Is former NSW Waratah Francis Cullimore Australia’s most versatile athlete?
DEE WHY’s Francis Cullimore is a former NSW Waratah, a member of the national bobsleigh team, was an MMA fighter and is now in line to become the next Mr Universe bodybuilder.
Manly
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HE HAS played rugby league for the Junior Kiwis, rugby for the NSW Waratahs, been a member of the Australian bobsleigh team and was also a successful MMA fighter
Now Dee Why’s Francis Cullimore, who can lay claim to being Australia’s most versatile sportsman, is in line to become the next Mr Universe.
He qualified for the 2017 event in Manila, Philippines in June with a third place in the heavyweight division at the Australian Natural Bodybuilding national titles last weekend at the Marconi club.
It was an amazing effort by 40-year-old Cullimore who only took bodybuilding 12 months ago while the man who finished first has been competing for 15 years.
He played for the Waratahs from 1999 to 2003 and was a member of the Australian bobsleigh team.
Of all the sports he has participated in at the elite level, he said that bodybuilding has been the toughest of all.
“There is more focus on it because you constantly have to diet, train and recover,” Cullimore said.
“There is never really any downtime when your mind is thinking about different things other than bodybuilding.
“They recommend 15 month preparations between competitions because naturally the stress on the body and the nervous system is too much.”
But Cullimore backed up after coming third in the Sydney Superbodies contest in May because he wanted to prove everyone wrong.
“For the past five months it was going to the gym every day,” he said.
His diet was also strictly monitored, with his calorie intake between 1500 and 3000 a day depending on what he was doing with his body.
Being a judge on MasterChef was not an option.
“If did legs I would be eating quite a lot of carbohydrates and protein, there is a real science to it,” Cullimore said.
His success has also resulted in Cullimore receiving hate mail from people who don’t believe he is natural because of what he has achieved so quickly.
“They don’t realise I have been playing professional sport for over 15 years and I have been lifting (weights) two to three time a week anyway,” he said.
“But in bodybuilding I am such a rookie.”
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