Watch: CrossFit workout with Hong Kong’s fittest brothers, the Haynes boys of Coastal Fitness
- Ed and Ant Haynes are well known within the city’s CrossFit community
- Former Hong Kong rugby sevens players square off in a friendly brotherly challenge at North Point gym
The movie features slick video footage and compelling stories about the two winners: Mat Fraser and Tia-Clair Toomey completing feats of strength that literally no one else in the world could do.
Haynes, the founder and head coach of North Point’s Coastal Fitness, said this is great for the Games and increasing its fan base as an event.
However, when it comes to the sport as a potential lifestyle choice, it may not be the best way for people to get initially exposed to the world of CrossFit.
“They see guys like Mat Fraser (two-time reigning world CrossFit Games champion) doing 50 pull-ups in a YouTube video, and they want to do that,” he said. “So in some ways all the exposure is creating unrealistic expectations.”
Haynes also coaches his younger brother, Ant, who finished 18th at last year’s CrossFit Regionals in the Pacific division and also played 15s rugby for Hong Kong.
Managing expectations when it comes to the sport is key and the last thing he and Ant (who is Coastal Fitness’ senior health and performance specialist) want to do is fuel unrealistic goals, he said.
“If someone comes to us saying I just want to be able to do competitive CrossFit even though my body’s not ready for it, then we’ll just recommend them to someone else,” he said.
Ed said most of the people who go to his gym just want to feel better physically as they move through demanding schedules and careers.
“I mean if you go on Netflix you can see Rich Froning winning the CrossFit Games five times, and so people have that connection of CrossFit being this crazy sport with really high complex movements.
“But that part really applies to about 1 per cent of the people who do CrossFit day in, day out. In our membership base, our competitor group probably makes up about 10 per cent, the majority of our clients are people who are just training for life and health.”
Haynes said they have had some great success stories, of where people originally came to the sport because of its exposure on YouTube (CrossFit’s official page has 1.3 million followers), where you can watch the giants of CrossFit work out three times a day, seven days a week, eating individually tailored meals alongside specific supplement regimes.
But Haynes said once people get over the craziness of what the elite athletes go through, they start to see the everyday benefits of doing functional fitness movements and being part of a tight-knit health and wellness community.
“We’ve had people come in after watching those CrossFit videos on YouTube and end up going full circle. Now they’re like, ‘Well, that’s not what I want anymore. I just want to feel good about my body and be healthy. I want to be able to go on vacation and sign up for all this cool stuff because I’m taking better care of myself.’ And so it’s kind of a natural evolution for them, and a win for us.”
