If you find your hour in the gym leaves you exhausted, spare a thought for four determined British women about to embark on an epic adventure that will test them to their limits. The women are attempting to be the first female 4's team to row unsupported across the Pacific Ocean from America to Australia. Throughout the 8,446-mile journey, the women will have to spend  two hours on the oars and two hours off for six months solid. Scroll down for video . The women (front to back, Laura, Natalia and Emma) will be alone on the vast ocean for six months of mentally and physical activity . Laura, Isabel, Natalia and Emma on their rowing machines. 'The main muscle groups we train by doing dead lifts, bench press, leg press, seated row, single arm row and core strengthening,' explains Natalia . The women are attempting to be the first female 4's team to row unsupported across the Pacific Ocean from America to Australia, which will involve spending two hours on the oars and two hours off for six months . Apart from issues like sleep deprivation, adverse weather conditions, injury, salt sores, sun exposure and potential equipment malfunction, the coxless crew also need to train themselves to deal with psychological challenges of  monotony, confined living quarters and limited contact with the outside world. That's on top of the fitness and strength training needed to take on the momentous rowing feat. Yet, the formidable foursome set to  embark on this exceptional journey - in a 29ft long and 7ft wide pink boat called Doris - describe themselves as 'ordinary'. Laura Penhaul, 31, from Cornwall, is a physiotherapist for the Paralympics and is the team leader; Natalia Cohen, 40, from Manchester is a travel operations manager and has spent two decades living in countries in the developing world; Isabel Burnham, 30, from Cambridge works as a solicitor and Emma Mitchell, 29, from Marlow is an expedition manager for a travel company. The coxless crew, who are aiming to raise over a quarter of a million pounds for two charities: Walking With the Wounded and Breast Cancer Care survivors, have just over two weeks to go before they embark upon their voyage. Taking on the challenge of a lifetime: Isabel Burnham,  Laura Penhaul, Emma Mitchell and Natalia Cohen will row the Pacific in a 29ft long and 7ft wide pink boat called Doris . Laura said: 'We say that this row is 85 per cent psychological in how we cope and 15 per cent physical, but our psychological state will be affected by being dehydrated, calorie deficient, sleep deprived and hormone imbalanced. So if we can optimise these variables then it will will help our mental state.' Natalia added: 'Our mental strength is going to be vital. I believe that we all have our own Pacific to cross, in whatever form that comes. 'We want to empower others to have faith  and dig deep to fight and overcome whatever adversity life throws your way. I believe you can do anything you set your mind to.' So how are the brave four ensuring they are in peak mental and physical health? We look at their intense preparation for the dangerous journey of a lifetime. The team (left to right) Isabel, Emma, Natalia and Laura on board their pink boat, Doris, where they will be spending six months as they row 8,446 miles . Emma and Laura in action on board Doris: The four formidable women about to embark on this exceptional journey, describe themselves as 'ordinary' PILING ON POUNDS AND MUSCLE . Natalia said: 'Our physical training  involves weight sessions to increase our lean muscle mass and strengthen certain key areas of the body to help prevent injury. 'The main muscle groups we train by doing dead lifts, bench press, leg press, seated row, single arm row and core strengthening.' The women are also channeling their efforts into gaining weight. They need to increase their body weight by ten to 15 per cent in lean muscle and fat for reserve energy stores. That’s between seven to ten kilos each. The cabin where the team will spend most of their time is  the size of a small-to-medium two-man tent . 'It's not quite as fun as it sounds,' she added. 'Drinking wine and eating lots of cakes and chocolates is unfortunately not the answer to this challenge. 'The weight has to go on in a controlled way, alongside a tailor-made exercise and weight training regime. 'We need lots of protein shakes along with high volumes of red meat, chicken, fish, eggs and nuts, while still  maintaining balance with fruit and vegetables - not to mention the massive intakes of carbohydrates required to power us through the physical work. SAYING GOODBYE TO SLEEP . During the row the women will enter a polyphasic sleep pattern by taking short frequent naps as opposed to the normal monophasic pattern, which is a seven or eight hour block. 'We've done a 48-hour row where we practiced the two-hour on and two-hour off sleep pattern we will be rowing out on the ocean,' says Natalia. 'As long as we can manage to get one full sleep cycle (on average between 45 to 90 minutes) into each shift, we believe the body will have enough time to rest, repair and allow hormonal release as necessary.' And are they testing their exhaustion limits by limiting sleep before the big adventure? 