Some Workout Stuff

Training for Kokoda is obviously an important part of my preparation. I am not really sure just how hard it is going to be, so I figure if I am prepared I can spend 10 days enjoying myself rather than 10 days wanting to go home and slowing everyone else down. Exercise and diet will be pretty important.


I have been going to Crossfit Noosa since July last year, as well surfing, throw in a bit of swimming and body surfing and hopefully I already have some OK level of fitness.  I usually go to Crossfit 3 times a week and I am stepping this up to 4 or 5 times, with the addition of some walks (including the stairs) which I will gradually start building up and adding pack weight to over the next few weeks.  I try to surf 4 - 5 times a week rain, hail or shine, crap waves or not. 


For those of you who do not know what Crossfit is and are interested, this is a good little explanation in less than 100 words.  This is pretty much the diet and lifestyle and am living by at the moment. 


'Distilled down to the simplest terms, CrossFit workouts are about intensity, variability, and functionality.

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, clean & jerk, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc. hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.'

I have noticed improvements in a lot of areas since July, my surfing has improved, I can dance for heaps longer at music festivals (yeew) and  lifting a heavy teak bar stool now only takes 3 fingers instead of two hands. A few months ago I even deadlifted a 60 kg cactus after it blew over in a storm.  There has been stuff I definitely do not want to do (800m runs spring to mind) but I have to say after 6 months I feel better and better all the time, stronger, more flexible, my body has changed shape and everything about my life has improved both mentally and physically. 

Crossfit is definitely something I will keep up all the time even after Kokoda as it has so many practical applications in daily life.  In addition I have made some really great friends!   Functional fitness at it's finest.  

This is the link to the box I train at.   http://crossfitnoosa.com.au/. You can get more info here and also check out our workout of the day, complete with great write-ups on why we are doing the workouts.

Some of the fun stuff we get up to at Crossfit Noosa, weighted chin-ups

Daniel & Holly at The Stairs of Death and No Speaking

Since my last post I have done the stairs a couple of times, now the workout includes a post stairs swim and coffee (woops). I am sometimes doing the stairs with a friend,  which is great because it's extra motivation when you have to meet someone else, as opposed to the temptation of just sleeping in for another half an hour.  Holly & Daniel even came with me one day, they loved it surprisingly!  Have also had another couple of Crossfit sessions since the last post.  This arvo (Monday) I did the stairs x4 and a small walk in the pouring rain with our black & tan kelpie Mackie, otherwise known as the Macuum Cleaner. She is a bit on the tubby side and has been passed out on the floor since we got home. My post stairs swim featured me losing my bikini bottoms at Noosa Main Beach all the way to my ankles.  More squats and stairs needed, if my thighs were bigger I seriously doubt that would happen.