The Magnificant Mr. Mauri! Wed, 9/28

Guus Mauri is amazing. He first started coming to CrossFit UpCountry Maui a couple months ago.  He comes like clockwork every Tuesday and Thursday.  Arriving 15 minutes early, he jumps on the rower to warm up and is ready to go at 8:00 AM sharp.  We have modified some moves to deal with inflexibility issues, but Guus, 78,  is determined.  When he first came in he patted his stomach and said “I want to lose this.”  We learn just a little bit more about Guus everyday as he likes to hang out after the WOD and visit.  He swims every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings in the Pukalani pool at the crack of dawn with his wife and the masters swim team.  He does the cooking and is watching the portions closely now.  “We eat a lot of fruit,” he said.

When Guus was a young teenager he was on the Indonesian Olympic waterpolo team. They went to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia for the Universiade ( the World University Games) in 1962 as a preparation for the Tokyo Olympics. But the leader pulled them from the Olympics because of “political reasons.” Then in his 20’s he started training young boys in Indonesia to run long distances and eventually started coaching waterpolo for a local school that was a major underdog. His team ended up beating everyone making its way to the world championships in Bulgaria.  Guus said it didn’t matter that they lost. “They were a bunch of heroes who made it to half time with a score of 0-0.”   He coached for about 30 years until he passed the torch, but still keeps in touch with some of those athletes from the championship.

He is a wonderful role model and we are all committed to helping Guus “Lose His Gut!”

Go Guus!

Warm Up: