Before, going to the gym was just to make sure you were fit and were living a healthy and active lifestyle. But nowadays, people have taken things to a whole new level.
Doing weights, drills, and training are now used for competitions!
And that’s what I witnessed during the Under Armour Test of Will Philippines National Heats!
Numerous participants went through the grind to find out who were the best four, who would then represent the country against other South East Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore, and who would be crowned the first ever Under Armour South East Asia Test of Will champion!
Let’s meet the members of our “national team” — Noelle Wenceslao, Zoe Pond-McPherson, Derrick Mercado, and Merwin Torres!
Noelle was the first placer in the overall ranking, with a total score of 243 reps, in four minutes!
She was a member of the Philippine Everest Expedition and one of the first three Filipinas on the earth’s highest mountain. She has 16 years of experience in the field of dragon boat paddling, nine years of experience in technical Alpine mountaineering and other outdoor sports like open water diving, trekking, adventure racing, etc.
“I started dragon boat paddling with the University of the Philippines Dragon Boat Team in 1998. Today, 18 years later, my love for dragon boat has not waned even a little. I am an active member of the Philippine Coast Guard Dragon Boat Team. We train under the Del Pan Bridge, Port Area, Tondo. When paddling is light, and I’m not too tired, I do a little Crossfit, and also ride my mountain bike,” says Wenceslao.
Zoe has been competing in Crossfit since October 2015. She is considered the “fittest woman” in the Philippines in Crossfit. Aside from competing in the finals of the Test of Will, she will also compete in the Crossfit Games Pacific Regional alongside the top 30 fittest women in Australia and the top 10 fittest in Asia.
Zoe is also a gymnastics and mobility coach in Primal Ape Crossfit. She is a cum laude mathematics degree holder and investment analyst operations, but quit her job and embarked on a career change.
“I usually train five days a week with one full recovery day and one active recovery day. Now that I’m training for the Crossfit regionals, I try to do double sessions three to four times a week. Previously, I only did one to two per week. I also do my best to get in 20 minutes of mobility on top of my general warm-up and cool-down and 45 minutes on my full rest day,” Zoe exclaims.
Derrick, an architecture graduate, is also a certified Crossfit practitioner, and engages in individual and team sports. Some of his achievements are the Manila Throwdown East Sectionals Top 22 Qualifiers, Scaled Division and the Manila Throwdown Team Edition, Circuit Makati Top 24 Qualifiers, Scaled Division.
Merwin, a registered medical technologist, is a fitness instructor and a Crossfit Level 1 trainer. He usually tops fitness challenges in and out of the country. He won the Fittest Challenge 2016, ranked 4 and was the only Filipino finalist in the Asia Championships 2015 Crossfit Affiliates Asia event in Bangkok; overall champion, Titan Games, the first Philippine Strongman competition 2014 by WOD Nation; and 1st runner-up, Manila Throwdown 2013 individual in first-ever Crossfit Throwdown.
“I participate in any competition I can join and I’m happy that UA is one of them. I train hard as a coach, but even harder as an athlete so Test of Will is a good challenge for me to test my general physical preparedness before I join the Asian Championships,” says coach Merwin.
We’ve formed a formidable team and we’re looking forward to our athletes reaping awards for the country in the coming week! Good luck!
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