SA CrossFit champion James Newbury offers up his five easy workout tips you can do at home in the winter months

Australia’s fittest man has revealed the staggering amount of money he spends fuelling his intense training regimen — spending nearly $30,000 on groceries in a year.

James Newbury is a CrossFit champion from Adelaide who has made it to the sport’s annual Games event — where the winner is crowned the “Fittest On Earth” — an impressive three times.

In order to compete among the world’s elite, James follows a strict training routine and diet that involves a monster amount of food.

“I have to eat a lot of food, it varies a lot — but usually I eat between 5000-5500 calories when I’m competing,” the 28-year-old told news.com.au.

“Every 3-4 days I spend $250 on groceries and buy organic where I can.

“My shopping bill can get a little crazy.”

An Under Armour athlete, James eats regularly throughout the day, often eating as many as seven meals a day to fuel his intense training.

“My go-to for brekkie is homemade pancakes,” he said, explaining you won’t find any chocolate sauce drizzled on his plate. Instead he chooses maple syrup as it’s natural.

“They’re made with lots of eggs to give me a protein boost and almond milk with a pinch of salt and are usually served with a big smoothie that I make from berries, bananas, coconut water, protein mix and creatine.”

James also loves starting his day off with coffee, however he’ll pass on the milk.

After his four-hour morning training sesh — which could involve anything from Olympic weightlifting to long-distance running and swimming, as well as gruelling functional movements like box jumping, pull-ups and double-speed skipping — James will down a post-workout shake.

These are usually made from a carb protein mix and added to something like pineapple juice, maple syrup and coconut water.

“I’m quite lucky in that my girlfriend is a mad scientist when it comes to nutrition,” he said.

“Over the course of the seven years we’ve been together, we’ve figured out exactly what works best for my body and training.”

In the afternoons James will train again but not before having lunch — which is usually two separate meals over the two-hour break.

He said: “Each time I eat I’ll have a big handful of kale, lightly seared in olive oil and sprinkled with Himalayan salt.

“I serve it with 150gm of salmon, chicken, beef or kangaroo along with the same amount of basmati rice.”

Then there’s his snacks too, with smoothies coming top of James’ favourite way to get his nutrient-dense calories in.

“Sometimes I just can’t face eating anymore, so smoothies are the way I get the good stuff in,” he explained.

For dinner, his menu is the same as his double lunch — and just like earlier in the day, he’ll probably need a double serving after finishing another huge gym session.

Eating good quality meals this often is costly, with James spending roughly $27,373 on food each year, based on his calculations of spending $250 every 3-4 days.

It’s a lot more than the average Aussie adult who spends $5408 a year using the national average of $104 per person per week published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

It’s not just food that is costly for the CrossFit champion who — despite not winning the CrossFit Games — has just been crowned “Australia’s Fittest Man” in the competition.

“I get through so much gym kit it’s unreal,” James said. “Which is why I need good quality training wear as I use it so often.”

James said he loved his partnership with Under Armour for this reason, especially since they’ve recently launched their first functional fitness, high intensity training and weightlifting shoe, the TriBase Reign.

Despite his strict diet and training plan, James allows himself the odd treat, revealing he’s a sucker for Vietnamese pho noodle soup and frozen yoghurt topped with “naughty” things like crushed Oreos and pieces of Mars Bar.

“There’s always room for a little bit of indulgence,” he said. “I love ice cream too, it’s a naughty treat.”

Continue the conversation @RebekahScanlan | rebekah.scanlan@news.com.au