Fitness Journey – Scratching Your Own Itch

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by Henrietta Street Gym

Scratching Your Own Itch

by Neil Perkins

It was successful entrepreneur and writer of the 4 hour week, Tim Ferris that said that when setting up a business that you should ‘scratch your own itch’ His reasoning behind this is that you should offer a service that is currently missing and that would satisfy you as a customer. This belief and vision is something that will inevitably drive your brand to succeed. Richard Branson was inspired to set up Virgin airways as the main competitor British Airways was not offering a service that left him satisfied as a customer. I have never flown Virgin or BA and I have no doubt that Virgin isn’t quite as good as he claims, and that BA has rectified some of it’s wrongs. Poorly equipped cabin staff, poor customer service and no ‘fun’ on the airline was the reason that Branson felt he could offer a superior alternative.

 

My self-belief has always enabled me to believe I could achieve anything I put my mind to, on paper in 2007 when launching Fighting Fit City Gym, I would not have financially backed me. Although I had always found some form of employment from the age of 12, with my mum taking (or dragging) me off to work 16-hour days on catering functions, some part time bar work and even some call centre work occupying part time slots in my life. My ‘skilled expertise’ where formed in my early 20’s by either dragging men out of nightclubs as a doorman on Broad Street, punching people in the face as a professional boxer or teaching other people to punch people in the face as a PT…..hardly CEO material.

 

My vision for Fighting Fit was to provide members with authentic boxing training and then offer them the opportunity to progress up to boxing on white collar boxing shows. As far as I am aware I was the first person outside of London that was looking to offer this nieche service? A service that was booming over the Atlantic Ocean in New York. My vision had been formed from my own life and training experiences and I aimed to replicate the community feel that I had experienced as an amateur boxer at Priory Park ABC. I wanted our users not only to become fitter than ever before, but encourage self-development, confidence and a sense of camaraderie. This was missing in regular gyms. I wanted to enable this style of coaching and community to all and I would even recall my original ‘one page business plan’ where I wanted to re-brand boxing so it was no longer exclusively a ‘Blue Collar Sport’ I wanted to open this style of training and the psychological and physical benefits that if offers to everyone. I wanted the ‘world of the fight’ to be open to everyone – elite level coaching for the everyman.

 

Now the last bit of the previous paragraph has shown my evolution into CEO material. It may resonate Churchill’s ‘fight them on the beeches’ speech but this is the truth of my convictions. My evolution into CEO will enable me to tell you some facts about my business, and some of these leave me feeling a little old! My target market/ demographic is 21-45 city centre professionals who either live or work within half a mile of the gym. This is seeing me slide to the higher end of the age spectrum. Although we’ve had members to 74 years old and boxers to 59 box on a show, generally speaking the market place is occupied by this age range, what is worse is that 62% of my members are 21-35 – I am officially out of the cool club! The community vision and interpersonal relationship with members is something I am keen to resonate throughout the brand, the vision for the gym is to be like the bar in TV show ‘Cheers’ and where ‘everyone knows your name’ – for the 62% of my members who are 21-35 probably haven’t got a clue what ‘Cheers’ is 😉 ?

 

It is fair to say that my vision has been a little blurred over the past 18 months. Changes in life circumstance, age and stresses in my life have affected my outlook. With Javelin Block re-branding HSG, my life race was nearly over as I was ready to coast over the finish line and lap up profits, I was nearly there but burnt out, tired and demotivated. Those who work in the fitness industry can not be motivated by money, they must be motivated by vision, belief and passion. April last year we hit our membership targets and were so popular we put a freeze on new members. There were still many things going on behind the scenes and this created stress. Stressed decisions are inevitably bad decisions and natural attrition, bad staffing, poor session delivery and increased competition in the market place saw our number reduce back down below 300. I was ‘the man’ driving my business, community and vision. My lifestyle had slipped, and I was a far cry from the professional boxer who started this enterprise in 2007. I began similar escapism that many clients who come and see us have experienced with stress. Self-medicating on alcohol or recreational drugs, late nights, caffeine/ stimulant reliance and poor lifestyle choices had taken its toll on my outlook. I wasn’t optimistic, driven and energy filled – I was worn out and tired. I had forgot what it was to exercise and what it was to workout, without sounding too deep, I had forgot what it was to be me. I read a wonderful quote in relation to alcohol, especially when consumed on a ‘school night’

‘Alcohol borrows the happiness for tomorrow today’

 

