What Mr Todd says is just not true on the bigger scale of things - just look at the the biggest Health Club Chains in the UK  and see what message they are putting across.

Fitness First ‘A weight loss secret you’ll enjoy ‘ On the front page .

Virgin Active ‘Look hot with your kit off ‘

LA Fitness How hot do you want to look this summer? And on the bottom of the page it has teamed up with Weight Watchers.

These are the biggest clubs clubs in the UK today and the message is not focused on the long term health and fitness, but very much the short term get a hot look now and  a beacon to get members through the door. Its very much a short term fix and contradicts totally what Mr Todd is implying. You can argue that every journey begins with being enticed through the door in the ‘Summer Bikini look’ is a good way to start and nothing wrong with that, but what annoys me is that when you have walked through the door and got to  to an incredible level of fitness, the industry does not care.

Mr Todd went on to say ” The Olympics gives the UK the chance to showcase what is best about our Industry’ Really ? What is best about our industry is the UK Gym Athlete and the furthest thought from Mr Todd’s mind is giving them a chance to showcase anyone of their members.

World Gym Challenge.com has one single focus - to showcase the results and incredible fitness levels of the UK Gym Athlete and all its members. To do this it has to organise entirely at its own time and expense the oppurtunity to showcase events. In turn the gym has to recognise just what it has created under its own roof and take pride in just what their members have achieved and this is done via Gym Challenges which are created within the gym.

But what happens? At the first hurdle Gym Challenges are not created. It is too much time and effort by gyms to look at what they are creating , which is a sport for gyms  and for Mr Todd to remark …. ” although there is a place for fitness challenges in gyms they won’t appeal to everyone ” Is really what sums up the state of the fitness industry today. Ignore those that are the very best - concentrate on the would be member and retention.  After all the Get Hot for summer look is what sells - the get fit for life - means putting the effort in, working hard and getting the best results.

When Richard Vint won the Ultimate Gym Athlete or Fit Brit two years in a row  did his gym create any sort of recognition platform for his achievements? No he returned to his gym in almost obscurity. Richard is not the kind of person who says look at me, look what I achieved - but in today’s sporting market when you have the very best UK Gym Athlete in your own gym you would expect there to be some sort recognition. This is the fittest man in the UK Gym Fitness Scene and when Mr Todd concludes with reference to the Olympics ‘The Olympics gives the UK the chance to showcase what is best about our industry ” Im sorry I just don’ t buy into it . Richard Vint is now looking at taking up CrossFit - the UK fitness industry has very much lost its best Gym Athlete to a sport that has its roots in the US.

What annoys me more then anything else is the sort of hypocrisy of it all. Ponterfact Squash club has some of the best tournaments in  the UK for Squash - and yet Squash is not an Olympic sport. It has tried valiantly to be included and has always met with a resolute no by the IOC.  World Gym Challenge is the same , it has tried to get recognition of its best Gym Athletes by the industry it serves and has always been met with a not in our gym .

The sport of fitness (CrossFit) has evolved under the gaze of Sport England and the FIA. It originated in the US and has now global appeal featuring on TV and having a international field.

The UK Gym Athlete and World Gym Challenge what is good about our industry in the UK - its focus is on creating a sport for gyms and its recognition of the incredible fitness levels its own members have achieved as its single priority  and that is the legacy its wants to leave in the wake of this years Olympics - Not get a hot look for summer  - but be in the best shape of your life and stay there .

No person in the UK sums it up better for WGC then Head Teacher Gwen Fennel and Richard Vint  who if ever there was a reason  to be proud of the fitness industry and showcase what is good about it - then they are definitely it.

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Whats the hook in today’s gym world? Is it losing weight? Is it getting fit? Or is it getting somebody through the door to the gym?  And once they are through the door , what then? What can you sell the them that guarantees results and makes them want to join your gym?

Why not experience a gym challenge for a Charity Day? Invite members from your local gyms to compete in your gym? Its quite easy after that - the deal is possibly free membership for a day, a week, and having their contact details you can tell them of the next challenge you may be running.

