Crossfit Kara Gorden Image: Lyndon Marceau / Incite Images

MORE  ENERGY 

“A lot of Crossfitters follow the Paleolithic diet – they call it the ‘caveman’ style of eating, going back to that period where we all ate clean, basic, natural food: nuts and seeds and meat. You exclude dairy and grains and any processed food. A lot of people find it very beneficial. I’ve tried it out for myself – I’ve found I did have to adjust it a little bit, but the basic structure of the diet is quite sound and quite easy to follow.

“A lot of people soon notice a pretty dramatic change in their body shape. Especially losing

the dairy and grains, you tend to lose a lot of puffiness – the skin freshens up. When you add in some weight training and intense physical activity, your body just takes form into how it needs to be and starts to function properly. Your body is using energy as it should and storing only what it needs.”

RECORD BOOKS

“I definitely didn’t expect to be setting any world records at Regionals, and certainly not on the first day. That workout, on paper, really shouldn’t have been my best – it wasn’t supposed to be my strength. But I just had a lot of fun with it. It was a 2km row, followed by 50 pistol squats, followed by 30 hang cleans at 60kg. It was very tricky – I knew the row was going to be a bit tedious, but I knew the other movements were going to be fun. My time was 11min, 56sec. It was a great start to the weekend – a real confidence-booster.”

TOMORROW THE WORLD

“So yeah! I won the final and just got named Australia’s Fittest Woman – but I just think of me as Kara. I guess that feeling is going to take a while to get used to. I’m still waiting for that moment when I realise what’s happened. But it’s very exciting to be heading to the Worlds. I’ve got to have no regrets. I’m going to go in there and trust in myself and push it as hard as I can.”

      ‒ Graem Sims