My slick writing, CEO facts or corporate speak hadn’t made my business a success – it was the drive, the vision and the belief. It was the desire to make people change and provide the best service we could in a unique and motivating environment. I had spent 9 months sleepwalking, but I had accrued some very talented coaches to deliver this vision in this time. After a tiring 2017 I took a long overdue break I reflected my 2017 on a beach in Cape Verde. In 2018 I need the last 60 members to once again have my gym on a waiting list. I realised is that no matter how good this service people will come and go, the nature of our client base and evolution means we need to keep striving to improve the service we offer. I am also aware that in the last 10 years we have seen the addition of independent gyms, Crossfit boxes and budgets gyms. The market place is more competitive. I didn’t want just a waiting list, I wanted successful classes, an nu-paralleled vibe and a delivery on the gym floor that no-where else offered. To do this we had to add to our boxing and improve the lifting, hiit classes and the service we offered our members. As a nieche gym we also need to specialise and identify our target market and the service that we would offer them. Equally, we need to understand that we are not the gym for everyone and not be afraid to tell people this.

 

On a beech in Cape Verde I realised that I still loved the fitness industry and if I carried on sleepwalking that this enterprise would carry on ‘existing’ but never flourish. I also realised that unless I made changes to my lifestyle that I wouldn’t experience the same quality of life that my fitness had enabled me to achieve prior. I have a unique opportunity to be crowned head of the very dysfunctional family that is Henrietta Street Gym, this would see friendships formed, memories made and have a positive effect on all that pass through our doors – this is something I am most proud of the business I have created. I have re-ignited my own training regime and I realise that I will never be the same ‘athlete’ that I was in 2008, but I can be a more definitive and successful business owner and make a far superior product. I have ‘scratched my own itch’ and rather than train elsewhere which would have been a break from the day to day routine of work, I opted to use two trainers at HSG. Steve Foster has been recruited for conditioning session and me and Paul Gough are back on pads once per week on a boxing session – albeit a little slower than we used to work together. This has re-ignited my love of training and desires to improve what we offer our users.

I am back scratching my own itch and looking to improve HSG week on week. I am relishing the challenge of making us the best gym in the UK. We have some exciting additions and changes coming this year. I am back in the swing of training….

 

Don’t call it a comeback

Five things a boxer should be incorporating into their training regime…..that they probably aren’t

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by Henrietta Street Gym

Five things a boxer should be incorporating into their training regime…..that they probably aren’t
By Neil Perkins

They say youth is wasted on the young and I like many wish I had my time again. I let my mind wander during a ‘Yoga Flow’ class at Yoga Haven and forgot how good Yoga was and more importantly why more people who exercise a lot (upwards of 4 sessions per week) should incorporate it to their training regime. As an amateur boxer I accrued a pretty impressive 18 wins out of 21 contests. My physical conditioning played a big part in this and Ashtanga Yoga under the guidance or Robin Aurrora was one of the things that I thank for keeping my core strong, me injury free and functional strength. This was something looking back played a big part in my success, yet this style of training is rarely implemented by combat athletes. Here are five things that boxers should be incorporating into their regime…that they probably aren’t.

1.Yoga
As mentioned above Yoga was one of the things I thank for my early success. It kept me injury free, subtle and strong. A good Yoga instructor will teach their students how to think about movement and body mechanics, this can be transferred well to the delivery of punches and combinations – punches are mechanical movements, not muscular actions. The dynamics of punch are a synchronised action of leg extension, hip rotation, body rotation and arm extension. There is a lot of movement in there and the flexibility of the hip flexors and hamstrings will help the body in its ability to rotate the core and deliver power. The best thing about yoga is the thought time and mental focus – Yoga outweighs running for this and gives the boxer time to plan a fight in their mind. For the recreational athlete, this focus and ‘away’ time from the stress of life offers great value added.

2.Kettlebell Training
Kettlebells are the king of conditioning. The basic kettlebell movement is the kettlebell swing. A posterior chain activator that encourages the hips to thrust forward quickly and aggressively. This short and explosive action mimics the short and explosive hip movements used to deliver punches. It teaches the body how to fire the biggest muscle on your body in the gluteus maximus (your backside) and deliver it through the hips in explosive power. Kettlebells are predominately posterior changed derived exercises, so they work all the muscle down the back side of the body. This engagement of the posterior chain (back) opens the shoulders and hip flexors that traditionally many of us suffer whilst hunched over a desk all day. The big plus of kettlebells is their ability to work the body unilaterally – each side of the body at a time. This not only gets great core engagement but works multiple planes of movement so ironing out weak points in functional strength movements like traditional squats and deadlifts. Kettlebells have the ability to fire muscles again and again under fatigue whilst maintaining form. The kettlebells is the king for power endurance.

