Coach Bella – “Shout out to Rod Brandao for crushing the recent 12 days of Christmas Sunday Sweat! Rod is always working hard on his gymnastics (especially handstand push ups) & in this workout in particular you could tell it’s really paying off. Well done Rod & thank you for always being a pleasure to coach!”

Coach Drew – ” I’d like to shout out to Rebecca Fairweather. Becky has stood out for me where she bested the deadlifts in the last block. It was great watching her twirl and smile when she bested the bar on the 1RM deadlift day. Well done mate.”

Coach Dec – “Anna Six is consistent and enthusiastic. She is always challenging herself and actively working on the movements that she doesn’t enjoy in order to improve on them – she is a pleasure to have in class. Anna is also super supportive of everyone, especially new members, and generally a top person!”

Coach Maddie – ” Mike Scott is really consistent with his training, always cheering other members on and has been making great progress with his gymnastics recently! Also Rosie Farmiloe and Jo Powell – Both solid members of the 6am Bris crew. Both Jo and Rosie have made so much progress over the last block, going 4 for 4 on PBs during test week!! Always pushing each other and supporting other members too. Legends!”

Coach Dan – “Sam Yeoman is a great member of the V1 6:30pm crew and brings a great energy and sense of fun to the classes. (Just watch out for the occasional episode of “Sam’s Face Weekly” on Instagram). Sam has had some niggling injuries and this last week was not in class but instead in open gym working on creating lasting fixes to the root cause of these niggles. I want to shout Sam out for the hard work and mindset required to step back and really fix the fundamentals. Sam keep it up and get yourself back in classes as soon as you can we all miss seeing your face on social media.”

Coach Johnny – “Shout out to Tom Six V2. Always gives it his all in a WOD, and is consistent in his training. Great athlete to have in the class, with great energy.”

Coach Tash – “My shout out is Natalie Venn at V3 . She always turns up with a smile on her face and gives 110% to every session, even if she’s not sure about a movement. She is friendly and encouraging in every session and is just a pleasure to coach.”

Coach Amy – “I’d like to shout out to Chengcheng Dou. Chengcheng is an absolute pleasure to have in class, takes advice and coaching cues well and asks excellent questions. Chengchengs pistol squats are something we could all envy and her lifting has come on so well since she started which is an absolute testament to her hard work and consistency.”

Coach Claudia – “I’d like to send a shout out to all the Valesco’s gyms, their members welcomed me with open arms and it’s been very heartwarming getting to coach so many beautiful people! Keep getting strong, I’ll be waiting for you at the gym!”

Let’s keep the germs at bay!

No one wants to be sick to kick off January and taking coaches down with colds leaves the struggle of last minute cover, so let’s work together to keep the germs down and keep each other safe and follow some basic hygiene rules.
Please wash your hands on entering the gym, after the toilet and after wiping your nose or coughing into your hand.
If your nose runs in this cold weather please carry tissues with you (and take the home with you too, or put them in the bin).
Please do not come into the gym and train if you’re feeling unwell, take the opportunity to rest or go out for a walk in the fresh air and come back stronger.
Please ask for a cloth and cleaning fluid and wipe down any kit you may have sweated, sneezed or coughed on.
We are sorry to nag but we are keen to keep everyone safe, fit and healthy and training hard into 2025.

Please look after your kit.

The equipment at the gym is for you to use and please help it keep its life as long as possible by taking good care if it. PLease do not drop any equipment aside from barbells with 10kg or more bumpers on each side. Please wipe all sweat and chalk off ergs and take take when using them or putting them away. We appreciate accidents happen and if anything breaks or is broken please let us know. Leaving it for someone else to use, without knowing its damaged, may be a safety risk and if we don’t know it’s broken it won’t get fixed.

Dark morning and night safety.

Outside running is part of what we do and when given the choice a lot of you would prefer to run outside and get the fresh air but please do be careful. All three sites are located on busy roads or working trading estates. Please do put your safety (and the safety of others) before a few seconds off your time.

