12 Days of Christmas Workout 2011 Winner is...

Drive Fitness Tarragindi are the winners of the 2011 12 Days of Christmas workout.

The top 5 lady and top 5 men scores on the 12 Days of Christmas workout combined to form the score for each Drive Fitness. Tarragindi had the top score, helped along with 3 lady and 3 men finishes, Mt Gravatt came in 2nd place and Seven Hills in 3rd.

During December the 12 Days of Christmas workout was available to everyone at each Drive Fitness. Just under 100 people took the challenge. I gave it a go myself and it was tough! Well done to everyone who gave it their best.

This years workout was put together with the intention of it being IMPOSSIBLE to finish within 30mins. We were shocked with some of the amazing results with almost 10 people finishing it between all Drive Fitness locations and a number of others getting very close.

Stay tuned for the next Inter-Drive Fitness workout challenge in the new year.

2011 12 Days of Christmas Workout

Helpful Drive Fitness Resources for the Holiday Period

Training

• Dumbbell training: basic whole body workout
• Body weight training: benefits, basic techniques & workouts
• Skipping: benefits, basic techniques & workouts

Eating

• 10 tips for surviving the Christmas party season
• Energy in alcohol revealed: 7 tips to lower energy intake while drinking
• Metabolism - is it under your control?

Thinking

• 10 tips to help stay motivated

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

From everyone at Drive Fitness we wish you a safe and healthy holiday and a very Merry Christmas & New Year. We thank you for another fantastic year of training and we appreciate you choosing to train with us!

Looking forward to new goals, different ways to challenge you and fun ways to keep you motivated! 

The Drive Fitness Team (David, Lisa, Jared, Tim, Kate, Nathan, Matt, Nathalie & Marcus)

Bench Press Challenge 2012: Saturday 10 March

The date for the 5th Annual Drive Fitness Bench Press Challenge (BPC) has been announced: Saturday 10 March 2012. This date gives us a nice buffer before the Easter Holiday - no excuses!

This early announcement comes with a reminder that there is less than 12 weeks to train from the start of the year to the event. We will need to get straight back into strength training from the start of the year to be well prepared.

The 2012 BPC will undergo a format change to accommodate increasing participant numbers, allow men and women to lift simultaneously and reduce the running time. We will update you on the format as we get closer to the event.

Kick of the year with some strength training in your exercise program and use the Bench Press Challenge as motivation to train hard. Stay tuned for more BPC news in the new year!

Christmas at the Corso in Seven Hills Recap

Drive Fitness personal trainer Kate welcomed locals at the Drive Fitness stand at the Christmas at the Corso fete in Seven Hills on Thursday 1 December. Despite the rain it was a great family afternoon and evening out with plenty of activities for kids, food and drink, live music and specials from local businesses. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to tell people about Drive Fitness and what we do.

This was our 3rd community fair involvement in 2011 and we look forward to supporting many more local fetes and festivals in 2012.

Walk & Run Club in 2012

I know you do too!

The last walk & run club session for the year will be meeting this Saturday 17 December at Drive Fitness Tarragindi at 7am.

2012 will see a few changes made to our walk & run club session format. We will be meeting at the same location for longer then 4 weeks so we have a chance to get to know some longer tracks. This will help to break the monotony of using laps like we did quite often during 2011. We will still use a lap format on occasions for time trials and intervals.

We will continue to mix things up using medium distance runs at moderate-high intensity (tempo training), short distance runs at high-very high intensity broken up with rest or periods of low intensity (interval training) and long distance runs at moderate intensity (continuous training).

We have two running events scheduled for 2012 already - the Twilight Run in March and the Bridge to Brisbane in late August / early September. We would like to see YOU at the walk & run club in 2012, returning Saturday 14 January at Drive Fitness Tarragindi at 7am. Remember, the Drive Fitness walk & run club is a FREE session for all Drive Fitness people! For more information please email David (dave@drivefitness.net).

