Zoe Hunter is so typical of many of the clients at New Level Personal Training in Newtown. In the short time she has been a personal training client at our studio, she has achieved so many things.

The mad keen Geelong AFL supporter and loyal Amateurs (a local footy/netball club) clubperson has already lost close to 10kgs and more than 25cms off her total body measurements since first joining New Level Newtown last year. At the time, she could never imagine running a decent distance on a treadmill – let alone taking part in a fun run.

Towards the end of last year, however, the self confessed ‘running hater’ decided to set a personal goal of running 3kms in 20 minutes on the studio treadmills. Not only did Zoe manage to achieve her desired target, but she absolutely smashed her time.

When asked how she felt after achieving her goal, the humble ‘Zo-Zo’ as she is affectionately known, replied, “Just please don’t make me do it again!” 

This was the exact same reply to the exact same question she uttered following the recent Great Ocean Road fun run in Apollo Bay, when she ran the 6km event in just over 49 minutes!

Following the Apollo Bay run, Zoe received many congratulatory messages, especially via Facebook after many friends, family and fellow New Level clients found out about her amazing achievement on the social media network.

In the days following the Great Ocean Road marathon weekend, a proud Zoe even updated her profile pic to the one taken immediately after the completion of the 6km run.

In acknowledging her amazing feat and the tremendous endeavour Zoe has shown in changing her lifestyle and relentlessly chasing her health and fitness goals, the extremely friendly and loveable 24-year-old was awarded the New Level Newtown ‘Client of the Month’ for the month of May!

From all of us here at New Level Personal Training in Newtown, a huge congratulations Zo-Zo! Well done!  

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!!!

(Work Experience student)

On a typical Monday afternoon, the day I come in to do my Work Experience shift, the New Level Personal Training studio in Newtown is always quiet at around 4:00pm. Then from about 4:30pm onwards it starts to really become busy right up until closing time, which can be around 8 o’clock or thereabouts, depending on the scheduled bookings.

During the quiet period, the gym is cleaned and maintained, making it more presentable and appealing which makes the client want to use the equipment and actually want to work out. As soon as a client arrives, they jump onto the bikes, the treadmill or any other available piece of cardio equipment and get their warm up completed, while they wait for their trainer to come take them for the session.

The client’s body language always shows that they are ready to train, even if they have had a bad day and couldn’t be bothered. They always give it their all and leave the studio with bright red faces and sweaty t-shirts. A sign they have pushed themselves to the limit. In some cases, well past their limit! You can also see that the clients are eager to work out as they always come, even if they are only able to train for a shortened session of just 15-20 minutes.

The trainers are always listened to and respect the client in question, it’s plain to see the clients are grateful for the time they have with them. The trainers are always working, whether it’s with a client or in the office preparing for a seminar, getting fees fixed up or contacting clients about their sessions etc. They care if the client is struggling or has an injury and change the exercise or session, accordingly, if it is way too hard for the client in their weakened condition.

For example one of Tonci’s clients (Tonci is the owner and the head trainer of the Newtown studio) had a back injury and Tonci changed what he had planned to suit his client.

The environment in general is always friendly and happy. Everyone is welcoming and the trainers treat even their newest clients not like newcomers but rather as though they have been lifetime members.

At a typical gym, the members work out on their own and need to find their own way to motivate themselves. Yes, there are trainers on the floor but they don’t personally know the members in the same way as a boutique, personal training studio such as New Level.

I found that if the trainer knows the member/client personally there is more motivation, more work gets completed and knowing a client on a personal level you get to know how they work, where their highest points are and you can look after the client more knowing their strengths and weaknesses.

Special guest presenters Matt Golfis and Matt Moody from GNC Westfield Geelong had the intrigued audience captive for well over an hour as they discussed the importance of adding supplements to our daily diet in order to achieve optimum health.

Starting the day off with Multi-vitamins is a vital part of any healthy diet and the importance to both the immune system and increasing the intake of anti-oxidants was the first topic covered by the two Matts.

“You should start with taking good Multi-vitamins which will form the base of your supplementation, then you take it from there,” explained Matt Golfis.

“If you take Multi-vitamins in conjunction with protein powders, you aid the immune system but at the same time ensure optimum muscle recovery,” explained Matt Moody, then continued, “However, just taking protein powder to grow your muscles and leaving out the Multi-vitamins may result in compromising the health of your immune system.”

The two Matts then spoke about the importance of choosing the right Omega 3 fish oil supplement, by analysing the active ingredient in the supplement’s composition.

They then spoke about protein powders, addressing some of the myths surrounding this vital supplement as well as exploring the different types available on the market.

