we took those 5 Rep Sets a bit heavier. After all, the previous Week was really a Recovery/De-Load following on from the high volume of Challenge Week.

In Week 3, the Weight went up with the Reps dropping down to 3.

This Week we pumped through a Set of 5, a Set of 3 & a 1 Rep attempt at a Sub-Maximal weight. The Reason? Sub Maximal means not your heaviest, so technically you should complete the Lift. This grooves the right lifting patterns, builds confidence and leaves you less fatigued than maxing out.

The hard work was done and Clients went into the Final Testing Week of 2017  pretty confident to give it their best shot.

Some sensational PHYSICAL efforts…
Led to some awesome PHYSIQUE efforts…

Health

In November, our Family went through some tough times as we watched Jade’s Step-Dad go through the final stages of pancreatic cancer. With one of the lowest survival rates of any cancer we always knew the outlook was grim for Gary.

When I proposed to Jade in October 2015, we thought we’d have about 12 months to plan and prepare our Wedding. But with Gary being diagnosed we decided to fast track our plans by 6 months just in case. He made it.

Then when Az & Rach got engaged, a similar process occured for them. He made it then too.

It’s coming up to their 1st Wedding Anniversary and our 2nd. So Gary was most definitely a fighter.

But his health rapidly declined in the past few months, especially this last one.

Jade & Rach were troopers in supporting their mum in this most difficult time. Az and myself drove down to South Nowra countless times to spend as much time as we could as a family. Gary opted to stay at home in his final weeks so despite nurses visiting morning and night, the three girls took incredible care tending to him and administering his medication.

Their Mum Cheryl is one tough woman and kept it together incredibly well throughout the past few weeks. The girls too put their own emotions aside to keep everyone’s spirits up. I guess what made this all the more heartbreaking was thatGary was able to support Cheryl through her own Cancer battle many years ago and she is one of the survivors.

Gary finally let go and is now at peace but seeing the way this once strong, solid man deteriorated, especially in that last month, last day & last breath was awful.

It is a reminder to me and anyone that health is something you can NOT take for granted. It’s earnt by anyone but promised to noone.

RIP Gary Bunyan.

 

Lakers Win 2017 1 Day Premiership

I’ve been privileged to find a great group of mates that over the last decade (or more) have formed the most successful 1st Grade Team in South Coast Cricket. Several of those have been Members of Oxygen Health & Fitness Kiama in that time. Aaron Henry, Ryan Smith, Nathan Hore, Josh Hore, Brendan White, Mark Ulcigrai to name a few.

We’ve one numerous 2 Day Cricket Comps, STACKS of 1 Day Premierships, a few Twenty20 Premierships, we’ve won all Three in the one Season and successfully pushed further than any other South Coast or Illawarra Clubs in the Statewide NSW SCG Cup. We were 1 Run away from playing a Final on the SCG and although that is one regret we will all take to our grave, winning Premierships with your mates is what local Sport is all about.

Add another 1 Day Trophy (even if it was half falling apart when they handed it over).

We’ve set out to Win every Trophy and not drop a Game on our way to doing it.

Of all the successful Lake Sides we’ve had over the past Decade this Team is one of the best. And yes they are the ugliest Uniforms you have ever seen.

Finale Week

For the last week of the Year, we have always put on some different themed Workouts to keep everyone interested in the busiest time of the Year.

A variety of Novelty Workouts like “Roll The Dice” and “Deck of Cards” have often appeared on the Timetable.

This year, we put a Christmas Theme to it and EVERYONE really enjoyed it! I gotta say myself and many others are usually running on fumes by this stage of the Year but there was a great vibe down at the Gym this week as we all participated in the following tough but enjoyable workouts:

  • The MERRY CHRISTMAS Acrostic Poem Workout
  • 25/12
  • Secret Santa

We’ll wrap up Finale Week with the Finale Workout tomorrow (Saturday 23rd December at 7am). The Xmas Party will be held at Sebel Blue Diamond Bar from 6pm.

Finales are always BIG.

Re-establishing Goals & Planning ahead

Usually this time of year I am doing a written Yearly Review and assessing what worked, what didn’t, where I am in relation to Goals I have set etc. With the events of the past few weeks it’s even more relevant to ask what can I improve? What did I do well? What do I really want? What is most important?

Without asking these questions, it makes most work I need to do irrelevant.

I encourage you to do the same with your health, fitness, any area of your life that you’d like to improve really. Don’t just wish for it, make a plan so you can make it happen.

So I have been working on what do I really want from my life. What do I want Oxygen to look like? Who is our ideal client. What do they want? How can we serve that market to solve their problems.

What services do we offer? How can we improve them? Do we need to drop that type of Membership? Do we need to start adding this Service in?

It’s exciting once you gain a bit of clarity on these issues because then you know exactly what needs to be done.

So there’s some great plans ahead in 2018 where we’ll have options for everyone to base their Membership off what things they do want & discard what they don’t. There’s new Timeslots, New Challenges, New Rules & New Programs to try.

That will bring New People, New Motivation & New Success Stories.

This Kiama Gym will be staying Open over the Xmas break with reduced Open Gym Hours each day to be advised. Normal Sessions resume Monday 8th January. Timetable coming soon…

Looking forward to rounding out 2017 and bringing the New Year in with a bang.

