To make this topic easier to understand I’m going to use a goal I often hear spurted out by the majority of my new clients; to lose 10 kilos. This goal is thrown around frivolously these days; and thanks to all the media about people doing it in 6 weeks, 6 months, 10 weeks etc everyone thinks it’s an easy thing to achieve. Well; it is and it isn’t; if you apply yourself never waiver from your eating plan and train 5 times a week you will definitely lose 10 kilos. But this isn’t what happens for most people.

Most people who come to a personal trainer are what we call de-motivated; they want the goal and they will pay for help and knowledge but the motivation is still lacking. How do you suddenly become super motivated; you can’t; it’s a process that you must go through. Now don’t go thinking that I’m saying it’s hopeless and you should just give up; what I’m saying is stop waiting for the light bulb to go on in your head. The light bulb doesn’t suddenly appear one day out of no where; it is a slow process; and often a defining process that affects more than just your training and it can’t be forced.

The bulb is waiting; “That which is easy is never worth doing” Simon McCarthy aka me

To achieve the bulb you must dedicate yourself to your goal; completely not partially. And now you’re thinking ‘But Simon I am dedicated’; are you? Ask yourself these questions and then answer that question again.

1 Are you eating right?

2 ARE YOU EATING RIGHT? This is fundamental to your success.

3 Are you training enough? 2 times a week may seem tough but it’s not enough; start doing some of the work yourself.

4 Are you doing your homework?

5 Are you being honest with your trainer? A trainer must know when you’ve been good and bad.

6 Are you making an effort to avoid sabotaging yourself? One slip is a slip; more than one is a nasty habit forming.

7 Are you only training when you feel like it? This is a big one

8 Are you only taking your food seriously when you fail to achieve your mini result? E.g. drop1 kg in one week; this is an even bigger thing to consider.

9 Lastly; how often are you apologizing to your trainer for slip ups or not doing your homework.

If you are able to honestly still say you’re motivated and on track; stop reading now; if not; keep reading.

To help activate your bulb you’re going to have to turn all the negative answers you just gave into positive ones. You’re also going to have to keep getting those positive answers. Does this mean your bulb will activate sooner? Not yet. The real key factor to the bulb going on is seeing results for all your hard work. The funny thing about training is the more reward you see for your effort the harder you will naturally start working. Any client of mine who has managed to get kick ass results has done so by first working there ass off to get the little results; that 1 kg a week fat loss, the weights going up by 5 kg on every exercise, fitting into smaller jeans; these are the little things that will help you get closer to the bulb; and none of them did it by just seeing me once or twice a week. 

I could go on and on; and I may revisit this topic another time. But for now your mission is simple to do but hard to accomplish; which is how it should be. If you want those kick ass results start working for it; devote yourself to it and stop taking yourself further and further away from the bulb with excuses. You know all the excuses so I’m not going to even bring them up.

For now just finish this article with one thought; achieving a goal is hard work and takes dedication and that’s how it should be or it wouldn’t be worth doing.

From left to right: Zoe Hunter, Alice Shaw, personal trainer Jen Etcell and Alison Sim

Jen McMahon (right) pictured with a friend after the race

Stephen McDonald ran 14kms in just over an hour

On the 19th-20th May 2012, New Level Newtown participated in their first fun run event. Seven members of the New Level Newtown family ventured down the coast to Apollo Bay to take part in this year’s Great Ocean Road Marathon fun run.

Three of the girls, Zoe Hunter, Alison Sim and Alice Shaw participated in the newly created 6km fun run on Saturday, while Stephen McDonald and Jen McMahon took part in Saturday’s 14km event.

On Sunday, meanwhile, our Head Personal Trainer Jen Etcell ran in support of a former client and her best friend Heidi Umstad in the 23km half-marathon. Another of Jen’s ex-clients, Scott Umstad, who happens to be Heidi’s husband, also took part in the 6km event. 

Alison, who is not only a long time personal training client, but a well respected osteopath who operates out of the Newtown studio’s consulting room, ran the 6km event in a remarkable time of just on 37 minutes.

Alice, another long time client at Newtown, was not too far behind completing the course in 39 minutes.

Zoe had never run on a treadmill for more than a few hundred metres before taking up personal training at New Level Newtown towards the end of last year. Taking that into account, her time of 49 minutes in the 6km event can only be regarded as nothing short of spectacular and truly inspirational. An amazing feat indeed!