The all new Gym Challenge for the would be member

800 m Treadmill Run

20 Body Squats

10 Push Ups

1 km Bike

300 m Row

Do this challenge for any visiting gym member from an existing gym who is familiar with gym equipment and then publish results online so all of their  friends and family can see the gym they competed at and the results they achieved.

Roughly 5% of a gym are there for the long term and will not change gyms once they are members. This could be a great boost to your earning potential for retention and profit.

Become a Gym Athlete not a gym member.

What is it ?

A way of enticing potential long term members through the door of your gym.

Who competes in it?

Anybody who goes to a gym. Or has set up a Exercise program at home.

What is its purpose?

To encourage fitness based results at any gym.

Charities

After a license fee is obtained from World Gym Challenge.com Ltd. A database is provided to the gym to hold fitness challenges in their own gyms or invite members of the public to try them - or indeed other members from other gyms to your location  and have their results published on line immediately during a Charity Day. A great way to have fun and raise money for good causes.

Insurances

WGC is looking at providing a fixed Insurance for your gym to hold fitness challenges within your gym as part of the License fee.

Contact info@worldgymchallenge.com for further information

A Gym X Training Circuit is not for a professional athlete that is sport specific.

A Gym X Training Circuit is for someone who goes to the gym.

A Gym X Training Circuit is probably the best workout in the world today. Why ? Because you designed it. You know your body’s limitations, strengths and weaknesses and you know what you can do and what you have been trained to do. So the only progress you make is one that you actually achieve done by you.

You see the method in training is limitless. Magazines, Books, Videos, Seminars, Classes, Gym Sessions, Instructors, Coaches, Personal Trainers, Gym Instructors, are all out there to keep you informed and how to train  and then go and keep on going until you come across Guru status and then no matter what is said by that Guru  its almost God Like - you have found the ultimate in working out and training. But have you ?

Stop ! Stop right there you have reached a point in your life that says  I can now achieve what ever I want to but based on someone else’s teachings.

GymXTC ™ is all of the above. No method is ever going to supersede the next in being right or the best way. There is just too much arguing going on in the fitness world . So you take a little of everything and put it into practice.

A Gym X Training Circuit

Is better then Bootcamp. Is better then Circuit Classes. Is better then CrossFit. Is better then PX90. is better then Weight Training, is better then German Volume Training, Is better the PHA training …  is the best workout you can possibly achieve because if all of the workouts are the best work outs  in the world and you are doing them - then each method is the perfect method. You are just taking the best bits. It therefore becomes the best method and best work out.

A Gym X Training Circuit

Based on what you know from all of the above methods of training now comes the tricky part - believing in it. The theory has been preached to you in ways that are so compelling that its almost impossible not to believe. Do what you have been told to do but use a watch to either manage, time, tempo, duration and intensity, eventually you will reach GymXTC ™ The ultimate in understanding you, your workout and your results.

Why ?

Because you take the very best components of the above mentioned and put it into training. There is no method because methods evolve into training techniques that will be bettered by somebody smarter and more educated and with Guru status - that is why take the best from what is out there now and create your own training from it.

Gym X Training Circuits are simply the most effective training methods in the world because you designed them for you.

All you need to perform A Gym X Training Circuit is a watch with a stopwatch function. And a results based website to record your results in www.worldgymchallenge.com

You then perform the circuit that you have read about, watched on You Tube , been instructed in and then put the results into your own personal folder and reap the benefit of somebody else’s teachings to achieve the body or the performance levels you want.

Gym X Training Circuits - No manuals, No Books, No Videos , No Gym Instructors, No Personal Trainers,  Just you achieving what you have been instructed to do by the best and most qualified fitness professionals in the world today.

X is the method and X will continually change throughout time - but time will not.

Click Here for the definition of sport by Wikipedia

Gym Based Sports

A sport that is carried out in a gym.

Equal Fitness Racing

The terminology used to classify two gym athletes into a equal level of fitness so that races are fair . Each competitor (Gym Athlete)  is defined into a sub category of being an Elite, Advanced, Intermediate or Beginner based on their results in the World Gym Challenge.

World Gym Challenge

A database available to any gym to categorise gym members into Gym Athletes based on Performance and Achievement in Gym Athletics.

Finding the Ultimate Gym Athlete

One question escapes the fitness industry - what are we training for ?

