Taking the Gym Fitness Challenge scene by storm is Richard Vint, who trains out of Fitness First in Fleet. This amazing gym athlete has won all the events the in the Gym Challenge Series so far this year. Already with Camberley, Gorton, Brighton and also Marlow (Non Challenge Series) under his belt as champion is there going to be any stopping him?

A chance awaits for any gym member to do so at the Ultimate Gym Athlete in Leicester on the 26th Sept where details are displayed on the events page of WGC.

Entry fee is set at £10.00 to cover costs only. This event is not about anything other then discovering the talent that lies within gyms and pushing forward the gym athlete as an athlete who’s conditioning is tuned at a gym.

What athletes may have achieved in the past is just that, a new challenge was needed to focus on the future and see what can be achieved on a rolling result. The gym athlete was created by World Gym Challenge to find out who has the best performance abilities in a gym environment, using speed , strength and endurance to challenge anybody from another gym to see who is the best Gym Athlete in the world.

You can say - or you can do. But one thing is for sure, Gym Based Sports and Gym Fitness Challenges are evolving without the support of the fitness industry. It is happening at grass root level where gym members want to test themselves and see results in the enviroment they train in-  and Richard Vint at this moment in time and based on his record this year is the very best.

Had a go at ‘Great Gym Challenge’ yesterday. Put up by ‘Take to the Streets’ and supported by ‘Powerade’

Well I can assure you this gym challenge is not easy, as you go at your best pace throughout. But it is certainly a good way of motivating yourself to try and get fitter.  My reading of a 4 star ‘Good’ at the end of it is a bit of a compliment as there is only ‘Awesome’ to go but it is a very good introduction to Gym Based Sports and a good way to start the competitive spirit within gym members.

The row was completed roughly at 2:01 pace (as I recall) the Bike was at roughly 26 - 29 kph and the run at 11 - 13 kph with a mad sprint finish (for me) and I was knackered.

The cardio side of gym challenges has always been a struggle for me so this challenge is something of a blessing. But let’s also remember not to get too comfortable here - there is no muscular endurance tests. Its like only a 50%  Gym Challenge. A good well structured Gym Challenge needs weights and plyometric exercises to be trully considered ‘Great’ But this is definitely a step in the right direction. It brings the competitive element into the gym, without hassling gym staff , management or the set up of any gym equipment. The only downside, is that eventually it will get a bit stale.

Slightly disappointed with Powerade, after contacting them last year for support for the UK Gym Athlete, but I guess this small challenge has given X Training a lift. I do not consider it a triathlon as described on the homepage (although three sports running consecutively can be considered a triathlon) I consider this a X Training Challenge and a Gym Based Sport, as The ‘RBR’ (The Run, Bike, Row) and part of the GymXTC (TM) was definitely a X Training Challenge and all that is different here is the distance. And I also consider this to be a X Training Challenge and part of Gym Based Sports because it is carried out in a gym !

WGC has implemented the 10 km Challenge (Row, Bike, Run) into personal folders and Leader Boards will be instantly accessible on a UGCD (Unique Gym Challenge Day) with updates as and when. The fastest split for the fastest Row, Bike, and Run will be availiable to view and information about the individuals concerned.

Good luck in this challenge, it is hard - especially the top guys who will putting in blisteing times, but until weights are added , this cannot be considered the ‘Great Gym Challenge’, rather the ‘Great Introduction to Gym Challenges.

OK, lets get to grips on Gym Challenges.

We are not Cross Fit and should not be confused with the Cross Fit Organisation.

A Gym Challenge will test:

The essential ingredients to any gym challenge are three fold.

1. Training
2. Event
3. Results

What makes Gym Challenges more accessible is the simple fact that you do not have to leave the confines of a gym to train for one and the time duration of training is half that for longer endurance events. Yet, there still seems to be confusion as to how easy it is to train for a Gym Challenge.

Why?

This is unclear - there is a massive industry concerned with ‘outdoor’ events - The great outdoors! Biking, Running, Swimming (or all three). Easy to set up, great for charity and a good reason to train ‘outdoors’. But let’s face fact’s here, they are all ‘outdoors’.

