The Fit Brit Challenge 2010

Men's Fitness magazine have again launched Fit Brit, the search to find the UK's fittest Gym Member through their magazine and in cooperation with Fitness First. So it seemed only fitting that the UK GCA should try the revamped challenge and see how challenging it was.

Due to the poor set up of the previous challenges Men's Fitness have sat round the table and decided to include more adapted challenges that make cheating hard to do. The previous challenge had a good run of disciplines, but with dumbbell bench press and curl and press dumbbell lifts, it was always going to be a struggle to get a serious event off the ground. Having said that the challenge itself was a great introduction to X Training and Men's Fitness have firmly put their interest in adapting to this sport. I think though in all fairness, they would would agree, the challenge is certainly for the masses and versatile in its construction so the weights in the bench, shoulder and squat are not challenging enough  for the more advance Gym Athlete, and you would have to look at maybe Dubai - The Ultimate X Training Challenge, run by Fitness First or World Gym Challenge to hit on a more acceptable weight category.

The gym I use, Medway Park is currently undergoing a major £11 million refit and as such setting up the challenge was a bit difficult. I chose a quiet time and to the best of my ability tried not to interfere in any way with other gym users. Mark a personal trainer remarked on the challenge and said he was interested in giving it a go. We will wait and see? Just previous to my attempt I did phone up my local Fitness First to see if they were running The Fit Brit - after a bit of discussion, they were running it but couldn't give me much details and maybe if I tried again later, they would know more.

So its back to deep breathing and mentally preparing yourself for another gym challenge - get used to a strange few odd looks as you go around this course - you can't look cool - you can't pose, no time to look in the mirror - its get it done time and as quick as you can.

The Row

Most experienced Gym Athletes do not go hell for leather on the row - they take it easy 'ish' .I started off on 1:48 split and then eased into a 1:55 finish to give me legs for later on. Its a standard start and gets the body in good prep for the next seven disciplines.

Shoulder Press

A bit tricky to set up as there was no way of guaranteeing the bench in upward position in my gym and so I had prepared 7 risers and a Reebok bench to carry out the exercise on. After finishing the row it was a bit of a travel (the next room) to sit and start on the shoulders. The weight in this category is not a problem and I was able to complete in one hit, which is something I can't do in the heavier more established X Training Challenges - especially the notoriously hard Gorton Grueller in May at Fitness First Gorton with the classic 60 shoulders at 25 kg .... hello , then you have arrived at a X Training Challenge! But as I said earlier a challenge for the masses has to be achievable on all levels and the shoulder press is a good exercise.

Bench Jumps (Bunny Hops)

A little confusing in the descriptive terms on the web site - it says thirty. Gym Athletes would take this as 60 jumps over the bench as both feet landing on either side count as one - so that's what I did. As with the world gym challenge, these exercises are completed in moderation and are taxing on just about everything especially the shoulders. I used the Reebok steps (x7 ) which again is standard X Training height for this exercise. I was again able to complete this exercise without stopping.

Bike

Visually where X Training struggles to be entertaining to watch is at the bike stage - its a bit like watching Dom Joley on an upright bike in traffic behind him and until monitors are brought in to visualise the distance completed - X Training will struggle to be entertaining to a crowd who may like to watch an event, as basically its dull to watch someone cycle and go no where - especially at 3 km pace. So personally I would have preferred a less of a distance especially when I was half way through the discipline with my legs high in lactic and pedaling between 110 - 120 rpm on level 10 of Life Fitness Bike and breathing out of my arse! Remember you are only half way. There is no level restriction so you can choose how you want to play this - and I suggest finding out what level is good for you way before the August deadline for entry.

Bench Press

Leaving the bike and traveling to the next room for the bench press is time consuming for me - I was doing this challenge by myself and setting up the weights is just luck if they are available - so I was relieved to find the 20 kg bar still next to the Reebok steps (x7) The bench press is something of a nonsense, it is too easy and not challenging enough. Thirty reps at 20 kg is just never going to be difficult.  So we move onto where this challenge proves interesting and I ask myself, did these guys put the bench at such a low weight to give a possible breather of sorts - because believe me the final three stations is where it all happens.

Box Jumps

The gym hasn't got a Reebok deck, so I reduced the steps to 4 risers plus a bench. There was a bit of a crashing sound as I frantically built the right height and began jumping on top of the bench. It hurts at this level and I managed it in one hit.

Squats

The Ultimate X Training Challenge in Dubai and Alex Woods (The Edinburgh X Training Challenge) both have these disciplines and they are a first for me in competition. Like many other Gym Athletes I do not train the legs enough enough for the sport. I may run bike and row a lot , but squats, leg press, dead lift I tend to leave to leave out of training ( I know I should train more on these) so It's no surprise really when suddenly I'm hit with the - you know what , you have a problem here. I did struggle massively on the squats. After the jumps (which are pretty draining) I found my weakness for this event and something which between now and August I can work on - more motivation!

Treadmill

After struggling with the squats the thought of running a thousand meters on a treadmill is not very nice, in fact as I started at a meager pace of just 10 kph I was thinking to myself , I know I'm in for some severe pain here - and with that thought in mind its knuckle down and embrace it. There is no way I am going to quit and I want to finish in a reasonable time, so with a quick look at my Suunto Heart Rate monitor I decide to start pushing the boat out for me - by 500 m Im running at 15 and by 700 m 16 by the last 150 m I'm doing 17.4 - My heart rate is near to max with a finish at 171bpm (max 178) and I then finish .... only Gym Athletes know what it feels like to finish an event - whatever event its a truly rewarding experience. And I embraced the slow return to normality with a mild satisfaction that in under 20 min's I had a complete work out .

Conclusion.

I am never going to win Fit Brit - the winning time will be far quicker , but anyone of the guys listed below - if the weights were more challenging , I guarantee you ,would certainly win it.

World Gym Challenge - Ultimate Gym Athlete Leader Board

They are the WGC Elite Gym Athletes in the UK right now and for the majority of the last 15 years have been competing in X Training. And you will notice they are all from the UK - as this is where the sport of X Training originated.

I don't compete to win. I compete for two reasons.

1. For a personal goal. It has to be specific, measurable,attainable,and realistic and for me that is X Training.

2. The second reason I compete is to marvel at the incredible fitness levels of those above , whom I am in total admiration of and have achieved ranking status in the World Gym Challenge as the fittest people in Gym Based Sports today.