Wednesday 13 June 2012

The End - but just the beginning

We've made it home safe and sound and reality is kicking in.
Due to privacy disclosures signed by Ross we can't give you too much information about Tuesdays happenings, despite what many people have been posting on the public forum, Facebook.

Text message received at 11:00am, Tues 12th June.
Ross MacLeod
'Well we are finished already. Didn't make it past the second cut. Tough group'

Our humble MacLeod was one of only 20 lightweights in Australia to be chosen to go and try out in Sydney, which is a huge achievement in itself.
Ross was one of the 3 smallest guys in the room who were clearly Featherweights. They all got cut at the same time.

And that's about all the details I can give you.... No one wants to get on the wrong side of the UFC! ; )

We are all very proud to say that MacLeod was part of this experience, and he got some sick training gear put of it which he will be constantly sporting around the gym no doubt.

Needless to say, he will return next year (providing they do it again).
I know that Ross has a lot to say about Australian MMA, so maybe you'll be lucky enough to get an inside update from the man himself.

We are looking forward to getting back into a little routine and bringing you the best god damn gym in Brisbane, hell, let's make that Australia!

Monday 11 June 2012

It's the Final Countdown

Tomorrow is D day and tonight we are spending the night watching Judge Judy in our cosy hotel room.

'I was a little bit nervous this morning' Ross said to me over breakfast.
'but I'm not anymore'

So, I guess for him too its starting to become a bit closer to reality.
That was quickly followed by,
'I have no reason to be nervous, I'm just going to go in there and give it my all. After all, it's a TV show and there are a thousand and one reasons I may not get accepted'.

Which is all very true. Me being the supportive girlfriend (well trying very hard to be) I agreed and reassured.

But, I think that underneath he may be starting to 'think' about it, with the 'snaps' that I expected starting to happen.
All be it over minuscule things, like, going to the gym today and thinking his stomach is 'flabby' (yes even Macleod has these real life paranoias). Me trying very hard not to say the wrong thing, this is a subject that comes up in our household often, from both parties, and one that we both try to tread lightly around, but this particular time I said the wrong thing. Everyone shortly recovered.
As I've said numerous times, Ross doesn't get stressed and when he does, it's reason for concern. Glad to say, there's not one little ounce of stress present.

The dislocated thumb, bruised, infected finger (this doesn't give it justice, it's pretty gross) and the bad knees are not distracting him nor should they be. He knows what he's doing, he's done it a thousand times before and he knows he's good at it. He knows he's got the skills to give him the right to be there.

To finish where we started, he will go in there and just give it his all. The outcome we will know tomorrow.

Good luck Macleod, you got this shit in the bag!
Enjoy the experience and the opportunity and just be thankful you were invited to be a part of it.
Wise words of your young counter part whom you probably don't want advice from but i know everyones thinking the same!

Sunday 10 June 2012

Two outta three ain't bad

Well its not been the most enjoyable start to our little adventure. Our plane ride was less than average, with 3 of possibly the most 'bogan' women sitting behind us. I think it's necessary for me to share their story with you because everyone else on the plane had to endure an hour and a half of it.
'7 in a row, 7 in a row, 7 in a row' said AJ....no, this is not a made up name...instead one that everyone learnt during the trip.
And you guessed it.....state of origin folks, dressed head to toe in their Broncos outfits, discussing players, 'entering enemy territory', plucking their eyebrows and their ages for all to hear. Yep, it was such a relaxing flight, not helped by the fact that we took off during some rain and had a few bumpy spots, so I was FREAKING out! (I don't particularly enjoy flying at the best of times).

We then arrived at our hotel for the night. We found where we thought it should be, stood on the curb outside a bar that was cleaning up last nights mess at 7am in the morning, with 2 old guys wearing leather (pleather I should say) jackets, smoking their cigarettes out the front.
We scratched our heads for a good 10 mins....this couldn't possibly be it!
Mmmm, it was...... And as tired and irritable as we were, weren't able to check in until 2pm, it was 8am.

So we ended up having quite an enjoyable day, wandered about Sydney, in the rain, went to the movies to kill some time, (most expensive movie tickets we've ever bought!).