Merry Xmas to everyone and a Happy New Year in 2018!

Oxygenfitnesskiama 2017 Year in Review – Part 1

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Alright, I’m gunna start this off by saying in 2018 I am going to post more content to our Blog than ever before. We regularly produce content via Email, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube etc but the Blog is  somewhere we can compile & recycle it all in one place.

The Yearly Wrap is a big deal. It takes a while to compile but it’s always worth it when you reflect back on all the cool stuff that happened this year. I recommend you do it in your own life to develop an attitude of gratitude. You don’t have to write a long Blog Post about it, but maybe like our 2 Time Member of the Year Leanne Williams you could just type out a letter and post it to relatives and friends at Xmas time. I know I really look forward to reading her letter.

Thanks to everyone who contributes to Oxygen Health & Fitness – Kiama’s Best Gym.

Here’s our 2017 Year in Review:

January

BioTrust Autoship re-introduced

For many years I had an auto-shipment of the world’s tastiest Protein Powder delivered right to my door each and every month. With literally thousands of choices of Protein Powder, usually you find either two things: something tastes great but is loaded with sugar, artificial colours and sweetners and other junk, or something is of the highest quality but it tastes like garbage and is something you don’t look forward to consuming.

 

BioTrust is the best of both worlds in that it is of the highest quality natural ingredients but importantly, it tastes great. It’s been voted multiple times as the world’s tastiest protein powder by Personal Trainers across the world. They have 6 different flavours but my favourite is Choc Peanut Butter. They also have a range of delicious Protein Bars, Cookies and other Supplements. It’s definitely a brand we have recommended with our Kiama Nutrition Coaching.

 

There’s nowhere you can buy it in Australia, only through their website here via my discount link.  I encourage you to try a sample at the Smoothie Bar and if you like it, consider a monthly Autoship to take the hassle out of re-ordering in the future.

Strength101

Testing Week is something we do every 3 Months to gauge our Client’s Successes, Challenges & Progress. It’s a big week for both Staff & Clients alike Testing all the major lifts and this year we created a 3 Week Program around it called Strength101.

The first week, we focus on Technique and performing all the Lifts in the 5 Rep Max Range. We also get some sub maximal practice at the Body Weight exercises like Push Ups, Pull Ups & Planks. In Week 2, we bump up the weights and knock back the reps into the 3 Rep Range. We also get a little more practice at Push Ups, Pull Ups & Planks. The Final Week, is Testing Week and it helped everyone’s confidence when trying to hit those 1 Rep Max Attempts.

Moo the first FitChick to break 200kg barrier

Michelle Morunga (or Moo as she’s known) has an Athlete Membership with us here at Oxygen, having previously utilized our Boot Camp and Fit Chicks Club Services over the past few years.

One of the friendliest people you will ever meet, Moo has many sides to her. She’s a social worker by career, but could hold her own as a sensational Singer and can pull off a mean “Haka”, performing in shows across Australia & New Zealand. She also happens to be a weapon in Women’s Rugby League, playing in the strong Illawarra Comp for Berkeley Eagles and she was also selected to represent the New Zealand Maori Women’s Team in Hamilton last year.

At our January Testing Week, with a less then ideal lead up from the silly season of food choices, time off from the gym, alcohol etc Moo stepped up to the Trap Bar and became the first FitChick to Deadlift 200kg, finishing with an impressive 205kg to set an unlikely PR in January.

February

Rach & Az get Married

Jade’s only Sister and my Best Mate, we were stoked to be part of the Bridal Party for Rachel Braun & Aaron Henry’s Wedding Day at Ravensthorpe in February. It was a sensational few days celebrating and it’s now a awesome union of families that have come together. It was also great to see so many Oxygen clients there to help them celebrate their commitment to each other.

Rach looked stunning and the big rig scrubbed up alright too. It brought back some nice memories for me personally, seeing Jade walk down the aisle and as usual she looked sensational as Maid of Honour too. I was really impressed with both Jade’s and Azza’s speeches at the Wedding as they are not noted speakers and they say it is one of the most common fears people have. Well done you two, nice words that certainly brought about some laughs and as well as a few tears.

Everyone did well in stifling conditions as the mercury topped 41 degrees on the day. Luckily a cool breeze came along right after and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Great food, drinks, venue, people, and we knew the musician and photographer would be great, they were the same ones Jade and I used last year.

Az & Rach celebrated their honeymoon in Airlie Beach with Rach surprising the big guy with a chopper flight and picnic lunch at the famous Whitehaven Beach for Valentine’s Day. Wow, Azza certainly has some lofty standards to try and live up to for Valentine’s Day from now on.

Free reign over Program Design

It was a big learning curve in February as we turned over responsibility to Members to design their own Programs for a change. It worked well for some, others needed more practice. It requires knowing which exercises work which muscle group. It requires knowing which Rep range to work in to focus on for your Goals. It requires an understanding that despite how hard you work in the Gym, what you feed yourself still makes up about 80% of your Results. It requires patience, and acceptance, that 3-6-12 Months of consistent effort at BOTH exercise and nutrition can give you the results you’ve always been after. There’s no other way.

