Hello! or as we say in New Zealand Kia ora!
My Name is Reece but a lot of my mates just call me Bro. Well, to be completely honest most kiwi's around the world call themselves Bro. So the next kiwi you see walking down the street yell out "Bro" cause I'm pretty sure you will either get a Kia Ora or a cuddle Lol
I am a New Zealander of Maori decent living in Brisbane Australia working as a Copier Technician. I have been doing so for a very long time now. March 2018 will mark 12 years in this awesome country. That being said I do love my Homeland, one day me and my family will eventually return home.
I was born in Palmerston North New Zealand or better known as Palmy, back in 1983. Both of my parents were teachers growing up. My Mum was the Headmaster of Takaro Primary School which i attended from the age of 6 right through to the age of 12. As you can image I didn't really get away with much. My Father was and still is a Teacher at St Peter's College. Once he had his 30th anniversary at the college we stopped counting, one day he will retire but i know it keeps him young keeping all those kids on the straight and arrow. I am the youngest of 3, my older brother Woody works as a Electrician in New Zealand and my sister Treens lives and works here in Brisbane. A few of my interests are:
- Coffee
- Music Mainly RnB & Reggae
- Cooking
- Crossfit and Oly Lifting
- Dogs. I have a Mastiff Called Aiya
- Cars
- Any Sport. Lawns Bowls I will watch, it is a still a sport after all
- Beer
- Frozen M&Ms Give it a go, it'll change the whole M&M experience
- Tattoo's
- A new found love for MMA thanks to my Girlfriend x
Last year I was very fortunate and lucky enough to have someone come into my life. She is truely inspiring to me with her chosen and successful career path as a Female MMA fighter. She brought me to Steemit to share our story and hopefully encourage others to Be Better, to hopefully lead a more healthier and active lifestyle. Its amazing to have someone to share these things with Yes! But if we can encourage a few other people in this world to join us on our Road to success to BE A BETTER ME - That there is worth its weight in Gold!
As a kid growing up, nutrition was never a thing like it is these days. I loved food and I thought it loved me. I learn't how to bake cakes for Dad at a young age. If we were hungry we would just cook up a feed and have a munch. Yes, Mum got Veges into us Kids and we did live by the old saying "A Apple a day keeps the Doctor away" Looking back now it all seems so silly to be eating the way we did as a Family. But we weren't to know. Everyone played Sport, my family was big into Softball and Touch Rugby. My brother and sister, even my extended family were pretty decent Representative Athletes.
All my College years my interest was Kapahaka (group of 15 Boys and 15 Girls Performing on stage singing and doing the Haka) It was the best years of my life, we toured the world Singing our Maori Song's and doing Haka. But once I was 21 of age without realising i weighed in at just over 100kg. At the age of 24 i was 120kg or 265lbs standing at 5 Foot 7" or 175cm thats a Big boy!!!
I wouldn't say I had a life changing moment at this stage of my life because I was happy, or at least I thought I was. A few of my mates were going to the gym lifting weights. I hadn't lifted a weight before ever I didn't even know what a Dumbbell was. My first day there I fell in love with the Bench Press, that was all I needed. Few years at the gym I thought I was doing pretty good. My sessions were almost 3 hours long. 2 hours of talking and 1 hour of work that included warm ups and cool down haha
2011 was when i was introduced to Crossfit Kings in Salisbury Brisbane QLD. That completely opened my eyes to the effort I had been putting in at the gym and how lazy I had made myself. Walking into the box for the first time thinking i was relatively fit. HOW WRONG I WAS!!! People talk about a near death experience as their first Crossfit experience, thats exactly what i received. But staying true to myself and the encouragement from the Coaching staff and my peers i stuck it out. It hasn't been the easiest of roads for me learning Crossfit, learning proper nutrition but i can truely say That was my life changing experience. Doing something that is so bloody tough that you just want to stop. But we commit to finishing those challenges because at the end of it we always survive.
6 years on my journey still continues, its like a never ending book. Now I'm definitely not one to post things like this and as a matter of fact this is the First time ever I have posted a Before Pic on any platform let alone write a Blog this long, fingers crossed i have done this right lol Now i'm apart of the Steemit community i can't wait to follow others to see what everyone else is up to!! With 2018 upon us I realised we need to do what we can to encourage others to get out there.
Remember a smile is Contagious SO SMILE MORE
Thanks for reading
Kia Ora (Also means thank you)