The Blog

If you spend any time looking at fitness content online, you could easily believe that building a strong body requires a complicated training split, a long list of supplements, perfect nutrition and a different workout every week. It does not. Building strength takes effort, but the process itself is remarkably straightforward. You need to practise the basic movement patterns, train them consistently and gradually ask your muscles to do a little more. That might mean using a

It is tempting to assume that consistent exercisers have more motivation, stronger willpower or simply enjoy working out more. But after years of coaching women, I don’t think that is what makes the difference. It certainly doesn’t for me. The women who train consistently are not bounding out of bed desperate to pick up their dumbbells every morning. They have busy weeks, poor nights of sleep and days when they would much rather do something else.

I may be a personal trainer, but I'm not immune to the hormonal changes that every woman goes through. I know my Instagram page is full of workout videos, but that's only a snapshot. Like every woman, I have seasons where I feel stronger, leaner and more comfortable in my own skin, and other times when life is busy, stress is higher, sleep is patchy or my hormones seem to have a mind of their own. My body changes too.

Every summer I end up giving exactly the same piece of advice, quite simply because it works. Get up, stay in your bra and knickers, and do your workout before you've had chance to talk yourself out of it or head out for the day. It isn't glamorous, and you certainly won't see it anywhere on my Instagram feed, but it works. Holidays knock us all out of our routine, as they should. They're a time to rest, slow down and enjoy ourselves.

If you spend any time on social media, you'd be forgiven for thinking women's fitness hasn't really moved on. Women are still being sold six-pack abs, rounded glutes and toned arms, as though we're all chasing the same body we were twenty years ago.

I don't think many of us fully appreciate the sheer amount our brains and nervous systems are being asked to manage every single day.