3. Olympic Weightlifting
Functional strength is a buzz word for Strength & Conditioning coaches. Olympic weightlifting harnesses power from the floor through the core to extension of the arms in a synchronised movement to generate explosive power. I can not think of a more productive training mode for developing raw power. Sometimes skill emphasis is a big problem as is flexibility. Skill emphasis can be resolved by booking a good S&C coach and flexibility my incorporating things like yoga!

4. Good Nutrition and a healthy relationship with food
This is still a problem with many boxers. The weight making aspect of the sport in conjunction with poor education with nutrition leads to a very unhealthy relationship cycling between eating crap in large quantities during off-season and starving body in season. Boxers would be better advised to eat a diet high of nutrient dense food year round that either swam in the sea, ran on the land or grew out of the ground.

5.Rest
Rest is important as training. Again the cycle between boom and bust associated with the sport very often leads to overtraining, mostly as a consequence of poor weight management.

Managing your fear – Managing your squirrels

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by Henrietta Street Gym

Managing your fear – Managing your squirrels

By Neil Perkins

For those of you who have spent a considerable amount of time around me, you will have heard me refer to the squirrels in my head? For those of you who haven’t, you now know that I am slightly mad!

The reference of squirrels is a little bit deeper than you might first think. I completed my NLP course and they are something that I self-created. For those of you at this point thinking WTF! I have two squirrels in my head that debate every serious decision that I have to make. The Red squirrel is clam, calculated and thoughtful and the Grey squirrel who is a hot headed, wild cannon and is fuelled on emotion.

I learnt as a young man involved in conflict situations that fear and apprehension of the act is far worse than the act itself. Working the doors on some of the roughest spots in town from the tender age of 18 put in me in plenty of conflict situations, years of boxing and trawling the gyms has meant that I’ve traded blows with nearly every lunatic in the UK at some point. Regardless if I am sparring a world heavyweight champion or someone who was dubbed as Britain’s hardest man (Danny Dyer clearly hadn’t met me!) you soon learn that no man is ever as big as his reputation.

I remember working the door at 18 years old at the Tennis Courts pub in Perry Barr. On a Saturday early evening I’d been informed that a group of individuals had ‘landed’ on the pub despite been barred and we’d have to ask them to leave. I remember the apprehension as I approached the group that were all known football hooligans on the pub watch list. Nervously I asked them to leave with an uncertainty in my voice, the leader of the group left and then when outside shouted a barrage of abuse at me, threatening to come back and ‘slice me up’ the following week. That week I was petrified to go back and literally had sleepless nights all week for the fear that might ensue, my Grey squirrel was in overdrive thinking of ‘what if’ and ‘what might happen’ I even contemplated ‘tooling up’ ready for next week (prior to doorman licensing and when I started it was common for doorman to illegally carry weapons) The following week I went back and nothing happened, this passed and week after week and after 6 years of doing that job I realised that been threatened to be stabbed came with the territory.

Controlling your mind is the key to controlling any pressure situation and I learnt when progressing to working high profile nightclub front doors that any sign of weakness is instantly picked upon. As I galvanised myself against the extraneous noise that comes out of people mouths, I learnt that no man is as big as his reputation and nothing is as bad as the Grey squirrel fears. You shouldn’t let the Grey squirrel (emotion) be your driver for any decision you make, Red squirrel (rational) is the far better choice.

Now we’ve all heard of the stories of a mother who flips the burning car off her child that’s trapped beneath it? She has summoned some strength, probably derived from her Grey squirrel? When a car is on your child, when someone threatens your life and when someone spits in your face with intent, then fight, flight or freeze will kick in as your adrenaline can make you do some amazing things – it can also get you in a lot of trouble.

In conflict, you can unleash a little bit of your Grey squirrel, but you can’t let him be your driver. For that split second in battle he can be a great friend, but prior to battle and with the apprehension of ‘what if’ he will eat you up with anxiety. He relies on fear to make himself drive, but fear requires energy. You will be mentally exhausted by the time you get to battle if you let the Grey squirrel dominate your thoughts – your head will be a like jungle. Yes, we can use him when you are threatened, and you can use him when your child is trapped beneath a car. You can’t use him when you’re trying to rationalise a pre-organised fight where you have no emotional feelings to your opponent – that is what all combat sports are.

