Body weight training: benefits, basic techniques & workouts

You can train the whole body and achieve great fitness benefits without using any equipment. All you need is your own body weight, correct technique and a workout program. Well, you have your body weight with you everywhere you go, now let me introduce you to 5 basic body weight exercise techniques and 5 body weight workout programs. Don't be fooled - these workouts may only use your body weight for resistance but they are guaranteed to be a challenge and achieve results!

Dead Lift Challenge Registration Opens next Monday 3 October 2011

The Dead Lift Challenge is now less then 6 weeks away! Join us for our first ever Dead Lift Challenge at the Drive Fitness Mt Gravatt on the 29 October 2011. It will be our last event for the year before the Christmas Party so come along and enjoy a fun, social fitness challenge and morning tea.

Registration will be available at all Drive Fitness locations from next Monday 3 October 2011. Register at the reception counter or with your trainer. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to be involved.

What: Dead Lift Challenge - a great test of leg and back strength and power, core and grip strength, endurance and technique. Join us for morning tea and medal presentation after
When: Saturday 29 October 8:30am
Where: Drive Fitness Mt Gravatt
Who: Everyone is welcome

Walk & Run Club Tarragindi Interval Splits Saturday 24 September 2011

Well done to everyone who reached our target for the morning of 4 x 700m max efforts. The gradual hill at the start doesn't make it an easy task. Next Saturday we will be meeting back at Tarragindi for a continual 45min run. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Alice: 4.20, 4.05, 4.24, 4.30
Rebecca: 4.00, 4.05, 4.35, 5.05
John M: 3.55, 2.58, 2.53, 3.00
Grant: 2.49, 3.10, 3.15, 3.23
David E: 2.19, 2.32, 2.42, 2.28
Stef: 4.11, 4.33, 4.42, 5.05
Sarah: 4.11, 4.33, 4.42, 5.05
Kate: 3.23, 3.35, 3.32
Narelle 4.00, 3.35, 4.30, 4.00
Julie: 3.30, 3.18, 3.28, 3.32
John F: 3.22, 3.22, 3.17, 3.24
Aveen: 4 laps continuous 31.55
Margie: 4 laps continuous 31.55

Walk & Run Club at Tarragindi this Saturday for Intervals

This Saturday 24 September 2011 we will be meeting at the Tarragindi studio for 4x600m intervals. Join us at 7am.

The following two weeks will also meet at the Tarragindi studio. Next week we will be working for 8 laps (3 different lap sizes depending on your level of fitness) and the following week will be a re-test of a our 5 lap time trial.

Looking forward to seeing a few new faces at Walk & Run Club as the weather warms up in the mornings. See you there!

Consume protein at every meal to promote weight loss and weight control

beef steak

You have probably heard how consuming adequate dietary protein promotes muscle recovery and optimises strength, power, size and fitness gains after exercise (more info about protein intake for muscle recovery here: What should I eat after training?). What you may not have heard is how regular protein intake can help you to lose and control body weight. Consuming small amounts of protein at every meal is a powerful weight loss and weight control strategy that is easy to implement.

Kettlebells are coming to Seven Hills!

Kettlebells

Drive Fitness introduced kettlebell training at our Tarragindi location early 2011 and at Mt Gravatt a couple months later. Since then kettlebells have become a very popular part of Drive Fitness training programs and we have been seeing some great fitness, strength and power results from incorporating kettlebell movements into our sessions.

As well as helping to achieve some great results, kettlebells have provided some variety for those fitness enthusiasts who are always on the look out for a new and interesting challenge.

We think it's time we brought kettlebells to Seven Hills and let everyone there experience what we have been raving about at Tarragindi and Mt Gravatt.

As always, we are constantly on the look out for new, but effective, training principals and equipment to incorporate into the Drive Fitness method of exercise prescription. We have seen some undeniable results since experimenting with kettlebells over the last 9 months and we feel they have past the test and are worthy of our tick of approval. Our trainers are qualified and capable kettlebell instructors and we hope everyone enjoys 'playing around' with something different.

