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When Ireland's Fittest Family hits TV screens on Sunday, Paul Cummins will be at home in Kilkenny with his wife Patsy, watching from the comfort of his own sofa. It wasn't like that last year when he and sons Zac and Bryce and daughter Hallie were wading through bogs and hanging off bars. It is often said that the family that plays together, stays together, and so it is for the Cummins, a close-knit clan for whom sport plays a big part in both physical and mental health. Paul is a former world champion kickboxer, and the children have represented their country in both kickboxing and ice hockey. But even for this sporting family, becoming Ireland's Fittest Family wasn't a breeze. Paul's second eldest son Coby and youngest daughter Indi weren't on the show, nor was wife Patsy. But the whole thing was Hallie's idea, after a pal suggested it when they were discussing the previous series - which the Cummins family watched religiously. When the interviews and fitness tests were passed with flying colours, the Cummins team decided to go for it, with Patsy managing dates, timings and logistics, which Paul thinks was much harder than the show itself. View this post on Instagram As one of 16 teams on Fittest Family, the Cummins crew didn't think they'd need extra preparation but they got quite a shock in week one, finding themselves in the eliminator round, which they managed to scrape through. 'It looks a little bit easier on TV because the programme only shows a small fraction of the rounds,' says Paul. 'We kind of made a mistake of thinking, their competitions are 10 minutes long or 15 minutes long, and we'll do that, no problem. 'Then of course it's a different animal altogether when you get there. We ended up in the eliminator in round one but we won and after that we decided to hit the gym really hard and work on our fitness.' But the challenges of Fittest Family are more than just your common or garden race. 'It's extremely tough,' says Paul. 'I mean, how do you train to run through a bog that's waist-high? 'I run a kickboxing gym, so I have my own gym as well. So we would be training normally for our sports but then we would hit the gym as a family, to do short, explosive training sessions. 'We had an assault bike, a rowing machine, a treadmill and a cross trainer, and we would do 15 minutes of extremely hard, as fast as we can, until we nearly got sick and then we'd take a break for last 15 minutes to recover then swap machines and do that three or four times, to simulate the competition. 'Then we'd do extra planking and squats or high jumps and hanging off a bar like hanging tough because we knew that was a big thing in the competition. 'But the rounds are just well thought out and no matter how hard you've trained, you're going to be exhausted. Of course then you're wet and slippery and tired, which makes all the obstacles extremely hard and frustrating as well. So there's that aspect that you never really get to train for too.' There was a quiet confidence about the Cummins team on screen - they are used to playing hockey together and used to training together, so it's almost like a sixth sense. Getting Davy Fitzgerald as their coach was a little daunting in the beginning as, being fans of the show, they knew the legendary hurling manager was tough. 'He gave everybody the best he had and he gave everybody the best advice,' says Paul. 'Davy's a good coach, he knows exactly what he's doing and he's not afraid to tell you, to be fair.' Paul works a 9-to-5 in the construction industry and then trains in hockey and kickboxing. His children have followed in his sporting footsteps and he thinks sport is very important to help ‘set kids up’. ‘[Sport] mentally and physically helps you release energy, it teaches you how to take instruction, it teaches you how to take criticism, teaches you how to lose properly, how to win properly,’ Paul says. He adds: ‘I just think it sets kids up. It definitely has done me the world of good, and my own kids. I often say to the wife, "It's sport I find easy, it's the rest of life I struggle with," and that's where she comes in. 'I don't care if it's tiddlywinks, hockey or darts, I just think that sport is hugely important. It helps to build good character.' Paul says that regardless of what sport you play, there's always a chance of taking the Fittest Family prize: 'Everybody is strong at something, and you're always only as strong as your weakest link. That's the beauty, I think, of Fittest Family, that everybody really has a chance.’ So on Sunday, Paul and Patsy will be at home with at least some of their team, tuning into the latest series of Ireland's Fittest Family, knowing that they've achieved what so many others would love to try. Ireland’s Fittest Family, Sundays, 6.30pm on RTÉ One