“Protein feeds nutrients to your muscles which leads to good muscle recovery and growth,” Moody explained.

“By repairing the muscle fibres, the protein can be used to help grow the damaged muscles,” continued Golfis.

They briefly discussed the three types of proteins, Whey Protein Isolate (WPI), Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC) and Casein Protein, and what to look for when choosing protein powders.

Finally, there was an opportunity to do some taste testing, with the banana flavoured Whey Protein blend proving a popular choice alongside the tradition chocolate flavour.

There was also an opportunity for question time, with both Matts staying around to chat to the seminar participants following the conclusion of the event.

The next scheduled seminar in the monthly series will be in late June, with the date and topic to be confirmed

Although well attended, it’s nonetheless a shame that more people werenít in attendance to hear what New Level personal trainer Kelly Hill had to say about the importance of goal setting and how to best go about achieving it.

”Goals give you a target to aim for in life,” Kelly told the enthralled audience, ‘‘if you make goals on a subconsious level, you effectively become a passenger in life. If you concsciously go about setting your goals, however, you become the driver. The driver of your own destiny”.

Kelly explained how goal setting can be quite a daunting and overwhelming task, so that’s where short term and long term goals come into play.

It was at that stage that Kelly ripped out one of many clichees she would use during the course of the evening.

”By a yard it’s hard, by an inch it’s a cinch!”

Kelly went on to explain that before setting a goal, you need to tap into the ”why” – why you want to achieve what you have set out to achieve.

Towards the end of the short yet highly informative seminar, Kelly staged a short practical exercise which included setting a long term goal by in the process setting a series of short term goals.

To go about establishing and identifying a goal you would like to achieve, use Kelly’s ”SMART” philosophy of goal setting….

S – specific

M – measureable

A – achievable

R – relevant

T – timebound

The next instalment of the monthly seminar series will be held on Monday 14th of May at the studio at 7pm. The topic will be the importance of supplements in our everyday diet.

Special guest presenter will be John from GNC Westfield Geelong, who will talk about protein powders, male and female multi-vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids and will also stage a taste test and provide a few giveaways and specials.

To reserve a spot, call Jen or Tonci at the studio on 5298 2601.     

pictured – New Level manager Tonci and Personal Trainer Tim with a jubilant Diana Skratulja

It’s always a nice feeling when family, friends and work colleagues start to notice a change in one’s body shape. Especially when that comes from people you haven’t seen for awhile. That usually occurs around one of the two festive seasons in the year – Christmas or Easter.

At a recent Easter function, Diana Skratulja couldn’t believe the comments she was getting from several long time friends and acqaintances she had not seen for ages.

“Wow, you look fantastic!”, “Have you been working out?” and “What have you done to yourself?” are just some of the comments that were thrown Diana’s way.

Needless to say, the hard work, dedication and a new found appreciation of the importance of good nutrition has certainly paid of for Diana, who was this week awarded the prestigious New Level Newtown “Client of the Month” award.

Having been one of the Geelong studio’s original Foundation members, Diana’s results speak for themselves. Since her last Results Week weigh-in, Diana has lost a further three kilos to add to her previous impressive achievements.

She lost a staggering 6cms off her chest, 3.5cm off her already tiny waist and a further 2cm off her hips. Added to that, Diana has always identified her arms – and most notably her triceps – as something she would like to address. Well, in the past two months, she certainly has done that, losing a whopping 2cm off her arms!

What’s more, she blitzed her physical challenges like no other month, shaving 44 seconds off her best time for a 2km bike ride and improving her 1km treadmill run by just over a minute. Amazing!

Is it any coincidence, therefore, that Diana attended our studio’s first monthly seminar in March, entitled “Real food for real people for real results”. She has since signed up for the Nutrition Complete online nutrition service, which is obviously reaping great results for Diana.

A proud mum of three gorgeous but energetic children, she needs to be in shape to keep up with her busy lifestyle and this ‘Yummy Mummy’ is now setting an excellent example, not just for her family but for all the other New Level clients as well, which has certainly not gone unnoticed!

Well done, Diana. Keep up the good work!

Harley joined New Level Personal Training Newtown in early December of last year and two and a half months later, during the last RESULTS WEEK held in early February, he had recorded some amazing results.

Since his last assessment, Harley had lost almost a full 5 kilograms of body weight, as well as a staggering 29cm in total measurements.

His waist and hips were the undoubted star performers, having lost 8.5cms and 11.5 cms respectively, but his chest (loss of 3cms) and thighs (loss of 4.5cms) were not far behind.

