Geelong's Gym

Adam Ryan, Geelong's Gym Manager and Stair Climbing Guru, conquered the Empire State Building Run Up in January 2011.

Yes, that’s right.  Our very own Geelong’s Gym Manager, Adam Ryan, has made the Channel 7 National News… we have a celebrity in the house people!  Well okay, maybe we’re getting a little carried away but we’re just that proud of him we want to shout it from the roof top!

So I guess you’re wondering what attracted the reporter’s attention… aside from his stunning good looks of course!

On Friday, Adam competed in the Westpac Stair Climb in Adelaide not once, but twice, winning both races.  To run 30 storeys and over 600 steps twice over is a huge test of fitness, strength and endurance, but a challenge which Adam loves to take on.  We know… he’s a little crazy in the head!

The news report about Adam is really quite funny and worth a watch – you can check it out here.  And a huge congratulations to Adam on his outstanding result.  Next up, the Eureka Stair Climb in Melbourne.

Adam Ryan is all set for the Empire State Building Run Up on February 1st.

Our Geelong’s Gym Centre Manager and Personal Trainer, Adam Ryan, is setting off tomorrow for New York where he will be competing in the annual Empire State Building Run Up – the world championship of stair climbing - on Tuesday, 1st February.

Adam has been doing stair racing for six years now and we’re delighted he’s reached the ultimate event in his chosen sport.  He will be climbing 86 floors and 1575 stairs in the race – a huge feat indeed!

Only 300 athletes from around the world get selected for this elite event, so we’re incredibly proud of Adam and the amount of training and preparation he’s put into getting to this point.

While it does take a huge amount of endurance and mental energy to get to this level, Adam can inspire us all to set realistic goals, put our mind to them and then commit to making them happen.

Good Luck Adam… we’re 100% behind you and no matter what result you get, you’re our champion!!!

A big thanks to The Geelong Advertiser for providing a copy of the photo and article they wrote about Adam in today’s Addy.

Stair climbing burns 1.6 calories to every calorie burned on flat ground! WHY? Your legs carry your body weight almost vertically up the stairwell as your upper body assists by pulling up on the handrails simultaneously.

This movement involves a large number of different muscle groups working together, all of which require considerable amounts of oxygen rich blood to perform. As you can imagine, this places a significant amount of stress on the cardiovascular system, resulting in rapid breathing, high heart rate and massive calorie expenditure.

The movement of stair climbing is actually very functional; this means many muscles have to work together in order to perform full body movement efficiently. Thus, taking the stairs over the elevator at any opportunity can build the strength in your arms and legs, increase your aerobic capacity, and burn five times the calories than standing in a lift, staring at the levels as you go up to your destination.

87% of the population take the elevator. You may be one of them, but you can also change that statistic and start taking a few stairs…

Would you believe that climbing stairs can be taken to the next level? It’s not just about simply getting to your destination, but getting there as fast as possible.

Stair racing is one of the most brutal of fitness challenges out there! Athletes line up at the base of the building and are let off by the starter to then enter the emergency stairwell and climb their way to the top as fast as they can. There are no specific rules in a stair race but most elite runners will take two steps at a time and never let go of the handrail. The heart rate usually peaks at 190+ BPM and is sustained for the duration of the race!

Some races are in excess of 100 floors and take over 15 minutes for the fastest climbers to complete. Now that hurts!

So the challenge is out there… Australia’s longest stair climb is the annual Eureka Tower run up in Melbourne, Victoria. The exhilarating climb consists of 88 floors, 1642 steps and 300m of vertical climbing. Ultra marathon runner, Stuart Gibson, holds the current record at 8 minutes 56 seconds. AMAZING!

Have a look at the video below of the recent Adelaide Stair Race where myself (Adam Ryan, Manager of Geelong’s Gym) and Geelong’s Gym members, Chris Price and James Carroll, took out the top three places.

Adam Ryan, Manager of Geelong’s Gym and a Personal Trainer, is not just a pretty face.  He is, in fact, an elite sportsman who competes in a truly unique sport and is currently ranked as one of Australia’s top stair climbers.  So you can imagine what he brings out of his Personal Training clients.

Tyson and Adam bonding over boxing

When Tyson Matheson came to Adam he was reasonably fit, but he had a goal to get into the Army and he needed to increase his fitness significantly.  After training with Adam, he lost a lot of kilos, and now carries less than 6% body fat and is at an elite level of fitness.  Tyson and Adam developed a unique relationship while training together – they fed off each other and pushed each other to extreme levels of training.

And it paid off.  Tyson is now in the Australian Army and he has a new goal – he is hoping to get into the SAS, so he’ll be continuing to keep his fitness at an elite level.

And Adam, well… not satisfied with being one of Australia’s leading stair climbers, next year he is heading off to the peak of stair climbing events – the Empire State Building Stair Climb!

Geelong’s Gym’s very own Gym General Manager and Personal Trainer, Adam Ryan, has once again blitzed a super challenging stair climbing event.

On Sunday, Adam took part in the Eureka Climb 09 at the Eureka Tower in Melbourne, the tallest building in Australia and the world’s second tallest residential building.  The climb was a charity event to raise money for disadvantaged young people.

Eureka Tower in Melbourne, Australia

A huge amount of endurance and stamina was required for this event and Adam has put in months of strategic training to prepare himself, both physically and mentally.

The climb consisted of 1958 stairs, 89 levels and 300 metres of vertical elevation!

Adam had two goals: to beat his personal best time and to break the event record. He achieved both goals and came in second overall in the Race. What a fantastic effort! Well done Adam!

As Adam accomplished both his goals… a question that begs to be asked why second place, well we should all have goals and targets to aim for… just be careful what you aim for…. because sometime you only get what you aim for.