Huddersfield’s Luke Yates reveals 6am CrossFit classes help him stay ready

LUKE Yates certainly hasn’t been kicking his feet up and dragging his feet during his enforced absence – the 6am classes at a CrossFit center proved that.

The Huddersfield skipper is one of the hardest working players in Super League. He made 1,027 tackles in 2023, at an average of 42 per game.

But while he may have earned a breather this offseason, with a three-match suspension ruling him out of the start of the season, he revealed he kept the pedal to the metal when he could easily have done nothing.

And CrossFit participants at his adopted Saddleworth had a guest next to them, while most people were still in bed.

“I left with the wife, but I wanted to stay here and train a little bit,” Yates said.

“My wife goes to a CrossFit gym, Saddleworth CrossFit, and I would go there with her early in the morning for 6am classes.

“They do conditioning sessions, so I joined in. When they did CrossFit, I only did weights.

“It’s an important season for us. We didn’t have a good season last year and we need to improve, but we have the right group. There were some really positive things that came out of training.”

Yates may sound as Aussie as they come and having grown up in bustling Newcastle, New South Wales, and lived in London, Salford and Manchester, he is used to city life.

But he has set up base in Saddleworth, where green fields dominate and the closest to high-rises is a large stable block.

And the change is sitting pretty well, as the 28-year-old added before tonight’s trip to Castleford: “I think it’s really great. It is nice and quiet and there are good cafes and restaurants that are quite local.

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“I now like living in the countryside and my partner loves it there. It feels like home to me.

“It’s completely different to Newcastle and life moves at a completely different pace. We live there on the coast and on the beach. That’s nice, but Saddleworth is beautiful in different ways.