Is the aim to get fit? Maintain motivation? And see some sort of rewards at the end of it? Probably yes, would be the answer. Now ask yourself, if you could do all of that in your own gym, would you? Running 26.2 miles is an incredible achievement, but essentially it’s running and running does not neccersariily mean you have to join a gym. It helps , but to run , as in swim and bike the majority of your training is on the equipment you use, or the event you are doing. Not many people for instance run a marathon on a treadmill.

So look at the surroundings you train in and ask yourself, could you compete in a gym challenge? Use the equipment around you and see results for the event you are training for. And then ask yourself could you?

There are four levels of X Trainer (Gym Athlete) in the UK

• Elite
• Advanced
• Standard
• Novice

They use only the equipment in a gym and mix the program between Cardio and weight stations based on popular exercises, that have over 15 years or so essentially been brought into a sport that defines gym fitness.

To be considered Elite

You must complete the WGC Challenge in under 15 mins Male and under 16 mins Female

To be considered Advanced

You must complete the WGC Challenge in 17 mins Male 18 mins Female

To be considered Standard

You must complete the the WGC Challenge in under 20 mins Male and 22 mins Female

Novice have just started the journey and compete in events at either Intermediate or Beginner level.

World Gym Challenge recognises events world wide for the spirit in which they are competed in, but we are  Gym Challenge website that says, our members are fitter, have more commitment to train and are unquestionably the fittest because we publish our results and give personal folders for every event we compete in to measure our progress.

We Train, we Compete and we have the results to prove it.

X Training is a sport, regardless of what Sport England say.

My local gym has just been kitted out with the most amazing new equipment from Pulse. It’s a little tricky to get used to but once you have the basics in order - good kit. Upstairs has brand new weight section and downstairs has a great cardio section. Mainly all new kit, set on quality sprung loaded floors and spread out so that scenic views of the Royal Engineers Museum and a brand new athletic race track are all brought into view. Add to that the hosting of the recent Modern Pentathlon European championships, then you are looking at why some of the 11 million pounds invested into Medway Park has a bright future in front of it.

It’s just a shame that after all of this investment the new evolving methods of training in a gym either by Cross - Fit methods or by X Training events will struggle as a means of its design and layout. None more so by attempting a new challenge today.

The Challenge consisted of a 5000m Run a 500 m row followed by 50 Bench Press at 30 kg (15kg for women). These challenges are chosen for ease of setting up a gym challenge in the modern gym ( I even used the Reebok Steps as a bench) so that hardly any equipment has to be moved - but it seems not the case at Medway Park - making it near impossible to train for events for either Cross FIT or X Training because the need to move straight into weight and cardio challenges is split on two floors.

It’s early days yet at the club and I hope maybe a compromise can be sorted to enable Cross Fitters and Gym Athletes to be able to train for events in appropriate ways, after all , this is meant to be Medway’s Centre of Sporting excellence and I for  would like to see more Gym Athletes emerge from this very good training facility.

WGC estimates that out of nearly 5 million members in the UK at least 95% of them are not ‘gym-fit’ That is a very scary statistic when you consider the current ‘Change for Life’ strategy to encourage a healthier lifestyle.

How is it possible that WGC can even suggest it?

Well unless you have been living on the moon, you will have noticed that the emergence of the growing trend in health and fitness, is not really based on functional fitness anymore - that seems predated and not accepting the sport science findings of years of research that has been published recently .

Exercising it seems at a greater intensity (vigorous) can possibly even have men reducing their risk of getting cancer, according to research at Kuopio and Olu universities in Finland.

News like that should not be ignored but acted on almost immediately - even if the research which was conducted over 17 years finds itself needing more findings.

High Intensity Interval Training, has found it’s own place in the fitness industry , CrossFit in the US for instance has started a craze that is sweeping worldwide and ultimately gains its popularity not by functional fitness alone , rather combining high intensity training with it.

The strength and value of CrossFit lies entirely within our dominance of other athletes. This is a truth divined through competition, not debate.”

Greg Glassman, CrossFit Co-Founder & CEO

95% of gym members in the UK are estimated not to be ‘gym-fit’ that is a result taken over years that can measure some body’s fitness, not in a sport specific area, but one common place to the environment they train almost daily - the gym.

The World Gym Challenge is therefore proof of being ‘gym-fit’ can have the results you have always dreamed of classing yourself fitter then anybody else.

