Five workouts, rain, a delayed start and a 117.5 kg personal best. Turf Games delivered but the biggest lesson came from recognising the people who made it possible for me to compete.

In Mere Mortals in Motion #42, I recap the weekend’s competition on the Gold Coast, including a clean followed by two push presses at 117.5 kg in the rain.

More than anything, this episode is about my wife and the support behind the scenes: looking after our girls, taking our oldest to gymnastics and driving down with a migraine so the family could watch me compete.

We notice the training and the performance. It’s easy to overlook the effort that gives us the opportunity to do either.

I also share what comes next: easing back on the running and rowing, returning to powerbuilding and bodybuilding, and giving myself some room before choosing the next big challenge.

Who helps make your goals possible? Give them a thank you and let me know in the comments.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Turf Games weekend recap
00:21 Five workouts and a rainy start
01:18 A 117.5 kg PB in the rain
01:43 The people who make it possible
03:00 Saying thank you and planning for support
03:25 What’s next: powerbuilding and a reset 

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 I’m officially into peak week for Turf Games.

The strange thing about peak week is that sometimes the hardest thing to do is… less.

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Why do I get up ridiculously early to train?

Yes, part of it is practical. It’s often the only way I can get my training done while still creating space in the morning for my wife, my daughters and everything else that matters.

But there’s another reason I’ve come to appreciate more and more:

Solitude.

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 Motivation → Commitment → Discipline.

Motivation gives you the goal.
Commitment gives you the reason why.
Discipline turns it into actions, habits and systems.

00:00 A very early Tuesday morning
00:40 Motivation, commitment and discipline
01:15 What actually motivates me
02:15 Goals, identity and the person you want to become
02:35 Why motivation eventually fails
03:15 Commitment: finding your why
04:00 How becoming a dad changed my why
05:25 Turning goals into discipline
06:00 Systems beat willpower
06:25 The simple habits behind my mornings
07:20 When discipline becomes automatic
07:40 Applying the system to running 

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For me, Monday mornings are different.

I’ll get up earlier than usual, do my writing, get to the gym around 4AM, train, run or ride, get some work done — and still be home before the normal day really begins.

Am I absolutely cooked by 3 or 4PM? Yep.

But there’s something about starting Monday with intent that seems to change the cadence of the entire week.

This isn’t really about 4AM wake-ups.

It’s about finding your window. That part of the week where you deliberately get ahead, do the things that matter to you and create some momentum before life starts pulling you in every direction.

For me, that’s Monday morning.

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 A 10 km Sunday morning run turned into a reminder of something very simple:

It’s a privilege to be able to move.

00:00 – A 10 km Sunday morning run
00:51 – Experimenting with sprint/walk intervals
01:45 – Using heart rate instead of distance
02:49 – New running shoes & paying for quality
03:44 – Training after weeks of sickness
05:08 – Taking the headphones off
05:27 – Gratitude for movement, family & health
05:53 – Make room for movement 

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Training gets you stronger physically, but, as I get older, I’m increasingly convinced its biggest value is mental.

After a big gym session and a 4 km run in fresh shoes, I reflected on why I keep training with such consistency: it helps me meet the rest of life with more energy, resilience and capability.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s finding movement you genuinely enjoy, then building a cadence you can maintain through poor sleep, busy family seasons, stress and the normal messiness of life.

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After 16 years of bodybuilding, powerlifting, running, cycling, Olympic lifting and CrossFit-style training, I am finally getting clearer on what actually works for my body.

The answer is not one perfect discipline.

My goal for the next 12 months is to become jacked, fit, fast, healthy and capable. That means returning to varied hybrid training, preparing for the Turf Games, continuing Olympic lifting, increasing my running, potentially adding swimming and finally taking mobility and prehab seriously again.

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Why do we keep abandoning worthwhile goals for something newer and more exciting?

After finishing a leg session, I found myself thinking about two connected ideas: the way you do one thing is often the way you do everything and one of the greatest threats to a goal is the temptation to chase another one.

00:00 Two ideas from today’s training
00:23 The way you do one thing
01:00 Training for ego versus longevity
01:59 Intent, mechanics and avoiding injury
02:48 Setting the next annual goals
03:10 The wrong kind of temptation
03:48 Why I abandon training phases
04:07 Choose a goal you can finish

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The marathon is finished. There is no new race on the calendar. Yet, for some reason, I keep putting on my shoes and heading into the darkness.

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