WGC has been at the forefront of many arguments and bitter email discussions with some of the leading figures in the industry who have time after time repeatedly said that Fitness is not a sport. Indeed we have been to Sport England and argued the case only to be told that Exercise , Movement and Dance cover that bracket?

So for years we stood alone stamping our feet and shouting into an empty void of deaf ears and non responses. Ridiculed , rejected and ignored. And yet now there is a stirring - something is happening at long last to bring attention to Gym Based Sports , CrossFit .

CrossFit is quite possibly the saving grace of the fitness world because it recognises that at each CrossFit location there is gold. That gold does not come in the shape or form of a dollar sign , but in one of achievement and performance - and guess what ? The members, they like it. They like turning up , training and being respected for what they achieve.

The industry over the last ten years has thrived - but nobody till CrossFit came along recognised or appreciated what the members were doing (This is not aimed at Bodybuilding or Weight Lifting gyms) we are talking run of the mill pay monthly gyms. I certainly have not experienced it - in fact what I have experienced is being treated like a leper. any event I have trained for or attended has all been at the competitors expense and although graciously the equipment - the floor space and the venue has been used - it is something that is a very bitter pill to swallow as it has always been a battle to even been allowed to run it .

I have said in the past to look at Golf Club houses and the trophies that are displayed with pride in cabinets and the social functions that emerge month after month in celebration of their skills. I have argued that PT’s are not on the same pay scale as Sales team from gyms. I have argued that the lack of recognition of the fittest gym members by the industry has been too long and i have argued that for a sport to exist there has to be a three tier action plan, without it a sport does not exist.

TER . What is TER ?

A sport can exist only on three levels - there is absolutely no reason why a sport cannot exist as long as TER is effective controlled and well organised.

TER the foundation of sport and CrossFit have it .

Training Event and Results.

All three elements have to exist for a sport to evolve and thrive. Until recently a gym only had Training. There were no events and certainly no one was publishing results . Even now in the mainstream gyms , figures are not being published and this just empahsises my point.

The Fitness Industry needs to look at what it has created.

Under the roof that you train at are some very gifted individuals. They have remained loyal and committed and they deserve recognition for the levels of fitness they have achieved. Their journey and  stories have been many but its now time to switch tracks and focus on performance and achievement.

Until we look at performance and achievement as a priority the word fitness becomes a parody of what it actually stands for - right now - its weight loss . And Im sorry , but weight loss is not fitness in any shape or form. Fitness is about achievement and performance. In fact I would go as far to say that anybody who joins a gym purely to lose weight is going to fin it a very hard almost impossible quest (This will be dealt with later) Yet anybody who joins a gym for achievement and performance - well that is now evolving in many forms as Gym Based Sports.

World Gym Challenge is the single gym challenge that can be completed in any gym , at any level with virtually no training at all.

CrossFit is the progression of understanding the complexities of the body, strength and movement.

They both serve a purpose to increase motivation and purpose and recognise achievement and performance.

It is now up to the fitness industry to accept that Gym Based Sports is here - It is a sport and it deserves recognition as do the people who take part.

When it comes to exercise there is a limit to what the body wants to do and what the body needs to do. And it’s down to choice to choose the pattern in which we live our life that will decide how we do it or not  - we have evolved into our own person and we are damned if we are gonna listen to anybody else say this is how you should exercise.  It’s the school syndrome all over again - nobody likes being told they HAVE to do something - like attending school,  nobody really likes it at the time , but eventually it dawns on us that the school days were the best days and the results we achieved there are now the foundation of what we are today.  In many cases exercise is no different. The trick is to convince you that you do it because you need to do it, not that you are being told to do it. The school days were the best days and the ‘now’ days should be no different. The journey starts now in some cases on that lonely path.

So we look at the power of persuasion. What can I do to make you to want to exercise and in return what can you do to get the results you need? After all, to go out simply running is a start but what will make you keeprunning? The word motivation pops up. Are you motivated ? If not why not? Then start to think about how your inner thoughts were forced to do something that a short while ago - and how you hated it and nobody will ever force you into that regime again, right? The motivation not to exercise is often stronger then the will to exercise based on nothing more then  the demons of yesteryear resurfacing and challenging your routine and lifestyle that you have created now. You  live within your comfort zone and to go back to conforming because society says its good or what the Health Guru says its good for you is something you as a individual have the right to say no to.  And dammit , quite frankly it feels quite good too!