Now I’ve had to coach over 600 people through the life changing experience of boxing on white collar boxing shows. This sometimes can be a challenging job! Very often intelligent and high earning people cause me the biggest problems. This is caused by their resistance to a doorman/boxer who is advising them, believe it or not this is my specialist field. As human beings we are all on a cellular level the same. I am not made of anything different to you and you are not different to me (Red Squirrel talking) To rationalise going into a controlled environment to punch each other in the face in-front of over 600 people is a little bit irrational? ALL SQUIRRELS AGREE!

So, when boxers are feeling a little low, nervous and scared (it’s perfectly normal) they need to speak to the Red Squirrel and ask themselves – WHY AM I DOING THIS? Amongst the many reasons that people highlight one of the many could be

‘To prove something to myself’

Now if this was one of your key drivers, then completing our process of preparing for a white collar boxing show will enrich you as a person. The Grey squirrel will think of reasons not to box, I once asked a female client to write me a list of reasons why she didn’t want to box and I got a list with 64 items on it including..

‘What If I trip up on the way to ring’

‘What if I look stupid’

‘What if the shorts don’t fit’

These are all emotional related reasons and the Grey Squirrel talking. For those of you a little bit lost between Red and Grey, you should read ‘The Chimp Paradox’ and delve a little deeper how your mind works?

As you progress as a combat athlete you’ll learn to control your Grey squirrel throughout and learn when he can be let out. As a novice level combat athlete, you’ll inevitably let Grey out throughout the contest when you compete early on. As you progress as a combat athlete you’ll learn to keep Grey locked up throughout 90% of the contest and rely on Red’s calculated thinking (this is why fighters enjoy the art of fighting the more they do it) When people unleash Grey (emotion) during a contest as a novice, this is ‘in the act’ not ‘before the act’ and then you can utilise your Grey Squirrel when you really need him – he and muscle memory will get you through a contest as a novice, as you evolve you’ll need to keep him wrapped up and use Red. Without upselling a second show, you get better as a boxer as you learn to keep Grey locked up during a contest and use Red’s calculated thinking to plan your way through. Most novice boxers remember 10% of their first contest!

As fight night draws nearer, your squirrels will work over time. My squirrels were self-created and when I get the apprehension, fear and think of what is going on I will sit and let my squirrels debate what is going on (they are self-created) in my head. Grey will talk about all his fears, rage and impulse’s and Red will sit down on his hammock wedged between two trees and drinks his hazelnut latte and tell him to ‘chill out’ and rationalise why he is doing this. Greys non-reasons are always emotion and fear driven and Red’s pro reasons are always derived from your real thought process. When I have a lot of pressure on I very often start laughing to myself. This isn’t me laughing at the person that may present me with the problem, this is my visualisation of squirrels arguing in my head – I am laughing at them. It’s a sure fire way to see if someone has antagonised me in an argument, if I’m laughing, my Grey squirrel is bouncing up and down saying ‘chin him’ and Red is cool as a cucumber sitting down on his hammock telling Grey to chill out. I am not laughing at the person, I am laughing at the squirrels in my head not the person infront of me.

If you are approaching fight night and looking for some nuts to feed your Red Squirrel. Here are a few you should think about

Are you appropriately matched? What safeguards have been put into place?

Have you trained for this event?

Do you have a strategy to beat your opponent?

I know that anyone who boxes on my shows the answer to the above and rational thoughts win. The process of boxing enriches people, not the act of boxing.

Enjoy your experience and be safe in the knowledge that no squirrels were harmed in the writing of this blog.

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by Henrietta Street Gym

Best way to lose weight

By Steve Barber

 

The word diet brings out fear and send shivers down the spine of
near enough everyone. A time of eating bland, tasteless food and
more greenery than a field right? If you answered no then your lying
Rather get the same results while eating the foods you love?
Flexible dieting will give you the same results if not better than most
while you get to eat the foods you enjoy ( in moderation). Using the
simplest of weight loss equations that calories in vs calories out will
produce weight loss which is applicable for most of the world’s
population. While flexible dieting doesn’t mean that you can just eat
whatever and as much of any food that you want, it does mean that
you get to eat the foods you enjoy. Taking into consideration your
daily carbohydrate, proteins and fat requirement they can be
manipulated, whether you want to lose weight, gain weight or
maintain a stable weight. Following the 80/20 rule you can add in
those foods you enjoy in the right amounts whenever you want
them, if you stay within your macro range. With this dieting
technique you can say goodbye to the bland boring dreaded diet
food and hello to the satisfying foods you enjoy and stay dieting for
longer. Like they say the best diet is the one you can stick too.

