- New ‘HIIT the Floor 100’ workout to build strength and endurance for Jonnie’s new training schedule
- Just 10 years after opening its first facility, The Gym Group’s 100th gym is now open for business in Feltham, South West London
To celebrate the opening of The Gym Group’s 100th gym, Double Paralympic, World & European Champion, Jonnie Peacock, has helped develop a specially devised HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout to help get everyone fit for the rigours of the gym, track & dance floor.
With 100m sprinter Peacock’s training usually concentrated on quick, intense bursts to aid his acceleration, the HIIT workout has been designed to improve Jonnie’s conditioning and aerobic fitness, an essential requirement for any all-round athlete.
Jonnie said: “I’m loving every minute of it but I didn’t realise how hard it would be. Learning all the moves is difficult enough so I don’t want to also be worrying about my fitness. ‘HIIT the Floor 100’ is designed to re-train my body and give me a significant boost in my aerobic ability. I’ve swapped the 100 metres on the track, where short sprints are key for core strength and endurance in the dance studio.
“I’ve been working out in-between training sessions and I’ve noticed the difference already. I know that my new aerobic fitness levels will help me in the future and you never know it might also help with my sprint times when I get back to the track. I would encourage everyone to get out there and give it a go to reap the benefits.”
The ‘HIIT the Floor 100’ workout consists of three main quick-fire sections in twenty minutes: Cardio, Strength & Conditioning and Core Strength. Everyone will gain significant benefits from each, ensuring they are at their best when stepping foot on the dance floor. Emma Kelly, General Manager Feltham The Gym Group explains:
Performing Cardio exercises are an essential element of any dancer’s training regime; they allow the dancer to increase their stamina so that they don’t tire quickly, while this also helps reduce the chances of injury.
Strength & Conditioning is crucial for dancers to be able to control their own body and to be able to work alongside their partner. Resistance bands are used to work the biceps (bicep curls), triceps (tricep extensions) and lats (front raise); all important when lifting a partner, keeping their upper body upright and maintaining the correct posture.
Core strength is particularly important for dancer’s to promote better balance, alignment and stability. In Jonnie’s case the core exercises will particularly help him with ballroom and Latin dances where most movements are going to come from the core.
John Treharne, CEO of The Gym Group, said: “It’s a pleasure to have a legend of British sport in Jonnie Peacock here to help us celebrate this fantastic milestone. It’s testament to the hard work of all the employees at The Gym Group that we’re celebrating it in such a short space of time. 100 gyms in 10 years is high-octane growth that we’re all proud of and looking to continue.”
“We’re ten years on from the first gym in Hounslow but we are just as dedicated to providing high-quality gym environments at low cost as we were on day one. We firmly believe that fitness should be accessible to everybody, regardless of shape, size, fitness level, background or attitude and that has clearly resonated with the British public. We are committed to offering as flexible a gym experience as possible, which is why memberships start from £10.99 a month, with no contracts locking people in long-term, as well as 24/7 opening hours.”
The Gym Group, founded in 2007, opened its first gym in Hounslow a year later in 2008. Now the low-cost gym chain has opened its 100th gym in Feltham, just four miles from the original site.
To view a video of the day click here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGH4MnEGM-E
–ENDS–
Jonnie Peacock has developed a dance-inspired ‘HIIT the Floor 100’ workout to celebrate the opening of The Gym Group’s 100th gym in Feltham.
For more information on The Gym Group, visit www.thegymgroup.com
Jonnie Peacock Q&A
- You’ve just finished the HIIT the Floor 100 Workout, how are you feeling?
Good, yes the class was easier than the press! It was good fun, incorporating bits of dancing and bits of sprint training into the routine.
- When you’re training for sprinting, would a workout like the HIIT the Floor 100 ever enter into your training regime?
The jump squats for example; there are variations of that in our sprints training. We already do the medicine ball exercises in our circuit training, so there are definitely a lot of elements pulled out of sprint training.
- Before you took to the floor you had a good look around our 100th gym, what did you make of the place?
It’s really cool. There’s lots of new equipment here too, it’s clean which is always a bonus, smells nice which is always positive in a gym!
- You mentioned earlier comparing the dance floor to an athletics stadium – is there a comparison?
They are very different things. The nerves for example, I stand on the start line of the Paralympics 100m finals and I’m not nervous – I feel really prepared at that moment. I’ve got all my coaches, support staff etc. that help you get there in such a way that you know you’ve done all the work, you just feel prepared, you’ve done all the work and are in a position where you can just go out and do it. Whereas when you only have three and a half days to train, you do not feel ready whatsoever, so you stand on the dancefloor not confident in your ability and not even confident you’re going to get the steps right, so you’re just nervous of messing it all up. In sprinting you just go up and down, whereas in dancing, there’s a few more steps that that.
- You said that when you’re on the line in the Olympic Stadium you don’t feel nervous. You talked about the strength and conditioning you do as part of your physical training; do you undertake any mental performance training as well?
