Proving anyone can change up their life
Living long enough to experience all life has to offer is the driving force behind Carlos Kumeroa’s fitness journey.
The once cigarette-smoking, junk food-eating Fonterra worker now has a fitness-event re´sume´ worthy of our country’s fittest athletes. Kumeroa said while those starting out on their own fitness journey needed to remember it was a marathon not a sprint, he took a slightly different path.
After completing his first ever 12-Week Body Transformation programme in 2014 he immediately turned his attention to marathons – completing both a half and full in quick succession.
‘‘ I didn’t start small. And it’s not the kind of training I would recommend to first timers.’’
The lure of a triathlon then offered another steep learning curve. ’’Not only did I have to learn to swim, I had to learn to swim in open water.’’
He took on the inaugural Taupo Ultra before racing in the gruelling Northburn 100-mile event in 2016.
For Kumeroa, his ‘‘light bulb’’ moment was watching his father’s battle with cancer. ‘‘I lost my father when he was 59 and realised that could potentially happen to me,’’ he said.
‘‘The week he passed away from cancer was the week I started to exercise.
Kumeroa, who is as a personal trainer and life transformer, said the trick to overcoming excuses was tapping into your emotional driver.
‘‘I don’t leap out of bed up in the morning excited about going for a run in the rain, or going for a six-hour bike ride on the weekend.’’
‘‘For me it’s the memory of my father that drives me forward.’’