3 reasons the squat rack is better than the treadmill

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by Henrietta Street Gym

3 reasons the squat rack is better than the treadmill

By Steve Barber

 

1. Increased metabolic rate
As we progress through strength training our body adapts to the stimulus by
becoming more efficient at the movement and building more muscle. When
we build more muscle, it uses up calories that we consume therefore more
muscle we have the more food we can eat that doesn’t get stored as body fat.

 

2. Time consumed
Anyone who has tried to lose some body fat has spent countless hours on a
treadmill or similar machines and we can all agree it sucks and its boring. when
put onto the right program you can burn the same number of calories if not a
little bit more with an intense strength session, in a fraction of the time than
we would if we were to use the treadmill and it will be a lot more fun.

 

3. Benefits
Doing a squat session rather than just plodding along on a treadmill will do
more than just burn some calories and build some muscle it will also help to
strengthen tendons, ligaments and bones that usually degrade over time
causing pain and inflammation. Strength training can slow the rate of this
happening which will keep you pain free a lot longer, a benefit you wouldn’t
get on the treadmill.

3 Reasons to train for strength.

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by Henrietta Street Gym

3 Reasons to train for strength

By Steve Barber

 

1. Makes you a better athlete/day to day person
Training for strength will make any athlete better at what they do or make day to
day life for the general person a lot easier. For athletes (depending on the sport
that you partake in) using the right movements programmed to your best ability
will improve your sports performance. This will strengthen any movement pattern
that you have to perform, on a repeated basis which will make you a more
powerful and durable athlete. For the general day to day person using strength
movements such as a standard squat, bench and deadlift, will improve quality and
ease of life, such as simple tasks like bringing in the shopping and not to mention
will save you time as you can now bring it in all in one go with your new found
strength.

 

2. Bulletproof your joints
As we age the usual complaint most people have usually centers around sore
knees, elbows and backs the easiest way to combat this is to get stronger with
correct technique. A well designed and thought out strength program will not
only strengthen muscles but will also help to strengthen the specific
musculoskeletal areas which is usually the main culprit in joint degeneration.

 

3. Become healthier
Although the general consensus for health is to mainly focus on cardiovascular
exercise, strength training can be just as good at increasing health by being a bit
more exciting. A well-designed program can help to strengthen muscles and the
heart by using the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems, meaning the body has
to adapt which will mean an increase in overall health.

Are you ready to be coached?

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by Henrietta Street Gym

Are you ready to be coached?

By Neil Perkins

Last week I went to a very productive business meeting. I found myself sat with a room with other entrepreneurs who were looking to evolve their business. We conducted an exercise where we tried to solve each other’s business ideas. For someone to get a grasp of my business I passionately explained to them what Henrietta Street Gym is and why it is better than other products on the market.

I referred to our tag line ‘elite level coaching for the everyman’ and went into detail about our S&C and boxing coaches (not personal trainers), our Barbell Club, Boxing classes, sparring, white collar boxing shows and even how/ why our HIIT classes are better than anyone else’s – I hadn’t even mentioned our showers!

A sales consultant suggested that we might be charging a little too cheap (don’t worry we are not increasing for the foreseeable future) and even though we open our gym to all levels from complete beginner at the price we are pitching the gym is value added for people who are ready to utilise our coaching and are ready to be coached – otherwise you’re paying purely for a cool gym with great facilities and showers. His advice that all marketing and sales should be based on this coaching – that is our value-added point over other gyms.

I am 14 months into Henrietta Street Gym and we are paying all bills on time and thinking strategically about taking things forward. With a new addition to the household two years ago and a new gym 14 months ago my personal fitness has taken a bit of a battering. Sporadically over the past three years I have started a fitness regime to re-discover 2007 Neil. I am vastly experienced Personal Trainer, a boxing coach to elite level boxers (amateur and pro) and I have string of additional value added courses in nutrition, S&C, Olympic lifting and kettlebells – yet my body fat percentage is now probably sitting at mid-20’s. The last 14 months have been hard and I don’t foresee an easy 12 months, but I need to take time to take some care of myself. I am also aware that a healthy body is a healthy mind.

I have had this hiccup a few times over the past few years and I have planned a routine for myself and set out on my plan. I have created the coolest gym in Birmingham with all the equipment I need, but sometimes I just need a break. Easy Gym, Kings Heath and recently The Gym Group in Shirley have been my chosen destination’s – they have everything I need…. weights, cardio, showers, changing rooms and I get left alone + they’re cheap…. neither have done anything to change my portly bulge.