The challenge can only be done the once (worldwide) other wise comparative results are meaningless - but it can be done and the results which can be published specifically to any gym in the world for a measure of fitness will undoubtedly cause a huge amount of embarrassment to the FIA (Fitness Industry Association) in 2010, but possibly it’s greatest achievement ever if it embraced it now and in 10 years time figures were very different. Taking it on a stage further  WGC can induce any gym challenge in the world and publish results for members of gyms to see how ‘gym -fit’ they are.

In any other environment this would have repercussions, if school’s don’t perform, they are held to account and if any public money is being used to either create a gym or have a marketing and advertising strategy in promoting local council gyms that have council tax funding then serious questions need to be asked. The profit that is being made at the gym, will be off set against the massive and spiralling cost of heart disease, obesity and diabetes currently crippling the NHS and which is forced to look at a £50 bn nightmare over 50 years.

So short term there may be profit in the health and fitness industry, but when you consider a massive 95% of gym members in 2010 cannot reach the required ‘gym -fit’ level set by WGC - serious , serious questions have got to be asked. Surely ??

Chris Hoy you see is a fantastic example of years of perseverance and dedication to his ‘chosen sport’ cycling -  he has proved himself to ultimately be the best in the world. But I don’t own a cycle, I got to a gym. For me brilliance in a chosen field has to be in the environment you have a chosen as a sport and cycling is not mine. . I need to be challenged in the environment I train in (a gym) and then see results that prove I am getting fitter to motivate me.

The benefits of X Training as a sport are numerous, but again research conducted by by Dr Ulik Wisloff (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) goes on to publish results about the effects of High Intensity Interval Training being superior to moderate exercise for reversing metabolic syndrome which have symptoms such as abdominal obesity , hypertension, glucose intolerance and dyslipidemia, again news that should filter through to gyms and acted upon.

There is a real possibility of asking for results from gym members to prove they are getting ‘gym-fit’ because personal trainers are on board to authenticate results and get a blue print of health for the nation - short term 95% is too high , but what would it be like in 5 years time? Results in fitness that bare a life changing regime to training in search of the perfect Gym Athlete.

.

I think its nearly been a year since those plastic morph like creatures in bright colours have been leaping around our TV spreading the word ‘Change for Life’ and it seems to me the message is getting out there. You can hardly fail to see the massive media interest that surrounds this campaign - newspapers, magazines, radio, tv are or calling on changes and generally the fitness industry should do quite well out of it thank you very much.

But here is the thing - driving people towards gyms is one thing, getting them to then exercise correctly is quite something else. In fact it could be argued that unless results are published from gyms of how members fitness levels are increasing we will never know the impact that Change for Life is making. Going to a gym does not make you fit - hard results in fitness does.

I asked a staff member from my gym if he knew of anybody in the gym what fitness levels were like - he assumed much, but in reality knew nothing. I suspect that this is the same throughout the country - until a level of fitness is recognised by the fitness industry , that can be compared nationally, locally and on a world wide platform , we will never know, just what is happening in our gyms and what effect a change in fitness of gym members  is having on the state of the nation.

We may even be leading the world in Olympic Gold medals at the next Olympics with the current investment into sport funding and thats great, but that will bare into insignificance financially when the £50 billion expected cost to combat obesity and heart related desease over the next 50 years drains the NHS resources and cripples the country. And on top of that by 2050 -90% of children will be forecast to be overweight. It is so scary that a generation of adults will fall victim to our failings now to act.

Is this the question all gyms are dreading - How fit are you ?

Please read the following link based on VO2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A660223

And then ask yourself, if I could compare my fitness based on everybody in the whole wide world, without having to go through expensive laboratory tests - how would I do it. Possibly in a gym test - that tests all of you bodies energy systems.

This is the concept behind WorldGymChallenge. With a infrastructure in place to test every member, doing the same exercises , using the same equipment, with trained personal trainers authenticating results.

Without the data to back up this statement, I would suggest, somewhere in the region of 95% of any gym member is not capable of achieving a sub 20 minute World Gym Challenge result male and sub 22 minute female. I am not talking about trained athletes - just ordinary gym members. I could of course be wrong, but that would mean testing all gym members to prove the case, of which any gym is welcome to try.

