Saying that Noel loves olympic lifting is an understatement but lately I have notice a different attitude and approach during workouts as well.
Getting faster every time, adding a little more weight on the bar not to mention his focus and extra gear he puts in every single workout.
Noel is not just about training he also knows how to have a good time, is positive and infectious attidute makes him a great addition to our awesome comunnity
Below his Noel`s journey in his own words
You moved to Melbourne from interstate and found CrossFit Metal Therapy after training elsewhere. What was it that drew you to CrossFit Metal Therapy?
After doing drop-ins and free trials at numerous boxes around where I work and where I live, the thing that drew me to CrossFit Metal Therapy was definitely the people. From the first drop-in, I knew this was a place I would enjoy coming to (hopefully) every day to train. You have to want to come to training and enjoy the company you're with, sweating it out day-in-day-out.
How did you first come to get into CrossFit? Tell us about your journey from beginning to now.
My older brother got me onto CrossFit. He was dabbling in it and showed me videos of the CrossFit Games way back in 2010. I bit the bullet and signed up for my first intro class in 2013. It didn't last long. I thought it wasn't for me. I thought I wasn't fit enough and I actually thought people were laughing at me trying to do the movements.
Fast forward another year and this time I watched the 2014 CrossFit Regionals and then the Games. I signed up again, and this time I let go of all my inhibitions and just took each day as it came. I learned new terms, new movements and made some great friends.
The feeling of belonging to a community, not only locally but globally, is something I've never been a part of. It felt good knowing that you weren't going through the workouts alone.
How important was the community at Metal Therapy after moving interstate, back to Melbourne?
I had only ever done CrossFit in Queensland, so when I moved back to Melbourne, I was a little apprehensive at joining a box. How are the facilities? How are the coaches? How are the members? All the normal things that go through your mind.
It was months since I had last trained at my old box, so finding the right box with the right people was so important. It meant I could get back into a routine and to commit myself to regular training. To call CrossFit Metal Therapy my new home was a relief. I was still living out of unpacked boxes for weeks, so to be able to have that sense of order back in my life again was a huge help.
Everyone in the box has noticed your commitment and growth lately. What has been your main personal focus and goals and what have you been doing to achieve them?
I had never been able to stick to an exercise plan or wasted money with gym memberships. It was a waste of time, I didn't hold myself accountable and thought I wasn't going be a top athlete of any kind so why bother?
It wasn't until clothes weren't fitting, I was easily out of breath doing normal activities and I started getting sick a lot more frequently. It's this old life, the old me that I never want to see again. While those things weren't the catalyst for me starting CrossFit, they're definitely the reasons that I'm still doing it.
I always strive to be a better person, I think we all do. I want to be successful at work and I want to live a great life and CrossFit gave me a reason to keep going - and it's so cliché, but it's so true!
CrossFit is exercise. Exercise makes me happy. More exercise makes me even happier. When I'm happy, everything just seems so much easier. Who doesn't want life to be easy?
You've been particularly driven when it comes to Olympic Lifting. Tell us about that. What is it about Olympic Lifting that you love? And what do you have in mind every time you come to a class?
I had never even thought in a million years I would be so drawn to Olympic Lifting. I've seen it here and there when the Olympics were on but never took any notice.
Not until I started CrossFit that my love for lifting grew. It was mailing my first snatch with only the barbell. It felt so heavy and it felt like my shoulders were going to crumble. But I pushed and I fought so hard to stand that mother f**ker up. I did it. It felt amazing.
I love the fact that in order to succeed it is up to you to string everything you learn from foundations until now together to be able to produce a perfect lift - I use the term perfect lightly as I don't think you can ever have a perfect lift. You never stop learning with Olympic Lifting. There is always something that you can learn and improve on. The smallest cue, the slightest imbalance and the resulting lift can be drastically different to your last.
Each time I come to class, I always think Technique, Speed and Strength. They all play an important part in lifting and without one, the other two suffer. It's this balance that I'm drawn to.
To execute a lift and for a heavy bar to feel weightless for an instant - that's the feeling I love chasing.
What about the WODing? Do you approach the WODs and the Olympic Lifting differently? Do you have different goals and intentions when you step foot into a CrossFit class compared to Olympic Lifting?
I'd like to think I don't treat WODs differently, but I have to be honest and I do approach them quite differently. While I think I'm quite proficient in Olympic Lifting, the same can't be said for WODing.
My mate cardio and I have never been good friends. It's something that I want to change. I want us to be good friends. Great friends in fact.
I know my limits and I know what I'm capable of so I scale accordingly. I always thought that scaling a workout meant you were cheating yourself. I learned very quickly not to try and Rx everything - that's a huge mistake that I learned the hard way.
There are movements that I can't do which are where my goals are focused on. I want to be able to complete each CrossFit movement unassisted.
If you could identify the biggest positive change in you since you started at Metal Therapy, what would that be?
The biggest positive change I have made since joining the team would have to be making time to train. I used to use work as an excuse so even though I've been signed up to a CrossFit box since 2014, I hadn't really been training very much. It was irregular and sometimes I would go weeks without training.
Allowing myself to put aside a couple of hours for myself each day has been something I've never been able to do successfully. I guess it helps that my current job is a little bit more flexible than my last, but it's the commitment to myself and the accountability I place on myself that really drives me to keep time to do things that make me a better version of myself.
You're a vivacious guy who loves to live life to the fullest. How important is it, as an athlete, for you to have that balance?
So important! I can't express how important it is. The need to have balance in my life is what lead me to leave my career as a chef behind. Don't get me wrong, the chef in me still loves to cook and eat.
Part of the reason I train hard is that I love food. A little too much. I want to be able to eat what I want when I want. I don't want to ever restrict myself because I know if I do, that's when I fail. But by having a balance, I'm not putting boundaries on myself.
We've all got that one movement that makes us groan. What's yours?
If you can call running a movement, it's definitely running! Enough said. Ha ha.
What's are your other favourites and what's to love about them?
Double unders. Annie was the first "Girl" that I completed Rx. Double unders were the one movement I could master early on.
Shoulder to overhead. When you get the touch and go right, it feels like you could go all day.
Snatch. It's a movement that is so difficult to do and requires every bit of your body working to keep that damn bar above your head while in a full depth squat. When you get it, if feels fricken amazing!
Time to dig into that vivacious character of yours, Noel........
.... if you could design your own sort of Utopia, what would that Utopia look like and why?
Where eating chocolate isn't bad for you and not having to stretch so much before a workout.
.... if money were no limit, what changes would you make to your life and why?
I would experience all the world has to offer. Culture, experiences and food. Oh, and have a home gym so I could train when the box was closed.
.... if you were a superhero, what would your costume be and why?
I would have a suit of armour that was as light as a feather but as strong as titanium. And a cape - just because.
.... if your life could be summed up in a movie, what movie would best sum it up and why?
The Fifth Element. The underlying fact that good always prevails. As long as you have the right people around you, you can always succeed.
.... if you could create a TV channel that doesn't exist but should, what would that TV channel be and why?
Food P*rn. Food that is so mouth-watering and so amazing that you just can't take your eyes off the TV.
.... if you could pick one age to permanently be, what age would that be and why?
27. Young enough to know, but old enough to know better.
.... if you had to write a 10 am note to yourself after a Saturday night, what would that note say and why?
"I told you so!"
.... if you had to give a 40-minute presentation on something without any preparation at all, what topic could you do it on and why?
A beginners guide to Olympic lifting. It's something that I'm passionate about and can talk to anyone about it who'll listen.
You can see into the future, what does the future version of NOEL look like?
A little bit more endurance. More Stamina. A lot more Strength. A little bit bigger and a lot more toned. More of a beachbod than a dadbod.
In the middle of a WOD, what animal would best represent you?
Cheetah. Fast through the gates but run out of gas halfway through. So the last half is a big struggle to get done.
I need a new animal :(
You've been asked to write a sales pitch for CrossFit. How would you pitch it?
Don't judge it before you try it. Give CrossFit a genuine go without any preconceptions of what you've heard what it might be or what it could be. Then once and only once you've given it that chance, then you can then be the judge for yourself.
CrossFit Inc. decided to name and design a WOD in your honour. What would the 'Noel' WOD be?
"NOEL"
50 Double Unders
50 Ab-mat Sit Ups
6 Clean and Jerks** (40/60 kg)
6 Snatches** (40/60 kg)
40 Double Unders
40 Ab-mat Sit Ups
6 Clean and Jerks** (40/60 kg)
6 Snatches** (40/60 kg)
30 Double Unders
30 Ab-mat Sit Ups
6 Clean and Jerks** (40/60 kg)
6 Snatches** (40/60 kg)
20 Double Unders
20 Ab-mat Sit Ups
6 Clean and Jerks** (40/60 kg)
6 Snatches** (40/60 kg)
10 Double Unders
10 Ab-mat Sit Ups
6 Clean and Jerks** (40/60 kg)
6 Snatches** (40/60 kg)
**Can be Power or Squat