I am at a stage when a comeback is back on and recently I checked out the new budget gym JD Gym and thought within a stone’s throw of work I could join there? I think of a time I could train, what things I could do with my vast knowledge and how I can re find 2007 Neil. This I have tried and failed on multiple occasions at other gyms of this ilk. The answer has been staring me in the face – the knowledge base is already there and I’ve already created it. I was passionately explaining how and why my trainers and coaching at HSG is superior and realised that the solution lies in my gym.

This Tuesday I have my first session in a long time with Paul Gough. I’ll be boxing under his guidance. I have no intention of fighting again, but this is an engaging workout that will keep my brain ticking over. Wednesday, I spend some time with Ste ‘Skinny Legs’ Foster, who will put my routine together and work on aspects of my Olympic lifting and conditioning that will fall on Wednesdays and Saturdays and finally I will be heading over to Yoga Haven once per week on a Thursday. I realise that my flexibility is atrocious and with my lifting and boxing work, this will give me some down time and ensure my body doesn’t break down.

All aspects of my training is guided by experts in their field. I am using the Gough as my weekly check in point and I will be setting a fat loss target after my first session. If my time commitments allowed it, I would have trained on our Boxing Squad and Barbell Club, but I with my current predicament and commitments one-to-ones suit my timing better.

The morale of the story: If you want to change, you don’t need endless amounts of equipment – you just need to be willing to be coached and find a coaching format that works for you. A gym or a personal trainer may be three times the price of another gym, but if it gets ten times the results – it is money well spent.

2007 Neil is one step closer……

Boxing Scoring. Quantity over quality – volume wins!

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by Henrietta Street Gym

Boxing Scoring. Quantity over quality – volume wins!

By Neil Perkins

I read a statement recently ‘Scoring is killing boxing’ The paying spectator can be left very confused having watched a contest and having seen an ‘unjust result’. This statement was made about ‘professional’ boxing and inevitably when boxing is scored and there is ‘bad decision’, we are referencing professional boxing.

The other major style of boxing is amateur boxing. Amateur boxing has recently gone into a big change with respect to the way it is scored, the way it viewed and is trying to rebrand the sport, so much so that in the UK it is now known as England Boxing.

The AIBA (International Amateur Boxing Association) who regulate amateur boxing worldwide introduced some significant changes to try and raise the sports profile. From when I boxed as an amateur, the scoring has changed significantly, so consequently the way boxers must box to win medals and tournaments needed to change. The UK are producing some of the most successful amateur boxers in the world, it has been said by Robert McCracken who heads team GB

‘We are not producing better quality fighters than 20 years ago, just developing fighter’s styles to score points better’

When it comes to White Collar Boxing events, I can only speak of the scoring style that Fighting Fit White Collar Boxing use (we partner with them on events) not any other organisation. As we have always used ABAE (amateur boxing association of England) judges we have mirrored the scoring changes that the ABAE and AIBA implemented and for the similar reasons. Recently we have diversified our scoring for a model that suits our shows better.

AIBA and ABA scoring pre 2010

When I boxed as an Amateur the Olympic scoring system was in full flow. As a boxer I didn’t like this style as my aggression wasn’t favoured, but as a spectator and a pugilist fan I think it worked well. The principal of Olympic scoring was landing clean shots with the white-knuckle part of the glove on the scoring zones. This system pretty much restricted scoring shots to straight punches and you could only score one point per phase of attack. This style favoured tall boxers with high, tight guards who ‘pick-pocketed’ points from behind the guard. This favoured defensive minded boxers. With boxers fed scores during the contest (later between rounds), once a boxer had established a lead they would very often shell up and then look for sneaky counters as the other boxer chased the contest

AIBA and ABA scoring post 2012

After London 2012, the AIBA implemented their new changes. No head guards, longer rounds, and attacking boxing favoured. The switch to the ten-point must system (each round scored on its own merit) and scoring to reflect aggressive boxing. This was done to improve the mainstream appeal of the sport. The scoring became more about volume and the buzz word was ‘effective aggression’ if you threw combinations that drove your opponent back, they’d score. Suddenly, amateurs who didn’t have the ‘international style’ started to flourish, busy fighters who let their hands go started to score and win contests.

How our white collar events are scored?

We’ve adapted the Olympic scoring to still engage the crowd, but scored it on the new system. Aggression and volume will score points. Like with Olympic scoring, you can only score one point per phase of attack, but if you attack in multiple phases and drive the boxer back, even if punches aren’t landing on the scoring area, you’ll score points for ‘effective aggression’.

