And so it begins, the World Gym Challenge. The initiative taken on by WGC.com to take X Training before the eyes of Sport England and say this sport  exists and we the Gymathlete would like recognition for it please.

The event was as much a new era for the sport as Sport England would expect. Of the past events that have happened none have had the varied race pattern of the competitor racing each other – this event is based on the Gym Fit Challenge database and it means that when people race each other on the day they are racing each other of equal Gym fitness. Not only that but when there is an advantage over one competitor to the next – the database enables racing to be started with a time differential enabling absolute racing that is guaranteed to as exciting to watch as the very first race.

The first event ever at Gymxtc had husband and wife Amber and Nelson race each other – they are both fiercely competitive and love X Training and have been competing for years. The gym that they train at is not too supportive of X Training  as sport but if they could see the training and preparation that had gone into this race I think their views may change a bit – a Gym Challenge – using the equipment in a Gym – why on earth the gym they belong to are unsupportive? It’s a mystery because when the words race on were mentioned Amber set off determined to race her heart out and be there at the finish line to congratulate her husband who would obviously just be finishing trailing behind ! Nelson on the other hand had somewhat other plans !

This was good for the sport, it brings in another dimension, opens the field to so many possibilities, and so the very first race of the Orbital (GymXTC 2008) set off with another new initiative taken on by WGC to bring X Training to the public eye.

As you would expect from a typical X - Training race weaknesses and strengths are the common element in any race – some are great cardio specialists and some love the weights, but with only eight stations and all of them pretty well draining every inch of strength as you go along the course – this sport soon wealds out the men from the boys so to speak. Nelson a proficient and accomplished X Trainer racing his wife Amber who does this for the motivation and love of the sport;  would be the first to admit that X – Training is her passion and she loves the degree of intensity to which she is comfortable in training – whereas Nelson is a madman – loves it and will do everything he can do get that all important time as small as possible. The two progressed down the course with Nelson as ever catching the heels of his wife just as they started the treadmill which unfortunately for Amber is Nelsons strongest and probably Amber’s weakest discipline – Nelson took the speed up on the treadmill finishing on a 18 kph sprint overtaking his wife who was constant 10 kph all the way and finishing just five seconds short of the all important Premier status in a time of 15:05

  after … well lets go on to say as big a hug as possible from Nelson when he had eventually recovered from the crash mat, where I think the phrase is “ I am very tired and would like a moment to recover please ” is often used , that phrase has been  used in other forms of expletives , but Im pretty sure this was the one Nelson used today?  – husband and wife training together in a gym and now racing each other – it was an incredible opening to the new phase of X Training.