I haven't been here long, but I have come to love exercising and working out in Australia. I find it infinitely more energising than going to the gym in the UK, where even in the summer I have started waddling in stiff and aching from the cold, hunched over and dripping wet, wondering why I even bo...
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Today, I have come to Muscle and Fitenss in Townsville to meet Joel, the mastermind behind Adventurethon. In fact, it was his infectious enthusiasm for the event that got me to upgrade from simply volunteering to help out, to taking part in the Enduro race, being filmed for two TV shows and expan...
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In training for Adventurethon 2013, I decided I needed some help. Some advice. Some (dare I say it) training. You see, no matter what I do to train for my Enduro Adventurethon (14km of open sea kayaking, 21km of mountain biking and 12km of off-road running) I will be totally and utterly unprepare...
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When it comes to exercise (and indeed life in general), I believe people can push themselves far harder than they think they can. I believe people - myself included - set their personal expectations too low, rarely try as hard as they think they are trying, and give up too easily. I believe pe...
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What's the first thing that pops to mind when you think "triathlon"? How about when you think "Adventurethon"? How about when you think about the individual sports of kayaking, mountain biking and off-road running? It's probably brute strength, right? Right. That's why, in preparation for my fo...
Continue reading ...My wonderfully talented friend introduced me to this video. It's friggin' amazing...apart from one thing...the music. Don't get me wrong, it's inoffensive... But when a man is performing feats of strength to this level, he really should be performing to some kind of EPIC HEAVY METAL! I hav...
Continue reading ...Today, I went back to my dojo for the first time in months, with one goal in mind - to figure out if my body can still move properly... The good news is that yes, it seems to be functioning just fine after weeks of booze and food and general inactivity. The bad news is that...erm...well, I sup...
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All in all, 2012 was a pretty good year for me. I tried to do at least one kickass thing for every month of the year. Here is what I managed: [gallery type="rectangular" ids="574,1181,932,894,850,1683,2235,1068,2238,1540,1333,981,1131"] Info: this year, I completed Tough Guy Winter 2012, won...
Continue reading ...What better way to start a new year than with a personal best in the gym? How about THREE PERSONAL BESTS IN A ROW? That do anything for ya? That's levitation, Holmes. Nah, only kidding. I didn't fly. What I did, however, was perform my three best sets of squats ever, one after the other. Befor...
Continue reading ...Today's weapons of choice, in the war against...whatever it is I am trying to defeat by spending hours throwing around iron in a gym... ...
Continue reading ...[caption id="attachment_1541" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Squatting in the name of the Lord...[/caption]...
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Friends, I have done it! "Done what?", you ask? Why, nothing less than the TEN TON CHALLENGE! Sadly, this is simply something I invented myself and it isn't that hard. Still, it was something to work towards. Essentially, the goal is to shift ten tons of iron in one half-hour long squat session, c...
Continue reading ...FACT: Until you've ripped the ass from your cargo trousers mid-set, you have not squatted like a man. And until you have held in your laughter for long enough to finish the set, you have not learn the discipline necessary...to be a DRAGON SLAYER!! At the gym today, I squatted ten tons in half an h...
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When I got in last night, I sat down on the sofa...and did not get up again. So depleted of energy was my body that I half-sat half-lay in a state of near comatose until, eventually, I summoned up the testicular fortitude to turn on my Xbox...before falling asleep. What marathon of physical exert...
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Much as people who don't go to the gym like to think of working out as mindless pumping of iron (which it is for some) the reality is that, as with everything, once you progress beyond being a beginner, there is much more to the activity than perhaps meets the eye. It's the same feeling I get fro...
Continue reading ...Pancakes be praised! It's FINALLY the end of the working week and, therefore, time for my final installment of "This is more or less how I like to train"; a guide for anybody bored enough to be interested. So, here is Friday. Or Frīġedæġ, in Old English - so named after Frigg, wife of Odin. ...
Continue reading ...I'm nearly there!. This is installment three of four in my "I kinda try to train along these lines" guide for anybody interested in how I train. If anybody out there is actually interested, I will eat my own hat. As a man who owns no hats, I'll also have to go out and purchase a hat. This I fear...
Continue reading ...Behold. Now cometh day two of "Sometimes I train like this..." - my attempt to summarise roughly how I like to train on a good week. It is subject to change and outright lies. Today I shall explain the joy of Tuesday, or Tiwesdæg in Old English. This means Tyr's Day, which is lovely. (Tyr bein...
Continue reading ...Getting Back into Shape, Day Three. Having put myself through some torturous gym sessions for the first two days of the week, I decided Wednesday was time for some intense cardio. What better way to achieve this than by a couple of hours at my logo dojo, Genesis, for the killer brazilian jiu jits...
Continue reading ...After Monday night's painful chest and back experience, I decided Tuesday morning needed a shock to get my body going... ...so I did the same again! That's right, just to totally mess with my mind and body, I went back to the gym and did another session targeting the exact same muscles. This time...
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