Starchy vegetables: a weight loss pitfall

sweet potato

When we think about eating for weight loss or weight control we rarely consider the vegetable food group as one that requires attention. We receive a very general message from most sources recommending that we consume 4-5 servings of vegetables every day but we very rarely hear about starchy vegetables specifically, what they are, how much carbohydrate they contain and how they affect our energy intake and weight.

Walk & Run Club Tarragindi 5 Lap Time Trial Saturday 17 September 2011

Well done to everyone who made it along to the first Run Club after the Bridge to Brisbane for a 5 lap time trial. We will re-test our Tarragindi 5 lap time trial in about 8 weeks time. Next week we will return to Tarragindi for some interval work on our small Tarragindi lap.

Rose: 5 Medium Laps (31:07)
Lynette: 5 Medium Laps (39:44)
David S: 5 Large Laps (38:16)
Janine: 5 Medium Laps: (39:35)
Owen: 5 Large Laps (41:18)
Julia: 5 Large Laps (34:42)
Aveen: 4 Small Laps ( 29:13)
Grant: 5 Large Laps (34:14)
Tania: 5 Medium Laps (39:44)
Katie: 5 Medium Laps (39:44)
Rebecca: 5 Medium Laps (33:19)
Jane: 5 Large Laps (40:00)
Alice: 4 Medium + 1 Large Laps (33:46)
David E: 5 Large Laps (31:00)

Drive Fitness Records (updated 19 September 2011)

Our Drive Fitness Records have been updated with our new Bridge to Brisbane record holders and results. Congratulations to Andrew & Emma for improving our best Bridge to Brisbane 10km times.

2 new records are up for grabs next month at our first ever Dead Lift Challenge on the 29 October. The Dead Lift Challenge will decide a MAX and RELATIVE dead lift Drive Fitness record. Talk to your trainer next session about challenging for the new dead lift records or one of our other Drive Fitness records listed below.

Test / Event	Record
Bridge to Brisbane 10km	Andrew Hartung: 47:36min (2011) Emma Waller: 49:37 (2011)
Beep Test	Jason Purcell: 12.0 (2009) Rachel Dubois: 10.1 (2010)
50m Sprint	Mark Shellshear: 6.62sec (2010) Cassie Tyler: 7.97sec (2009)
Max Bench Press	Emmanuel Polichronis: 140kg (2011) Callie Conomos: 67.5kg (2011)
Relative Bench Press	Mitch Edwards: 1.525kg/kg bw (2011) Angela Verner: 0.817kg/kg bw (2011)
Max Dead Lift	coming soon
Relative Dead Lift	coming soon
Max Chin Ups (1min)	Jason Purcell: 20 (2009) Christina Willcox 5 (2009)
Max Push Ups (1min)	coming soon
Max Wall Sit	Andrew Ridgway: 5:43min (2010) Michelle Foster: 6:30min (2011)

http://www.drivefitness.net/drive_fitness_records.html

New David's Articles: Overcoming your fear of exercise (part 3): pain & soreness

David's Articles: Overcoming your fear of exercise (part 3): pain & soreness

Most people don't like pain or things that cause it. If it's been a while since you have exercised and you're afraid of the pain during and ...

click here to read the full article

Overcoming your fear of exercise (part 3): pain & soreness

Most people don't like pain or things that cause it. If it's been a while since you have exercised and you're afraid of the pain during and the soreness that follows you are certainly not alone. One of the biggest concerns expressed to me during the initial phone call or meeting with a new client is the fear of not being able to push through an exercise session due to the pain or not being able to function the next day due to the soreness. Being afraid of exercise for these reasons is completely normal - people naturally fear pain and soreness and as a result avoid things that cause it. I would like stress to you that exercise does not have to be painful and you don't have to be sore the following day (or 2, or 3) to benefit from an exercise program. In this article  I would like to help you interpret the things you might feel during exercise and re-assure you that 'no pain - no gain' is not necessarily true.

Boot Camp Returns to the Park

With the return of some warmer weather and more light in the early mornings our boot camps have returned to their outdoor locations. After 2 months of training in the studio everyone is well and truly ready to get back to the park.