In the 14km event, Stephen McDonald showed just why he is considered one of the fittest clients at New Level, running the entire course in a staggering time of 1 hour, 3 minutes and 50 seconds.

Jen McMahon, meanwhile, is a seasoned Fun Run campaigner. Prior to the Great Ocean Road weekend, however, she had never participated in a 14km event. 

Having only run a maximum 12 kms previously, just the day before she had expressed some doubt to Studio Owner Tonci Prusac that she would be able to compete the 14km course. She was reassured by Tonci, who said he had great faith she would do so.

Well, fast forward 24 hours and not only did Jen complete the picturesque coastal course, but she did it in style, running it in 77 minutes!

Head Personal Trainer Jen Etcell was in a jubilant mood after the race.

“We were blessed with absolutely perfect conditions for running and the performance of our clients was absolutely amazing. This is why I love my job and it is clients like these guys that inspire me to keep my running up!” said Jen. 

“They have spent several weeks in the studio preparing for the run and the results that came through were very well deserved. 

“Not only did they achieve PB’s over original distances previously run in their training, but they then added extra distance. I even heard that they ‘secretly enjoyed’ the much anticipated run.” 

Congratulations guys!!!

“Failed my test; no matter; I still rock this place”; but lame to get the highest grade or excel where others are falling short.

 “I got an A!” “NERD!”

This mentality still exists today believe it or not; except now it’s cool to fail at keeping your own body in check. You can be super fit or super unfit; but not anywhere in between; that’s just not cool. The funny thing is now that your friends are all adults they don’t use the word cool anymore; that’s kids stuff. Now they choose to see self improvement as a waste of time or a sign that you have had some kind of mental break. In other words; they’re not doing it so why are you?

How often would you say you’ve heard these words?

“You’re training; why? You’re not an athlete”

“Why aren’t you drinking? One drink won’t kill you”

“Pfft Diet; shut up and have some pizza with us”

This one is my personal favorites… “Go on; you can always work it off with your trainer tomorrow”.

These words of wisdom; or WOW statements from your friends can be the catalyst to you chucking in the towel or choosing to fail; and often that is exactly what happens. This doesn’t happen right away mind you; it is often a slow progressively destructive effect that occurs over weeks or months. 

First; you’ll eat something that you know doesn’t suit your eating plan. Second; you’ll cancel a training sessions to catch up with your mates that you haven’t seen for a whole 5 days; damn how do you go on? Third; you start back at the old bad habits. Fourth and final; you quit; and say it’s due to lack of time, results and money; when really its due to lack of self control, effort and dedication.

Now the easiest thing to do now would be to ditch all those tall poppy hating friends of yours; but of course you like them and they have stuck by you for other stuff; like shouting you a round at the pub; what a pal. So instead this means that once again the task falls back on you and your will power.  

There are two things you need in your arsenal to accomplish this task; that’s right; only two things to remember folks. One; you must learn to say no to your friends; you don’t have to go to every social gathering or drink every pint they shout you. Two; learn to no longer use their WOW statements as a scapegoats for your goal plan. If you stick these two simple things for 1 month your friends will learn to see you as the fitness nut of the group; instead of the kidding themselves nut they see every time you adhere to their WOW statements.

Do this; train hard; eat right and nothing will stop you from winning the results game.

Good luck; now go train. 

At New Level Personal Training we try to add value to our service by providing videos that our clients and others in the community can watch for further health and fitness information.

Our videos range from:
– ‘How To Videos’ for all types of exercises, explaining how to perform them correctly and safely.
– Nutrition advice
– Homework workouts, each exercise is demonstrated to avoid confusion.
– Business update videos including recent renovations, new services and equipment.
– Client testimonials
– Sample workouts.

The plan is to create these videos each week so people can benefit from them, however we only started this about 1 month ago and it is fair to say we are still a little shaky in front of camera. We recently tried to film a 30 second welcome video for this website and it took us TOO MANY takes! We have decided to put a few together in a ‘Blooper Video’ for you to view. Feel free to laugh at us, we certainly are, as we realise we are a long way off Hollywood!!

We plan on getting better in front of the camera as we are committed to producing a minimum of 1 new video each week (practice makes perfect)!

If you have any suggestions on what type of information or demonstrations you would like to see in our videos, feel free to contact us on 1300 NEWLEVEL or comment below this post. We welcome all ideas as we go towards adding value and educating our community.