We still provided some clear guidelines but gave Clients a choice of One Lower Body Exercise from a List we came up with, One Upper Body Push and One Upper Body Pull. Those three functional movement patterns will form the basis of almost every Program you ever do here at Oxygen. That first 30 minute period of your Session is for quality Strength work and it’s the foundation of your Program regardless of your Goal.

After that first half hour, it allowed Clients roughly 15 mins at the end of the session for Accessory or Finisher work. Clients were asked to think about their Goals again before jumping into this section. What do you want from your training? Muscle Gain? Cut the Finisher work down and focus on Accessory Exercises that target the areas you want to build up. Fat Loss? Don’t worry about the targeted Accessory Exercises so much and concentrate on either a 15 Min Endurance style Finisher, or a a couple of rounds of a 3-4 Min High Intensity Finisher that really gets you gasping for air.

Overall it was a big eye-opener for everyone but a nice change.

Website Overhaul Begins

One of the long, never ending jobs I have had on my list for far too long was updating, deleting, adding and overhauling our Website. Our business has certainly changed a LOT in the 8 years we have been open, from Boot Camps outdoors, to hiring out Kiama High School, from working with large groups, to smaller semi private groups and back again. I was checking the About Us page on our website and it reminded me just how far we’ve come. Some people know the story, some people know some part of our history and other people may have no idea at all. Check out the evolution of Oxygen over the website here.

I was forced to take action on this in 2017 as Google decided that Websites that weren’t “Mobile Responsive” wouldn’t rank as highly as they used to (and fair enough too with so many people using mobile devices these days)

What that meant though was back and forth between me and my Web Designer to re-configure the design, pages, content, everything really. I was slack with this at times throughout the year but bit by bit I got it done and late this year we got an updated, more functional and much better looking Website which you can see here.

March

More Wedding Ring Stories

Jade and I spent an extra long weekend in Noosa in March as we celebrated our 1st Wedding Anniversary. It was an awesome little break starting in Brisbane on the Friday. We had a romantic night at the Footy witnessing another epic battle between the Broncos and the Cowboys. Jade and I don’t go for either of those Teams but the last 5 Games between these two clubs have produced such great entertainment and we had a feeling this one would be the same. Right we were, as the Cowboys won another Golden Point Extra Time Thriller.

The next day we hopped in our hire car and headed about 90 minutes north to Noosa to settle in for a few days. What a beautiful place,we said straight away we’ll definitely be back and nothing that happened over the following few days changed our minds on that decision. In the afternoon we got to catch up with former Oxygen Members Kylie Thomson and Kelli Campbell who moved up to the Sunshine Coast in the past 18 months. They showed us around their neck of the woods and we had a few drinks with them at the Coolum Surf Club as the sun was setting. Awesome.

The following day we thought we’d get up early and have a swim over at Noosa Beach in the lukewarm water. As we walked across the street, Jade made mention that she would take her Wedding Ring off and pop it on her necklace as not to lose it. For those that don’t know I lost my Wedding Ring on our honeymoon after diving into the ocean at Teahupoo in Tahiti.

So we get to the beach, pop our towels down and as Jade is undoing her necklace she drops her Wedding Ring onto the sand. We found the Engagement Ring straight away but searched for almost an hour and couldn’t find the Wedding Band. So we hopped on Google and found a guy in Noosa 8km away who was selling a brand new metal detector, still in the box, on Gumtree. Jade went and bought it, I stayed there on the spot and low and behold the metal detector works. We found the Ring! Like everyone keeps saying, we’ll definitely have a few stories for the grandkids one day.

Noosa is a great place, a little slice of paradise. As opposed to Port Douglas (which we’ve been to and loved) Noosa is closer to home with a pretty short flight from Sydney and ocean water you can swim in without fear of Box Jellyfish or Crocodiles. If you stay there we recommend Noosa Beach House Restaurant where the Sri Lankan Chef makes a delicious, healthy Fish Curry. On the cheat meal side of things, Betty’s Burgers is the bomb!

Introduction of Open Gym

In March, we made another major change to our Timetable with the introduction of Open Gym Timeslots. When I say “another” I’m referring to the fact that over the past few years we’ve gone from an Outdoor Kiama Boot Camp, to Male & Female Semi Private Personal Training Groups in Kiama, to a Kiama Strength & Conditioning Facility, to offering Indoor Sports to Unisex Sessions. We’re not afraid to make change and we’re not afraid to make big decisions. Each time we’ve done so in the best interests of Oxygen. Open Gym is another one of those decisions.

So, we kicked off Open Gym with firstly 4-6pm Timeslot each day. By the end of the year we had 9am-6pm and moving into 2018 I truly believe Open Gym Memberships will revolutionise the business.
Open Gym was designed for solo time to come in and get your own Training Session in. Coaches are on hand to help spot and give basic Technique help but it’s basically you on your own mission. That could be time to catch up the Strength session you missed during the week. It could be an additional Session to zero in on 1 or 2 exercises you really want to improve on like Squats and Pull Ups. It could be Conditioning, Mobility whatever.

In Open Gym times we won’t see every Set you perform. But we will see some of them. If we see something that doesn’t look right we’re not going to hide behind the Desk and pretend we didn’t see it. We’ll say something, correct you, demonstrate it again, or explain the consequences of the poor technique in question.

