Pete is a local sailing champion who has been successful over the past 7 years in B14 Class. He was national champion two years running and runner up in the World Championships in Australia in 2009. During this time he was personal training with Clarice House Strength and Conditioning Coach Nolan Sunnassee.
Pete: I started sailing at an early age and it grew from a hobby into a passion, which has allowed me to compete at the highest level in this class. Before I started training with Nolan I was finishing 5th or 6th in most local/national competitions, but the gym based training had big effects on my performance. He started by making my structure more balanced, which involved lots of stretching and strengthening. We then moved on the lifting heavy weight, such as squats and deadlifts, these had dramatic effects as I felt much more solid and confident on the boat. This helped me to regularly win titles and come close to being world champion, which I would have been if not for a broken sail in our last race!
Nolan: Competitive sailing requires an array of physical demands, including agility, strength, power, strength endurance and flexibility. With most physical conditioning requiring movements that are much more complicated than they seem, I was fortunate with Pete that his body has a sharp nervous system, allowing him to learn to perfect an exercise quickly and effectively. Once his body was more balanced it allowed us to put more load through it. Before the World Championships Pete could squat 110kg to the floor and deadlift 135kg each for 2 reps from a bodyweight of 70kg. This strength gave him added power on the boat.
