HOW TO JOIN THE FITSPO MOVEMENT, IF ONLY FOR A WEEKEND

So what if the most exercise you get is racing home to watch The Bachelor? Not everyone is an athlete but you can look and act like one on the Gold Coast. If you can’t make it, then why not fake it? Craig Tansley looks at how you can carry on like a fitspo fanatic even if you’re far, far from it…

A DAWN SESSION

Perhaps you actually want to become supremely fit? The best bloke to help you get there is Gold Coast local and six-time Australian Ironman Champ Trevor Hendy (considered the fittest athlete on Earth in the early ‘90s). Try aquatic and ocean training (swimming, SUPs, breath training and so on) one-on-one with him. Or if that sounds too tough, he offers life coaching too: he’ll coach you through issues holding you back, even emotional ones. More chat, less catching big dumpers onto the shore in the near-dark… that sounds easier! Check out why Trevor loves his home here.

BREAKFAST BASICS

The most important meal of the day – so don’t blow it. The Gold Coast is the home of the acai bowl – acai berries were first brought to Australia from the Amazon by local Dwayne Martens in 2009, who started the health company, Amazonia. Now you won’t find a single Gold Coast café which doesn’t sell one (particularly on the southern Gold Coast). They’re a Gold Coast institution. Sit down in your training gear to a bowl of acai with banana, coconut and strawberry, and everyone will think you’re an athlete. Some of the best acai bowls on the Gold Coast can be found at Niche & Co, which has relocated to Tugun.

A WHOLESOME FUEL-UP SHOPPING SESSION

Don’t get out of your gear, take a 15 minute drive from Tugun to the new spiritual home of organic and biodynamic fruit and vegetables – Currumbin Valley. Your insides will be functioning just like a supreme athlete’s, even if your outsides don’t. Take the turn-off to Tomewin Street for the best view on the Coast across the Hinterland at Freeman’s Organic Farm. David Freeman’s family has owned this farm for over 100 years; he’s so proud of the soil he actually eats it. Ask him for a taste, it’s not bad. At the end of Currumbin Valley, pick your own biodynamic fruit and vegetables at Currumbin Valley Harvest. Usain Bolt, eat your heart out.

SPICE UP YOUR WORKOUT ROUTINE

Exercise can be so boring, right? Painful too, and lonely, and sweaty, and… need I go on? So if you want to go beyond simply eating like an athlete, why not try something revolutionary, and interesting. Go for yoga with a Gold Coast twist – called aerial yoga at Yoga Shed, Mermaid Waters which fuses yoga, pilates, gymnastics and dance as you’re suspended upside down from the ceiling in silk hammocks. Sounds sexy, but doesn’t look it, believe me.