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Participants Serena Coxwell and James Kelly have overcome fierce competition to be named champions at the second annual Premium Lifestyle Clubs (PLC) Functional Games, held last month in Brisbane.

The Games pit PLC’s top-performing members against each other as they race against the clock to complete punishing high-intensity workouts in the fastest possible time. To qualify, Coxwell and Kelly both had to complete a qualifying workout, which was held at all PLC clubs in October. The workout, which had to be completed in under 12 minutes, included rounds of functional moves such as box jumps, medicine ball tosses and deadlifts, and only the top six performers from each club made it through.

Commenting on her participation in the qualifying event, Coxwell stated “it gave us a little taste of what the Games would be all about.

“They kept the weights quite light for the qualifier, but we knew it was going to get worse!”

The Games themselves certainly proved to be far more challenging, with heats were held on Saturday 15th December and the semi-finals and finals held on the Sunday of that weekend.

Kelly, a veteran of F45 competitions, found the event to be an eye-opener, noting “I’ve been competing in fitness competitions for a couple of years now, and it was by far the most vigorous and competitive fitness competition I’ve been a part of.”

The male and female heats involved a similar workout to the qualifying event, but with heavier weights, however, things got a lot more serious on the second day. To make things more challenging, competitors were only informed of the workouts they were to perform around an hour before each one was held.

Coxwell advised “you could see the equipment out, so you had a bit of an idea, but you didn’t know rep numbers or how many rounds you were doing, or what time cap you had.”.

While the qualifying event and the heats had a rep scheme that reduced by five in each round, the semi-finals switched things up, increasing reps by five with each round.

She added “I was more nervous about the semi-final than the final.

“Going up in rep range in the semi was more of a mental challenge for me, so by the time I got into the finals I was like, ‘okay, let’s get this done’.”

Kelly was also blown away by the difficulty of the semi-finals, and how much things were stepped up following the heats, stating “I thought that if that was the semi-final, it made me kind of nervous about what the final would be like.”

Fortunately, the rep ranges were reduced in each round of the finals, but both Coxwell and Kelly admit that the workout didn’t look as tough on paper as it turned out to be.

Kelly recalls “it was by far the most gruelling, mentally challenging thing I’ve ever done,” Kelly says. “It didn’t seem that bad, but holy-moly … going up in reps in the semi was tough mentally, but I found the final so much tougher because there was just so much work to do.”

The workouts for both the male and female finals followed a rep range that dropped by 5 reps each round, and included such moves as box jump burpees, double kettlebell swings and “devil presses” – burpees with dumbbells.

Kelly finished the workout in 31 minutes flat, while Coxwell made it through in just over 41 minutes. Several male and female finalists were unable to finish, pulling out from exhaustion.

Both winners were equally impressed by the support and encouragement they received from spectators who attended the Games, with more than 500 PLC members, family and friends coming along to watch the event.

Coxwell explained “it had such a good feel to it. Everyone was really supportive, cheering each other on - it was awesome.”

Kelly agreed, saying “it had such a good community feel; a family feel.

“I really enjoyed the whole vibe of the event. Whether people were competing or watching, it was amazing.”

Both Coxwell and Kelly plan to compete at the Functional Games again next year, and look forward to seeing what the coming event will bring.

Kelly went on to say “I’m very eager to see what the Functional Games will look like in the coming years.

“If you think that this was only the second time the Games have been held, and that was what it was like after only two years – it was a thousand times more challenging and rewarding than any of the F45 competitions I’ve entered - I’m really excited for the years to come.”

Coxwell is equally keen to see what next year will bring, concluding “I reckon it’s only going to get tougher and tougher as the Games get bigger.”

With PLC already offering some of the toughest highest intensity workouts in Australia, the challenge is there.

For more information on PLC go to yourplc.com or for any enquiries or further information about the Games, email: info@functionalgames.com 

Images: PLC Functional Games winners Serena Coxwell (top) and James Kelly (below).

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