SNACK SIZED - WORKOUTS

Purpose-built for the busy man, micro workouts could make you stronger, fitter and more mobile. The best part? You can do them in self-isolation and integrate them into your working day

- LUKE BENEDICTUS

LURKING BENEATH James Newbury’s blond dreadlocks is a mighty athlete. A national CrossFit champion who’s been named “Australia’s fittest man” four times, Newbury finished fifth in last year’s world CrossFit Games. Years of testing himself against psychotically tough competitors mean that he’s not easily wowed by mortal feats of physical prowess. But the 29-year-old still remembers one man whose pound-for-pound strength left a gobsmacking impression.

Ten years ago, Newbury was pushing to become a semi-pro rugby league player in Brisbane. One of his teammates in the South Brisbane Magpies Under-20s was Toby Hook, a guy Newbury had known from back home in Adelaide. But something had happened – Hook had undergone a dynamic transformation. “When I met him again, Toby looked a lot bigger and a lot more shredded – his shoulders were huge,” Newbury recalls. “I was amazed at how strong his upper body was in comparison to mine. I used to crush myself in the gym – a lot more than he did – but he was always so much stronger.”

Hook weighed around 84kg but could comfortably bench-press 160kg. He could also bang-out 30 strict handstand push-ups with ease. “He’d just got much stronger than everyone else in the team.”

The secret of the man’s power wasn’t down to steroids, plyometrics or drop-sets. His mythical strength, in fact, stemmed from a more prosaic source: Hook had started working as a bricklayer. “He put it down to constantly lifting and moving stuff around throughout his day,” Newbury says. “Lifting the bricks gave him really good grip strength while picking up wheelbarrows gave him a good deadlift, too.”