If you have been waiting for this change before getting back into boot camp your wait is over. Give us a call or email to find out more and to enlist for a boot camp start date. Our outdoor boot camps take place at 3 convenient outdoor locations in Camp Hill, Holland Park and Moorooka. For more information about our boot camp locations and times please see our boot camp page on our website here: http://www.drivefitness.net/brisbane_boot_camp.html.

Bridge to Brisbane Team Places Released

The Bridge to Brisbane team results have been released. Drive Fitness came 62 out of 1690 10km teams. This is a great achievement and an improvement on our place of 87 in 2010 and 150 in 2009. Well done to all Drive Fitness team members who contributed to a fantastic over all place. We look forward to continuing improvement in 2012!

Bridge to Brisbane Results & Wrap Up

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Bridge to Brisbane yesterday (Sunday 11 September 2011). We had some fantastic results with both the Men's and Lady's Drive Fitness Hall of Fame records broken - Andrew Hartung claiming the Men's record with 47min 36sec and Emma Waller retaining and improving the Lady's record with 49min 37sec. A special BIG congratulations to these two Drive Fitness record holders and everyone who improved their time from last year. This is a very big achievement! We had some great results from our trainers also. David achieved his best 10km time ever with 45min 55sec and Nathan achieved a 46min 44sec. Thank you to everyone who regularly joins us at Walk & Run Club sessions. This has been a great help for me and others - training as a group helps to keep us all accountable.

Drive Fitness was well represented with a team of 50 participants. It was very impressive to see so many people involved and enjoying the event and the Drive Fitness singlets stood out in the crowd making it easy to catch up with and encourage other Drive Fitness runners during the race. As a personal trainer it was one of the most satisfying days for me. I know I speak for all of the Drive Fitness trainers when I say that it was a great feeling to see so many people achieving their goals by completing the 10km event. We already have plans for early next year to enter a Drive Fitness team in the Brisbane Twilight Run!

Thank you to everyone that helped prepare the BBQ for after the event. It was a well deserved and needed breakfast following a big effort. Thank you also to everyone on our team for being such an encouraging and supportive group for each other. It's great that amongst some competitiveness everyone is supportive and happy to share in each other's achievements.

Walk & Run Club sessions will continue every Saturday 7am from next week (follow the Walk & Run Club link at the top of this news page to see the schedule for the remainder of 2011). I would just like to encourage everyone to keep up the training for next year.

Bridge to Brisbane 2011 results for the Drive Fitness team are as follows (alphabetical by first name):

Alan 1.00.35
Amanda 59.30
Amy 1.03.58
Ana 1.23.19
Andy 47.36
Angus 1.17.04
Belinda 1.38.38
Callum 1.02.17
Dave.E 45.55
Dave.S 1.04.47
Deanna 2.05.12
Declan 53.30
Emma 49.37
Erin 1.16.22
Grant 54.00
Janine 1.07.49
Jase 58.23
Jenna 1.16.22
Jo 1.01.39
John.F 56.50
John.M 49.21
Julia 59.03
Kate 1.13.18
Lynette 1.16.23
Maggie 2.05.13
Marcus 51.52
Mark 47.55
Mary 1.16.36
Matt 1.15.27
Melita 57.46
Michelle 1.22.34
Narelle 55.44
Nathan 46.44
Nudge 57.46
Owen 1.19.02
Pete 1.00.33
Rebecca 1.16.36
Rob 1.00.52
Rose 1.02.54
Ross 1.10.50
Sally 1.08.38
Sarah 1.14.43
Shayne 1.07.20
Stacey 59.33
Stef 1.14.43
Stephen 51.52
Tania 1.25.36
Thomas 1.03.46
Tim 1.00.34

Walk & Run Club Schedule September 10 - December 24

There will be no Walk & Run Club this Saturday 10 September due to the Bridge to Brisbane event on Sunday. The Walk & Run Club schedule for the remainder of 2011 will be as follows:

10 September: No Walk & Run Club - Bridge to Brisbane the following day
17 September - Tarragindi 7am
24 September - Tarragindi 7am

1 October - Tarragindi 7am
8 October - Tarragindi 7am
15 October - Mt Gravatt 7am
22 October - Mt Gravatt 7am
29 October - No Walk & Run Club - Dead Lift Challenge

5 November - Mt Gravatt 7am
12 November - Mt Gravatt 7am
19 November - No Walk & Run Club - Christmas Party the night before
26 November - Tarragindi 7am

3 December - Tarragindi 7am
10 December - Tarragindi 7am
17 December - Tarragindi 7am
24 December - No Walk & Run Club for remainder of the year

Receive Drive Fitness News by Email

You can now receive all the latest Drive Fitness news direct to your inbox - it's easy. On the top right of the Drive Fitness News Blog (this page) you will see a small form. Enter your email address and click submit and follow instructions to complete subscription. You will need to check your email and follow a link to activate  the service (if you don't see the confirmation email check your junk mail - it may end up here). You will then receive all Drive Fitness news posts direct to your email address. This is a great way to stay up to date without needing to regularly check this page.

Follow this link to subscribe now: Subscribe to Drive Fitness News by Email

please note: If after completing the subscription you don't receive updates they may be going to your junk mail.

Why Dead Lift?

With the upcoming Dead Lift Challenge less then 2 months away (29 October 2011) it is fitting that we introduce you to why the dead lift is such a great exercise. The Dead Lift Challenge will give everyone a great opportunity to monitor strength improvements year to year while enjoying a social fitness event. By introducing the Dead Lift Challenge into our event calendar we will be able to monitor the strength of all muscle groups each year: Bench Press Challenge working the chest and shoulders and the new Dead Lift Challenge working the back and legs.

The dead lift is considered to be one of the best exercises for building all over body strength. In a lot of people's opinion it is the 'king of all lifts' and it serves a very obvious functional skill transfer element to daily tasks and sporting movements (this about how often do you bend down to pick something up - this is essentially a dead lift). The dead lift movement recruits the muscles of the back (upper and lower), abs, legs (front and back), glutes, arms and shoulders while developing core strength and stability and grip strength.

The demand of working multiple large muscle groups through a full range of motion is exhausting which makes it a great exercise for weight control due to the energy demand and metabolic benefit. This makes the dead lift a great exercise for weight loss, fitness, strength and power training programs.

Unfortunately the dead lift has developed a bit of a bad name for itself amongst uneducated 'gym go-ers' due to injuries caused by poor technique. This is no reason to avoid it all together or to be afraid of learning it, if the dead lift is performed correctly the injury risk is as low as for any other exercise but with so many benefits.

We hope to see as many people involved as possible as we launch the Dead Lift Challenge into our event calendar. For more information see our previous Dead Lift Challenge details post by clicking here: http://drivefitness.blogspot.com/2011/09/drive-fitness-dead-lift-challenge-29.html.

The Drive Fitness Dead Lift Challenge: 29 October 2011

Our popular annual Bench Press Challenge over flowed our Seven Hills studio in 2011 with greater than 50 people lifting. The big question asked is, "why do we have a strength challenge for our chest and shoulders but not for our legs and back?". In response we have introduced the Dead Lift Challenge!

No other exercise challenges both the legs and back quite like the dead lift. The dead lift develops the muscles of the legs, glutes, back and core making it a great training exercise for everyone to include in their training program.

The first ever Dead Lift Challenge will operate very differently to our Bench Press Challenge format. It will be fast and furious testing endurance as well as power, strength and technique. We would like to see as many people involved as possible. It is not intended to be competitive, just a great opportunity to get together and put our fitness to the test. If you would like to be involved chat to your trainer next session! Full details below and more information to follow over the coming weeks.

