I’m adding more evening classes in Boise at Kim’s Taekwon-do next week. The noon classes won’t start until Feb. Classes will be at 7:45 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
I’m also offering a set rate for a month of classes, with unlimited attendance for both the Boise and Caldwell locations: $90 per month individual, and $140 per month for you and a friend together.
I am doing this for three reasons:
1) If you pay for an entire month, you have made a commitment and will attend. Paying for an entire month and only going once or twice is a waste of money. Neither you or I want that, so I’m going to encourage you to make it as much as possible, which means at least 3-5 days a week.
2) I want results from this program! As a trainer, my reputation and success rides on the finished product: Your results.
If my clients only exercise a few days a month, the results will be minimal, and then I look like a crappy trainer. That is not what I want. Like any healthy person, I have an ego, and therefore, want to continue to build a great reputation. The more you exercise, the better for you and me.
3) Ths one comes down to pride and competitiveness. There is a corporate gym in the area offering kettlebell training at the rate of $129 for 10 classes. I know for a fact that they do not (or at least did not) employ certified kettlebell instructors, rather, just whatever “trainer” happened to get stuck with the job of running the classes. I want to blow them away with better results…because I hate corporate scams.
Small -group kettlebell training coming to boise.
Fat loss – Burn 600-800 calories per hour during kettlebell strength training. Strength – Get strong. Kettlebell training will produce functional strength gains that carryover into other activities…unlike bodybuilding routines. Flexibility and Balance – Balance and flexibility is built into every kettlebell movement. Increased range-of-motion is common through proper kettlebell training. Certified Instruction – Classes will only be taught by a certified kettlebell instructor.
Where – Classes will be held at Kim’s Taekwon-do School at 6418 W. Fairview in Boise.
When – Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings at 7:45 p.m. AND Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 12:00 p.m.
Cost – Introductory rates for this program will blow away any corporate gym “bootcamp” program.
* Visit www.idahokettlebells.com or call (208) 412-6079 for more info.
Why doesn’t my commercial gym just have a whole bunch of kettlebells, barbells, dumbells and pullup bars instead of machines?
This is not a simple question, and therefore will not get a simple answer.
Money for nothing.
Like most everything else, it comes down to money. Corporate gyms don’t make money from people who get results from exercising through effective training methods. They get results from people who sign a membership contract and don’t use the gym.
I trained at a corporate gym for a while, and their own statistic was that 75% of those who sign a membership will not even be using the gym in 90 days. Of course, they’ll still be paying and the gym owners will be making money for nothing for the next two years.
Effective exercise takes time, discipline and lots of hard work and nothing else. Most people won’t pay to work that hard. Machines appear to offer an “easy way out” for lazy, misinformed or desperate people.
Any idiot can step on an exercise machine, slap on an iPod and watch TV, while making some flailing motions on some worthless exercise machine. Ever had to “elliptical” your way quickly from one place to another? I rest my case.
No doubt you will burn slightly more calories than sitting on the couch at home, but you gain little else from it.
As far as strength training with machines goes, forget it. Just forget it. Lifting heavy objects is the only way to teach your body to lift other heavy objects safely. Pushing or pulling a lever on a machine does nothing but teach you how to push and pull levers, no matter how much resistance is offered.
The owners and sleazy salespeople at big corporate gyms make money off people who come to a commercial gym, are in awe of all the fancy machines, and sign a two-year contract with the good intention of using the gym almost everyday.
The inviting atmosphere and vision of getting in shape while watching TV gets you in the door. I’m sure there are pictures of fit people on the walls using those worthless machines, and if you only sign on the dotted line, you’ll get there too. I’m sure they also have a rack full of miracle supplements – that are marked up at least 100% – to help you meet your goals.
Congratulations! You are now paying hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for a gym membership at a corporate gym.
For the first few weeks, all is well and you may even lose a few pounds as your body adapts to the new routine. But quickly, your body will find ways of decreasing the effort required to pedal that bicycle, or “elliptical” your way to health. The results stop, and you soon find reasons not to go to the gym.
That is how corporate gyms make money. The initial investment of those machines is more than offset by the steady stream of people willing to pay for easy fitness.
The problem is there is no such thing as easy fitness!
Being strong and lean requires work, sweat and sacrifice. Not machines. Muscle soreness, missed social engagements, and denying yourself things like junk food is part of the game. There are no shortcuts. No easy routes.
You will feel pain from working out. Deal with it.
Learn to separate slight soreness from actual injuries. If you haven’t been moving much, your body will hurt at first, but the results will come fast. Just don’t fall into the trap of gauging the productivity of your training strictly by the amount of soreness you experience. More on that later.
You will have to miss out on the after work party, the football game or your favorite TV show. Deal with it.
You will have to plan your meals, because working out hard while eating nothing but processed junk will hurt. All that sugar, salt and fat does not fuel a body well enough to accommodate hard training.
You have to pay attention while you train (not watch TV). If you are not paying attention while lifting a heavy kettlebell, dumbell, barbell or your bodyweight, you will get hurt. Period. And, it will be your own fault.
You will have to cut the bullshit and be accountable. No more crap about how you have a “slow metabolism” or “I eat pretty good.” You don’t.
If you don’t measure out every gram of food, you don’t know what you are eating. You have a “slow metabolism?” That is because fat requires less calories to maintain than muscle. Want to change that? Move more, and gain muscle.
Yes, there are some people who have health issues that impede their progress. Guess what? No one cares. The task is the same. Take responsibility for your health and work hard.
