| How long have you been doing X Training? |
Since Jan 2004 - my first event was the International Ultrafit Champs in Bahrain, where I managed to come 7th, narrowly avoiding melting in the searing heat, because some joker thought it was a good idea to have the event outside. He didn't compete himself!
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| What changes have you seen? |
 Many of the top boys in the Open event have sadly retired or moved abroad.
We've seen some great web sites appearing like the UKXTA, which provides ranking and a standardised event called the Octathalon, and worldgymchallenge.com with it's excellent sortable results section and the worldgymchallenge challenge , which is another great standardised event where gym members can compare their results with the best in the world.
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| Steve racing Steve Watts at Best of the Best in Dubai 2007. |
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| How should your gym respond to X Training? |
For a start it would be good if they took an interest!
Fitness First sometimes does have club wide competitions, but they are very poorly attended, at least at my gym. I'm usually the only one who enters.
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| Are there any gym instructors or Personal Trainers at your gym that could compete? |
| Of course, although I think they may be scared of under performing. Some just suffer from excuseitis. |
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| 10 years from now – where will the sport be? |
I would like to see X Training as a major part of every gym and schools, with people competing regularly.
One of the things that would make it more exciting is real time scoreboards with Concept 2 style electronic score boards which can be seen by huge crowds and also on the web.
I would also like to see competitions and National Championships all round the world, European and World Championships and eventually inclusion in the Olympic program.
To do this it needs to get a much higher profile in the UK and especially overseas, TV coverage and ranking tables with 1000's of names . |
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| What have been your major achievements? |
1st Dubai Masters Best of the Best
1st Best of the Best Masters 2006
1st - Superstars 2007
1st Calso Masters 2008
Consistent top 5 ranking the UK Masters
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| Who do you look up to in the sport? |
Hywel Davies, Cassius Frankson, & Nik Kandola - all class acts. I'm also impressed by the new boys Sam Orgee and Jason King. From the masters Rob Volpe and Kirk Gibbons - for winning pretty much every event they entered. Also from the Vets, Steve Watts and Gary Nicholls. I hope I can be as fit as them when I am 50+ . From the girls Jacqui Macquisten & Michelle Parsons - top professionals and highly knowledgeable about training for X - Training.
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| Steve at the Health Club Games . |
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| If you could race against anybody in the Sporting world who would it be? |
| I'd love to race Daly Thompson - would be interesting to see how fit he is nowadays. Would have also been interesting to see what times he would have been able to do over a x Training challenge when he was an Olympic Champion and world record holder in the Decathlon. |
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| What is your average day for training? |
 I train every other day and rarely train for more then an hour. A typical day would be 3 x circuits of 5 consecutive stations with 3 minutes rest in between. |
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| What advice would give to any one new to the sport? |
| Practice training with heavier weights and more reps then in competitions, and with strict reps, otherwise you've had it on the day |
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Thanks to Steve for putting his views across about X Training and it's future.
If you have a view or an opinion please contact info@worldgymchallenge.com and let us publish your thoughts on this great sport. |
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