Andrew Barrett is dedicated to his sport. He wakes up at 3:45 every morning to go to the gym until 6am, before heading to work. All up, he estimates he spends about three hours per day training, seven days a week. His mealtimes work like clockwork and don’t change – ever.
On Sunday, he prepares all of his meals for the week — usually a big task for the average person but an even bigger challenge for Andrew. When he spoke to the Times, he’d prepared 40 meals for the week.
The hard work is paying off though — Andrew currently holds the 2016 Mr WFF NZ Sport Model title, the 2017 Auckland Title and the Pan Pacific title as well as recently receiving his Pro card.
It’s a challenge — but that’s the best part about it, says Andrew.
“There’s heaps I really like about it [and] one is that it’s extremely difficult to do — especially long term.”
He points to the difference between most people who prepare to compete in one competition then return to normal and long-term competitors who constantly train in preparation for the next competition and says maintaining the strict nutrition is the hardest part of all of it and compares it to eating like a dog.
“I know exactly what I’m having throughout the day because it’s the same thing as yesterday and the day before that – 365 days of the year it doesn’t change except for a two hour treat meal window each week.
“I’ve been constantly dieting since January — and even then I probably still followed some kind of plan over the Christmas break as well.”
This month, he heads to Singapore’s Kallang Theatre to compete among the world’s best at the World Fitness Fed Asia Pacific Pro/Am championships where he’s simply hoping to improve on his last effort.
“I think it’s getting yourself to a point where you feel like you’re better than the last [competition].
“As long as we get on stage and we look better than the last time, as long as you’re better than the last competition, you’ve won.”
