Yahoo Lifestyle Australia's Man Of Steel
You don’t get a physique like Hitchcock’s from surfing alone. Photography: Steve Baccon
VITAL STATS AGE:
JOB: Reporter on Sunday Night
LIVES: Sydney
HEIGHT: 175cm
WEIGHT: 85kg
First among equals
In a roomful of journos Hitchcock stands out like, well, Superman. “It’s not an industry renowned for ultra-fit people,” he says. But among his hard-working, occasionally hard-drinking colleagues, Hitchcock is one of those blokes who doesn’t feel whole unless he’s regularly pushing his body to its limits.
Muscle on the move.
Despite his chiselled looks, Hitchcock is no Ken-Doll reporter. Two decades in the game have landed him at the scene of umpteen headline events, including the 2009 Samoan earthquake and tsunami, the Boston Marathon bombings, Barack Obama’s second inauguration and Adam Scott’s Augusta win. On the road, he’ll improvise to stay in shape. “I like to somehow break a sweat every day, so I’ll use whatever’s around. Sometimes that will be a table in a hotel room.”
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Just add water
Hitchcock will try anything, from free diving to powered paragliding. But the pillars of his regimen are surfing, weights, soft-sand running and kickboxing. He’s spent most of his life near the beach and misses it when work takes him inland. “I feel like a lot of problems can be solved with sunshine,salt water and sweat.”
Tri harder
You don’t get a physique like Hitchcock’s from surfing alone. Three mornings a week he rises around five o’clock, munches on an apple and a piece of toast, then cycles three kilometres to the gym. While all his sessions are full-body, on a given day one muscle group will get extra attention. His signature is tri-sets. For example, on a chest day, he’ll move without rest from a heavy bench press (around 120 kilograms, 8-10 reps) to a plank and then a set of pushups on his fists. He’ll do that tri-set four times, followed by four sets of two other chest-focused tri-sets. Effort level? “I go hard. I pull the cap down, put some music on and I get serious with it.”
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Go hard or go home
Legs also get the tri-set treatment: maybe heavy squats into walking lunges and wall sits – and the rest. Then he’ll cycle home. Arms day is just as excruciating. “I go really hard on them – I’ll do the arms to failure. But I enjoy it in a perverse kind of way. I just enjoy chasing that pain . . . and the endorphin rush afterwards.”
Feed the fire
All that training gives Hitchcock a mighty appetite – which can be his kryptonite. “I can work without sleep for days on end. I can do live crosses till the cows come home and write a story in five minutes flat. The only thing that really upsets me is being hungry.” A huge omelette with bacon, kale and cherry tomatoes is a typical post-workout meal. So is steak and eggs. “I eat red meat like a fat kid eats cake,” he says. He eats big but also clean, helped by the fact he’s never had a sweet tooth. “Even as a kid my birthday cake was a roast lamb with candles in it. These days, while most people have a dessert, I’ll
have another entrée.”
Switch and ditch
If Hitchcock could pass on one training tip, it would be to pursue variety. “I used to be quite boring with my stuff, but nowI do what’s fun, what feels good. You’ve got to do whatever it takes to keep yourself interested.”
