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May 2012 physique-mag.com

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CHALLENGERS ON A MISSION

INTERVIEW WITH ٿ�ٿ MARCUS SMITHUAE’s Fittest Man

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10WORKOUT MISTAKES

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RORY McCANN

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2012

interview

MAY 2012 | PHYSIQUE-MAG.COM 63

MARCUS SMITH

!e most unique thing about CrossFit is the annual Cross-Fit games which delivers the title to the winner of “Fittest on the planet”. A brave statement you may say but with the athletes asked to compete in events that could encompass anything the imagination can stretch to it is hard for one to debate otherwise. !e process to locate the "ttest human beings on the planet is divided into three parts. !e "rst part invites athletes from every corner of the world to take part in “!e Open” which is a 5 week process. During the open, athletes are given 1 workout per week and have just 4 days to submit a score either at their home box or by posting a video online. 2012 saw over 60,000 athletes from around the world enter the "rst stage of the competition and these athletes are split into the regions they emerge from. At the close of the 5 weeks the 60 top ranked male and female athletes are then invited to participate in a 3 day regional competition with the winners advancing to the "nal stages which are held in Los Angles in July. It is at this meeting where the "ttest will ulti-mately be crowned.

!e "nal is where local athlete and this month’s cover star has his sights "rmly set. Marcus Smith will travel to Seoul, Korea to participate in the Asian regional quali"cation process

CrossFit is defined by its founder as “constant-ly varied, high intensity, functional move-ment”, providing a very broad description for this sport which now sees more of its gyms

opening in main land USA than Starbucks. Simply put for the laymen, this sport encompasses skills ranging from Olympic weightlifting to gymnastics; it demands huge cardio vascular capacity and rarely sees a workout duplicated in the same calendar year. It has recently been marketed as “!e Sport of Fitness” and is there-fore no surprise that it usually takes place in a gym. But of course no ordinary gym, a CrossFit gym or “Box” (more commonly known to those involved in the sport) is a gym like no other, there are no mirrors, no machines, no TV screens, everyone trains together and the sense of camaraderie is 180 degrees from what can be found in commercial gyms of the 21st century.

UAE’s Fittest ManPhotos by Shabbeer NA

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on May 4th/5th/6th 2012 looking to book his place amongst the top 60 "ttest men on earth. Originally from England Marcus has lived in Dubai for a number of years and is perhaps better known to the com-munity for his success on the rugby "eld having represented the Dubai Exiles since the age of 17 and leading the Arabian Gulf Sevens and 15’s team on a number of occasions. Marcus bowed out of rugby at the age of 30 playing in the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2009 here in Dubai. One of the highlights of his career alongside his spectacular stint with the Gold Coast Breakers was in 2003 and 2004, it was 2004 which saw his team overcome all odds to raise the Queensland premier rugby title. Marcus is a high performance coach in Dubai and runs two performance brands in InnerFight which specializes in the enhanced physical performance and Inner Solutions delivering performance solutions to the corporate world.

Marcus was on hand to give the follow-ing insight into his journey in CrossFit and an outlook on his imminent trip to Korea:

How long have you been doing CrossFit?

!is is a funny one. A friend of mine called me 2 days before the competition started last year and told me to register. I had no real idea what I was getting myself into. I knew what CrossFit was but had had limited exposure. I thought, why not and signed up. I managed to make the re-gional quali"cations last year and "nished up 5th. I know this sport needed a lot of work; there were things in it I could not

I believe the human body is an unreal machine that we have all been blessed with so to set about testing our physical and mental limits has always appealed to me and I find I am able to do that through CrossFit

MAY 2012 | PHYSIQUE-MAG.COM 65

do which naturally frustrated me. I had a choice, to get better or not to! Giving up is not in my nature so for the last year I have spent hours studying the sport and the techniques, went and did the instruc-tors course and in a very short time have worked as hard as I can to develop.

Why are you doing this?When I stopped playing rugby I needed

a new focus, I needed a goal! My "rst goal was quite random too; a friend called me 3 weeks before the Dubai Marathon and asked me if I was keen to run it. Without thinking I said yes straight away, we went on 3 training runs and I did the marathon. From there I thought golf was a good idea so I started playing, set a goal of getting a handicap of 10 by the end of 2010, I achieved that by October and was looking for something else. Always being keen on "tness I started working hard on my "tness brand InnerFight so when I got the call in March 2011 to take part in CrossFit it was a no brainer. So why am I doing this? Two reasons. I think it’s always im-portant to have a goal and to be involved in a competition for "ttest in the world is a pretty special goal. Secondly I believe the human body is an unreal machine that we have all been blessed with so to set about testing our physical and mental limits has always appealed to me and I "nd I am able to do that through CrossFit.

