Shout out from Coach Simone – V2 member Anna MacCarthy ‘Big shout out to Anna. She’s always pushing herself and up for any challenge I throw her way. Her fitness level is impressive and keeps improving. She’s great to coach and always has a smile on her face. Keep it up, Anna!

Shout out from Coach James – V3 member Kate Richardson ‘I want to shout out Kate. Mum Goals. She’s really consistent, impacts the energy and atmosphere of a class more than I think she realises and really does put a lot of work in every class. She’s constantly improving as an athlete, shows up regardless of what’s thrown at her and does all this, consistently, with a busy work and home life. Exactly what fitness should be about. Big Kate fan.’

Shout out from Coach Hamish to V2 member Guillaume Izac ‘Guilliaume has been a staple of my gymnastics class and has spent the last few months working towards RX bar muscle ups. After working on a more aggressive turnover and developing a stronger arch I was chuffed to see him smashing bar muscle ups under fatigue this week. Next stop 5 unbroken, let’s go!’

Shout out from Coach Will to V1 members Caitlin Rees and Yoann Nauel ‘Caitlin – for weightlifting. One of the regulars moves super well and is making so much progress!’

Yoann  ‘puts in a solid shift every week at ERGWOD and has an engine we can all only dream of, nice work mate!’

All the coaches wanted to give a massive shout out and congratulations to all the V2 babies who have now arrived safely. So here we are a massive shout out to Adriana and Tim with baby Lottie. Charlotte and Jack with baby Freddie. Hannah and her partner Alex with baby Phoebe. Lucy and her partner John with baby Rafferty and lastly Bess and Tim with baby Felix. We hope you are all doing well and the new additions to the family are settling in well. From all of us Massive Congratulations to you all.

Finally for the shout outs this month, a massive congratulations to V1 members Lara-Rose and Ryan on your engagement. The photos looked stunning and wishing you every fun and happiness in the wedding planning.

WHATSAPP GROUPS.

We have now set up whatsapp group for the other 2 sites. St Werbs has had its own for a while (set up by Christa) and as its such a success we thought we would set them up for the other two sites. These are member run and welcome for anyone to join, so if you want to get involved in the community more, have a question you think members might know the answer too or want to see if anyone is about for a drink or a walk why not join the one for your training location home. There are posters at each site, which have the QR code to join. We would love as many of you as possible to join your home gym location one as it’s a great way for us to get information out quickly and really help our community flourish!

BOWL FOR MIND

On Friday 23^rd August evening Niamh Osman has invited all Valesco members to come and Bowl for MIND, which she is raising funds for. The cost of the evening is £10 each and there will be snacks and drinks available and very reasonable rates. All money raised will be going to the charity and it would be great to really show some Valesco Love and support. It’s to be held at Grenville Smithe Park. The bowls event will be run as a tournament with teams of 3, so people can come as a team, or as an individual and you will put into a team. No need to book, just come along and we look forward to seeing you there. Posters are up at all sites with more information.

V1.1 RELOCATION AND RENOVATION COMING SOON

It’s a sad truth but we need to move out of the very first Valesco home and move next door before the ever-creeping building work finally gets it hands on our current unit. We will be migrating next door to 1 Victor Street over the weekend of the Valesco 9^th Birthday Party. It seems an apt opportunity to celebrate all the amazing things that have happened in the first home of Valesco and say good-bye in the only way we know how, a mass team workout. More information will be on SM and around the gyms soon but please pop Saturday 14^th September in your diaries as we would love as many of you there as possible to say so long and check out the brand new space!

Lets talk about the ‘B’ week…

For this block and the last one we have switched to a slightly different format for our training weeks where we look at different movements between A & B week but ones that focus on the same muscle groups.

Let’s take Monday as the example.