Harleyís secret is simple – he has applied himself fully to every Personal Training session he has attended. And he has managed a 100% attendance rate so far! Not bad for someone who is not normally a morning person, yet has scheduled his two weekly sessions on a Wednesday and Friday at 6.30am respectively.

Adding proof to the observation that if you put in that extra effort you will be rewarded, Harley recently started regularly attending the Monday night group boxing class, in order to ensure he was exercising at the studio on at least three occasions per week – the absolute bare minimum that New Level personal trainers recommend to their clients.

No doubt Harley, along with New Level Newtown’s other personal training clients, will be eagerly looking forward to the next RESULTS WEEK in early April, hoping to emulate the great results they recently achieved.

This has allowed studio owner Tonci Prusac to co-ordinate numerous other projects as well as embark on an exciting strategic development plan for the establishment, which is going to greatly benefit the studio’s ever growing clientele base.

One of those developments has seen the erection of a new manager’s office, as well as a modern and private consulting room. This has also resulted in a small yet significant and practical re-arrangement of the studio floor plan.

The consulting room is currently being utilised by local osteopath, Alison Sim, who also happens to be a personal training client at New Level. 

“This has already opened up numerous opportunities, both for New Level clients requiring the assistance of a professional osteopath, as well as Alison’s clients who require the services of professional and top quality personal trainers in their rehabilitation,’ explained studio owner Tonci Prusac.

“We are currently in negotiations with massage therapists and other allied health professionals about hiring the consulting room on a part time basis, which would be of mutual benefit, to both our members as well as the prospective new practitioner’s clients,” added Prusac.

He concluded by saying another exciting innovation will be the upcoming launch of online nutrition advice service Nutrition Complete, which will be available to New Level Newtown members for the first time.

“Nutrition Complete will be an added service that will ensure our clients achieve their health and fitness goals much faster than they normally would, as it will help them get their nutrition on track.”

Pictured – New Level Newtown studio owner Tonci Prusac, Stephen McDonald and head trainer Jen Etcell

At New Level Personal Training Newtown we believe clients deserve recognition and encouragement for their individual achievements, their tireless endeavours and ongoing commitment to achieve their personal goals.

As such, we are extremely excited to announce the new CLIENT OF THE MONTH award. This award will be given each month to the client who not only meets the criteria of our well known “Results Week” but who also gives it all they have.

The CLIENT OF THE MONTH award  for February is Stephen McDonald who showed us just how much faster you can achieve results when you push yourself that little bit further.

We always say that that body measurements are a key indicator to monitoring our progress and since our last “Results Week” Stephen has managed to shed a modest 2.7 kilograms, however he has lost a massive 27cm in body measurements. This includes a huge 9cm off his hips and waist in only 8 weeks.

If you thought that was big than like us, you will join us in congratulating Stephen on a total loss of 8.6kg and more than 35cm in measurements since he started with us in August 2011.

How did he do it? Stephen increased his sessions from 2 to 3. He has been religious with his food choices and although he is a humble, man of few words, he comes in with a smile, brings a never-say-die attitude and puts in 110% effort to every session. There is barely a whimper, and he still manages to leave with that same smile.The results above speak for themselves and is proof that all the blood, sweat and tears (ok, maybe not the blood bit!) are paying off.

Stephen McDonald, Congratulations once again. You are an absolute pleasure to train and we look forward to seeing some more amazing results in the coming months as you set the bar higher again.

Dani had been a member of New Level Personal Training Newtown for about six months and by her own admission, when she first started she wasn’t too sure about having a personal trainer. She decided she was going to give it a go because she had heard about some of her acquaintances getting some amazing results.
Well, what was the end result, we may well ask young Dani?

“Now, I am the biggest advocate for it. I never thought I could achieve some of the results I have achieved. Today, for example, I just did 100 kilos on the 45 angle weights with the thighs…..”
Stop there, Dani! I think you meant the 45 degree Leg Press machine, but we know what you meant! Anyway, back to you…
“So I would say give it a go. Come in, have a look, talk to the trainers. They are amazing – they will give you a good deal and they will get you the results you want to achieve,” concluded a cheery Dani.

UPDATE: Not only will personal training get you the results you want, but your confidence and self esteem will improve dramatically, which will have a positive impact on your private lives.
Just ask Dani. When she first came to us she was still a uni student and only had a part time job. In the time since this interview was recorded, Dani has – unfortunately – left New Level Newtown, because she got the job of her dreams working in the marketing department of a major international cosmetics company and has, as a result, had to move to Melbourne.
Well done Dani and good luck with your future endeavours – and never give up working and exercising hard!