Fitness for life with Lizzie

Have you ever thought about getting fit? Have you thought about getting them brand new trainers on you brought last month to go running in?

But then those thoughts you had quickly disappear as fast as they came. The thought of trying to take part in group exercise fills you with dread and the thought of stepping out on your own, trying to motivate yourself into doing exercise soon becomes a distant memory and those trainers stay where they are…

You may have even tried a fitness boost, changed your diet and got fitter – but then six months down the line become disinterested and back the trainers go in the cupboard.

It happens and it happens to a lot of us.

Lizzie Lea-Woodward has been there herself and although, now a successful fitness instructor, maintaining her own fitness was not always high on the agenda.

During a period in her teens Lizzie noticed she was putting on weight, the clothes were getting tighter and she generally felt unfit. From the age of 16 to 19, Lizzie shied away from exercise until one day she decided to try something new. Lizzie took the plunge and never looked back.

“Towards the end of my teens I put some weight on and decided to do something about it by attending a local aerobics fitness class,” she said.

“I found that I loved exercise especially in a group environment.”

Lizzie’s new found love for exercise spiralled and within ten years she trained to be a fitness instructor.

She added: “I did fitness instructing part-time until 2004 when I took the plunge and made fitness my full-time job. I then added Personal Training on to my business.”

From her own experience Lizzie believes fitness is beneficial in more ways than one and she  strives to help others to see their own potential by guiding them through the various fitness classes and personal programmes she offers.

“Maintaining fitness can improve quality of life especially as we get older,” Lizzie said.

“It can maintain flexibility and just simply make you look and feel good. It also Improves mental and physical wellbeing and it’s fun.

“I love helping people to get to their goal – I have been that unfit person at the back of the class and hated it.”

Part of Lizzie’s aims is to change people’s perceptions of exercising and diet and she has recently started a new venture in a juice cleanse business.

“I want to change the way people view exercise and healthy eating and develop healthy habits that last for their lifetime,” she said.

Lizzie’s group fitness classes include cardio, body weight exercises and resistance training and take place Monday and Wednesday evenings at Bradwell Lodge and Penkhull Village Hall.

Boot camps and personal training sessions are also available.

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