You won Fit Brit with a few seconds separating you. If the weights were heavier do you think the outcome next year would be the same?
I think the times separating people would be greater as people would be tested on their strength endurance as well as speed endurance.
Canterbury proved to be a tricky course. How do you feel about the US competing at the same time?
Great idea, it's good to have some transatlantic rivalry. Get a few European countries on board and we can have a Ryder Cup
It was def much more explosive more than normal events with the rows and lower reps in weights and plyometrics. Did you like the new approach?
I think it's good to mix it up. I enjoyed the more explosive element and the faster pace of the competition as the other competitions follow a similar format to each other which focuses on endurance rather than speed. I think it offers a different aspect that fits in well with the series.
How has your gym reacted to your victory at Fit Brit and the UGA?
They are not aware of either victories, but then again I don't think they are overly interested in fitness.
A Series of events develops team building in gyms and something to train for. Would you agree?
Yes as long as there is the awareness and camaraderie in the gym. Classes designated to this type of circuit based training with publicised competitions to act as goals would help, but it relies on the fitness industry being on board.
Do you think the message about training smart and effective is reaching into gyms?
Not really. I can only really speak for the gym I train in but people do not generally train for performance; they train to look a certain way. I rarely see people who train weights and CV, and it's even rarer to see people train to failure or exhaustion. A lot of this may be that it seems pointless to train hard without having a goal to train for, but if I'm honest I think gyms will always cater to vanity over fitness because it targets a wider range of their client base. After all how many people want to put themselves through what we put ourselves through for the sheer hell of it. It could be argued that the fitness industry should take the lead in changing people's attitudes, but that's a brave move for an industry that relies on providing their clients with what they want rather than what they need.
The gym athlete has a future or not ? What would you like to see?
There will always be a niche market for people like us. The question is in expanding the appeal to a wider audience. To capture the average gym users there needs to be some support from the fitness industry to advertise and promote x-training by having circuit based classes and advertise the tiered competitions that allow people to start as a beginner and aspire to elite level. The other direction would be to entice athletes from other sports to compete. For this, however, the sport would need to be recognised and affiliated with a sporting body. Ideally both would be developed together but there are some obvious hurdles on both sides.
Do you think fit brit issue with the bike makes it a fair event?
Personally, no. The event becomes more about technique than fitness. Spinning also allows recovery which defeats the object of the competition. Having a fixed level without spinning makes the exercise uniform and consistent
Your cardio and strength are always tagging at one another - how do you know which to concentrate on?
I always train both but people respond to training in different ways and the key is finding a way that suits you. It took me a long time to concede the point, but training harder is not always better; respect needs to be paid to quality of sessions, especially when developing strength and speed. I tend to train pure strength work first followed by circuit training and/or cardio work, and I train quality cardio sessions on their own. I then tweak things depending on the upcoming competition.
As a free sport for gyms can you see growth in a future market?
Yes but would need the support of the fitness industry to advertise/promote the sport.
Elite gym athletes are a small market - the bulk would be the 'fun runner' type athlete - why do you think people are afraid of x training?
A fun run is easy to train for and has less pressure placed on it as you can disappear in the crowd without everyone being focused on you. X-training competitions are very different. Training is more complex and generally of a higher intensity, while competitions are head-to-head with the crowd all around you, adding to the pressure. The set-up of x-training breeds a competitive nature and it's people that possess this who enjoy it - a very different sentiment to that of fun running.
As the long winter nights draw in what better time to start thinking about training even harder in your own gym. Wet, windy, cold and miserable nights are no doubt on their way and it may be time to start thinking about training for another sport and actually competing in a sport in your own gym to keep you motivated - X Training. 
