Jackson grew up playing soccer, rugby, and riding bulls on the rodeo circuit, and now channels that same passion and drive into Hyrox, CrossFit, and endurance training in pursuit of elite performance.
I grew up being a pretty sporty kid playing soccer, rugby league, rugby union and anything else I could get my hands on. I also competed in the rodeo circuit as a bullrider from when I was about 6 right up until last year when I decided to fully commit to my Hyrox training to try and start focusing on competing at a professional level for those events. Through my sport I was always in the gym and gained a love for strength training and as that developed I wanted to challenge myself with also implementing CrossFit and endurance training to become the best overall athlete I can be.
To put it simply, being a hybrid athlete is trying to be the best overall athlete you can be and not just committing to one discipline. The reason I fell in love with it is feeling like you can do it all, you can say yes I’ll go do a half marathon, yes I’ll go do a Hyrox competition, yes I’ll go do a CrossFit competition. It’s really fun always finding new ways to challenge your body and having fun with it.
My biggest accomplishments would be competing in my first Hyrox Competition this year in Brisbane and setting a time of 70 minutes which was great for my first event and only being new to the sport. I’ve also begun coaching other athletes who are looking to start in the sport and I have my next competition lined up for Sydney at the start of July where I’ll be aiming to go sub 65 minutes.
In the next 5 years I’m aiming to compete on a professional level in the Hyrox community and qualify for world championships. I’ll also be building my community of athletes and helping others achieve their own unique training goals.
Throughout my career I’ve always been pretty unlucky with injuries, I’ve broken my arms 3-4 times, my leg in multiple places, cracked ribs, dislocated elbow - you name it I’ve probably done it. But I think facing adversity and having to overcome these injuries has really made me have the drive and determination to achieve my goals I’ve set out for the next few years.
Advice I’d give to my younger self is pick a goal you’re really passionate about, and do whatever it takes to make it work. Don’t worry about all the external factors and what ifs, if you’re passionate enough about something you can make anything happen.
Coming from a sporting background, I was always into weightlifting, and as I got older I wanted to challenge myself with endurance training and being a hybrid athlete mixes both of these worlds together which is why it’s so much fun.
I think a big factor for me was really building on my strength background for 5-6 years and then implementing my endurance training on top of that. Both disciplines take a long time to build, and I think if you can focus on one at a time to begin with it becomes a lot easier in the long run.
I work 3 jobs, train 2-3 hours a day, and also prioritise my nutrition and recovery which takes up another few hours a day so it is a lot to manage. I think having a good daily routine where everything is planned out really helps with making sure you achieve everything you need. I also surround myself with people who have a similar lifestyle to me so it makes it a lot more fun being with people who share your passion and push you to be better.
I’m very conscious of my recovery, and being injury prone PainPod really stood out to me as a product that can help me with my recovery with the volume of training I do.
For recovery I’m usually doing daily saunas, ice baths and compression boots so if I have any lingering pain or injuries such as my lower back I put the PainPod on to assist with easing the pain.