What sparked this Eimeo man’s fitness journey

At 19 years old, Kurt Brunker was dealt a brutal wake-up call about his health.

When Kurt Brunker was 19 years old he was given a brutal wake-up call by his doctor – this sparked a life-changing fitness journey.

It's been a decade long fitness journey that essentially began with an irukandji sting.

Kurt Brunker was about 13 years old when a stinger injured him, prompting yearly heart and health check-ups.

Fast forward to 19 years old, he received a brutal wake-up call from his doctor - if he did not change his lifestyle, he would be a teenager on cholesterol medication.

He had gone from being fit and active in school, to piling on the kilos when he started working full-time.

At his heaviest, Mr Brunker said he weighed about 100 kilos.

Now at age 29, the Eimeo man is a devout crossfit convert.

Kurt Brunker was 19 years old when doctors told him he needed to change his lifestyle or he would be put on cholesterol medication

"(Doctors) told me I had a three-month window (to) lower it myself, if not I'll come for more blood tests and then I'll go on cholesterol lowering medication," Mr Brunker said.

"They put it pretty bluntly."

So he bought a pair of running shoes, cut out softdrink (except on weekends with alcohol) and mapped out a 2km track from his house.

"I remember the first day I tried to run it, I got 200 metres in and then I stopped and walked the rest," he said.

It took a few days to recover from the shin splints, but he did it again, and again.

"I sort of ran as much as I could," he said, adding he repeated this until he could run the full 2km unbroken.

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Mr Brunker lost about 20 kilograms in six months through running and progressively changing his diet.

Then while taking part in the 5km Marina Fun Run, he spotted "all these guys with these green CrossFit 4740 shirts".

"They looked like they were having fun," Mr Brunker said. This prompted him to research CrossFit 4740, sparking his next fitness challenge.

He described his first session as "absolutely shocking".

"Half the movements we had to do in the class I just could not do," he recalled.

"I thought surely it can't be this bad tomorrow. I came back and was like, yep this is just as bad.

"It was definitely a challenge, but that's why I enjoyed doing it, and the variety.

"But once I got back into training, it lit a fire and I was motivated." 

CrossFit 4740 owner Kurt Brunker has been on a decade-long fitness journey that resulted in him going from a diesel fitter at the mines to gym owner.

If he found some movements challenging, he would go to the gym early to practise.

"You fall in and out of good habits and you just have to find that balance," Mr Brunker said, adding nutrition and lifestyle choices were forever changing.

Through training, he dropped to about 67 kilos, but said it was too light for the weight he was trying to lift and compete at.

"I pretty much went from one extreme to another until I found a balance that was healthy and sustainable, generally now I sit about 78-81 kilos," he said.

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Roughly 12 months after starting crossfit, in 2014, Mr Brunker registered for his first online qualifier and finished 2559 in Australia out of about 10,000 male entrants.

"Last year (2019) was my best year (at) 117 out of 9220 in Australia," he said.

"I try to compete in as many local competitions as possible as they are fun, especially when done in a team format.

"My first comp, I remember I had really bad anxiety … but as soon as they said go, you just forget about everything … and concentrate on the task at hand.

"My biggest achievement as an athlete was qualifying and competing at the Torian Pro at the Queensland Tennis Stadium in the Pro Pairs category (in 2019) … we placed 17 out of 30, some of the best athletes in the world were at this comp." 

Kurt Brunker’s transformation.

In fact, the former diesel fitter became so passionate about the sport he took over the gym that introduced him to the fitness regimen.

"As I started to get better at crossfit, I found I was picking up skills a lot faster than others," Mr Brunker said.

So he pursued coaching initially while still working 7/7 as a diesel fitter at the mines. 

"I enjoy diesel fitting, but I did not like the lifestyle," he said, adding he really began to look forward to his days off when he could coach.

"I like working with people who want to better themselves," Mr Brunker said.

"And I get a lot of satisfaction when people come in and find a family, they make it part of their routine."

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He said he knew the former owner was about to take some time off, so he asked about first managing the business before suggesting he buy it.

That was almost two years ago and he hasn't looked back. Although he said the technology and people management side had been a learning curve.

Like all other gyms, 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the business hard.

"But the community went online, we offered programming," Mr Brunker said.

"A lot of members offered to keep paying their membership (and) were still training at their home and posting it on their social media."

Kurt Brunker found a passion in crossfit.

Mr Brunker said as a result he had feedback from people interstate, who had been watching and were kept motivated by the CrossFit 4740 community.

"It got everyone a bit closer, and when we did open, we had probably a 20 per cent increase in members," he said. 

One of the biggest crossfit myths, he said, was - you have to be fit to do CrossFit.

"You just have to come in," Mr Brunker said.

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