How to win on this scoring system

Quote head of team GB ‘WE ARE NOT PRODCUING BETTER BOXERS, JUST BOXERS WHO SCORE POINTS BETTER’

A couple of quotes that good amateur coaches will shout and what it means

‘Return Fire’ – when someone fires a combination at you, throw back a combination and return. Even if you are driven back with their phase and concede a point, when you return fire you’ll score a point in return

‘Go Again’ – After you’ve thrown an attack or combination then after a mini pause, thrown another combination. The reason behind it is you can score a point for each phase of attack

‘One and three’ – Throw a single punch and to draw a counter and then throw a three punch combination. Again, the combination phase of punching will always score.

‘Let your hands go’ – Judges can’t score unless you throw. Your ring general ship and defence can be impeccable, but only punches on target area or effective aggression can score. If you don’t throw you can’t score.

There is nothing more I love than to sit down and watch a pugilist specialist like Floyd Mayweather box professionally, but that is professional boxing and not an AIBA scoring category and even the pound for pound king would not medal at amateur tournaments with his style – he is too defensively minded and doesn’t throw enough shots. Rightly or wrongly even people throwing combos that hit Mayweathers arms and gloves would score on the AIBA system. The best style of boxer to watch for scoring is Vasyl Lomachenko – high punch volume, returns fire, attacks in phases and lets his hands go.

To win an AIBA contest you must throw punches, quantity wins over quality – let your hands go.

Science Trumps Ego, is this why so many more women lift?

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by Henrietta Street Gym

Science Trumps Ego, is this why so many more women lift?

By Neil Perkins

We launched our Barbell Club in 2016, eight months before we opened Henrietta Street Gym. The concept of training a squad of lifters is great, from a social aspect, group motivation and reducing costs for the members. Our vision was that we’d use our Barbell Club to engage our white collar boxers so that we could upsell them the benefits of Strength & Conditioning and after they’d boxed and recycle them for more shows – this didn’t happen.

What did happen is we created a new wave of lifters and early on as we were finding our feet the uptake wasn’t from our male boxers who were sparring and competing but more of our class users looking for fat loss. This unlike our boxing which was 80% male (it’s now nearer 65%) was nearer a 50/50 mix and as Barbell Club bedded in we found that it almost exclusively became an all-girls club of lifters.

Barbell Club has evolved considerably, but early on we ran it very similar protocol to the Strong Lifts 5×5 programme with some adaptation. We’d use the starting point of the programme based at lifters starting at 75% of their one rep max and then working on the principal of progressive overload (add more weight each week). Here is how the programming would work

  1. The lifter would come as a newcomer and complete the fundamental lifting programme. In this we’d teach them the lift and assess their one rep max in each lift example they’d one rep max 100kg on a deadlift.
  2. We’d programme the lifter to start lifting at 5×5 reps based on 75% of their one rep max example the lifter would lift 75Kg (75% of their one rep max for 5×5’s)
  3. The next week providing the lifter had completed all set the previous week they’d add 2.5kg on the lift (they’d complete 5×5’s at 77.5kg)

With the input of some talented S&C coaches we’ve evolved Barbell Club considerably. We saw something very early on that prevented our lifters progressing and this applied to the males more that the females – EGO!

If we had a male lifter (lifter A) at Barbell Club one rep max 100kg on a deadlift his starting weight would be 75kg, if lifter B one rep maxed 110kg, his starting weight would be 82.5kg. Now this is where the problem came in – EGO. Lifter A would move into the Barbell Club programming he’d be programmed to lift 75kg, yet when lifter B stepped away from his 82.5kg bar, lifter A rather than reduce the weight would try and match Lifter B’s weight. He might perform the first set at very ugly 5 reps, set two would be equally ugly and by set three he’s struggling to hit four reps. Dejected and over trained, he might have a week off…or we might never see him lift again.

Out poster girl for Barbell Club is Aimee Smith, with her been home grown to winning a bronze at the world powerlifting championships she has evolved through our process. We were lucky with Aimee and if the truth be told she would have progressed at any lifting gym – she is that naturally strong. A more reluctant poster girl is Charlotte Bradford, she has been consistent from day 1 and we still have her one rep max from her first deadlift at 72.5kg, recently she pulled over 120kg off the floor! By been consistent, following the programme and not letting her ego get the better of he she has consistently gotten stronger and leaner over her time with us.

Barbell Club now operates on a 12-week cycle with variations in speed, volume, reps and phases of lift. The principal of working from one rep max percentages remains, but percentages vary from 70% to 90% depending on the sets, volume and reps. We still occasionally get a male lifter trying to match other lifters rather than stick to their own programme, this we nip in the bud. By letting science rather than ego lift weights, we are finding that on the first 12-week lifting cycle lifters are typically finding a 40 to 50% increase in one rep max testing and usually 15-25% of the second cycle.

