By Simona Grigiene

The Raven Gym

At this stage you don’t need as much external motivation as it should just come naturally.

You want to do well; you want to hit those targets that you set for yourself at the start of the challenge, and there is no way you are going to give up now!

You are fitter, stronger, healthier and more confident in what you need to do to maintain what you have achieved so far and to move forward towards your ultimate goal.

It all comes from within you. From wanting to look and feel better, from your desire to impress those who though that you’ll never make a change, and to the point where you just have to do it as it wouldn’t feel right if you didn’t.

You are in charge of yourself! Personal trainers, nutritionists and other fitness professionals are only here to help you get the best results in the shortest time possible, but only you can decide how far you want to go and how hard you are going to work. There’s no pretending in this business. The only person that is going to lose is you! Choose: inches/pounds or game over? It’s not a rocket science, is it?

The good thing is though, that it is never too late to pick yourself up and start again. All that will be lost in that case is time.

All that you achieved so far is for you and thanks to you! So be selfish and listen to what some wise man said. “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”

By Cian Cosgrave

The Raven Gym

1. Make your worst exercise your favorite. Whatever exercise you find the hardest and you’re least favorite to do make it your best by doing it the most during your daily routine. For instance if you find burpees really hard to do when training in the gym. Make them apart of your routine during the day by doing them when u are at home. Do 10 reps every time u go upstairs. You will be a lot better at them in no time and they will be easier when doing them in the gym.
   
2. Sometimes you have good and bad training days. Whenever you have a good training day and you real up for a good workout try to push hard on that day. It feels like you are having an adrenaline rush. I get a rush when I exercise so I ride that rush to complete the workout to the best of my ability. On these days never stop go harder you will feel better afterwards
   
3. How you feel after a workout. I always feel great after a good workout. It’s a high. And I let that motivate me the next time even though I know it will be hard to do it, knowing that I will feel better afterwards always keeps me going to lift more or run quicker.
   
4. Motivation is the key. Always keep yourself motivated by any way you can. We are all different and have different ways of motivating ourselves so whatever works for you keep it up and keep going

Ma

By Graham O'Neill

The Raven Gym

This week i would just like to give some small tips that make BIG differences!

1. Goal Setting: Everyday in the gym we hear people saying they want to lose weight and gain muscle mass, but most people wont do both effectively. Choose one goal at a time, and move on! Re-assess your goals regularly, and keep them as simple as possible.
2. Planning & Logging: I always tell my clients to plan their workout schedule. Instead of saying you are going to start going to the gym 3-4 days a week, choose the days and the times. Soon it will just become a part of your weekly routine and you wont be trying to squeeze the gym in when you have free time! And as Alan mentioned in week two, logging your workouts and food diaries is key to success. Try it and you will see!
3. Exercises you dont like: Every one of us has exercises we dread in our workouts and normally leave until the end of the workout. Abs are a classic example! Always left until last, rarely completed properly, and the effort put in is minimal due to energy levels and motivation. Next time, do your least favourite first, and save your favourite until last!
4. Variety: Variation is key! Both physically and mentally. Changing your routine regularly prevents your body from plateau-ing, which is a common cause of people losing motivation due to results slowing down or becoming non- existent. Variety also stops boredom and repitition, and lets exercising stay fun and fresh!

Stay focused and train to your max!

By Alan Sherry  

The Raven Gym

First off, congratulations to all the participants for getting the first week of the challenge under their belts! Coming into a gym environment, meeting so many new people, and exercising for the first time can be a very intimidating experience, so well done!

Two motivational tips I want to touch on this week are 1) keeping training logs and 2) the relationship between client and trainer. Both of these are massively important to our progression. Knowing that what we’ve eaten, how far we ran and what weights we lifted are written down in black and white on a weekly basis is key to our progression. Whether we’re training 20 days or 20 years this is vital, and there is nothing more motivating than knowing that if you run that next 100m or manage to push out those last 2 reps, you will have beaten last week’s efforts! As long as we do this, we know we are improving!

Building a good relationship with your trainer is also very important. For a lot of us training is going to be hard at first, so the last thing we want to do is come in and work out if we see it as a chore. Training needs to be fun, and if we manage to see it as such, sticking to the plan and seeing results becomes so much easier. Train hard, but have fun and make sure you have a trainer you click with. Being able to shoot him or her a txt when you’re at home and a question regarding training or nutrition pops into your head is a massive bonus. We’re here to help you achieve your goals so the more questions you ask the better!

Train hard, have fun, and best of luck!!!

By Ian Walsh

The Raven Gym

Getting started with an exercise routine is the hardest part. Everyone usually makes plans to start exercising but when it comes to starting, we suddenly find a million different things to do instead! So… if you find it hard to motivate yourself, find something to help you! If you want to hang up a piece of clothing that is the size you want to fit into… then hang it in your house or somewhere you can see it so you never forget why your exercising!! Also, another major motivation tool is if you set yourself goals! Having something to work towards! You can set daily goals (half an hour walk at some stage), weekly goals (minimum of 3 workouts with a healthy meal straight afterwards), or more long term goals (run a marathon, lose a certain amount of weight in a specific time period ie. 2 stone in 3 months). Music can also be a huge motivator for some, so use all of these tools to your advantage!

