“Never give up” may sound like a pretty bog-standard motto to live life by but it’s also a pretty good one to have up your sleeve when you’re tearing around the country for a series of increasingly difficult and exhausting challenges.
Gold Coast-based model Amanda Blanks, along with teammate and bestie Ashleigh Lawrence, knows all about putting her head down and ploughing forward through obstacles as one of the competitors vying for a grand prize of $ 250,000 on the current season of The Amazing Race Australia.
“No matter how hard something was on the race or is in life, I always keep pushing and trying no matter how much I’m hurting,” the 29-year-old says.
“My other motto is ‘if all else fails, have fun’. I like to try and see the positive in things and have fun no matter what so you can look back at the experience and even if things didn’t go your way, at least you had fun.”
Trying to nab a quarter of a million dollars from 13 other teams hungry for a win isn’t the only challenge the Adelaide-born Blanks hopes to conquer in 2021.
“I want to get on top of managing my ever-growing food intolerances to dairy and gluten, so I’m not feeling sluggish, sick or bloated, by really looking into the foods I’m putting into my body,” Blanks tells Health Hacker.
“I would also love to rebuild the strength in my ankle to run the Gold Coast marathon in June without being in pain, and get my body and mind in peak performance for my wedding later this year.”
Despite putting her well and truly through the wringer, The Amazing Race Australia has also gifted Blanks with some invaluable lessons.
“Learning to manage, deal and then overcome stress and nerves under an immense amount of pressure has been a gift,” she says.
“My daily life and job is very relaxed so I’m really not used to working under pressure, so being put in the scenarios I am on the show was ultimately a really great learning curve for me.”
AMANDA BLANKS ON …
Diet
“I’m plant-based plus fish, and am lactose and gluten intolerant. As you can imagine, I’m a joy to go to dinner with. Five things I always have in the fridge are vegan butter, spinach, almond milk, minced garlic and avocado.”
Exercise
“I’m not a gym person and don’t like working out indoors — I prefer getting out into nature. I love being outside in the sunshine, or even if it’s raining, either hiking a mountain or diving.”
Routine
“I don’t really have any set routines. My life is very spontaneous and every day is different depending on the shoots I’m doing or adventures I’m going on. But I do try and wake up every day with a fresh outlook on life feeling like I can do and achieve anything I set my mind to.”
Mindfulness
“I really like listening to calming instrumental music if I’m feeling stressed out. I also find the ocean and diving extremely calming and soothing. If I can’t do that, hiking or just a nice walk always makes me feel at ease. I also love yoga and find that very restorative.”
GET FIT AND HEALTHY WITH ADAM MACDOUGALL
Lose the beer gut without losing all the beers at themanshake.com.au
Adam MacDougall is the creator of The Man Shake. A new, healthy, weight loss shake that is low in sugar, full of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals that you can have on the run and leaves you feeling full.
For FREE Health & Fitness tips, follow Adam on:
FACEBOOK:
TWITTER:
INSTAGRAM:
Health and Fitness | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site