Our Staff have a wealth of knowledge and our Coaching and Programming are a few of the things that really help us differentiate from the average Gym Membership. Everyone wants Results from their training, but few people actually get what they’re really after. We Guarantee your Results if you follow through with our advice.

Workout of the Week introduced

At Oxygen Fitness Kiama Strength Training is our Foundation. We encourage Members to build their own Personal Timetables around TWO 1 Hour Strength Sessions each week, then top up their attendance with extra 30 minute bouts of Conditioning, Power a new Session, Workout of the Week.

The idea of these 30 Min Express Workouts is to get Intensity UP, knowing Duration is DOWN. It works a treat.

Usually our Workout of the Week will have Strength Training elements mixed in with bouts of Conditioning or Mobility work to keep the heart rate high throughout.

We added Workout of the Week as a Session onto our regular Timetable but it also made for some great free content we could share with the world. After all you don’t have to be at Oxygen, or even in Kiama, to benefit from it. This type of Free Content eventually led us to creating email newsletters & videos with the FitChick Workout of the Week and Spartan Workout of the Week. This is something we’ll again do in 2018 to help give the world a dose of Oxygen.

April

Green Win Series 14 of Challenge Week

We completed our 14th Season of our Kiama Fitness Challenge Week in April and I was stoked to be able to say that Green Team took out the win! Green got the lead late in the week and held on with a dominant display in the Finale. It was the first win for Green in two and a half years so it’s been a long time coming and was certainly very satisfying for a few Greens who have languished near the bottom of the table for far too long!

We were certainly helped by an injection of new talent, with a lot of Oxygen’s newest recruits topping up the numbers of a Team that has regularly had one of the smallest groups. Steve Boniface took out the MVP for Green with a huge week that saw him attend, and compete, at every Session. Steve starts work very early through the week and also works Saturday mornings so he usually only gets to the 4 night sessions in Challenge Week. This time around he had holidays booked and so was able to make it to all 11 sessions!

There together at every Session was Steve, Kerry Rowan and myself and we were helped by some great new talent in the way of Nathan Hore, Daniel Williamson and some awesome performances from Caitlyn Jamieson and Kevin Mikilewicz who had multiple wins in our killer Finale on the Saturday.

Well done to the other MVP’s – Kylie Strong (Blue) Kayla Wrigley (Yellow) and Nardia Guillaumier (Red)

Nardia breaks Record twice in 2 weeks

Since joining Oxygen Kiama in early 2016, Nardia Guillaumier found out she could Row. Pretty well actually. But during our April Testing Week, Nardia not only broke her own record as the Fastest Female Rower, she did it twice in 2 weeks coming up with a scorching time of 1:42.1 for the 500 metre distance. With long limbs and a good motor you could say “yeah but it’s easier for her” but that’s garbage. She puts in the hard yards on this thing regularly and is the most consistent Member at Oxygen who deserves the accolades. Look at this for power…

Report Cards

After completing our second Testing Week of 2017, reviewing all the Statistics as well as jotting down Notes about all of our Members since Sessions began in January, we finished compiling the first Quarterly Report Card   Each week, as we’ve noticed certain things, Joy, Nathan and I have written down bits & pieces under Strengths as well as Areas to Improve. With many parents training here, the Report Card was a familiar way of gauging progress. It gave everyone something to go home and show their Parents. If you get grounded, or your pocket money gets cut off, it’s not our fault.

 

Seriously though, we’ve put a lot of work into these as they’re really important for everyone’s continual development. Nobody has a perfect record 12 months of the year, at times our strength goes up but so does our body fat. Our conditioning improves but our strength deteriorates. Sometimes you can improve every marker of fitness especially when you’re a newbie. Other times our eating’s off track, conditioning is crap, we’re weak as pi$$ and life sucks.

We’ll give you our professional recommendations on things we saw during Testing Week and also what we notice you do (or don’t do) on a day to day basis. What you do with that Report Card is up to you but it’s a very valuable tool and great Accountability to stick with your Fitness Program in Kiama’s Best Gym.
Sometimes you can hear feedback a thousand times verbally but if you read the same feedback an “aha” moment occurs.

 

Next Year, we’ve streamlined the process for Members to get help setting some S.M.A.R.T Goals for 2018. I encourage everyone members and Non Members alike to Book a Consultation with us in the New Year.

May

Soccer

Jade has a long history of success at Soccer. She’s represented NSW and I’ll never forget an opportunity we got to meet the A-League All Stars for a kickaround at WIN Stadium a few years back. Juggling with Besart Berisha, Jade North and other Stars, the Fox Sports Cameras flocked to Jade doing her thing.

With Long Hours and Weekends being part of her Job as Business Manager at Wilson’s Holden she just hasn’t been able to play Soccer the last few years but in 2017 she made her comeback with Kiama Quarriers.

Minutes before her first Game, she was told by Coach Umberto (who I used to Train in Wollongong years ago) that she was Captain so she better go and Toss the Coin. Then during the Game when Kiama received a Penalty, she stepped up and slotted the first Goal. The Team which hasn’t tasted a lot of success in recent years Won their first Game 1-0. She’s back baby.

