BodyBlitz Challenge Measurements Before Height – 179.5 cm Weight – 104.2 kg Chest – 113 cm Waist – 110 cm Calves – 42 cm Arms – 36 cm Thighs – 59.5 cm After Height – 179.5 cm Weight – 92.5 kg Chest – 110 cm Waist – 95 cm Calves – 41.2 cm Arms – 34 cm Thighs – 61.5 cm

The journey all started with a bit of friendly competition between staff at my work —but it was not the only driving force. I work in a gym (ASM Fitness Bendigo), have always been into fitness, always been into playing sports and always regarded myself as someone who was fit and strong. After entering this competition, it really made me have a look at myself, look at what sort of examples I was setting and what sort of trainer I was. How can I train people to live a clean and healthy life, if my own food and drinking (alcohol) was a bad example?

It was no secret I loved my food, loved a beer or two or three or more. I have always prided myself on being the strongest, being the fastest, being able to eat the most, being able to out-drink all my mates. It was not until I really looked at my before photos that I realised I looked nothing like a personal trainer, nothing like someone who played sports, nothing like a good example for all my clients.

After starting the competition, my boss Jeff Brenan helped me out with a training program and an eating plan; we made it real simple, real easy to follow. The first week I was going nuts — no sugar, no beer; I thought I was going to lose it. But then all of a sudden, this challenge we were on was the talk of the gym, and clients were really interested in following the same type of eating plan. This really motivated me to change my life, because I knew it would help change our clients, by living and breathing it really helped me connect with the gym clients, and helped me with my personal training clients.

Along the way on my journey, I lost just over 10 kg, but I also helped a lot of my clients achieve their goals, just from changing what they ate and drank. Whether it was weight loss, toning up, or overall fitness, they could now all relate to me a lot more, which I believe has really made me a far better personal trainer.
The hardest part for me was the food — OK, and the drinking. People still can’t believe I went 12 weeks without a beer. While you’re at home it is a lot easier, because you can prepare yourself; the big challenge is being social. I now understand that a lot better now; simple things like eating out, or even going away for the weekend with friends and finding healthy options, is really hard. I did just try avoiding going out to eat, but I love the outdoors and snowboarding. So picture this: me running around from café to pub to bar to supermarket on a mountain, trying to find something that was not deep-fried. In the end I found sushi to be my best friend.

So after my 12 weeks, I guess I really learned more about myself, I learned how to cook, I learned that preparation is the key, I also learned how family and friends can make it hard for you to keep to your goals, just by offering you unhealthy food or drinks, which I can see is a real problem for a lot of people to deal with. Hopefully with this knowledge I can help more people get past these hurdles. IM