When Jaguar Fitness was launched 2 years ago, the idea was to help people facing the challenge of safely, conveniently and affordably achieving their fitness goals during the pandemic, and for me to make a little extra income to survive the corresponding tough times. I also had a long-term vision of building a business which would provide a stable financial future for my family. Since then, thanks to the support of our loyal customers, and my loving wife and family, the business is going strong and continues to grow. This journey has not been easy, and trying to balance the demands of family (wife and two children), full time job and a side line business has presented numerous challenges. With only 24 hours in a day, it is very difficult to perform at 100% in every aspect of our lives, and inevitably one ends up having to make sacrifices. Often, as in my case, this is health and fitness. I am so busy in the day, and so exhausted in the evenings, that I reduce or eliminate the exercise from my day. In addition, I do not dedicate enough time to make healthy meals, rather opting for food options which offer convenience at the expense of a good nutritional profile. These choices have led to a decrease in lean muscle mass and cardiovascular fitness, and an increase in unnecessary fat mass, resulting in a body condition which I am unhappy with.
Which brings me to our exciting announcement for 2023! To combat this problem, and set myself a tough challenge, I have decided to enter an Ironman 70.3 Event in the second half of 2023. For those of you not familiar with this format of triathlon race, it consists of a 1.9km open water swim (ocean, river, lake etc), followed by a 90km cycle, and rounded off with a 21.1km (half marathon) run. There are cut off times for each discipline, which add up to give the athlete a total of 08h30 to complete the race. Having completed both Durban and East London 70.3 events in 2019, I am very familiar with the challenges that lie ahead, and what to expect. For my 3rd attempt at this format of the Triathlon race, I will also be ticking off one of my personal bucket list challenges which is to compete in an international Ironman Event. Therefore, I will be choosing a race in Europe for this challenge. In order to prepare for this mammoth athletic feat, the rough plan is to do the following:
- Exercise for 30-60 minutes per day, for at least 5 days per week, up until 12 weeks before the race, to build base fitness and improve overall condition.
- Follow a structured 12-week training program in preparation for race day.
- Improve nutritional habits to reduce processed foods and alcohol and increase the consumption of healthier, whole foods.
- Ensure that my body weight is conducive to a favourable performance in the race.
Since time is often limited, we have created a mini training space at home to facilitate cardio and basic resistance training on days when going to the gym are not practical. You can watch the room transformation video here. Once I have chosen my race, I will go into more detail about the four points outlined above. We will also track my body transformation, discuss the shortcomings and challenges experiences whilst trying to achieve my goals on this journey and how I manage, or plan to, overcome them. If you want to keep up to date with my progress, please like and follow our Facebook here, or Instagram here, or sign up to our newsletter in the website footer below. If you are looking to build your own home gym, please browse through our website and have a look at the wide range of home gym equipment we have on offer.
In the next instalment, we will discuss the plan to achieve my desired weight for race day, so stay tuned and enjoy the journey with me!