How embarrassing for the fitness industry 95% of any gym member cannot achieve a standard  level of fitness within a gym environment.

Do gyms want to know the answer? And if they did, what would they do about it?

You can add/lose weight and gain muscle in a gym through diet and exercise, but you cannot achieve improved fitness without putting in hard work.

The global economy is a time bomb waiting to drain resources from government spending to combat diabetes, obesity and heart related illness’s. A world gym challenge, may not have all the answers , but it will certainly tell if you, your friends, your colleagues are fit or not and that is good information for any government.

I am sure there are some very fit and able personal trainers world wide, who have many clients and provide a great service. It is the aim of WGC to find these very good personal trainers and give them a platform to show just what they are achieving with their clients in terms of fitness and results.

If you are good at what you do and you are getting results for clients, why not publish them on our monthly challenges. Its not really a case of who is the fastest, but who can improve the most as personal folders are kept of each challenge.

 This is the first time ever - personal trainers will see publicly the results they promised their clients - and for clients to see who, the personal trainers are, who are rally getting results.

http://www.worldgymchallenge.com/signup.asp

If you are good at what you do - why not prove it ?

WGC welcomes personal trainers for free , so they can just just how good they are to any potential client.

Are you competing in this years Fit Brit run by Mens Fitness ? If so and you want to keep a record of the splits of the event you can create this challenge in the WGC Personal Folders section, under Create Your Own Challenge in the blue section after you have logged in.

A complete breakdown of how to do this is featured on the WGC Facebook group

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=14252&uid=60280434446#!/topic.php?uid=60280434446&topic=14252

By entering your splits you will keep a record of every time you attempt the challenge and it is highly recommended that every time you attempt it that you do.

The below letter was sent out to leading members of the Fitness Industry in the hope to kick start a challenge that would see a joint effort by decision makers to help Haiti from the Fitness Industry. After the FIA refused to become involved, it became a case of World Gym Challenge starting something …because no one else would. Concept 2 , Men’s Fitness , Women’s Fitness are supporting the initiative with contributions in their website, but it would be great to see - before the year is out a Gym Challenge for Haiti as a joint effort form the fitness industry.

Dear All,

May I please take this opportunity to inform you all of ‘The Gym Challenge for Haiti’ .

This initiative taken by World Gym Challenge.com Ltd to engage the fitness industry in the UK and worldwide, is a first step  in promoting a unique concept in helping a country, which at this moment in time is experiencing a humanitarian crisis which needs immediate and continued support.

I have contacted the DEC (registered No: 1062638) and pledged the support of the World Gym Challenge.com in raising awareness and funds to support their campaign throughout this year.  To that degree three gym challenges have been created:

The Gym Day Challenge – Any Gym can create a special ‘Awareness Day’  WGC will publish 50 results per gym.

The Personal Trainer Challenge – Any Personal Trainer can enter their clients results

The Gym Member Challenge – Any gym member can enter their results using their personal trainer as the person who verified their results.

All entries are on line through Active Network and results can be either published on WGC tables or specific to a gym and are set at three levels of difficulty, for male or female entrants. They take roughly 10 – 15 mins per person and by spreading the challenge over one year; you can see real results and achievements in fitness levels.

Obviously the task of a sustained year drawn out campaign, initiated by WGC, will need support form those within the industry to make these challenges a success.

I am aware that many charity events are supported quite generously by all of you already, I just feel that this is almost a united front by the UK Fitness Industry, with a common purpose for the first time ever and a real opportunity for a chosen charity to benefit massively, by completing a challenge that has an entire infrastructure in place already in the UK to carry out. WGC can record all the split timings for this event, either by the gym publishing them, or by WGC

http://www.worldgymchallenge.com/WGC-Event.HaitiGymChallenge..asp

The record Everybody Hurts by REM has been chosen by Simon Cowelland is already raising millions – but will have a shelf life of immediate sales.

The Gym Challenge could almost be another source of income that can last all year and engage personal trainers, gyms and gym members. The Challenge does hurt, but it is not impossible and certainly achievable.

Buy the record, Do the Challenge … wear the T Shirt (From your gym?) ‘I did the Gym Challenge for Haiti’

I hope that this will receive very serious consideration by you all and look forward to hearing from you in due course if you would like to become more involved and support this initiative.

Sean Blyth
Managing Director