When I first did my personal training qualification, just over 13 years ago, there was no mention of what happens to women as they move into their 40s and beyond. We may have learned that we lose muscle mass from a certain age but all research for sport and fitness was done on young men [...]
Why you should join my boot camp If you have been thinking about joining my class or are thinking of doing something to get yourself fitter, here are my reasons for joining my class: Community - the people that join my class tend to have been members for a long time. They want to train [...]
I started my boot camp about 12 years ago in Amsterdam. I was one of the first in Amsterdam to bring the outdoor fitness class to town. It was already popular in the USA and UK but still not so much in the Netherlands. I quite like doing my own thing and not necessarily following [...]
Did you realise that, when training, the main work to improve your strength and fitness actually happens during the night? This blog is about the relationship between training and sleep.. Photo by Alexandra Gorn on Unsplash Muscle growth Yes, while you need to put in the hard work during the training sessions, what [...]
Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash The first book that I read and made me realise I had the beginning stages of perimenopause is called “Period Repair Manual” by Lara Briden. I was experiencing waking through the night, which was crippling and was becoming a bit of a problem. One of the chapters [...]
This blog isn’t about my challenge, but that of a new friend Jane. She is a client of a colleague, and we used to just say hi in the gym until a few weeks after lockdown when I got a message from her asking about whether open water swimming was possible because the pools were [...]
While following a course on post natal training by Burrell Education I was made aware, via their marketing, of the fact that later in life women will hit perimenopause before their menopause, but I hadn’t realised at that point I might experience this already. I was 43 when I was suddenly experiencing wakeful nights. It [...]
Recently one of my clients called me Superwoman because of my training schedule and triathlon adventures. Although I don’t think of myself quite like that, I do sometimes think I must be a bit different from others as I train almost everyday and I am driven by my race goals. On the other hand, I [...]
On my new bike trainer It is more than 10 months since the first lockdown in the Netherlands took place. We now have a curfew and it is really tough for many people. My number one way to keep my spirits up over this period is to always be grateful for what I [...]
The week leading up to lockdown in the Netherlands, I was preparing to go on holiday to Mallorca for a training week with my triathlon club. During this week my husband had sent me an account of a doctor in a hospital in Italy dealing with COVID cases, which was quite shocking. While I was [...]