But then, we had a bit of bad luck. Shitty, terrible luck actually. You often don’t realise how lucky you are to be fit and healthy until it’s taken away from you. Only 10 Minutes into the second Game of the Season Jade tore her Anterior Cruciate Ligament. Another girl clipped Jades leg in a seemingly innocuous bump but MRI scans revealed that she was out for the Season and required surgery.

After shedding a few tears and letting a few f-bombs go, she was there at the Gym the very next night pumping out some great Upper Body combinations. I was so shattered for her that afternoon when we got the news but by that night seeing her rip into the few things she could control I couldn’t help but be inspired.

Jade had the Surgery done a few weeks later, she’s seeing the Team at BaiMed for the Return to Perform ACL Rehab process and she has the Gym to make it happen.

It’s a long road ahead but she’s committed to doing whatever it takes.

Lake Ilawarra Cricket Presentation Night

It was a great night for Oxygen at the Lake Illawarra Cricket Club Presentation in May. From left, thanks go to Sponsor Val Perkovic (Style Maintenance Services) represented by Ryan Smith, Dave Lambert 1st Grade Batting Aggregate & Average, 101* v Oak Flats, 101* v Shellharbour, Brendan White 200 1st Grade Games and 20/20 Century v Shellharbour, Aaron Henry 1st Grade Bowling Average & Two 5 Wicket Hauls, Mark Ulcigrai 1st Grade Bowling Aggregate and Lake Illawarra Cricketer of the Year.

After an enjoyable Season last year, we have attracted some great additions to the Squad this Season with Brendan White, Kerrod White & Scott Ulcigrai all helping us remain Undefeated at the halfway mark of the Season and already one of the three Trophies we want secured.

June

Kiama Winter Warrior Challenge

An exciting new event kicked off in June with the Kiama Winter Warrior Challenge. We first started Winter Warrior for Members back in 2012. It’s been run a number of different ways but never like this and never advertised externally to the public. Numbers for everything were been huge. The first Saturday Morning saw 36 committed peeps smashing their way into the weekend. Morning and Night there’s regularly been 20-30 people all training the house down in the name of Winter.

Warrior is a Session at Oxygen where people get a bit of Strength, Power, Core & Conditioning all in the one Session. So for the Winter Warrior Challenges there were 3 separate Warrior Workouts to complete each week and we either manipulated how long you had to go, or how much you had to lift. It challenged everyone. Many Members learnt how training, just 3 x week, CAN yield great Results if the intensity is right, and some structure is applied the right way. Yep just 3 x Week.

For Members who had been grinding away for the past 5 Months consistently, it was a welcome change.
For Members who had been a bit off track, it was a great challenge that didn’t require a huge time commitment. People who had been a bit flat, or uninspired thought “yeah ok just 3 times a week, I can do that“.
Members of the public said, “yeah 3 times per week for results I can handle that. I get a bit of strength, a bit of cardio beautiful, I’ll sign up“.
Then that first Saturday! 300 or the Ladder of Death.
Designed by renown Strength Coach Vince Del Monte, we tweaked it to suit Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced levels.
For the next 6 Saturdays we added 5 more Minutes to the clock and slowly but surely EVERY one of the 36 people finished the Ladder of Death by the end of the 6 Weeks.
Hard work, great fun and an awesome vibe at the Gym throughout the Winter Warrior Challenge.

 

South Coast Institute of Cricket

For the 3rd time now we were asked by South Coast Cricket to conduct Pre and Post Fitness Assessments for their Off Season Institute Program. Nath was able to help me put the young Cricketers through the Functional Movement Screen, some Body Weight Strength Tests, a variety of Conditioning Assessments and a Batting Drill to assess shot selection, placement, footwork, running between wickets & more on our Indoor Bowling Machine. This led to a few young Cricketers pairing up for our first Pre Season Cricket Fitness Program coupled with South Coast Cricket Coaching.

Over 6 Weeks, Cricketers young and old competed against each other at 2/3/5/10 & 20 minute Cricket Fitness Batting Drills trying to score the most Runs and also avoid the dreaded Penalty of running a Set of Stairs for every time they got out. Great fun and good practice for Cricketers of any age.

Oxygen Health & Fitness on the global stage

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Oxygen Weekly Logo

Welcome to another Oxygen Health & Fitness Weekly Wrap. Today marks the 1st of OXOBER, not October, and this is the month where lots of exciting events happen at Oxygen Health & Fitness Kiama.

 

There’s a couple of short weeks coming up with a Public Holiday next Monday and a very exciting event for me starting tomorrow. This event, called Mega Training, is the World’s Number One Event for Fitness Business Owners. This three week world tour held in Orlando USA, Sydney Australia and London England is hosted by NPE, a US Company that has been 5 times listed on the INC 500 List of fastest growing privately owned US enterprises.

 

Since 2009 I have been received Coaching from NPE and they gave me the confidence to start Oxygen Health & Fitness. Through their systems, tools and coaching I was able to create an award winning Kiama fitness business that saw me crowned the 2010 NPE Member of the Year, something that changed my life and that which I am very proud of. (Click here to read about Oxygen’s major award.)

