Tony Abbott has long been a fitness fanatic. Credit:James Davies The challenges politicians face in staying healthy will be familiar to many Australians. Long, unpredictable working hours. Easy access to unhealthy food. Hours spent sitting down. It's a lifestyle that makes exercise virtually essential to keeping the bulge at bay. The Education Minister's regime is certainly a far cry from when he entered politics in 1993. Pyne was aged 25, and put on 6.3 kilograms in his first year. There were no direct flights from his Adelaide electorate to Canberra so he had to fly via Melbourne. Cooked breakfasts would be served on both flights and he would eat on both. "It's very easy in politics to put on weight; you're constantly being fed," he says. "There are very few functions where food isn't included – spring rolls, party pies, it's very calorific." At the start of each term of Parliament, an initiation session is held for newly-elected politicians. One of the key messages is: take care of your fitness.

Joe Hockey playing rugby. Credit:Penny Bradfield "You are told that some MPs will put on 10kg in first term," says Labor MP Ed Husic, who entered Parliament in 2010.



"You have to be mindful of all your lifestyle choices because you see people literally growing in front of your eyes."



Prime Minister Tony Abbott, of course, is a famous athlete – participating in 14-hour iron-man events, volunteer fire fighting and racing in the annual pollie pedal charity bike race. After winning government, he had a treadmill installed in his office so he could exercise during bad weather. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop running in New York. Credit:Trevor Collens Treasurer Joe Hockey, who had gastric bypass surgery in 2012, is regularly seen playing squash at the Parliament House gym in the early morning. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop jogs for 6 kilometres each morning on overseas trips.

Bishop's predecessor, Bob Carr, generated guffaws around the country last year by writing of his passion for steel-cut oats, the "wonderful one-legged Romanian deadlift" and his desire to achieve "a concave abdomen defined by deep-cut obliques". John Howard was famous for his brisk early morning walks and John Hewson became known as Amphetamine Man for his long dawn runs while opposition leader. During the 1993 election, Hewson would schedule press conferences at the end, and sometimes the start, of his runs – a habit that infuriated the travelling press pack. One morning in Hobart the photographers hinted at their displeasure by showing up in their pyjamas and bathrobes. Paul Keating took to bouncing on a trampoline, an activity he believed would clean out the arteries and, one biographer claimed, even ward off cancer. But Ed Husic says there's no doubt today's politicians are paying increasing attention to diet and exercise.

"There's a growing belief that you can't perform at your best if you're not looking after yourself," says Husic, a passionate basketballer. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has seen the benefits first hand. Like many men, Bowen says he was fit in his youth but let himself go in his 30s. When he turned 40 two years ago he decided to take action. He has since lost 17 kilograms by avoiding dessert, eating fewer carbohydrates and doing 45 minutes of weights and cardio each morning. "I feel fitter and more energetic than I ever have," he says. "I used to get pretty tired and I just put that down to the job and the demands. Now I realise that I was going around with an extra load." One of Parliament's larger politicians, Liberal National Party member Ewan Jones, says being overweight can hold back a politician's career.

"People look at you and think you're lazy, that you can't do the job," says Jones, who hovers between 120 and 150 kilograms. "You only get one chance to make a first impression." Loading Jones has recently tried the intermittent (5:2) fasting diet in which you eat normally for five days a week and fast on the other two – a current favourite among many politicians. He admits it has been a struggle: "It's very hard when someone walks past you with a rice-paper roll," he says. A commitment to fitness carries risks as well as rewards, as some politicians have discovered. In 1990, speaker Leo McLeay broke his arm and suffered facial injuries when a bike he had rented from Parliament House collapsed underneath him. He later won $65,000 in compensation. Today's elected representatives keen to cruise around Capital Hill must now provide their own set of wheels.