We did finally check into the hotel, which has turned out to be not too bad, despite the leaking window.... : /

My good friend works at the 'Red Lantern' where he arranged for us to go to dinner. It was a surprise when we got there that it was THE Red Lantern, the one from Masterchef or Ready Steady Cook, or perhaps both not really sure. We like to pretend we know a lot about food, but we don't actually. It was MacLeods brilliant idea to walk the 1.9km in the rain to the restaurant, so we were quite the sight when we arrived.
The food was amazing, and well worth the walk but, being us, there is always something to happen or go wrong....

I lost my credit card.....yep you heard it folks, silly Bamford put it in her pocket and must have dropped it on the walk.
Let's blame Ross seeing as he's the one that made us walk in the first place!
But now that we're home, we've had it cancelled and the world is ok again.
We do however, recommend that if you're ever in Sydney, go to the 'Red Lantern'. It's not a restaurant to go to when you're watching your pennies, but doesn't break the bank either! Would definitely visit again. Oh, and don't risk your only source of money in the pocket of your skinny jeans...

But I suppose you wanna hear about how the main man is doing?
Well nothing too exciting to report. Being very humble, is completely 'normal' and it's just like we're here for a holiday (which I guess we kinda are).
He informed me today that only 30 lightweights were chosen to come down and tryout, which he was very flattered by. This also means competition is harder.
Ross being Ross, he's not really phased.
It's a great opportunity for him and our small little gym.

It has however started to become reality for me....i had a little 'moment' in the ladies at a shopping mall today.

What am I going to do if he gets in?

How will little Murphy and I live without their favourite man for 12 weeks?

What's going to happen with the gym?
(and that one just opens a whole kettle of fish).

It's been a long road to this point and we've been through much harder things than this. Despite all of the above I hope MacLeod gets through to represent his country (be that his real or adopted one), his gym (our gym...) and himself.
I hope he finally gets the chance to live the dream he's worked so hard for.

More on the fighter and less on the holiday soon!

Monday 4 June 2012

Living with MacLeod - The Beginning

For those of you who know Ross well you will know that he sometimes has a short temper (that's the Scotsman in him), can be abrasive, a little bit scary and isn't afraid to speak his mind. Yeah, he's all those things, but he's also very clever, generous, passionate, logical and most of the time....pretty funny.

So why am I telling you this?

On Sunday morning, the 29th June, Ross woke up and grabbed his phone to check his emails and Facebook as he does every morning. This was the morning that he received his acceptance email into the TUF (The Ultimate Fighter) Aus vs UK tryouts.
Humbly, he turns to me and says, 'oh that's good'. My reply unknowingly and with as much enthusiasm as you would have towards washing the dishes, 'what?'.
Only to then be shown the email, YOU'VE BEEN ACCEPTED.

To say that I'm proud would be an understatement. Ever since we first met back in 2009 (or maybe 2008??) fighting has been the crux of Ross' life. Completely living and breathing it. In fact, I have never seen someone so in love with something (jealous much....?)

Injury has unfortunately seen him dormant from competition for a good 3 years now which in turn means I have never actually had the opportunity to see him compete. He still trains it every day and it is the topic of most conversations, even in our personal life.
This is a huge change for me, as, until I met Ross I had never even heard of the sport MMA, now I'm an educated critic, well I like to think so.

Anyway, the whole point of sharing this with you all, our valued members and amazing staff who have now become family and everyone else out there who happens to take 5 mins to read this, is to include you all on the journey (that was a long sentence!) The journey may be short, it may be long, but I want to share it with you so you know the complete guts of what made Phoenix Elite and so you too can have the inside and very intimate scoop on Ross's journey to the UFC.

Thursday 22 March 2012

Training with G-Force

DEDICATION TO MY TRAINERS

I'm pretty sure that by the time Christmas rolls around I will be the most hardcore chick in the gym! Shouting bastard at the top of my lungs, doing back flips off walls and taking people down left right and centre, all whilst looking awesome of course.  My abs will be ripped (just like the motivational picture I have glued to my desk), solid arms (but not too manly of course) tight arse and legs to die for (as much as they can with the short stocky build I have.....thanks Dad...).