 

Last year I was privileged to be a Presenter on stage to hundreds of Australia’s best fitness business owners and this year I am excited to be there as an NPE
Asia-Pacific Staff Member.  The past few months I have been working as a Part Time Success Coach helping clients across the world implement systems and processes to help them run their business. Through the use of Skype, the internet and several software platforms, Oxygen is impacting the fitness industry on a global stage.

 

Click here to watch a quick video on the amazing history of NPE.
(If you scroll down to The Success Coach Team you’ll see my Staff Profile.)

 

I always come away from these events super pumped and with Challenge Week and Oxygen’s 5th Birthday just around the corner, I’m excited for the month ahead.

 

In the meantime, I’ll be away Thursday, Friday and Saturday but fear not, Traci will be holding the fort while I’m gone.

 

Check out the latest Weekly Wrap below.
Dave Lambert
Oxygen Health & Fitness

 

What’s Been Happening?

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Super Saturday Classic

The latest installment of Super Saturday saw us down at Surf Beach Kiama for a short sharp session. In a sessions that was a little bit “surf n turf”, we performed two 9 minute workouts combing cardio and resistance training.

 

The first workout was a combo of forward plyometric leaps on the sand, dumbbell rows and push ups and the second one involved sprints on the grass with dumbbell push press and TRX pull ups. 18 minutes of intensity was another great start to our Saturday and who could forget the coffee and good company afterwards.
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21 Day Nutrition Challenge

Oxygen Health & Fitness Members wrapped up a 21 Day challenge that saw them introduced to the 10 Rules of Precision Nutrition. They were required to write down their food intake and post it to our private forum every day for accountability.

As with most things, there was some dropoff from some people who started with high motivation but overall there were some consistent performers who did well sticking to the task.

There are a number of new 21 day Challenges that are more customised to certain goals and now that everyone understands the basics, these optional challenges will be available to start post Challenge Week.

 

The idea of 21 days is based upon the overwhelming evidence that it takes 21 times to create a habit. These challenges are short term enough to help people maintain motivation and create new habits that will get them closer to their desired goals.

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Strength Sessions

We’re into Week 5 of our programs for Fit Chicks Club Kiama and Spartan Training Club Kiama and most people have either hit or are very close to hitting their targets. Next week is the final week so if you’re close to a goal, let me know and we’ll try to organise for you to do that particular lift early on in the session whilst you’re fairly fresh.

 

Just a reminder also that with the change of Seasons and warmer weather, make sure you are well hydrated before sessions, sip plenty of fluids during training and refuel and recover properly afterwards.

We often set up some of our strength sessions outside in the shade on hot days and I have also designed some Kiama strength & conditioning programs that utilise the great outdoors in places like Surf Beach and Chapman Oval so keep an eye out for these over the warmer months.

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Conditioning Sessions

We’ve recently changed the format of our Conditioning sessions and received some great feedback. Normally we have been using a typical Tabata type protocol of 20 seconds work 10 seconds rest. Lately though we have moved to a much longer working set anywhere from 6-10 minutes but each station using a rep based goal for example 60 skips or 15 kettlebell swings.

Participants have been keeping an eye on how many full rounds of the circuit they are getting through in the allotted time and then trying to beat that in corresponding sets. It’s a welcome change and a great way for people of all fitness levels to push hard or back off when they need to.

We’ll be using a similar technique, called Escalating Density Training, in some upcoming FitChicksClub Kiama and Spartan Kiama programs before the end of the year.

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Challenge Week preparations complete

I was excited to complete all my Session Plans yesterday for the upcoming Oxygen Challenge Week due to start Monday 13th Oxober. Each Challenge Week requires A LOT of thought and this time round was probably one of the tougher ones to devise given the changes to Oxygen these past 6 months and the number of Members available.

 

However I am pleased to say there are some great new session plans, with a few tweaks to some old classic challenges and some brand new ones entirely. The sessions are based on smaller numbers per Team but having said that, this Series more than ever, will require consistently high attendance. No excuses.

 

Challenge Week will wrap up with Oxygen Health & Fitness’ 5th Birthday at Seabreeze Dining on Saturday 18th Oxober. Contact us to secure your place.

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Oxygen MOTW Logo

 Jamie Williams

Jamie is a long time client who understands the importance of hard work and pushing the body to improve. Along with running, riding and swimming every week as part of his maintenance training for next year’s Hawaii Ironman, Jamie is part of our 6am Spartan group and always attends Stretch each week to maintain tissue quality and stay injury free.

This is a good lesson to everyone that Stretching/Foam Rolling and Recovery techniques are AS IMPORTANT as all the intense sessions you complete each week. Those that attend Friday Stretch automatically gain 1 Performance Point just for being there.

Jamie also attended Conditioning this week which was enough to pip him above everyone else to claim this week’s title of Member of the Week. Well done Jamie and enjoy your Williams family holiday to Hawaii next week.

 

Weekly Wisdom

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What’s Coming Up?

Whats Coming Up Logo

2nd/3rd/4th Oxober

Spotlight
NPE MEGA TRAINING
World’s #1 Event for Fitness Business Leaders
Novotel Brighton Beach Sydney

 

Saturday 4th Oxober

Spotlight

SUPER SATURDAY
7:30am
Surf Beach 

 

Monday 6th Oxober

Spotlight

NO SESSIONS
6am FitChicks and 6pm Conditioning cancelled

 

Tuesday 7th Oxober

Spotlight

TARGETS WEEK
 Final week of your Program, time to reach those Goals.