We hope you enjoy this light hearted Bloopers Video, and please don’t take offence from ‘The Bird’ at the beginning, it was directed at the camera man!!!

At New Level we recommend our clients do a minimum of 4 sessions per week. Obviously some of these 4 sessions will be actual Personal Training sessions with the trainer. The remaining sessions will be ‘homework’ sessions that our clients complete on their own.

We take care in ensuring that all our clients understand and learn the correct technique of the homework exercises. We also try to prescribe exercises that require little to no equipment.

The homework routines set by our trainers for our clients are specific to their goal to ensure we are always striving for the desired results. New Level trainers DO keep the clients accountable by asking for the details of their homework workout each time they see each other.

The exercises demonstated in the video above are beginner level exercises that can be performed at home. This website will be uploaded each week with more exercises you can do at home if you wish to add them to your routine.

Good luck!

Quite frankly, some of the instructors who prescribe to the ‘hard-core’ boot-camp
thing scare the hell out of me…and I’ve been a Personal Trainer for 17 years!

Every Saturday each New Level Personal Training studio conducts its Saturday Super Session
at 8.30am. Where, you’ll meet at the studio, go to a local park and do a circuit of some sort.
It’ll be a mix of cardio and body weight resistance exercises. It’ll run in rain, hail or shine.
If it’s rain, we’ll conduct the session inside the studio….no dramas.

We do these sessions as an add-value to our clients. And, if they want to bring-a-friend,
then they are more than welcome to. It’s an extra ‘homework’ session; just in case you
missed a cardio session during the week. You can go as hard or as easy as you want.
If you are reading this and are keen to join in then (for safety), tell your trainer what
injuries you’ve got before the sesh.

And then, afterwards, just like the 80’s movie, we have ‘The Breakfast Club’. Where,
you’ll get your coffee fix, meet your local trainers, catch-up on the local goss & meet
your fellow New Leveller’s.

WARNING: There will be no Army greens…we promise. Note: In this video we are
getting instructed smashed by Scott Anderson (Ex-Navy & New Level Balmain &
Mosman Studio Owner) at our Studio Owners Conference in Byron earlier this year.
The Saturday Super Session is not like this!

Are you suffering from Shape Up For Summer Syndrome?

Here are 3 very quick tips that you can use immediately, today, pronto, this second,
right now to get you in tip-top shape for Summer.

1. You Booze, You Lose!

This is simple! You’ve heard it a million times before. Cut the alcohol as much as you
can. It dramatically affects how much fat you can lose. if there’s alcohol in your system,
your body will burn that 1st, before it even gets a look at the fat that you want burned!

2. Carb Curfew

Try a Carb Curfew. Avoid carbs after 3pm. Try it, it works. That being said, it’s hard
to completely drop all carbs after this time. At best, try meat & salad for dinner
versus pasta. Yes, salad is carbs. But, it’s not those heavy, complex ones that
do the damage.

I love what Richo says here: “You don’t need a lot of energy to sleep.”

As there’s a of energy in carbs, dropping your blood sugar levels before bed
will help you to burn more fat.

3. Saturday Super Session

Get an extra cardio session in. Feel free to do this at your local New Level
Personal Training studio. Every Saturday at 8.30am every New Level studio
runs their Saturday Super Session. It’s an outdoor circuit class that’s largely
cardio based. It’s for all fitness levels, plus you’ll get to meet & sweat with
your neighbors!

As trainers, our job is to keep you accountable. Let’s face it, there’s 168
hours in a week and we might see you for maybe 2 to 3 of those hours.
Therefore you have to pretty self-responsible for the other 166 hours….
granted, you’re asleep for ½ of them…but still.

It’s interesting. When we meet some client’s for the 1st time, you can tell they
really want to abdicate (or ‘hand-ball’) responsibility for their results. If this is
you, think again, because it won’t work long-term. It takes 2 to tango.

As personal trainers we can only do so much. You’ve got to do the rest!!!.
As an employer of lots of trainers over the years, I’ve always said to trainers
that there’s 2 keys to being a good trainer: 1) Be a nice, friendly person who
is NOT full of themselves & 2) BE THE BEST MOTIVATOR YOU CAN BE within
the time that you spend with your clients. Be like a mini Tony Robbins during
you time together (maybe without the hugs & high fives though!)