What motivates you?I have a few di#erent motivators, my

family have always supported me in all my goals and helped me make sport and performance my life, my wife is my best friend and an amazing support, I o$en

I believe that I have done everything that I could have done to give me the very best chance of success in Korea. The interesting thing about being part of region Asia is that there is only one place up for grabs to get to the finals.

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wonder how di%cult it must be living with me and putting up with me. Something that never really leaves my mind is that we have been given a great chance in our lives to do something special and I want to make the most of that and just push myself as hard as I can and live life to the full.

What is your training schedule?Right now its a bit hectic. I am train-

ing 6 days a week and most days take me about 4 hours to get through. !at’s not saying that I am working hard out for 4 hours, due to the various elements of CrossFit; there are so many bases to cover and so many di#erent points to address. I am really lucky that I have a good support network to help me through my training, I have an awesome coach in Rob Downton from Raw Strength and Conditioning in Australia and I also have an invaluable resource in Danny Harrison the founder of Evolve who coaches me locally as well as Sean Penny from the Wellness Brothers who makes sure my nutrition is in order. Couple this with my long time mentor and all the guys that I train with day in day out and then add my family and wife on top and it makes things that much easier.

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So what does a “normal” day look like?

Ha ha. I wake up at 4:30 AM as I teach an InnerFight class at Evolve at 5:30 which gives me a lot of satisfaction brining more people into "tness and making them aware of improved performance. I then I have a second class at 6:15 which is with a bunch of guys who have been with me for years, they are awesome to work with and I o$en train with them. At 7:30 I have my breakfast and then get tucked into some admin before my second workout of the day at 10:30. 2 days a week I teach a class at 12:30, on the days I’m not teaching its lunchtime and some more work. A lot of my work is computer based, coaching people, designing success plans for people and researching to increase my knowl-edge. I normally hit my last workout of the day at 2pm and try to be home at 4 to spend some time with my wife. I am always ready for dinner by 6:30 and my wife is an awesome cook so its always a great meal when she is here. A$er dinner is down time,which normally consists of more reading and watching youtube! I love youtube, so much information, some work related but I also trawl for comedies and interesting clips. Sleep is a top priority so I make sure I hit my sleep goals which means being in bed by 8:30. I always sleep well; a nice cold shower before bed and set the room to 18 degrees, it’s a magic formula!

What is the key to success in CrossFit?

Well there are so many di#erent skills so you have to ensure you cover all bases the best that you can. Brute strength is a key factor too as this carries you in the tough times. However like I tell all the athletes and people that I work with you can work on the skills of your sport as much as you want, but there are two other key ingre-dients to success. !e "rst is what you do with yourself when you are not training as far as your nutrition, recovery and sleep go but more important than that is your mental capacity. As my brand InnerFight suggests I am a "rm believer that the body can achieve unreal things once you have trained your mind. CrossFit like a number of sports puts you under extreme physical pressure; dealing with the physical pres-

sure is a mental equation. I have seen it in so many athletes that when they work on their mental capacity their performance increases. In CrossFit all the top guys have a great skill set but what separates the best from the rest is their ability to cope mentally.

What do you think your chances are?

I believe that I have done everything that I could have done to give me the very best chance of success in Korea. !e interesting thing about being part of region Asia is that there is only 1 place up for grabs to get to the "nals. I must win in Korea to make LA or it’s all over

for another year. !at spurs me on that bit more and everything has been solely focused on winning in Korea for a long time now, that’s my goal and that’s all I care about and focus on.

What will you do when it’s all over for this year?

I have a whole list of goals that I want to achieve before the year is over. Strangely a few of these are endurance events, a few long runs in store with some of my mad endurance friends. Something that has been on the list for a while is the 500 meter rowing world record, I want to have a proper go at this, I have done it in 1:17:4 but am keen to knock a few seconds o# this and given the strength gains that I have made in the last year this is a goal I am keen to give some attention to! One thing is for sure, there always has been and always will be a goal that challenges me physically and more importantly mentally.

You can keep in touch with Marcus through his website blog www.inner!ght.com as well as through Facebook and Twitter (@inner!ght) during the compe-tition Marcus’s progress will be updated regularly on these platforms as well as with UAE Sport Guide.

Sleep is a top priority so I make sure I hit my sleep goals which means being in bed by 8:30. I always sleep well; a nice cold shower before bed and set the room to 18 degrees, it’s a magic formula!

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