Week A: Back Squat

Week B: Glute specific strength work

If we want to get a bigger back squat why aren’t we just doing them every Monday? Great question…

The fact that back squats are fun aside, we can get the same if not better results from doing Back squats and a variety of other loaded / weighted lower body exercises that target more specific muscle groups or challenge muscles in the same group, differently.

When we squat we use quads, hamstrings, glutes, lower back and some core muscles and all of these muscles being strong will give us the best result possible. As humans we are all designed slightly differently and our individual lifestyles mean we use our bodies in different ways.  This means we are likely to be dominant in some muscles and not others, we have some imbalances (I’m sure lots of you notice having a stronger / more dominant side) which is totally normal and the way we move can exacerbate this unless we target individual muscles specifically.

So…why do Front rack box step ups to get a bigger Back squat? There are 2 main reasons…

1) Step ups are a ‘unilateral’ movement which means we use 1 side independently of the other which means we can’t rely on our stronger side to do more of the work which means the weaker, less balanced side has to work and it forced to ‘catch up’.

2) Step ups are really great for targeting your glutes. Glutes are typically fairly lazy if they can be BUT they are big muscles that can be really strong and powerful so if we can convince them working is fun we get a stronger lower body and greater results when we test.

Building unilateral work into your strength training will undoubtedly have a positive impact which you will be able to observe later in the block on the more tangible movements …such as you Back squat when we test it at the end of the cycle.

Ultimately testing our Back squat is 1 way of testing our lower body strength so if we make the whole of our lower body stronger, more stable, and better balanced it stands to reason that our Back squat 1RM goes up.  The same can be said for working our upper body and doing Push press and Handstand press ups (including scaled variations) on A and B weeks to build shoulder strength.

The movements in B week are great movements in isolation but they are also great for supporting all the hard work you are doing in the A weeks.

Moral of the story… don’t skip B week (and have a little word with your glutes and let them know they need to show up and put some work in)!

This months Coaches Corner is written by Coach Dec, and it’s all about the power of consistency. Take to away Dec.

Little and Often: An Ode to Consistency

Hello folks!

Dec here, talking this month about consistency and how doing a little bit of work often is far more effective (and do-able) than mammoth skill or stretching sessions.

Let’s use double unders as an example. We all know that skipping can be tricky, especially when trying to master those elusive double unders. If you only practice once a week, it’s like starting from scratch every time. But if you spend just five minutes a day, pre or post class, working on your skipping, you’ll build skill and improve much faster. Those small, daily efforts add up, and trust me, progress will follow.

The same goes for mobility. We’ve all experienced the frustration of tight hips or stiff shoulders holding us back. Instead of spending an hour once a week trying to stretch everything out, aim for a few minutes of mobility work each day. Whether it’s doing some hip openers while watching TV or using a foam roller before bed, these consistent, small practices can significantly improve your flexibility and range of motion over time leading to a better front rack or overhead squat.

Consistency isn’t just about physical skills; it’s also about building habits. When you commit to a little bit each day, you create a routine that becomes second nature. This doesn’t mean you need to overhaul your life or spend hours in the gym. Start with manageable chunks of time—5, 10, 15 minutes—and focus on a specific skill or area.

Remember, it’s not about perfection; it’s about progress. So, next time you feel like skipping a day because it seems too small to matter, think again. Those little efforts compound and can lead to big changes.

Stay gnomey,

Dec

It’s a bit of a bobby dazzler this month from Rich and Alex. Check out these matchy-matchy outfits…we think there must have been a memo that everyone else missed.

Have you turned up looking the same as another Valesco member? Then we want to see. Send your snaps to hi@valesco.fitness to be in the next newsletter. We love seeing them!

Summer Social Rounder’s and a Picnic in the Park – Sunday 3^rd August

Valesco 9^th Birthday – Saturday 14^th September

Scale it Up Safety in Numbers (with new intermediate category added) – Sunday 13^th October

Valesco’s Christmas Party (and this year its NOT to be missed) – Friday 6^th December