Dumbbell training: basic workout 1

With a lot of gyms without free bars nowadays and medicine balls and kettlebells hard to find, putting together good free weight whole body workouts can be challenging. Fortunately you can still count on almost every gym (and some garages) having  a set of dumbbells - here is a basic, effective and time efficient whole body workout using only dumbbells. This program is perfect for weight control and general strength and fitness.

The 12 Days of Christmas Workout is Back!

It's back and it's harder then ever before. Every year on the 1st of December the 12 Days of Christmas Workout hits the whiteboard. It's a 12 level challenge that brings together the 'favourite' exercises of the year in the most difficult arrangement possible. The challenge - to get through as many levels as possible in a 30min personal training session.

We didn't even think it was possible to finish... but a few people have already made it to the end. Take the challenge and see how far you get next PT session. Remember, it's a challenge for YOURSELF to see how far YOU can get, not a competition with others (unless you want it to be).

To make things interesting this year, the top 5 lady scores and top 5 men scores will combine to form the score for that Drive Fitness. The Drive Fitness with the highest combined score is the winner. There are no prizes, just the glory of working hard for a winner's result. The winning Drive Fitness will be decided on Friday 16 December.

Twilight Run Date Announced - Drive Fitness Team Entry Available

With the growing popularity of our Bridge to Brisbane team event we are introducing another Drive Fitness running team entry in 2012 - the Twilight Run. Introducing another running event earlier in the year will be a great way to keep us motivated and keep our training on track!

The date has been announced, 18 March 2012, and entries are now open with early bird specials available. A Drive Fitness team has already been created so you can join our team during the online registration process - it's easy and takes only 5mins. Here are some instructions to help:

1. visit www.twilightrun.com.au
2. click on the 'enter' button on the left hand side (2nd from top)
3. select online entry from the list of options (top option)
4. select 'search for an existing team', then click 'select'
5. type 'drive fitness' into the search box and then click on 'Drive Fitness' in the search results
6. select the twilight 10km run (we are entering a 10km team)
7. follow the registration prompts to the finish, entering your details, and pay
8. give us a call or email if you have any problems registering and we will help you

Take advantage of the super early bird savings and get organised for 2012. Save up to 20% on your Twilight entry fee, simply by registering before 31 December. Entry fees increase in 2012.

Our Walk and run club is a great way to prepare for running events and it's FREE. We will be making a few changes to the Walk & Run Club format in 2012 to involve some longer runs and new courses. For more information about our Walk & Run Club please give us a call (0402 358 127) or email (info@drivefitness.net).

Boot Camp Dates for Christmas and New Years Period

Drive Fitness boot camps will take a break over Christmas and News Years - don't worry, it's only a short one (2 weeks).

The last boot camp sessions for 2011 will be on Wednesday 21 December for Camp Hill and Thursday 22 December for Holland Park and Moorooka. If you have missed a few sessions recently due to the warmer weather or end of year busy period, try to get to your remaining boot camp sessions and finish 2011 strong.

The Camp Hill boot camp will return Monday 9 January and Holland Park and Moorooka Tuesday 10 January. Stay tuned to our blog, facebook, twitter or emails for reminders and updates on Drive Fitness boot camps during the break.

2012 will see the introduction of another Drive Fitness boot camp location, afternoon boot camp sessions & the move of our popular boot camp challenge to Saturday mornings (twice per year, dates announced early in January).

If you are not presently a boot camper but would like to be please give us a call (0402 358 127) or email (info@drivefitness.net) for more info.

Energy in alcohol revealed: 7 tips to lower energy intake while drinking

We all know that alcohol contributes to dietary energy intake, but to what extent? Let's put the other health consequences of excess alcohol consumption aside for just one moment and focus on the affect that alcohol intake has on energy balance and weight control. It's a fairly simple equation, more energy coming in than energy going out results in a positive energy balance, a positive energy balance results in weight gain. Foods and drinks that are high in energy and low in nutrition provide what is known as 'empty energy' and are detrimental to weight control - this describes the energy in alcohol. If abstaining is not an option looking for ways to lower energy intake from alcohol is the next best thing. Let's take a closer look at how and why.