BEST OF LUCK

WEEK SEVEN

It’s time for our challengers to feel the real pain with our Bootcamp training!

Graham and Cian will make sure to put a lot of pressure on our 7 participants this week. With only two weeks to go in this challenge, there is no time to be wasted.

Tough and sweat pumping Bootcamp training is awaiting on Tuesday and Thursday. There will be a mixture of very intense cardio and strength training exercises, kettlebells, abs etc.

It should be very challenging but will definitely give everyone that so needed kick.

Best of luck!

WEEK SIX

It’s week six of the challenge and with only 3 weeks to go, everyone is getting really competitive.

This week we’ll try to help our challengers to lose a few more inches and pounds with Zumba and Kettlebells classes.

Two completely different types of training, but just as effective if done correctly and with lots of energy put in.

For those who aren’t sure what those classes are, here’s a short description on them:

Zumba is a popular fitness program inspired by Latin dance. The word "Zumba" comes from a Colombian word that means to move fast and have fun, which is just how people describe the routine. Using upbeat Latin music together with cardiovascular exercise, Zumba is aerobic dancing that is lots of fun and easy to learn. It seems to be an optimal fitness choice, mixing cardio intervals with resistance training. Many experts believe that an interval/resistance combination maximizes caloric output, fat burning, and total body toning. Zumba mixes effective body sculpting movements with easy-to-follow, fun dance steps.

Kettlebells are cast iron weights, ranging from 5 lbs to over 100 lbs, shaped like a ball with a handle for easy gripping. The kettlebell originated in Russia and was popular in the U.S. decades ago, but has hit resurgence in the last few years with a flurry of classes, videos and books. The reason? Kettlebells offer a different kind of training using dynamic moves targeting almost every aspect of fitness – endurance, strength, balance, agility and cardio endurance. People love it because it's challenging, efficient and you only need one piece of equipment.

This Thursday we have our week six measurements as well, so there will be more inches coming off. Best of luck!

WEEK FIVE

It’s all about the Martial Arts this week! Our challengers will take part in the Cardio Combat Class on Tuesday and Boxercise on Thursday.

It’s a great opportunity for everyone to get rid of all the stress and anger, and get a boost of positive energy into their systems. Let’s kick and punch those extra kilos out!

Really hope that all the challengers will have a great buzz from it.

WEEK FOUR

Week four of the challenge is all about Pilates! We have two Pilates classes for the challengers to attend this week. It’ll show a completely different way of training. No one will be sweating excessively and getting out of breath for a change!:-) Just don’t be fooled by thinking that Pilates is easy to do! It will definitely be more relaxing as you will be training your body from the inside this time, but it can be very challenging too.

Looking forward to hearing from our challengers how they got on with it and if they found it more enjoyable than any other fitness classes so far.

This Thursday we have our week four measurements and I am sure that everyone is very anxious to see how all the effort is paying off. Fingers crossed for all the participants! They need to get the results in order to lift their confidence and generate the future results.

WEEK THREE

This week “The Freshly Squeezed Get Fit” challengers have two group meeting days:

Tuesday – Cardio Force and Insanity classes and Thursday – Body Pump Class.

These very different classes are designed to train our challengers cardio vascular systems as well as their muscles. All participants were given some USN diet supplements to take this week as one of their meal replacements during the day. That should improve the recovery after the strenuous exercise as well as add more protein to their diet, which is a must if you are trying to lose weight or build more lean muscle.

People tend to lose their motivation during the week three as well as start to feel very tired due to the increasing intensity in their training routines. It is a crucial time as you either fail or battle on, so The Raven Gym Team will do its best to keep everyone strong.

WEEK TWO

This week “The Freshly Squeezed Get Fit” challengers have two group meeting days:

Tuesday - Spin Express and Abs&Core classes and Thursday- group measurements and nutrition talk.

We asked all the participants to fill in a daily food diary all last week, and we’ll be looking at those diaries on Thur.

They had to write down the time of the day and what they had to eat or drink.

Recording your food intake is the best way on tracking your diet. Sometimes it even stops you from having

Junk food. Who wants to write down that they had two bags of crisps, a whole bar of chocolate, and drank 4 cans

Of coke all in one day!? Cheating isn’t an option either, so for all of you who think that no one will know if

You’ll indulge and won’t put it on your list, you are only fooling yourself. Scales don’t lie! :-)

Looking forward to seeing how our challengers are getting on with their diet and if they took all our advice on board.

WEEK ONE

All the participants were assigned a different personal trainer who will keep them focused, motivated and challenged over the next 8 weeks.

Everyone got measured, weighed and was given a fitness test to assess their fitness level as well as individual fitness programme which is based on each participant’s goal.

This Thursday “The Freshly Squeezed Get Fit” challengers are meeting for their first group training session. They will have to endure a 30min Spin class and 30min Abs & Core class. Should be great fun!