To start the new year, we've caught up with Again Faster Athlete, our good mate and Strongest Man in CrossFit, Royce Dunne.
Royce is in the game for quite some time now, but just made his first trip to the Games as an individual in 2018 after being on the CrossFit Torian Team in 2016.
Read what Royce has to say about the recent changes in the CrossFit world, the new format, his goals and what these infamous debriefs are about.
Follow Royce on Instagram - @roycey_boy
My performance at regionals. This obviously resulted in me making the Crossfire Games, a huge goal achieved and a lifelong experience and memory - but it was the execution of my game plan, the roar of the crowd as my name was announced and all the hard work of the last few years of training coming together for a result that made that weekend truly special for me.
Buying our ‘first’ home. My wife Laurie and I purchased and moved in to out new home together and are super excited to create our own little life there together - including nurseries for the kid(s) and a home gym of course!
Our second boy on the way! We are expecting our second child in lat May of 2019 and this marks our final time getting pregnant (intentionally!) and so our little family will soon be complete.
The changes to the season are a good thing long term I think. It opens up the sport, empowers private organisations and creates a more strategic season. I think there is more potential this way than the old process.
That being said… Regionals was super special and will be missed. Not to mention that the first year with any big change was always going to feel messy and uncomfortable - that’s life! Take this year as it comes and look to see most of the kinks smoothed out and streamlines for 2020!
First event for me is Wodapalooza - my goals are to have a good showing in Miami, soak up the experience and keep myself up at that level. So far this will be my only event as individual, but obviously also doing the Open.
After WZA I'm taking a serious run at Team Games qualification in the remaining season with Torian. ACC on the Gold Coast, Shanghai Sanctional, DUCC in Wollongong.
I’ll be traveling alone so I’ll be able to just sleep as much as possible! But really there’s no magic pill. I’ll get as many calories in as possible and stay hydrated by the reality is it’s going to be brutal. This is the dark side to the new season - events are going to clash a lot!
If you had to pick absolutely only 5 pieces of gear here’s what you need:
First: a pair of dumbbells, I recommend 15-20kgs for guys or 10-15kgs for girls. They are so versatile and easy to store and there are so many things you can do with just that.
Next I would grab a plyo box. Plyo metrics are so important for developing athletic skill and also staving off the side effects of ageing. Keeping the fast twitch muscles moving is key to quality of life. Not to mention to can use the ploy box for scaling up or down other movements with increased or decreased range of motion or complexity of movement.
Third on the list would be a skipping rope. Coordination, endurance, stamina, agility and mental acuity. The rope does it all! Easy to store, can use it anywhere and can achieve a serious workout in a few minutes!
Fourth to get would be a mountable pull-up bar. Gymnastics skills are critical for avoiding injury and core strength is something you’ll need in literally every aspect of life. You could expand the pull-up bar to include some resistance bands and a set of wooden rings to round out your potential arsenal of gymnastics drills and movements at your disposal.
Last, but not least, I would pick up a barbell and a set of bumpers. Strength is something we can never have too much of! The barbell was designed purely with the purpose of making humans as strong as possible in as many ways as possible.
If you have a budget work through my list in the order I’ve written - if you have the cash grab it all at once and see your fitness and quality of life skyrocket!
My debriefs are legendary. Infamous you could say. The most debriefed person on earth is my long suffering training partner and best friend CJ Walker. We’ve waxed lyrical many a time of training techniques, programming subtleties and workout strategies. April Hering would be a close second but she generally has the rashness to cut me off where CJ will humour me out of politeness! Stay tuned for my podcast where I rant about literally anything for an hour at a time (LOL)
It would be my Sons. I look at guys like Rich Froning and Josh Bridges as great examples of father figures who lead by example and are actively involved in coaching and developing their kids. Teaching them the life lessons that will lead to their success and happiness. I can’t wait to be able to talk with my sons about things like why getting up after failure is important and persistence and determination, regardless of the result etc. This sport teaches as so much and helps make us better humans. I want to share that with them when they are older.