Block Booking and the January Rush.

Like every gym in the land we are expecting the January rush to hit hard and we love that so many of you want to start the year off right by getting after those fitness goals and with the above mentioned lack of sunlight a great way to get a boost is to come in and get those endorphins going, and for that we can’t blame you. Please do be considerate when booking sessions and please only book the sessions you know you’re going to attend and cancel out as early as possible if you know you can no longer make it. We know it’s going to be busy and that drives certain behaviors but we are confident that if everyone only booked what they used, the waitlist would be very low if anything at all. We will as always be monitoring classes and capacity and asking WODboard to flag any repeat offenders to block booking and cancelling.

Upgrading your membership.

With the above in mind have you thought about upgrading your membership to Diamond? Often for an extra £10 per month, can give you unlimited access to unlimited sites. The only gym in Bristol with the ability to do this! Want to get a 6am or 7am session in but your home gym is booked out? Why not skip across town, beat the track and attend another site. Want Gymnastics on a different day of the weekend? Want to attend Yoga or at a different time?
There really are so many reasons why Diamond is such good value and for £109 per month we know you’re worth it.

Happy New Year you lovely lot!

We hope 2025 started well for you and if we haven’t seen you yet we hope to very soon!

The last 2 weeks of ‘off piste’ programming has been a lot of fun and we have enjoyed seeing so many of you over the festive period!

‘BUT WHAT ARE WE DOING NEXT?’ I hear you say?!
Well! We have an exciting 8 week block starting for you on Monday which looks like this:

THE NEXT BLOCK:
Monday – Tempo Back Squat: build strength, improve form & develop muscle
Tuesday – Push Press: Improve overhead stability, build strength and dynamic power & aids coordination
Wednesday – Hero WODs WITH an option to do a lighter / lower skill alternative*
Thursday – Toes To Bar + Kipping/Butterfly Pull up volume building (did someone say CFOpen prep…?!)
Friday – Deadstop Deadlift: refine technique and increase your maxes

* We have had lots of opposing feedback about HeroWOD Wednesday and we get it – some love it, some give it a big old swerve.
We want to make Wednesdays as accessible as possible for everyone (because love ’em or hate ’em they’re good for you…sorry) and for that reason we are going to TRIAL having 2 options for the next 4 weeks:
Option 1) The RX HeroWOD
Option 2) A lighter & less technical version. If the Hero WOD includes heavy deadlifts (heavy hinge movement) and Chest to bar pull ups with a time cap of 35 minutes then Option 2 will replace the deadlifts with KB swings (light hinge movement) and the CTB with ring rows and it will be a 35 min AMRAP.

The goal is to enable those who love the gritty challenge of a Hero WOD to keep doing them and those who prefer a long sweaty ‘switch your mind off and go’ type workout can do those too! YOur feedback over the next 4 weeks would be greatly valued!

WEIGHTLIFTING CLASSES:
We are keeping the same format as the last block (different lifts on different days) but this time :
Cleans – Wednesday
Snatch – Thursday

GYMNASTIC CLASSES:
These classes will also follow the same format of different gymnastic movements in the 2 classes each week:
Strict Pull Ups – Tuesday
Handstand Press ups and HS walking – Weekend

This will be an 8 week training block with Test week in week 9 followed by a deload week!

Ellie xx

Sunday 9th March – Spring Social Dog Walk and a Pint

Saturday 19th April – Easter Egg Hunt and WOD

Saturday 24th May – Early Summer Social. Mass Throwdown and BBQ

Saturday 14th June – Scale It Up Triple Threat

Saturday 12th June – PRIDE WOD and Parade

Saturday 13th September – Valesco Fest 10 years of Valesco

Friday 5th December – The VFC Christmas Party

Check out this month ‘Who Wore It Best’ from Corina and Anna at V1, who look ready to go out and play!

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!