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There were a large group of youths in the park while I was conducting our regular boot camp class at Edinburgh gardens on Tuesday night.

We were doing a drill followed by a sprint and an intense 60 second burst of boxing. While the Fitmates were performing shuttle runs to the end cone marker and back, one extremely inebriated member of the group decided to join in.

There was a feeling of danger, not knowing how this kid would react or whether the group of youths would wish to take offense to such a discussion. Fortunately he understood that I was just trying to conduct a fitness class and he responded with “I just want to get off the drugs and get fit man”.

Kelly, the Fitmate I was partnering with sent through an email recalling this incident.

It’s a sad reflection of our society when teenagers today are not only drinking alcohol to such intoxicating levels that it not only creates a risk to their health but to innocent  bystanders within their vicinity.

Judging by his reaction, such activities seemed to be a regular occurrence.

These two Fitmates from Moonee Ponds Boot Camp have a fantastic attitude towards their exercise.

Since joining in early 2011, Jenny and Wayne T have not missed one single session (except when  they went away on holiday).

By way of explanation, they said that while people quite often make excuses about not having the time to exercise, their attitude is more about making time.

Jenny and Wayne T received our award for the highest attendance for 2011, an awesome achievement.

Their attitude towards training focuses more on  the benefits they receive along the way to achieving their ultimate fitness goal. They see reaching their goal as an added bonus to the many benefits they experience attending a regular exercise program. Their greatest impetus is feeling more energized, refreshed and healthier every day.

Jenny and Wayne remind us that while it’s great to have a goal, it’s also important to focus on the journey towards achieving that goal. No matter how focused you are on outcomes, if the journey brings you misery and unhappiness your road to success will be full of huge potholes and detours.

When commencing any regular exercise regime you need to first prepare yourself both physically and mentally. The biggest challenge faced during the initial stages is the shock to your system as your body adapts to a different type of stimulus. It’s during this stage that your focus and commitment may wane.  Your enthusiasm level drops as your desired goal seems like a distant reality.

But there’s a well known saying that holds true here: to climb a mountain you must start by taking small steps.

By having a great mental focus at the beginning, your goal can be broken down into more achievable bite size pieces – and this makes it much easier to succeed. Begin every new endeavour with a solid foundation of mental preparation, commitment and belief that you will ultimately achieve the goal.

Written by Andrew Talati

So if you’re feeling that your excuses are outweighing your commitment, think of Jenny and Wayne T.  They’re just two ordinary people demonstrating how true commitment is a necessary step towards achieving your goals.

Written by Andrew Talati

Towards the end of our North Fitzroy Boot camp, a Fitmate Paul C decided to tie his dog “Tim” to the pole in front of Edinburgh Gardens.

After a good stretch and a quick chat with the group, Paul was the first person in the group to say bye and took off in his car.
Michael our Fitstyler didn’t notice anything untill after he had given out all the equipment to the next boot camp group commencing at 7am that Michael the 7amer Fitmate kneeling down and talking to herself, Michael asked “Kirsty what are you doing?”
Then Michael had noticed Tim still tied to the pole, Paul had left without him.

So Michael brought Tim along to the next session hoping that Paul would remember that he had forgotten about Tim.
Well in the end, Michael ended up having to hold this dog while taking the 7am session, Paul then came back half a hour later and said he didn’t even notice he had left Tim, his wife asked him once he got out of the shower,
“Where is the Dog”

Very funny fitness quote in relation to inactivity and the difficulties faced with performing everyday tasks.

A new fitmate, Clair C, who at the sprightly age of 24, found it difficult to carry the groceries home due to her lack of strength in her shoulders. While it may seem comical that she said I’II have to “lift more weights or starve” as she would be limited in the amount of food that she could carry, there is a more serious side to muscle atrophy (muscle loss).

While there is a saying “use it or lose it“, there have been numerous studies that support endurance resistance training earlier on in life determines how your body will hold up later in life.

The Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University that found that a the long-term benefits of regular endurance exercise found they had increased muscle stem cells which in turn help maintains muscles.

Prof. Dafna Benayahu found that the density of stem cells per muscle fibres increased sinificantly for a group of rats that were placed on a tread mill for 20 minutes per day.

Towards the end of the experiment, the older rats had a massive 33% to 47% increase in stem cell density in their muscle fibres versus the younger rats of 20% to 35%. increase.

This was the first time that research supported by people who exercise regularly throughout their life aged more gracefully versus those who lead a sedentary lifestyle.

Very funny fitness quote regarding why a fitmate couldn’t make it to our Carlton Boot camp one morning “Reversed car hit wall missed Boot camp”.

It all started when Lisa L’s mum asked her to move her car, she thought she could park the car closer to the front door as she had some stuff to unload.

As Lisa went to reverse car, she inadvertently hit the accelerator to hard and when straight for the pillar and up onto the patio. She doesn’t quite know what happened as it was all so fast.

However I love her optimism, if she had driven forwards, the pillar could have gone through the windscreen or the verandah may have fallen down.

“Hasn’t been my year, anything that could have happened has happened (in bad stuff). So with 2011 a new year full of optimism and only good stuff ahead:))

With our Fitstyler awards now 12 months away, I think Lisa has blown away the competition very early for the best excuse for missing boot camp.

Shaken but not stirred:))