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In this blog I want to let you know why we brought The Finisher to the studio, and it’s not just to rub our evil hands as we watch you huff, puff, crawl, and fall through it. There are a ton of benefits you may not even have realized yet…

But First, What is a Finisher?

A BOMB Finisher is a series of intense exercises performed at the end of most classes to make sure you’ve drained every last bit of energy from your body, and in turn this will elevate your body’s fat burning potential. For example, our first challenge was a 2km Strider Sprint, followed by 20 Jump Squats, then 10 Inchworms with a Push-Up. The Finisher is time-based, and completely optional!! So what are the benefits?

Metabolic Conditioning

The Finishers are designed to shoot your heart rate up so that you keep burning calories long after your training session ends. This is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC. It’s designed to give you a quick, and explosive total body workout to burn fat. Due to the speed of the Finisher you won’t sacrifice muscle mass, nor will it negatively affect your personal fitness goals.

Mentally Challenging

If you took part in our first Finisher (2km Strider Sprint, 20 Jump Squats, 10 Inchworms), you’ll know how hard it was to keep your legs moving once that lactic acid attacked your legs just 40 seconds into the Strider Sprint. The Finisher will bring out your competitive side, whether that’s against yourself or someone else, and for that reason alone you’ll be able to mentally push yourself further than you thought you could.

Fun

Try and look outside the box here! I know that’s hard to say that after you sprawl over the floor post-Finisher but we've had more chitter-chatter, heckling, friendly bantering, and cheering going on at the studio than ever before. A bit of a competition to beat a trainer’s time doesn’t hurt anyone either.

But the main idea is not about beating one another’s time, or beating your trainer’s time. It’s about challenging, and improving YOU! Make it your challenge this month to complete the finisher and get your name and time on the board. THEN try to beat it. Don’t worry if you don’t quite manage it. Each time you complete the challenge, you will move further up the path to becoming fitter physically, and mentally. Results = Hard Work + Consistency, and the Finisher will help you get there.

Kevin


 
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If you follow us on Twitter you’ll notice that we regularly post quotes from professional athletes and coaches. While that awful, cheesy song from Savage Garden may come to mind, a lot of affirmations can be quite profound and inspiring, and can give you that added motivation to pursue your goals. Below are the best of the bunch from this year. Pick one or two, print them out and stick it above your bathroom mirror. You never know, it may start you off each day in an empowered way.

20 - "The hardest thing about exercise is to start doing it. Once you are doing exercise regularly, the hardest thing is to stop it." - Erin Gray

19 - "The breakfast of champions is not cereal, it's the opposition." - Nick Seitz

18 - "Practice as if you are the WORST, play as if you are the BEST." – Anonymous

17 - "Fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity." – JFK

16 - "When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength." - Arnold Schwarzenegger

15 - "Be decisive. A wrong decision is generally less disastrous than indecision." - Bernhard Langer

14 - "Winners, I am convinced, imagine their dreams first. They want it with all their heart & expect it to come true." - Joe Montana

13 - "Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way." - Satchel Paige

12 - "If you do what you've always done, then you'll get what you've always gotten" -Tony Robbins

11 - "When you're good at something you'll tell everyone. When you're great at something - they'll tell you" - Walter Payton

10 - "You can easily judge the character of a person by how they treat those who can do nothing for them." - James D. Miles

9 - "We do not quit playing because we grow old, we grow old because we quit playing." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

8 - "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." - Anonymous

7 - "If you're bored with life, if you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things - you don't have enough goals." - Lou Holtz

6 - "It's repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. Once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen." - Muhammad Ali

5 - "Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness." - Earl of Derby

4 - "The vision of a champion is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, when nobody else is looking." - Mia Hamm

3 - "They sleep, we grind. They dream, we shine"

2 - “I look into their eyes, shake their hand, pat their back, and wish them luck, but I am thinking, 'I am going to bury you.” Seve Ballesteros

and our completely biased favourite!...

1 - "Opportunity doesn't knock, you kick its f***ing door in!" – Team BOMB

Kevin & Victoria

 

The 1970s documentary, Pumping Iron, is a fascinating look into the strange world of bodybuilding. The film follows a number of participants as they train for Mr. Olympia, the sport’s toughest competition. The top contenders include Lou Ferrigno, the original Incredible Hulk and the former Guvernator himself Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Apart from Arnold’s infamous speech about how “ecstatic” he gets from working out and posing, there are a couple of meatier scenes that give insight into his incredible mental state going into the competition. He remarks that the person who gets ahead is the one who mentally breaks barriers by doing that one extra rep when your mind and body says you’re done.

In a less transparent yet funnier scene, Lou Ferrigno and his father invite Arnold to breakfast on the morning of the competition to try and get inside his head. As you can probably tell this does not go according to plan. What this scene shows is not only the pure alpha-maleness of Arnold but also the mental edge he has on his fellow competitors.

(at the 4:50 mark)



In summary… push through those mental road blocks by doing that one extra rep. By putting the work in mentally, the physical aspect will come much more easily. When your mind and body say “No” let’s see if your heart says “Yes”.

Kevin


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