Hello, and welcome! After years of indecision and countless hours of chewing my boyfriend’s ear off, I have decided to take the plunge, and I’m happy you’re reading this. On this blog I will be ink-slinging on the well-worn subject of health and fitness, and I hope you will find something different here.
You are probably thinking there is already so much being written about this particular topic, and you’d be right. So why am I adding my voice to an already overcrowded discussion?
Before I answer this very valid question, I want to let you know what to expect from this site. Firstly, despite being a certified personal trainer and utter fitness enthusiast, I will not be posting exercise tutorial videos or meal plans. There is already so much brilliant content on these subjects out there, and I don’t think I would be able to contribute anything particularly different.
Secondly, I will not be populating this site with endless selfies of me, clad in extra-tight gym wear. I will not be telling you all about my perfect life, or trying to turn myself into a fitness celebrity. The intention of this site is definitely NOT to extol myself and my virtues. I am a relatively private person, and you wouldn’t be interested in the rest of my life anyway. My aim is to inspire, not alienate.
Some pictures are NOT worth a thousand words
The photos I've posted on this site will literally be the first and last pictures you’ll see of me. I hate having my photo taken, but I decided to do one professional photoshoot and overcome my camera-shyness for several reasons:
· To substantiate my fitness credentials. After all, seeing is believing
· To show my age (more on this later)
· To challenge myself to get lean enough for the shoot
I would like to be honest about these photos, because things are not always as they seem! This is me after an 8-week cut. I have always been lean, but during this cut I was eating at a calorie deficit. This is not how I look 365 days a year, nor is it how I intend to look. It is simply not healthy or sustainable. Whilst I do have definition year-round, this is much more pronounced in these photos.
Whilst I am a qualified PT, this is NOT my full-time job. I hold down a corporate job, like most of you. Being in this shape all the time is simply unrealistic and unachievable with a “normal” job. I took advantage of some down-time between contracts to commit to this cut – there’s no way I could have done it if I were working in an office every day.
My attitude to photos means steering clear of populating photos of myself on the fitness industry’s favourite stomping ground, Instagram. This probably makes me a social media dissenter and fitness anomaly, but I am not fussed. Perhaps this apathy is a symptom of my age, which we’ll get to.
So… what makes me different?
As most of you will have gathered through my repeated references to my age, I am not a millennial. I am on the cusp of 40, and will hit this birthday milestone shortly. However, turning 40 doesn’t phase me, as no matter how trite it sounds, age really is just a number.
Granted, there are definitely more fitness hurdles waiting for a woman when she reaches 40 - namely decreased metabolism, loss of around 1lb of muscle per year over the age of 30, and a reduced capacity to shed fat. However, I don’t believe we should be resigned to that fact – we can take this knowledge and use it to our advantage.
We can and should still push our limits and train as if we were 20. I feel stronger now at 39 then I did throughout my entire 20s, and I believe there are hundreds of other women out there who feel exactly as I do.
What do I want to do with this blog?
Inspire women of all ages, especially those nearing or past 40, that you can still be strong and fit at any age
Endow women with some of the knowledge I’ve amassed over my 20-year fitness journey
Share and celebrate the stories of female veterans of fitness; those whose stories inspire, who have not resigned themselves to their age but who have embraced and welcomed it
Help women of all fitness levels get into exercise – whether through gym, floor workouts or group ex
Share reviews on fitness products and services; I will only plug or endorse those that I fundamentally believe in
Group exercise – strength in numbers?
One of the key areas that I will be focusing on in this blog is group exercise. I believe that group ex has many positive attributes in that it provides variety, taps into personal preference and skill levels, and provides a great social outlet. However, group ex classes are not one-size-fits-all.
The reality is that what you gain from a fitness perspective will generally be experience or level based. I have tested hundreds of classes and will continue to do so, but as with everything, one person’s easy is another person’s difficult. I will use this site as a forum to review London-based classes and will be using novice/intermediate/expert (veteran) terminology to identify who should try each class.
There are some things I should flag with regard to my reviews:
Currently I am only reviewing classes in London, as this is where I live. If I am traveling I will try and include classes in other cities, and even countries
My reviews are written as an experienced exerciser. They are based solely on my opinions, which may be different to yours
I do have preferences for certain group ex classes over others. I love HITT, resistance training, kickboxing, circuit training, core conditioning and overall high impact classes, so these are the main classes I will be reviewing. Given that I am not a huge fan of yoga or spinning, reviews of these classes will be few and far between.
If there are classes that you want me to try out, please feel free to send them through via the contact form on-site. Remember I can normally only visit classes in London.
I hope I’ve given you an idea on the kind of content you’ll find on my blog. I will endeavour to post new content on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, and will do my best to keep it fresh, topical and informative.