Choice or Lifestyle is a turning point in adulthood. We have fought the institution all our  life in our pre teen and teen lives and  being forced to go to school is the start of our dislike to society as it is what society expects that we are forced to do it.  At that time we don’t know it’s for the greater good and will affect our working life,  all we know is that we are forced to do it. It become apparent though , slowly over time , like the turning of a page to a good book , that education will bring us the rewards we strive for in life and the resentment of being forced to do something is slowly turned around to embracing it.  Our values and what we stand for are now determining our lifestyle -  we can if we like though  say “Sod it,  I’m gonna do it my way” and so the journey begins - doing it your way or doing it the way that will eventually lead to a greater understanding in what will benefit you more in life.

Some of us were naturally talented when it came to sports at school and continue the exercise route after school, college even university has finished based on success they had early on-  football, rugby , athletics, gymnastics the list goes on , but it was not only the spark of competition and results that became the hook, but the formation of teamwork and challenging yourself that gave you the motivation to succeed.  But also it became the resentment phase too for many  as jealousy and bitterness and the human trait of anger manifested into a pattern that would for some say I’m never going to do that again or be put in that position, why the hell should I ? I hated it then - why expect me to do something about it now. Those days are well and truly behind me.

How then to create that spark to get you to exercise then and get you back into a routine and enjoy exercise and the benefits without upsetting your current lifestyle if you are one of those that have chosen not to exercise? This is the what we call the million dollar question! Because it literally will take millions of dollars (Euros, Pounds etc) with advertising and marketing to address the issue (Change 4 Life) but will it make an effect? I suspect not. Not to the individual who has already taken the attitude that they don’t want to change and are happy with current conditions and who is now hit with  with one message of healthy living to a bombardment  of a thousand adverts of sugary drinks, fast foods , processed food , with a sexy catchy counter marketing campaign to get you to spend more on the wrong path all over once again , only this time it taste good , is cheap and if you buy two of them the third is often free.

The focus then is down to choice - you have to choose . You have the freedom to express a change not based on the marketing campaign you have been watching on tv. But on your approach to how you will change. And then possibly the biggest influence to enforce that change will be those that are closest to you and your conscience to be there for them. It is the only factor that can bring a change to you, But you have to do it and more importantly want to do it. We get back to the nitty gritty of it all - the need to change your lifestyle.

The word Lifestyle becomes synonymous with change - but to change you have to take that approach again the one you were forced to adhere too in your younger days and we have a rebel in you that is now facing your routine that you have adapted to over many years to be challenged again. But I am asking you to change your lifestyle and include exercise , not because I want you to do it , but because it is now come to that stage in your life where you can accept that perhaps mistakes have been made and that its not too late to make a minor change in your routine, so that eventually over time you will be healthier and fitter for it. .

Choice , there said it. Choice is what we all have the freedom to do, the ability to choose what we in  life want to do - nobody likes being told what to do. From our school years to our working life, choice is now the single most dominant thought process of a free society. We are free to do what we want. How we eat, how we exercise and how our decisions will affect our Lifestyle. It’s not too late to change.  Exercise is the the preventative medicine we have in our own locker. It’s free. It has proven scientific study after study to say its effective and it will work for you if you want it to.

Choice is yours . It’s not too late. You can change. You can improve your health. And you can be that person. But the choice is yours. My passion is to inform you or remind you of that choice and hope you may change your lifestyle into a more productive and healthy approach. And that will like your school days be a change for the better , but as we all know at the time it never seemed that way.

Get ready for a new Training system on World Gym Challenge.com !

High Intensity Low Aerobic Conditioning Training Interval Circuits.

It’s built for the gym member to increase their motivation to train - Guaranteed results every time. More details to follow shortly …..

New in to your events folder, this brand new challenge to celebrate Olympic year in London.

A simple and very effective gym challenge that involves three exercises:

1000 m Treadmill

1000 m Row

12 Burpees

Guess what ? It adds up to 2012 !

