Hi, Welcome to another edition of the Pound 4 Pound Personal Training newsletter (FINALLY)! Sorry it has been so long between newsletters, but fortunatley the gym has exploded since the last newsletter (Jan/Feb), with the gym getting busier and busier by the day with enthusiastic new starters training alongside loyal long time clients, who are continuing to get GREAT results! On that note, a BIG welcome to all my new clients..........welcome to the P4P family!

GREAT NEWS........ Pound 4 Pound Personal Training is now a full time business (no excuse now for late newsletters), so tell all your friends and family to book in for their sessions now! (see below for the introduction of our new referral program).

I would also like to take this oppurtunity to thank all my past and current clients for their ongoing support, as without your support I would never have been able to achieve my dream of doing what I LOVE fulltime day in and day out.....Thank you!

I have a great article for you today, enjoy the read and I look forward to your questions and feedback.

As human beings, we have an amazing ability to talk ourselves into or out of anything. Our minds are very powerful......unfortunatley too many of our thoughts are harmful to us, they stop us from acheiving the goals we want, whether those goals be work, lifestyle or health and fitness. This harmful talk is called NEGATIVE SELF TALK.  Each conversation you have with yourself reinforces in your mind who you are and what you are capable of and, most critically, builds or demolishes your self esteem and self worth.

The higher your sense of self worth and self esteem the better able you are to cope with challenges and the bigger the goals you will go after. If your self talk is filled with self doubt and criticism you are unable to bring out the best in yourself and those around you.

Bottom line........what we think and tell ourselves becomes what we are. So everytime you tell yourself you CAN'T do something makes that goal further away. The good news here though is that while negative self talk can hurt our performance, positive self talk can improve it.

So many times I see people sabotage their results in the gym by talking themselves out of something without even giving it a go. E.G. do 5 pushups ....... I CAN'T do 5 pushups..... more oftern than not after I convince the person to give the pushups a go, they usually exceed the number of pushups prescribed! It is always the same, once the habit of negative self talk is broken, results come fast and plentiful! The same people who start out negative, weeks later are challenging themselves more than I ever could challenge them.

Getting great results and acheiving your goals always starts with you ensuring you have a positive attitude, turn your "CAN NOT" attitude into a "CAN DO" attitude, by replacing your negative self talk with positive self talk!

Tell us about yourself - I am 34 years old, married to a gorgeous woman (Monika) with a 5 (soon to be 6) year old boy Dylan. I work in the IT industry which means I don't do a lot of exercise at work and not a lot of time to do much else.

What motivated you to start training at Pound 4 Pound PT? A mutual friend of my wife and mine, started going and had a blast. Soon after my wife started going she was feeling much better about herself. In seeing this I thought I would give it a go. Having worked in an office environment for the last 7 years and not really doing anything to keep myself in shape I needed to start doing something. This seemed like the perfect thing to try.

How long have you been training at Pound 4 Pound PT? I have been training with Steve now for just over a year and loving every minute of it.

What results have you achieved since you started training at Pound 4 Pound PT? When I started I weighed in at 110kg (pretty much the biggest I had ever been). At first I only did 1 group session a week but 6 months ago I started 1 on 1 training with Steve and I have now lost in total over 13 kgs.

Why do you think you have been so successful with achieving your results? Learning to look out for the things I eat. Steve had me on a calorie limit for each day which was in the beginning hard to stick with but it became easier. This coupled with extra activities I was doing helped keep my mind off the food.

What has been your favourite exercise that has helped you achieve your results? It would have to be the boxing side of things. I was a little hesitant in the beginning as I have never had very good upper body strength and the boxing has now helped in strengthening my arms and back muscles (the wife even loves the look of my arms now) it is a damn good workout as well I can tell you.

What do you like most about Pound 4 Pound PT? It would have to be the people. Steve is the driving force and is so eager to help you succeed. He pushes you to your limits so you get the most out of every session. I don't think there has been 1 session where I have been totally drained afterwards (and if I don't hurt afterwards then I didn't work hard enough). All of the others that I have met along the way are always willing to help out with advice and their own stories. makes you feel like you all have something on common.

How do you feel, after achieving such good results?  I feel great right now. I still have another 10kgs to get to my goal weight but unlike other diets I have been on, I am keeping the weight off and still eating some naughty things (sorry Steve :p)

What would you say to someone that may help them acheive similar results? Stick with it. You may some week's not lose big numbers but it's the big picture that needs to be looked at. After being on other programs, when you stopped the weight came back on easier and faster. Even doing walking and a couple of sessions a week was more than enough to keep the weight off and still eat healthy.

What are your fitness goals? To continue the group and 1 on 1 sessions but also look at getting into sparring (I know this last part is going to leave me bruised). It's fun to do and the feeling afterwards is great. At work they have setup a fitness club where we all have been given memberships to the gym to help complement other activities.

Any additional comments that you want to add? I can tell you that if I can do this and get these great results, anyone can. it's all about commitment. My little boy is also starting to get pretty handy with the gloves on as I am many a time on the end of some brutal combo's. When I first started Steve was overseas and it wasn't too bad. It wasn't until he came back that I found out what I really got myself into. It is hard at first but from what I have seen, those that have joined Steve & Shelley's sessions (and Steve I have to tell you, Shelley is tougher than you are - and she scares me a little when she is in charge of the session) have always come back for more.

Mick is a great example for what we are about at Pound 4 Pound, with the intensity he trains at it ensures he always leaves the gym exhausted and knowing he has given his best.

Mick has well and truly earnt all the great results he has acheived by doing it the old fashioned way with hard work and determination.

Congratulations Mick - you are an inspiration to us all, keep up the good work! 

My clients at Pound 4 Pound Personal Training are the most important people to me and my business. It is so great to see my clients bringing along family and friends to join in with our training. It makes me very proud to see so many people introducing P4P to Albury & Wodonga.

To thank you for your referrals I would like to put in place the P4P Referral Program. For every successful referral, your name will go into the draw to win a:

$50 Coles Myer Voucher

There is a voucher to be won every 3 months so keep those referrals coming to be in the draw. If you have 10 successful referrals over the 3 month period then you will have 10 entries into the draw.

Contact me on 0428 330 952 or facebook me if you have any questions.

Referral program kicks into action on 1st August 2011.

Thank you once again for making the gym so electric over the past month. It has been so exciting watching everyone grow in their skills and fitness. Keep up the great work everyone!

Until next time........... Steve & Shelley Dargan

Pound 4 Pound Personal Training

pound4pound.pt@gmail.com

0428 330 952

www.pound4poundpt.com

Don't forget to add me on Facebook!