I’m sure that most people know how trainers train clients during sessions…
we take yu through a guided workout and give you sound nutrition advice…
simple! BUT, the difference that makes the difference is the stuff you do in
between PT sessions.

Our Customized Self Motivation Sessions is the ‘homework’ that your
New Level Personal Trainer sets you to do in between your personal training
sessions.

Here are the 7 reasons why these sessions will help you:

• Workout consistency

• Progressive direction toward your goal

• Coaching to manage the ups & downs

• Trainer can set you sessions to do at home

• Trainer can set you sessions to do from work

• Trainer can set you sessions while you are traveling or on holidays

• Take advantage of your Exclusive Studio Membership

To summarize, I’ll finish with a WARNING….!

Before you become a client you must be willing to do the ‘homework’ set by
your personal trainer because it does take 2 to tango.

A good trainer should be able to motivate you to want to do ‘homework’
through the strategic use of powerful Jedi-Mind-Tricks…

I was diagnosed with diabetes 1 week before my 27th birthday. Prior to being diagnosed,
I lost over 10kgs within 2 months. It was great as everyone had noticed that I had lost
weight. But, it was weird because I was always thirsty and always on the toilet. Plus,
my energy was really, really low. Which is pretty tough as my job as a trainer required
me to be full of energy for my clients.

When I had my blood tests done at the doctors my blood sugar levels were over 20!
The doctor didn’t believe it and wanted to test me again to make sure. The second
blood test came back even higher! Within a week I was booked in with a specialist
to get my health right.

At the specialist, I was told that I had Diabetes Type 1. I was in shock, thinking that

I was healthy and exercised all the time. I didn’t think it could happen to me.

Injecting for the first time was scary, but it became easier. The specialist had advised
me that I would put weight on due to the diabetes medication. And, just just as the
doctor said….I did put on weight. Damn fluid retention! Remember the 10kgs I had
just lost? Well I put it back on and then some.

By changing my diet, sticking to a strict routine of eating times and types of food,
I got my sugar levels to a controllable level.

TIP: To All The Diabetics Or ‘Undiagnosed’ Diabetics Out There…
Eat Well & Exercise Every Day!

I know that it is hard to lose weight as a diabetic but the harder you work
the better you are going to feel.

I recently set myself a challenge to lose the 10kgs I gained, and so far I
have lost 3.5kgs! I have taken out artificial sugar and fruit, and replaced it
with raw veggies. I am only drinking water and organic tea, whereas I used
to drink Pepsi Max and coffee. I feel so much better for the changes that I
have made in my diet and I am losing weight each week.

The best thing that you can do for yourself as a diabetic to eat well and
exercise and you will see the results and you will have a better quality of life.

Just recently, the New Level Personal Training team got together as part of its 5th Annual Conference up in Byron Bay. Unfortunately for us, it was perfect ‘Byron’ weather during the 2 days that we were inside for….always the way, isn’t it?

Luckily, we included a team-building event (as we always do) for our Studio Owners to get to know each other just that little bit better. The team-building event that we included was to make a New Level Personal Training TV ad AND, they could go outside to film it. Which they all promptly did!

Here’s The Brief That They Got….

“As a team you must produce & film a 30sec-60sec T.V. ad that promotes New Level Personal Training, creates brand awareness, and above all cleverly markets our POD!”
(Our POD or Point Of Difference). For those newer readers out there, our POD (by the way) is that New Level are Motivation Experts. Our tag line is, “We’ll Keep You Motivated.”

Here’s The Rules That They Got….

The full production & editing must be done within 2.5 hours.
Each member must be involved in either an ‘on camera’ capacity or in editing.
The New Level PT logo must be shown a min of 3x in your ad.
Your ad must not be longer than 60 secs.
Your ad must be filmed on the camera provided.
Each ad must promote the New Level Personal Training website.
The 1300 NEWLEVEL number must be used in a ‘Call To Action’ at the end.
You cannot film the ‘face’ of anyone from the general public!!!
There are no restrictions on filming indoors or outdoors.
You must pitch your ad to Trav Bell & the other Studio Owners once finished.

Easy task? (NOT!) Our Studio Owners broke up into teams, we gave them their cameras & off they went!

Here’s The Results….

Which one was the best?

We gave this one 2nd place…

We gave this one 1st place, what do you think?