Each gym that signs up to world gym challenge.com will get a complete package of free goodies.

Including:

Free folders for members to record results.

Personal Trainers access to record results for their clients.

Verification process to authenticate times.

Ability to challenge other gyms to the same challenge.

Record all results onto Achievement Boards and view online  after they have been completed.

View anywhere in the world upon completion to see what your friends have achieved.

Great opportunity to get behind the Olympic year in London ……

The nature of sport is that if you see somebody do it, then the chances are you will want to do it?

The logic of the fitness industry astounds me at times. I honestly cannot understand the mentality of it. There is constant reference to children and how they should react to exercise, what they should be doing and when they should be doing it, but when the ouuprtunity to appears to set that example by parents, the doors of the gym slam shut! I honestly can’t see the logic in it.

Performance is one factor of exercise, Training is another , Results is the end goal - you need to train, you need to perform and you need results. It is the circle that bonds exercise, without any of the three elements you have a break down in motivation, focus and achievement.

So when you look at the modern day gym what greater example is there of parents doing exercises they do normally in the gym, and setting the example to their children - not only that, children watching every exercise, every step of the way and being inspired.

I know of parents who’s children are fixated on exercise because their parents were and in there early teens are in some cases representing sport at a very high level (It is true also, that children can have the

opposite effect too) but for those that are, it is the gym where they first saw their parents exercise and it is the gym where in the future they could very well be heading towards.

How many pt’s clients have children? How many gym members have children? To set an example and see what you do in the gym should be a priority instinct to those that are very impressionable and respond best to parents examples.

Yet in today’s common gym. There is a vital break down in the Training infrastructure. There is training , but there is no performance and no results , it would therefore follow, that the children who would be inspired, lack motivation, focus and will never achieve anything in a gym environment, whereas they could, should and probably would if the industry lead by example and created a sport for gyms, or embraced Gym Based Sports and let the parents lead by example.

The future of fitness is very much on some peoples lips right now. There is talk of where the industry should be heading, what it should be trying to achieve and what needs to happen. In the US, the American Heart Association has a adopted a strategy to focus on being  Cardiovascular Healthy by 2020 and in the UK with the Olympic year being London bound, there really is no better time then for the industry to accept that performance is a vital link in the chain to being Cardiovascular Healthy and it should be part of a long term strategy, which is just as important as weight loss.

When exercising in a gym challenge there are a number of factors that come into play, but the two most deserving of note are your

Age

Training Pattern

Which if summarised into a bracket would equate to your cardiovascular health. As each exercise swops between different energy systems being engaged and different muscles being used, the blood flow throughout the body has to be trained to cope by the only way it knows best and that is oxygen to the working muscles and delaying the onset of lactic acid and preventing anaerobic slow down of fatigue setting in. And in the arteries of your body lies the answer. Just how you have been training and how long you have been training that way , will determine your success.

Your cardiovascular health is the only element of fitness that will create a faster you, a more efficient you and ultimately someone who has a heart that can rapidly transfer oxygen around the body in the fastest possible time, because the arteries can cope with it.

There is no greater muscle in the body to train than the heart and where this has an impact sadly is in the physical nature of it - you can’t see it. And so a advertising industry that surrounds itself in promoting products that work - will not be able to see any improvement in looks alone and indeed WGC primary role isn’t advertising how good somebody looks , but how well their body can transport oxygen around the body to the working muscles in the quickest possible time.

The training and the nature of the exercise is almost irrelevant when it comes to results. That is not to say don’t do it - but do simple effective time efficient exercises that have a proven track record of improving performance - predominately High Intensity Interval Training, but crucially benchmark your results in the WGC folders so you can see if you are becoming more efficient at transporting the oxygen around the body and see the results you are achieving.

The time to play around at getting cardiovascular healthy  is something that you as individual decide on now. Without doubt the majority of the UK population will not exercise past their 20’s with a regular routine in fitness unless they change their lifestyle approach and it will be here that they benefit because worryingly figures from the US indicate :

Over the past 3 decades, the prevalence of obesity in children 6 to 11 years of age has increased from ≈4% to >20%.

Pasted from <http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/125/1/e2.full>

And that is a very scary figure to be looking at now.