We have sports psychologists who work with us regularly, but I haven’t undergone any specific training as such. We have a few talks every now and again where they give a bit of advice, but my first coach Dan Pfaff, he really taught me quite a lot himself just through his experience. He’s worked with the likes of Donovan Bailey and some amazing sprinters in the past. You just need to have a good group of people around you that make you feel comfortable and tell you the right things. It’s mainly just about feeling prepared – I think that as long as you feel prepared, then you’re okay. You can’t really overthink things really – you just need to focus on what you need to concentrate on.
Obviously, everybody is going to have concerns creep into their minds – that’s natural, it’s what happens to everybody in different situations. You just have to accept that it’s going to happen, forget about it and focus on what you need to focus on to succeed.
- In your journey to date, who and what inspires you?
I think when I was growing up, it was David Beckham – it had to be. I was football mad and he was my idol – I’d just follow him everywhere he went and I think that’s maybe why I ended up in sport. But I just loved him and sport and he was definitely someone I looked up to and tried to emulate.
- How would you describe your job to a child?
The running bit? I run for a living. I train 40 hours a week, for ten seconds worth of work. I don’t know, I guess I just have one of the best jobs in the world. I get to train for a living and get to do something I love and you know I guess that is what I would say to any kid – just find something you love and if you can find a career in that path then you’re really lucky and you should do everything you can to hold onto that
- How have you adapted to your new found celebrity lifestyle, compared to your life as a sprinter?
I’m a bit busier I guess. I don’t know really – I was on the train the other day and someone took a sneaky photo and that was interesting. They were stood about 10m away and I just saw a phone staring at me and then I spotted her and she just hid, so that was new. But you know it’s just the same old things really, I’m just trying to keep it as real as possible. I’m just happy sitting on the sofa at home with my dogs and my girlfriend – that keeps me happy.
- You’ve just finished up with the World Champs in July and obviously the Paralympics the year before – what does the sprinting calendar look like for you and when do you really start thinking about Tokyo?
Because of the fact there’s World Championships, Paralympics and World Championships as a three year cycle, I kind of looked at it about four years ago and saw this year as a bit of a down year for me, post the World Championships. So for me this year, I was trying to take a down year, but then obviously I’m busier now than ever. But normally I train 6 days a week, next year I’m going to train just two days a week. There is a Europeans next year, but I’m probably not going to compete – just from a mental point of view more than anything.
I’ve hit it for about 7 or 8 years now with a constant focus every year and I just want to chill out and be able to enjoy things. The sacrifices you make in sport are huge – if you’re not training, then you’re thinking about recovery, which means less time in the car, not being eat certain things, not being able to drink certain things, so this year I just want to enjoy it. I’ll come back next winter – obviously we’ve got the World Championships in 2019 and then 2020 hopefully I’ll be there and won’t have lost all of my speed by then.
- How do you stay focused during 40hrs a week of training? Do you find yourself drifting off and thinking about other things or are you permanently focused on the task at hand?
It’s a bit of both really. I think it’s normal to drift – when you’re in for a 10 hour long day and you’re trying to learn something new, you don’t really have the mental capacity to think about anything else, because you’re so focused on learning a move or you keep getting it wrong and just want to do it better and better. I don’t really have the time to think about anything else, although I guess sometimes you do – you’ve got to figure out when you’re picking the dogs up but you always remain pretty focused
Quick Fire Questions:
- Favourite Emoji?
The big teeth face - Three words to describe winning Paralympic Gold?
Ecstatic, Happiness, Relief - Who would play you in a film?
Nobody - Gym floor or dance floor?
Gym floor. - How would you rate your pony tail out of 10?
My girlfriend would rate it 0. - What do you bench press?
My PB is 115kg, so not that good I guess. - Pint of beer or pint of water?
Pint of water. - Who’s the coolest person you’ve ever met?
David Beckham - What’s your favourite cheat meal?
Burger - Who’s your celebrity crush?
My girlfriend. - Most famous person in your phone book?
Adam Hills, I’ve got recently. - What’s your nickname?
Jonnie. My full name is Jonathan, so technically it’s Jonnie. - If you had another job for one day, what would it be?
I’d like to be a bartender – just something normal and learn to make some cool drinks for a day.
The ‘HIIT the Floor 100’ Workout
Section 1 – Cardio – Utilising a step
- Step up & down x 8
- Gallop around step then step up & down x 8
- Quick runs up & down on the step, gallop around step, repeat x 2
- Step up on step lift knee x 2 and hold opposite partners hand x 4
- Step up on step, squat, step down x 4
- Jump up on step, squat, step down x 8
- Shuffle step 1 foot on step, gallop around step x 2
- Travelling knee lift side to side x 8
- Repeat all of the above
Section 2 – Strength & Conditioning – Using bands
Partner work
- Row x 8
- 1 person on their knees with the other doing standing bicep curl with the band x 8
- Swap over and repeat
- Front row x 8, swap over and repeat
- Back to back, fly with the band x 8
- Tricep extension x 8
- Stand side by side using band twist away from each other rotating using your core x 8
Section 3 – Floorwork Core Conditioning – Using a Medicine Ball
- Sit up ball passes x 8
- Standing back to back pass ball from side to side x 8
- As above now reaching up and across the body, wood chop movement x 8
- Using step, mountain climbers x 8, 2 press ups x 4
- Plank position opposite each other, 1 press up then roll the ball to your partner, repeat x 4