For the last month or so I have been training with our main man, G and to say the least it has been (insert swear word here) AWESOME! After the second week I was like.....ohh yeah....whose sexy, to myself in the mirror, taking over the post that Ross normally stands.  I feel so much better already! Can see my stomach getting flatter and am so motivated to train harder to reach my goals.
I've had ups and downs and weeks where I feel like rubbish..................I guess it helps that I work in a gym and have someone around to motivate me everyday! But even then I find it hard somedays.

Every session is different and always kills me, it's SICK! Kettlebells, barbell complexes, obstacale courses, strength, cardio I could go on all day.

Then I go weigh myself, my weight has gone up and I weigh more than I have ever weighed before and the pants that used to be a little loose are now quite tight......(I have had those pants since I was about 16 however, so it's about time I bought some new ones.) That's it......text to G "My pants are tight and I weigh too much...whinge whinge whinge, blah blah blah".  So the message is replied to very calmly in true G style, "Good food, plus training = hotness.  Please have faith".
All I can say is I'm glad I listened to him and stuck to it. Although the scales might tell me I'm heavier than I used to be, I can see the changes that are happening in my body and even just the way I feel.

That's what training is all about.  Find a GREAT trainer, someone you like training with, not just any old nobody that you don't want to interact with. Find a reason to go to training, set a goal (that's not based on the number on the scales), get a photo to work towards, ANYTHING to make you get off your butt and train.

There are no excuses to not exercise, it's so simple, I don't care if you're a doctor who works 1600 hours a day. DON'T LET YOURSELF MAKE AN EXCUSE! Make it a priority, make it a lifestyle.

Moudling yourself takes a long time and alot of effort, it's not going to happen overnight so be frigging patient. Make small changes to work towards a big one.  YOU CAN DO IT!  The feeling you get once you start seeing changes by far outweighs the time it took to get there.

G, thanks for being a sick ass trainer and keeping me motivated.
I will look like that photo
I will run 1km in at least 4mins (3 would be better....)
and I WILL DEADLIFT 100kg, AT LEAST! (ps. thanks Jose for making me do the 95kg!)

It's as easy as 1, 2, 3.......

Use the G power and DO IT!!!

Catch you round like a round things homies.

Peace out.

Monday 13 February 2012

Lifestyle

Being the 3rd week in Feb and well into the year I'm sure all of you have forgotten all about your New Years Resolutions, and most of you have probably gone back to your old habits and are feeling all bummed out.  You know what, who cares...!?
I was always the same, setting myself fitness goals that I have to reach everytime I started feeling 'fat'.  I think that's all changed now.

This is not me just plugging our business or what we do here at Phoenix Elite cause I know those of you who are members already love it, but ever since I did our 28 day body transformation at the start of the year the motivation just hasn't stopped!  It's not about detoxing or going on a diet for the rest of your life, having to train twice a day every day and dread going to the gym, it's about lifestyle, and I think that's the key word missing in any eating plan or training regime that most people ask their trainers for today.

So the 28 day transformation basically consists of an eating plan and training regime.  The eats are based on the 'Paleo' lifestyle/diet.  Which in a nutshell is, whatever you can hunt and gather you can eat.  Think of yourself as a caveman! 
Now, I HATE diets, I cannot stress enough how much I hate them, and even counting calories I find sooooo annoying! I hate the thought of having to restrict what I'm eating, not being able to have something when I'm craving it, and hence, being in the nicest way possible, a down right B&%#H when on one.  So, don't try and get me to do a diet, I LOVE my food! and that's why Paleo is sooo great.  There is an alternative for EVERYTHING! You feel like carbs, bread, pasta or how about a big dirty pizza! What diet allows you to eat pizza?
Paleo does.....
Everyone loves bacon and eggs....well guess what....for 28 days, I had bacon and eggs pretty well everyday!
Bacon and eggs for breakfast, some sort of delicious chicken salad or veggies for lunch, want mayonaise or ceasar sauce? Make it yourself! Paleo Mayonaise is da bomb! Sweet potatos crisps or wedges or chips for snacks and bangers and mash for dinner.....then there's dessert! Coconut ice cream, rasberry tart, dark chocolate! I had it all peeps! The best thing is, I now love foods that I used to hate!
It simply ROCKED MY WORLD!
For 28 days I had to hunt and gather my way through my meals (so to speak...not literally), there is so much food out there that the world has told us is fatty and bad for us...when truth is...it's what our body needs to function properly and what our bodies are capable of digesting.....