Science does trump ego when it comes to lifting.

Treat em’ mean, keep em’ keen

On
by Henrietta Street Gym

Treat em’ mean, keep em’ keen

By Neil Perkins

It is fair to say that my approach to customer service at times leaves a little bit to be desired. Perhaps my late teens and early twenties working as a doorman and the principal that customer service sets with the sun formed my impeccable approach to customer service? I am getting slightly better, at least people who complain are no longer left with unconscious in a fire escape – after putting me in no other position but to defend myself of course.

Engaging and communicating with your customers can be hard work and setting the parameters for the rules they play is very challenging. Recently I had a ‘Groundhog Day’ moment as I have been faced with the same problem I encountered 12 months ago. Our classes can get very busy and consequently, they get booked up. 12 months ago, I encountered the same problem we face now, this time with a new customer base. We ‘grasped the nettle’ 12 months ago and changed our class cancellation time from a 5-minutes to a 24-hour window and brought in a suspension process that prohibited our members from pre-booking classes if they failed to attend a class or if they late cancelled.

At the time, it was an unpopular decision for a minority or our members. We looked back through our records and found that 14 members were bringing the business to standstill by pre-booking multiple classes in advance and then cancelling 10-15 minutes prior or not showing up. We had a nucleus of old members from Fighting Fit City Gym who felt a little upset that classes where been occupied by ‘newbies’ who’d flooded into the new gym. Admittedly classes had never been that busy at Fighting Fit and consequently the old guard were keen to keep their space. We had a handful of members prior to the restriction of booking classes that would book more than 20 classes per week, yet they ‘d attend nearer a quarter of these classes.  Of this 14, we lost a handful who kicked and screamed on the way out of the door. This turned out to be the correct move, from September 2016 to March 2017 we grew from 238 to 350 members, we couldn’t have kept and grew a database if we’d have enabled this nucleus to monopolise classes that they had little intention of attending.

Fast forward to September 2017 and we’ve taken a few steps backward since March. We made a judgemental error in putting a hefty joining fee on the gym in April, we let the standards of our classes slip and we lost momentum in the market place with the aggressive social media and direct marketing by Pure, Easy and JD Gyms battling it out whilst we stopped taking on members. Consequently, our membership database shrunk for the first time and we had room to grow. With us pushing a very competitive FREE 3 class passes, we thought we’d introduce some new blood to the gym and get back marketing, new faces started to appear. The old guard again sensed the increased volume and class pre-booking started to shoot up with fear of no spaces, therefore so did the old problem of increased class no shows. We’d softened our stance and the suspensions and even though T&C’s clearly stated 24-hour cancellation, we were being ‘sympathetic’ to people who were…. stuck in traffic, held up at a meeting, had a flat tyre, were feeling ill, couldn’t get a babysitter and gave justifiable reasons…. the problem we faced is that the same people were calling and if they had a dog, it would have eaten their homework! On week commencing September 4th we had 21% of the people who booked onto our classes late cancel or not show up. On that week, every 6.35am class was fully booked, one of them had seven people not show up to it!

Like the doorman of over fifteen years ago I rolled up my sleeves and popped in my gumshield in like I’d just heard the ‘code red dancefloor’ call come over the radio. We tweaked our email informing members of the suspension process and I put my direct email as a contact for any complaints or appeals – I was ready for a battle. Last weekend we implemented our first range of suspension. Saturday mornings Pure Core, Bootcamp and Boxing Squad where fully booked. Sunday’s Bootcamp and Boxing Squad were at capacity and the Monday morning Bootcamp was fully booked and Pure Core was one off capacity. Over 7 classes, 24 people failed to attend and therefore the first 24 emails flew out suspending them from pre-booking classes for a seven-day window. They had an option of a nominal £3 fee to reduce this early.

The suspension process was put into action and I expected a battle, I didn’t get it. Of the 24 suspended parties, 17 paid a late cancel fee and several of the have applauded the new process. The incentive to get up out of bed when the alarm goes or risk a seven-day suspension, many feel this is a great selling point. Also prioritising set times for exercise and making that commitment has proved to be a popular addition. This unlike 12 months ago hasn’t proven to be unpopular and jeered, on the contrary it has been celebrated. Members who book last minute have been impressed, we are finding now that classes are not booking up a week in advance, people are only booking classes that they can make the commitment to attend. It has proved a ‘win win’ all round.

I’ll roll down my sleeves and put the gumshield back in my pocket ready for the next ‘Code Red’ call over the radio. It seems that the old saying treat em’ mean, keep em keen does apply in business.

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