Winter is here and it’s damn cold in Melbourne as of late; so here is a workout you can do in the studio to keep yourselves warm.

For this workout you will need three things.

1) Rowing Machine set to 10

2) Pair of Dumbbells

3) Kettle Bell

Note; weight used depends on level of experience and quality of technique

How it works

The idea is to complete 4 rounds of the circuit with moderate volume reps, explosive movement patterns, with moderately heavy weight; use light weights and you’re wasting your time.  You can time yourself if you want; but it’s not compulsory.

The reps don’t drop and neither will your heart rate; which is pretty much the idea.

For the two weighted exercises the reps for beginners should be around 10-12 reps for the more advanced 12-15.

For the row; do 300-400 meters for beginners; 500-600 for advanced; rower is set to 10 for either group

The Exercises!

Rowing; keeping a neutral spine; or sturdy back with core engaged; explosively push against the foot rests. Once your legs reach full extension use your arms to pull the bar back into your belly button; note elbows should stay as close to your sides as possible. To return to your start position; bring arms to full extension then draw your legs back in towards your body; note knees should remain inline with your toes. Make sure to keep a neutral spine; little hint I give my clients; think legs then arms followed by arms then legs; legs arms arms legs.

Dumbbell Thrusters; start with dumbbells resting on your shoulders; perform a squat movement keeping the dumbbells steady on your shoulders. Once you reach at least a 90 degree angle in your legs; or have squatted as far as your legs will allow you to keep a neutral spine; explode upward by straightening out your legs while at the same time propelling the dumbbells up off your shoulders; make sure not to lock out your elbows. You should end in a standing position with the dumbbells above your head. Now gently lower the dumbbells back onto your shoulders. Congrats; you just did a Dumbbell thruster; now do it again 14 more times. 

Two Handed Kettle Swings; this exercise should not be attempted until you have had your trainer teach you the movement; but the basics are use your glutes, hips, core; not your back or shoulders; if you feel slight back pain or your shoulders burn out quickly you’re doing it wrong. The movement involves pushing your hips back followed by thrusting your hips forward; while keeping a neutral spine through activating your core; and that’s all I’m going to give you; if you want more instruction talk to your trainer.

Good luck people and enjoy.

(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!

As time heals most things, eventually Janine moves on with her life and soon she returns to her normal caloric intake. And that was that.

But what she can’t understand: even though she’s back to eating the same way she used to, she still weighs over 75 kilos. In fact, she eats no more than her lean friends. And so, like most people, Janine blames her over-weight on a slow metabolism.

She starts an exercise routine but lost a mere 1 kilo. Life is unjust. An ageing metabolism sucks!

She sees a sports nutritionist (with a PhD, never the less) who tells her she needs to eat more to lose weight. She follows his dietary plan and eats more, but she gains weight. The expensive nutritionist, with politely chosen words, blames this weight gain on her failure to follow his plan.

Frustrated and feeling bad, Janine stops exercising and dieting altogether, and remains overweight.

Keeping it Simple

Then finally she sees a Personal Trainer who, keeping things simple, tells her to stop eating so much. The recommendation was simple and straight forward:

1) The “S” diet.

No snacks, no seconds, and no sweets, except on days that begin with the letter “s.”

In 3 and a half months she lost 15 kilos. Back to where she was before her divorce in 2002, feeling great and looking fabulous.

Janine happens to be a past client of mine. Last week she called me to say she’s engaged to a wonderful guy, and to thanked me profusely for the simple dietary coaching.

Perform 20 reps of each exercise and repeat the circuit 2 – 3 times.

Squats: Stand with feet shoulder width apart, hands straight out in front of you. Take a deep breath in and squat down keeping your head and chest up and remembering to push your hips back as if going to sit on a chair. Your weight should be going through your heels. Breathe out as you stand up.

Push – ups: Position your hands just outside your shoulders and attempt to touch your nose to the floor.

Bicycle Crunch: Start with your fingers by your temples and crunch up to bring your right elbow to your left knee while extending your right leg. Twist your torso to the other side to bring your left elbow to your right knee while extending your left leg. Use your abs to control the move and try not to strain at the neck.

Jump Lunge: Take a stride forwards and lower yourself in a fluid motion until your front knee is bent at 90 degrees and your back knee nearly touches the floor. Jump up, swapping your leg positions in mid-air. Raise your hands as you jump to gain height. Land in the lunge position, absorb the impact, and then go straight into the next jump.

Dips: Use a chair or a bench to perform this exercise. Grip the edge of the chair with your hands. Keep your feet close together and legs straight and your back upright. Lower your body straight down, keeping your elbows pointing back, then press back up powerfully.

Burpees: Stand, then drop into a crouch. Jump both feet backwards so you’re in a push up position. Jump both feet forwards until they’re underneath your chest. Jump up so that your feet leave the ground and your body is straight. When you land is one rep.

Plank : Position yourself so that your feet are about hip width apart and your body is straight from head to heels with your elbows directly underneath your shoulders and your head looking down. Hold the position as long as possible without letting your hips sag.

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.”

“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.