Think about it, whose seen an obese caveman? Whose seen a caveman eat a lovely slice of multigrain toast with some jam on it, or a big bowl of pasta? I know I sure haven't! 
The world has progressed so far with it's technology but our bodies haven't caught up! It's time to go back to our roots, it's easy, it's such a simple principle and something I found so easy to maintain!
Yep....there were days I felt like a huge slice of creamy brie cheese, but you know what, I saved that for my cheat day, learnt from my mistakes as I felt so unbeliveably sick the next day! I fell off the wagon a few times, drank alcohol, ate something I shouldn't have, but it's so easy to get back on.

My 28 days ended on the 1st Feb 2012 and whilst I may not see any difference on the scales or even visibly, I feel 100 times better than I have ever felt in my life.  Not only that but if you ask me what I ate for dinner last night, I had bangers and mash, dessert...I had dark chocolate. Now I'm allowed to tweak it the way I want...I can drink red wine and if I want to drink to have a big night, I choose vodka, soda water and lime!
Not only that but I am more motivated than ever and am starting to see my results!

The training...I probably could have done a bit more training during my 28 days.  The key is to find something that you enjoy doing be it running, yoga, dancing, strength or just the plain old classes, and stick to it! I have a new found love for strength training, I never have to get tired or exhausted and I get to lift heavy shit, not only that but because I have pushed myself, I am lifiting more weight in my 2 weeks of training than I ever have before.
You need to find something that you're not going to dread going to the gym to do, let's face it, you're not going to rock up somewhere if you're not going to do something you like doing! It's like going to that persons birthday party that you don't really like but because you work with them you feel obliged to go! I know you all know what I'm talking about....

I could go on about this forever! Let me just reiterate, it's about lifestyle, finding a way of eating and training around your current lifestyle!

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/ Check it out, it's a great website to get you started!
Oh and a little trick I didn't mention is to eat constantly, don't let yourself get hungry cause as soon as you feel hungry, that's when the devilish cravings come!

Friday 15 July 2011

It's Time!

Welcome to blog number 2....
So it's that time again, on a Saturday morning where we put the guys through their paces in Fight Fit Conditioning.  Yeah sure I may hear some yells of pain and exhaustion but we all know it's worth it in the end!

As we approach the end of our second week we have had many enquiries and have a small, close knit community of members.  From here we can only grow and hope to do so by offering our members a personalised and unique service all whilst helping them work hard to achieve their health and fitness goals. 

If you're sick of your mundane, day in day out style of exercise, are looking to meet new people and have some fun whilst moudling your body into that sexy, lean figure you've always dreamed about, you should check out what we offer!!  (http://www.phoenixelite.com.au/) Our Mixed Martial Arts classes are great for a change all whilst learning a new skill! AND...not only is it awesome to be able to tell people you know how to do what they do in the UFC, you can use it as self defence and it's even great for party tricks!

This week has gone so quickly and let me tell you it has been a tough one!  The onoging issue with our phone and internet (yeah, probably wouldn't recommend Optus to anybody out there) has proven to be a difficult hurdle to overcome.  I think we have finally gotten there in the end BUT not without hassle.  Our phone number is no longer the number printed on our signage and marketing (so if you know anybody out there who is trying to call it....please apologise!) and so now we commence the long battle with Optus to reimburse us for the cost of changing it.
Our Eftpos terminal has also been inoperable for the last 3 days (still is), which has been, how should I put it....a minor inconvenience (yes I am being sarcastic, it has been more than minor!).

But in light of all this, we still have the foundations to offer our clients the great workout they came for.
I would like to apologise for the inconvenience of the phone and eftpos to anyone who has experienced not being able to get through OR pay with their credit card.  Our new phone number will be posted soon, but this time we are going to check with Optus numerous times before we go ahead and put it out to the world!  Eftpos.....well it's supposed to be fixed on Monday....but lets just wait and see what Monday brings!

Until then, happy workouts, tasty nutritional eating and a sexy YOU!!

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/PhoenixFightClub) or twitter (PhoenixeliteMMA).

Hopefully we'll see you soon!!

Phoenix Elite Team!