Ed Haynes, Hong Kong’s top CrossFit mind , said the coronavirus pandemic has taught us a number of lessons about life, staying active and why we try to stay fit. Expecting the unexpected, in training, competing or simply exercising for personal reasons, is paramount, he said. “In a nutshell, number one, what Covid has taught us is you can’t plan for anything right now,” said the Coastal Fitness founder, who serves as its managing director and head of health and performance. “A lot of us had plans going into Covid that were taken away and a lot of us are in a position where we want to make plans but we just don’t know what the future is going to hold.” Haynes, a former Hong Kong rugby player, coaches the city’s top two CrossFit athletes, brother Ant and Tammi Robinson , who competes for her native South Africa. Haynes also looks after a number of top athletes, including a masters tennis player, multiple trail runners, ultramarathoners and professional rugby players. He also oversees more than a dozen employees at Coastal Fitness, more than 220 regular gym members and thousands of online followers who subscribe to the gym’s workout plan. Having to close down twice, and now having reopened since September, Haynes said it has been a journey of self-discovery for everyone. “Life was very different a year ago to what life is now, so the concept is you can’t compare apples to oranges. Life is what it is right now, it’s a clean slate with everything.” Did the CrossFit Games 2020 format deliver? At one point during the summer residents were forced outside to workout as all gyms and sports grounds were closed. Hongkongers were even required to wear masks while exercising, while outdoor public gym equipment was taped off. “Covid has been tough. A lot of people have come out of it in a worse place. They were probably dealing with a lot of issues anyway. But for the most part, it has been a really fantastic thing for the fitness community. What Covid has taught us is the importance of health.” Ant Haynes was especially hard hit. He came 27th at the 2019 CrossFit Games in his rookie appearance. The 31-year-old represented China and was tipped to improve upon his finish in 2020. However, CrossFit Inc. was forced to scale down the competition due to the pandemic, with only 30 men and 30 women making the first part of the final. The top 10 progressed to the championship in-person competition in California. Haynes said once he and his brother realised there wasn’t going to be any competitions, they set about tackling his main weakness as a competitor – overall strength and heavy lifting. “So now he’s okay with putting on a couple of extra pounds and being a bit heavier, and being a bit stronger because mass moves mass at the end of the day,” said Haynes. “And that’s happened because he’s been able to let go, and the biggest thing I’ve taken away from Covid regarding this with all the athletes is there is a difference between health, and health and performance.” Athletes regularly straddle a fine line between being healthy and being primed for a demanding competition, said Haynes. That is something his brother is used to, having competed in CrossFit since 2014, and having been a national rugby player. How to beat CrossFit king Mat Fraser? Forget the myth for a start Haynes is also working with an up-and-coming CrossFit athlete Isabell Wolfe, who moved to Hong Kong from the Philippines last year with the intention of making the 2020 CrossFit Games via her Taiwanese citizenship (CrossFit puts Hong Kong and Taiwan under China concerning its country champions). Wolfe, 26, said the initial shock of not being able to try to qualify for the Games was tough, but she was able to get through it under Haynes’ guidance. “Ed is very much a different coach than I have been used to,” said Wolfe, who is now a coach at Coastal Fitness. “And its been a hard, long journey for us to adjust to each other because I was the type of person who was, ‘Tell me what to do and I’ll do it’. And Ed is not that type of coach, he wants me to understand what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.” Wolfe said they broke down why she was getting so stressed out and clinging to an “all or nothing” type personality, and a lot of it stemmed from external validation and social media comparisons to other athletes. Wolfe said they were able to break down her mental shortcomings and rebuild her as a competitor and human being. “So that is something that we have really worked on this year, to be independent, to be able to understand myself and my goals and my values, and what makes me tick. And really form who Isabell is as a person before we tackle the athlete. One of the blessings of Covid was that we weren’t rushing from competition to competition, we could slow it down and go back to the basics.” Haynes said this has been one of his “lessons from Covid” that’s he’s been chronicling, a reminder that we are ultimately seeking personal happiness and fulfilment through exercise. “Covid reminded us why we train in the first place, and the reason we train is that we want to be healthy. We want to be able to do this for a really long time, and number two, we want to feel good about ourselves.”