Women's Fitness July 2018

Scrambling to get fit for your holidays? The best summer body is a strong, supple one so we’ve packed this month’s H&F with insider training secrets from our favourite super-fit women. She wowed the UK with her powerful physique and determination on Strictly… last winter, and now our amazing cover star, Gemma Atkinson, is in even better shape, thanks to her love of lifting. Turn to ‘Go Gemma!’ (page 50) to discover the diet and training regime that’s got the celeb looking and feeling her best – and get a sneak peak of her fab, new fitness range. Running is the perfect fast track to summer fitness. Not sure you’ve got what it takes? Ask Rochelle Humes who, as we go to press, has just gone from novice runner to…

STAR LETTER INSPIRED TO HIKE Thank you for your inspirational article ‘Summer 2018’s Best Active Breaks’ (June issue). I’m always interested in the holistic approach to health, fitness and wellbeing in H&F each month. What better way to combine all these factors than to book an active holiday? We’ve taken your recommendations on board and are off to Zell Am See on a hiking holiday for a week of exploring the Austrian countryside. A couple of years ago, I cycled the Lon Las Cymru – the Welsh National Cycle Route – which also features. We had a wonderful time exploring the Welsh countryside. The sea kayaking in the Scottish Highlands looks very tempting too! Tracey Austin, by email GET ON YOUR BIKE Your article ‘Game On’ in the June issue…

1 GET ALL NOSTALGIC Head to South London for some serious vintage fun at the World Cycling Revival Festival from June 14-16. With the perfect backdrop of the Herne Hill Velodrome (used in the 1948 Olympics), you can sip on champers dressed in vintage clothing, listen to atmospheric music and watch races, including the Brompton ’48 Invitational, where riders compete for a £10,000 prize! Or get a team together yourself. Tickets cost from £39 for adults; cyclingrevival.com. 2 TONE UP, FAST! We’re proud to big up H&F art director Lucy Pinto’s exciting venture – hot new gym, TheBox, in Brighton. Superfit PT Lucy has designed boxing-inspired workouts that help melt away stress and condition your body to the max. Choose Box ‘N’ Burn for pad work with a partner, let…

‘My day starts at 6am, when Phoebe, 7, and Max, 4, wake my husband and me up; they’re always very funny first-thing. I jump into my gym kit before breakfast (I have two Weetabix with milk, sprinkled with flaxseed and nuts, plus a cup of tea), then drive to whichever David Lloyd club is nearest the football ground I’m working at. ‘Usually, I listen to a football podcast while I work out in the gym, doing strengthening exercises to help rehabilitate a knee injury I got playing football 17 years ago. Sometimes I do back-to-back Spin and Pilates classes if I’ve not exercised much over the week. Afterwards, I go to the gym’s café, read the football news, update my stats and think about an intro for my pre-match report.…

Plenty of people these days swear by intermittent fasting (such as eating on alternate days, or the 5:2 diet) for keeping their weight in check. But eating in this way might also help boost your endurance, says a study on mice to be published in the FASEB Journal. This is because your body switches to using fats and ketones as a source of fuel for your muscles when exercising, instead of carbs. The fact that the intermittent-fasting mice could run further and last longer than the control groups supports the idea that evolutionary pressure has caused the body to optimise and perform extremely well when food is scarce, say scientists. Time to go hungry tomorrow, then!…

FIND A FITTIE Forget sweat working. Nearly a quarter of gym-goers are sweat dating, according to YouGov research from Freya Active, which shows that 24 per cent of exercisers are hoping to find love on the gym floor. If you’re more interested in picking up a date than dumbbells, there are ‘sweatiquette’ rules to be followed: ‘If you do want to approach someone, choose your moment wisely,’ says Debrett’s (debtretts.com), an authority on etiquette. ‘Initiating friendly conversation at the water fountain is likely to reap more rewards than yelling your chat-up line over the noise of treadmills.’ You’ve been warned! 1/4 of runners would eat caterpillar fungus if it made them run further. Brave!* IT’S A WRAP Can’t find a sports bra you’re happy with? We were happily surprised to…