'There's no point,' Natalia said. 'We know we'll be sleep deprived for six months. There's no benefit of being sleep deprived for longer.' The coxless crew (left to right): Isabel Burnham, 30, Emma Mitchell, 29, Laura Penhaul, 31 and Natalia Cohen, 40 all have day jobs and describe themselves as 'ordinary' DEALING WITH STRESS . 'It’s all about recognising what stress feels like for each of us,' Natalia explained. 'What happens to our bodies on a physical and emotional level and how do we behave? 'We will each react differently and while some may be more open, for some of the team we have had to learn how to read each other’s body language to know how they are feeling if they are not vocal about it.' In order to be attuned to each other's behaviours, the women look out for what type of faces they might be pulling, whether they are fidgeting or if there's there something unusual about their behaviour. 'We have practiced coping strategies that draw on  breathing techniques, imagery, music or mantras and mental scripts to help us deal with the stressful situation the most efficiently,' Natalia said. BONDING AS A TEAM . The women didn’t know each other before and have united solely for the purpose of this expedition. 'Through exercises given to us by our sports psychologist Keith Goddard, we have learnt to understand each other’s personality types and why we work in a certain way,' she said. 'We have developed a great team dynamic where we play to each other’s strengths and support development with any weaknesses. 'We do reflections and feedback sessions regularly after an event, so that we can check that we are happy with how everyone is performing and working and that when we receive constructive feedback we don’t take it personally. 'It’s all about learning from situations, ensuring that we continually develop, being effective and having trust in each other and the strength of the team. Natalia Cohen, one of the Coxless Four team at GSK's Human Performance Lab, where the team simulated part of their expedition to assess how many litres is optimal for each of them to drink . The Coxless Four team rowers, Isabel Burnham (far left) and Emma Mitchell (second left) with team-mates Natalia Cohen and Laura Penhaul (top and bottom on rowing machines) STAYING POSITIVE . 'Our minds are the most powerful tool we have to tap into and again and we will need to draw upon our coping strategies and techniques to keep us upbeat and in the moment,' says Natalia. The key, she explains, is to break everything down into manageable sized chunks. 'When we start rowing, we will need to take it stroke by stroke,' she says of getting back on the oars after a two-hour sleep. 'We will undoubtedly have days that are harder than others and I think when one person is having a really bad day, some else may be having an OK one.' KEEPING FOCUSED . Staying focused is a major challenge for the team. 'The second we spot land when coming into Hawaii can be celebrated for a moment but that does not mean that we have arrived,' Natalia said. There could still  challenging days still ahead before they pull into the harbour and the danger of relaxing, is that the team loses focus. 'The way we can overcome this is by ensuring that mentally our end point of each leg is something way beyond just seeing land for the first time. 'We need to project much further than that and have something like the water hitting our face from a shower in our accommodation to signify the end point of each leg. 'That way our focus remains strong and constant through the last few days, the arriving into port, clearing and cleaning Doris and then finally heading to the accommodation for a shower! Only then can we relax and know that we have safely arrived.' The coxless crew ,  are aiming to raise over a quarter of a million pounds for two charities: Walking With the Wounded and Breast Cancer Care survivors . Left to right: Natalia, Isabel, Emma and Laura look forward to reaching labd - but won't allow themselves to get excited until they're in the shower . TAKING THE HEAT . The team had physiological testing with GSK Human Performance Lab to simulate part of their expedition. The women will be rowing across the equator in extreme temperatures  during the six-month odyssey. 'We had salt and lactate testing done while rowing in a temperature controlled chamber in 40 degree heat and 40 per cent humidity so that we know how many litres it is optimal for each of us to drink and how much salt we lose through sweating,'  Natalia said. The team will share the highs and lows of their arduous and epic expedition via a live tracker on their Coxless Crew website and on their Facebook and Twitter pages. Text DORIS to 70300 to donate £3 or Buy A Mile of their journey for £10 and get your name written on the inside of their cabin to help motivate the team when they are out at sea .
Four women will attempt to row 8,446-miles from America to Australia . They share their training secrets to building up mind and body for the feat . They want to be first female 4's team to row unsupported across Pacific . For six months they will sleep and row in two-hour intervals . Women, who  have day jobs, say  it will be 85% mental and 15% physical .