 

Monday 13th Oxober

Spotlight

CHALLENGE WEEK SERIES 9
6am
Kiama High School

 

Saturday 18th Oxober

Spotlight

OXYGEN’S 5TH BIRTHDAY
7pm
Seabreeze Dining

 

Saturday 15th November

Spotlight

TOUGH MUDDER SYDNEY
8am Southern Highlands
Join our Team here.

New Programs kick into gear at Oxygen Health & Fitness

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Welcome to the latest Weekly Wrap. Its been another exciting week here with some new clients, new programs and new motivation flowing throughout our community. Read on for all the latest updates…

Dave Lambert Oxygen Health & Fitness

What’s been happening?

Mega Training

Last Thursday, Friday, Saturday I was totally privileged to present a seminar at the world’s Number 1 Event for Fitness Business Leaders, Mega Training. The topic was Challenge Week and how to run kick ass internal events that create a buzz in your fitness business. I’d like to think we do that with Oxygen Challenge Week don’t we?
I wrote a Blog post covering my Mega Training experience over at our website here. It’s got some great lessons that can help anyone breakthrough the obstacles they’re facing in life.
Gourmet Nutrition CookbooksOne of the invaluable tools we coach our nutrition clients with is the Recipe Book “Gourmet Nutrition”. It was compiled by the worlds number one Nutrition Coaching company, Precision Nutrition, along with world class chef Michael Williams. It classifies meals into two categories: Any time Meals and Post Workout meals based on their carbohydrate intake. Click here for more information about the GN cookbook and if you’d like a copy reply email to secure one for only $55. (Note you will see that if you order directly from that site it will cost $82.) Consider gifting a friend/family member this cookbook for Christmas.
Programs Kick up a Notch STRENGTH, FITCHICKS and SPARTAN have all increased their workload this week and the muscle soreness is kicking in! The first week of any program, although never easy, is usually an introduction where clients may have to learn a new exercise, refine technique and start off with lower volume sets, reps and time. Week 2 though is all systems go and you’ll be pleased to know I’m as sore as everyone else. You love that don’t you?
Weekly Wisdom

What’s coming up?

Friday 8th November STRETCH 6am Surf Beach

GROUP CONSULTATION 7am Gloria Jeans Saturday 9th November SUPER SATURDAY 7am Surf Beach

Jill takes the reins this week, can anyone guess what she has in store? I’m not even 100% sure myself but my guess is that it will involve sand, sweat and swearwords!
Saturday 16th NovemberOXYGEN’S BIG BREAKFAST 8am Surf Beach

Kiama Personal Trainers show you how to achieve your fitness goals

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Welcome to the Oxygen Health & Fitness Weekly Wrap. Our 2 for 1 Special is in full swing and Kiama Boot Camp numbers have surged as Kiama residents strive to keep those Winter calories at bay. There’s some great information today about Goal Setting and ways to keep you motivated towards achieving them. I’ve also got all the usual updates below as well as some upcoming events you won’t want to miss. Enjoy…

Dave Lambert
Oxygen Health & Fitness

 

What’s been happening?

Fitness Assessments in Kiama

It was great to see a packed house last Friday as we conducted our Monthly Fitness Assessment. Aerobic capacity, Muscular Strength & Endurance, Power and Flexibility tests were undertaken as well as the all important Girth Measurements. The good thing is we now have a baseline from which to measure. Follow up is the critical key though, to gauge where you have improved from one month to the next.

Now I’m sure everyone out there would like to lose at least a little body fat so pay close attention to the following statement:

When setting your fitness goals concentrate on the process as well as the outcome.
For example, you may have a weight loss of goal of say 10kg. You may have even taken it a step further and set a realistic deadline of Xmas 2013 (another important step in the goal setting process).

Rather than now being so focussed on that Long Term Goal of losing 10kg by Xmas (Outcome) focus on the Short Term Goals over the next 4-6 weeks that are going to get you to where you want to be. These might include:
a) attending a minimum 5 Oxygen sessions per week
b) Stop skipping breakfast and instead start every day with protein & vegetables
c) focus on improving your aerobic capacity by taking your beep test from Level 5 – 6

Do you think it’s possible if you can tick off those three things in a month’s time you’ll be lighter, fitter and more motivated?

It’s important to note that just by writting your goals down and sharing them with someone you’re definitely ahead of most people who just wish for things. But, there’s still a lot of work to be done. When setting these goals and plans ask yourself, how committed am I to actually doing the work required? Kiama Personal Trainers can give you ALL the help you need to be successful but you have to want to do it for yourself.

If you want help to set and achieve your Goals just book one of the 6 places for our Free Group Goal Setting Consultation this Friday 7am at Gloria Jeans. See below in the What’s Coming Up Section of our Newsletter.

