Mention you are an insideR reader and enjoy a two week free trial at Robina.
There are lot of fitness activities that are hard to get out of bed for, but the fun and diverse work outs at The Shake Up are not. The friendly and supportive environment of this fantastic group fitness program is a great motivator to get you out of bed, even when it’s dark and cold!
When I found my way to a Robina session of The Shake up, I was in a bit of a slump. I was exercising and being as active as possible, but spending long periods sitting at a desk was starting to have a negative effect on my fitness levels.
The program came highly recommended by my trusted Robina osteopath Allied Osteopathy, as well as a friend who knew one of the owners, so I decided to give it a try.
I admit, despite the endorsements, I was skeptical at first that it might be another hard core, boot-camp style of training where you leave with your muscles, respiratory system and dignity in tatters but, thankfully, that was far from the reality.
When I jumped onto the website to sign up for my free trial, I realised that all of the work outs were only half an hour. Awesome, I thought – I can handle 30 minutes – and it will be a lot easier to fit in to my busy life. After years spent thinking that I had to do hour long workouts otherwise it wasn’t worth putting my active wear on, it was a pleasant surprise.
After reading testimonials of major fitness transformations on The Shake up website, I was feeling even more motivated – it you can achieve that with a 30minute format then this is exactly what I need in my life.
My first day at the Robina session, which is held at Robina State High School, trainer and co-owner Pete was very welcoming and, to my surprise, so were all of the other participants. This was not like a gym where no one speaks to you – everyone was warm and friendly and, as the session went on, I noticed they were also extremely supportive of each other. It felt like they were a solid team and I was straight on the team and one of the crew.
I committed to going to three sessions in my first week. Knowing that every session was different and incorporated diverse, whole body exercises, I wanted to get a full picture of the program before I decided whether it was something I would be able to stick to.
To mix it up, I did one of my sessions at the Palm Beach group, which is held at Palm Beach Currumbin State High School and run by owner and founder Ben. This group of shakers was just as friendly and encouraging and I have to say after attending just three sessions, I felt like this was really something I was going to really enjoy and keep coming back to.
I think the welcoming inclusiveness of the groups is a real credit to owners Ben and Pete, they are both enthusiastic and encouraging and are truly passionate about assisting their shakers to transform their health and fitness through sheer positivity. There is no shouting, competiveness or belittling that you get in a commando style boot camp – anyone of any fitness level can work at their own pace and the only expectation is that you give it your best go.
Founder Ben O’Conner started The Shake Up in 2013 at Pacific Pines. A dedicated fitness professional with qualifications in metabolic nutrition and fitness, Ben has a natural and infectious enthusiasm, even at 5.50am! Committed to living a holistically healthy life there is no sport Ben won’t try in his pursuit of health; surfing, skating, yoga, swimming, cycling, crossfit and hiking. Ben knows life is all about finding balance and he loves to help every shaker find their own healthy equilibrium.
Ben later teamed up with long-term friend Pete Murphy, bringing in Pete’s expertise as an Exercise Scientist and his years of experience training a range of fitness levels. Pete is also an all-round action man of many sports but he is very focussed on ensuring that all of his shakers maintain correct, injury-preventing form. Pete’s addition to the team has allowed The Shake Up to increase the number of classes on offer and bring their all inclusive, ego-free philosophy to more Gold Coasters.
The Shake Up interval training exercises are challenging but when you just focus on trying to maintain your form through each round, the half hour absolutely flies by.
I absolutely love the half hour format. Compared to working out for an hour I hit a lot less mental barriers.
Normally prior to an hour workout I would hit my first mental barrier before I even got there and would start with a sick feeling in my stomach about how exhausted I would be at the end. Then at around 20minutes I would be thinking, ‘how am I going to endure another 40mins of this?’ At the end of a work out I would feel completely drained with my muscles shaking and all I would be thinking was ‘I’m so glad that’s over.’
It’s so different with half an hour, you can push through because you know it’s a short time. At the end you feel like you’ve done a great work out but you also feel energised and ready to take on whatever the day throws at you.
If you are looking to get out of a rut and make quick progress towards a fitter and healthier version of yourself then this is one exercise group that you must try.
The Shake up has three convenient locations so residents from all over the Gold Coast can join the crew:
Robina – held at Robina State High School on Investigator Drive: visit the Robina Facebook page
Palm Beach – held at Palm Beach Currumbin State High School on Thrower Drive: visit the Palm Beach Facebook page
Pacific Pines – held at Jubilee Primary School on Manra Way: visit the Pacific Pines Facebook page
If you would love to give it a try, the awesome Shake Up team are offering all insideR readers a 2 week free trial at Robina – that’s two weeks of unlimited training with an inspiring and dedicated crew! To take advantage of this offer, call Pete on 0409 602 300.
Ongoing classes start from just $22 dollars a week for unlimited sessions and there is a handy app that you can download where you can see all three timetables and book into a class. Selecting the sessions you want to join in on at the start of a week is a great way to make sure you stay organised and committed to exercising regularly.
If you want to really step up your fitness levels, you can join one of the ten week challenges that are held throughout the year. These are designed to be transformative to your fitness, weight, health and lifestyle.
The ten week challenges include ten weeks of unlimited training, before and after assessments to measure results, goal setting and tracking, educational sessions on nutrition, a food diary and access to recipes, readings and audio recordings to motivate and inspire you plus continual support and guidance from your trainers. Click here to find out more.
The basic science behind interval training is that the high intensity, short duration exercises, which get your heart rate up quickly, stimulate your body into fat burning mode not only during but also after your workout. As well as having weight loss benefits, you will quickly build muscle and increase your fitness and endurance.
Continually changing the exercises in interval training workouts is key to its success because when you just repeat the same exercises, your muscles become used to them meaning you burn less energy doing them.
So now I in turn can highly recommend The Shake Up, it is extremely well planned and organised and most importantly it is not only results focused but people focused. If you show up with your active wear on and an attitude of giving it your best go, that is really all you need.
So come and join in the fun and shake up your exercise routine!
Click here to watch success story and testimonial videos.
Download The Shake Up iOS app here.
Download The Shake Up android app here.