• All participants are required to be in attendance by 8:30am for weigh in and warm up. Unfortunately due to the importance of the warm up if you are not there by 8:30am to allow adequate warm up time you will not be able to participate.
• Morning tea will be provided from 8:30am.
• Lifting will commence at 9:00am sharp with both the Men's and Women's events taking place at the same time. It is expected that the entire event including medal and trophy presentation will be concluded by 10:30am for both Men's and Women's.
• The Men's weight will start at 80kg and increase in 10kg increments and the Women's weight will start at 40kg and increase in 5kg increments.
• Participants will lift continually one after the other with only 20 seconds allowed to successfully complete a single lift.
• After everyone has attempted a lift at the weight a 1min rest will be allowed to increase the weight before the next round begins.
• When a participant is unable to successfully lift the weight in the allowed 20 seconds they are eliminated. The challenge continues until everyone is eliminated.
• Each participant's heaviest successfully lifted weight will be divided by their body weight to achieve their final score.
• Medals will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd in both Men's and Women's events and trophies will be awarded for the heaviest lift for both Men and Women.

The Dead Lift Challenge is Coming...

October 29! More information coming soon...

Bridge to Brisbane 12 Week Training Program: Week 12 (5-11 September)

Drive Walkers/Joggers

• Session 1 (IT): 5min easy-moderate pace warm up / 3min easy pace (walk/slow jog) - 1min moderate-hard pace (brisk walk/faster jog) x 5 / 5min easy-moderate pace cool down
• Session 2 (CT): 30-40min easy-moderate pace (consistent pace brisk walk/slow jog)

Drive Runners:

• Session 1 (Tempo): 5min easy pace warm up / 20min moderate-hard pace (equal to or faster than the pace you intend to set for 10km but maintainable) / 5min easy pace cool down
• Session 2 (CT): 30-40min easy-moderate pace (consistent pace jog)

Drive Fitness Team: Bridge to Brisbane Information

The Bridge to Brisbane is only 8 days away! Next Sunday the 11 September over 50 Drive Fitness team members will complete the 10km Bridge to Brisbane event - our biggest team entry ever! We hope everyone's training has gone well leading up to the event and we are looking forward to a fun day and seeing some great results.

Race packs have been picked up and will be made available on the morning of the event for everyone catching our bus. If you are not catching the bus with us please pick up your race pack from Drive Fitness Tarragindi by 5:00pm Friday 9 September.

All the information for the Drive Fitness team catching the bus and joining us for the BBQ is outlined below:

• We will be meeting at Drive Fitness Mt Gravatt at 4:50am sharp! The bus will leave at 5:10am, we will not be able to wait past this time. Between 4:50am and 5:10am you will have time to collect your race pack, prepare your timing chip and race number sticker and use the bathroom.
• The race will start at 6:10am. We will arrive with enough time for you to organise yourself into your correct starting zone.
• Following completing the event please meet at meeting point A. Help to start forming a group of Drive Fitness team members. Finding everyone after the event can be difficult so please work together.
• We will lead people back to the bus in groups. Once we are all finished and on the bus we will return to Drive Fitness Mt Gravatt for a BBQ which will be cooked and ready to eat!
• Safety message: Make sure you drink plenty of water during and after the event. Remember, more you sweat more water you need to replace.

To download the complete Bridge to Brisbane race guide please click here: http://www.bridgetobrisbane.com.au/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/08/SM-B2B_RACEGUIDE_CA5.pdf.

View Bridge to Brisbane in a larger map

Overcoming your fear of exercise (part 2): injury

If you haven't exercised for a long time or you have suffered an exercise related injury in the past, the fear of injury may be deterring you from starting an exercise program. This fear is arguably the most legitimate fear of exercise: there is a known increased risk of injury occurring during exercise and in most cases those new to exercise or those who have suffered an injury in the past are at the greatest risk. The fear of injury occurring during exercise is one that I can relate very well to. Following a knee injury occurring during a sporting competition that required a reconstruction, I was very hesitant to return to my normal exercise routine. Even following a complete (and as successful as possible) rehabilitation I found it very difficult to approach exercise the same way I did pre-injury. It took me far longer to recover mentally then physically and the ever present risk of re-injury continues to concern me during some exercise movements. Despite this risk, I came to the realisation that it's more dangerous long term for me not to exercise; let me explain why.