 
 
Winter Warriors

Our attendance challenge continues to surge through Winter and drag many an Oxygen Boot Camp member along for the ride. Just as a quick reminder you get points the following ways:

  • 1 pt for every Oxygen session attended.
  • 2 pts IF you attend the randomly selected Double Points Session
  • 1 pt if you Post directly on the Oxygen Health & Fitness – Kiama Facebook page by 9am Sat

By the end of Winter, there are prizes like Oxygen merchandise and Massage vouchers up for grabs. It’s just one way to keep everyone that extra bit motivated through Winter

The current standing for Winter Warriors are:

1. Claire Osborne
2. Deni Murray
3. Susan Hawley, Rylee Cole
4. Erin Allen
5. Deb Chatfield, Tammy Langlois
 
 

Weekly Wisdom


 
 
 

What’s coming up?

Workout of the Month

Friday 12th July
6am Kiama High School

For those who are new to the concept, the Workout of the Month is a set STRENGTH workout which is different to all the other STRENGTH sessions during the week. It is always a full body workout done at high intensity and often only lasts for 5-15 minutes. Participants either have:
a)  a set number of rounds to do as fast as possible
b) a set time limit to complete as many repetitions or rounds as possible

Each week times or scores are recorded so that when you come back the following Friday you have your own personal target to beat.

I want to re-enforce THREE messages about these workouts:

  1. Always ensure you use the best technique before worrying about speed of movement.
  2. You’re in competition against YOURSELF, nobody else.
  3. Rather than see Fridays as an effort to get up for such a short workout, view Fridays as a treat because Fridays are only a short workout! It’s hard, it’s fast but it’s over quick.
It’s all about INTENSITY and these workouts can get significant results when you apply yourself.
 
 
Group Consultation

Friday 12th July
7am Gloria Jeans

Whether you’re a seasoned Oxygen veteran or a Boot Camper who is new to the scene, I urge EVERYONE to take advantage of this valuable FREE service. Why?

If you’ve just started with us there’s a very high chance you don’t know exactly what’s required to move you forward towards your goals. It could be exercise related, nutrition improvements or both.

On the other hand, sometimes we all go through periods of our life where there is no real focus on fitness or nutrition. Sometimes it’s the “I’m just too busy at the moment, as long as I’m getting there 3  x week I’m happy.” Othertimes it’s “I already know what I need to do” or it may just be that you don’t have a goal and therefore whe n times get busy there’s no dricing force to get you out of bed on a cold winter morning.

Let me make this perfectly clear:

EVERYONE has a Goal.

NOONE puts themselves through the pain & discomfort of intense exercise for the sake of it.

Whether you admit to that or not, you have a goal. It may be:

Performance related ie I want to run a half marathon, do my first chin up, stop my knees from aching.
Body Composition related ie I want to lose 5kg, reduce my waist, build bigger biceps
Health ie I want more energy, to improve my nutrition because I have a family history of heart disease,

Even on the outside chance that you know exactly what you need to do, would it hurt to seek some free advice from a Team of experts that help people set these goals every day. Of course not.

To discuss your Goals and determine a clear path forward, we will help you set Short Term Goals and identify the Number ONE priority for the week ahead that will move you closer to your goal.

Click here to book in. Hurry places limited to 6 people only!


 
 
City 2 Surf RUN SQUAD

Saturday 12th July
6am Surf Beach
10km run

 

BOXING

Saturday 12th July
730am Surf Beach

 
 

Women’s Fitness Super Saturday

Saturday 20th July
730am Kiama High School

 

We announced last week that our most famous event, the Saddleback Smashwill receive some incredible publicity by appearing in both Women’s Fitness and Men’s Fitness Magazines.

Both these publications are national magazines and they will be visiting Kiama in July for interviews and to taste-test the event known as Australia’s Toughest Fun Run!

Women’s Fitness will be here NEXT Saturday 20th July and we’ll be putting on an Oxygen Special – Super Saturday. This workout will be a Strength & Conditioning Combo that is sure to test clients of all abilities.

The Super Saturday Session starts 730am at Kiama High School.

 
 
New Precision Nutrition 101 Course Starts

Monday 22nd July
7pm Kiama High School

Whether you want to improve your health, body composition or performance improving your nutrition IS the answer. Enter the next 12 Week PN101 Nutrition Coaching Course in Kiama and not only will you get the results you’re after but you could win a holiday here in Vanuatu for your troubles!

Monday Motivator – Oxygen Challenge Week will help you grow!

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Things are really gearing up for us this week at Oxygen Health & Fitness Kiama.  We’re a week out from our biggest event of the year – Challenge Week.  This is where all of our clients are split into Teams and over the course of one week they are challenged to try to attend as many sessions as they can to earn points for their team.

You can read more about previous Challenge Weeks here and if you’d like to get involved you can register at this website.

So it’s usually around this period, a week out from the event that everyone at Oxygen Health & Fitness starts getting excited nervous/anxious about the events that will unfold.  The specific details will remain a mystery but everyone knows it’s a long, hard week of physical and mental challenges.

They know they’re gunna have fun.

They know they’re gunna have to go another level and do things out of their comfort zone.

And THAT is why challenge week is so good – cos it takes people out of the zone to new levels of personal growth.

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Are you up for the challenge?

If you’re not registered yet, click here to get involved.

If you’re already doing challenge week, recruit everyone you know onto your Team by sending them here (make sure they mention your name when they register.)

Food Prep Hacks – Lazy Chicken Salad

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