Leave your self-pity at the door. It does not serve a purpose. You must take control. No one else will, or can. Find out from a medical professional if you have some physical reason why weight loss is difficult (for a small percentage this is a real issue).
The bottom line
Your neighborhood corporate gym makes money on the promise of easy fitness. There is no such thing. Machines are the tool they choose to use to separate you from your money.
Serious training is not for the person who is content to disconnect their mind and body with an iPod, a TV and some form of repetitious movement that serves no purpose.
It takes hard, intelligent work to meet a fitness goal. Lifting your bodyweight and other heavy objects is the best means to that end.
With gyms closed on the Christmas weekend, you can make the most of this time to purchase Christmas gifts for your kids. One great idea is to visit a website that offers kids clothing. Check out Pastelcollections.com and explore a wide range of options and find the perfect outfits for your little ones. Take advantage of the convenience and ease of online shopping to surprise your kids with stylish and comfortable clothing that they can enjoy during the holiday season and beyond.
Saturday’s classes raised a mere $15 for the Canyon County Animal Shelter. We can do better than that!
December’s kettlebell challenge: 1 Turkish Getup for every day of the month (1 the 1st, 2 the 2nd and so on) and 1,000 swings per week. Should take less than 30 minutes, even towards the end of the month.
Idaho Kettlebells – Group class schedule.
Sunday: 10 a.m.
Monday: No group classes
Tuesday: 5:30 p.m.(Caldwell) 7:45 p.m. (Boise)
Wednesday: 5:30 p.m.
Thursday: 5:30 p.m. (Caldwell) 7:45 p.m. (Boise)
Friday: No group class
Saturday: 9.a.m. (Beginner) 10 a.m.
Call me at 208-412-6079
This is a re-post. But, it has more relevance than ever today. No matter how hard you train, you can undo it with a binge. Enjoy the holiday, but don’t kid yourself about one marathon session being able to make a dent in your overall situation.
-Jim
You can’t out-train the dinner table!
Here’s a workout to try on a day you want to test yourself. Set a stopwatch and do the following as fast as possible:
CrossFit “Murph”
1 mile run
100 pullups
200 pushups
300 squats
1 mile run
Puke breaks are allowed, but the clock still ticks. Think this is enough to “burn off” poor eating for the day? Think again.
Fitness is 80% nutrition.
For most embarking on a fitness mission, the objective is some form of weight/fat loss. Many think an hour on the ellipitical or a cycling class is sufficient to burn off the extra calories. Forget about it.
For the more enlightened, some form of strength training, kettlebell training or even CrossFit workouts (like Murph) are prescribed, which will create a greater conditioning effect. Once again, you are kidding yourself.
Here is a concrete illustration of the fact that no matter how hard you train, your nutrition is still the deciding factor in whether you lose or gain weight. We’ll prove it mathematically.
A pound of fat equals 3,500 calories of energy.
To lose a pound per week, you have to reduce your caloric intake by 3,500 per week, or 500 calories per day. To lose two pounds, you’d have to reduce your intake (or increase your expenditure) by 1,000 calories.
If you reduce your expenditure (or increase intake) by 500 calories per day – or one 12oz latte – you’ll gain a pound a week.
A while back, I did Murph for about the 4th time in the past 6 months. My goal was to beat my last time of 45 minutes. I completed the workout in roughly 40 minutes, so I was jacked.
I went home and downloaded my Bodybugg. I burned 722 calories during the workout.
Great.
That is an awesome workout, probably a little harder than normal for me. And, I dare say, lugging my 230lb frame though 600 bodyweight reps and two, 1-mile runs is significantly more power output than is found in any cycling or aerobics class.
That same day, I ate the following:
– An Apex Fit Drink, and a bowl of oatmeal.
– A 12″ turkey and pastrami deli sandwich with a smal bag of barbecue
potato chips and a 32oz raspberry iced tea.
– Post workout, I had another Apex FIT Drink mix, with a scoop of glutamine.
– For dinner, I had a heaping plate of pasta with shrimp wrapped in bacon. Oh, and I also had two 12oz pale ales and a glass of red wine.
Grand total calories consumed for the day? 4,170
Total calories burned that day: 3,798.
That equals a calorie surplus of 372 calories.
That being the case, if I were to do the Murph workout everyday (!), and eat like a pig, I would still gain a pound of fat about every 9 days. If I did that every week for a year, I’d gain 40lbs of fat.
Even after a workout like Murph, a binge at the dinner table will more than out-do any hope of trimming down through exercise alone.
Think about this the next time you try to rationalize poor nutrition by a trip to the gym. It won’t work.
No matter how hard you train, you can’t out-train the dinner table.
-Jim Beaumont
4 rounds of…
1/4 mile run
5 reps bodyweight barbell deadlift
5 reps per arm of 35lb kettlebell thrusters
She is a mild-mannered nurse many, many hours per week, but turns into an absolute powerhouse when you lay a barbell, kettlebell, or tractor tire in front of her. One day she flipped a 400lb tractor tire for 45 reps, with 44lb kettlebell swings mixed in-between for fun.
We are closing in on 50lbs of weight-loss. She is definitely a different person now than when she trained at some sissy, corporate gym that catered to “women only” but cared nothing about fitness, past the price of her membership dues and over-priced personal training sessions.
Fitness for men and women isn’t different: Form follows function. Train and eat to be as strong and fast as possible, and the form will follow.
If you are a woman, and feel uncomfortable in a co-ed training facility, then you are in the wrong place. Respect and courtesy should be paramount in any legitimate facility. Male or female.
Everyone should be there to improve themselves, not be part of some “meat market.”
