A Healthy Trip To Prague

I have just returned from an amazing 5 day  trip to Prague, and what a beautiful city it is! Unlike most city breaks, this one will not break your bank, or leave you feeling empty on return.

We were lucky enough to catch the tail end of the Christmas market, which meant the whole city was a shimmering display of pine needles and twinkling lights.

 

One of the biggest appeals for me for visiting Prague, was the picturesque red roofs that the majority of the city has, and the stunning views across from the famous Charles Bridge. This really is a postcard city, in both winter and summer, with a rich history and beautiful architecture. We had the added bonus that the main tourist hot spots were not overcrowded due to their peak season being over, which meant we were easily able to manoeuvre down the narrow little side streets, and take gorgeous shots of our surroundings.

I was amazed at how easy it was to find healthy vegetarian restaurants in Prague, that didn’t just dish up a salad of rocket and tomato! I have made it my aim that every city break we take, I now do my research before I go into amazing healthy places to eat. There is a really handy little app called ‘HappyCow’ that shows you exactly where all the vegan and vegetarian food spots are in your area, and I definitely made use of this whilst we were away.

I definitely became addicted to hummus and pitta. I think I had it every day for the 5 days we were away, and possibly even twice on some occasions! Nothing beats homemade hummus, and trust me, once you’ve tried fresh, the shop bought will never taste the same. One of our favourite places to eat was a place called ‘Maitrea’ which also has a sister site in the city called ‘Lehka Hlava’, simply translated into ‘Clear Head’. Now, my boyfriend is not a veggie by any means, but he LOVED the food at Maitrea so much, that we ended up going back twice! Generally on a ‘traditional’ menu, the vegetarian options are few, and often, vegan dishes are non existent. Here, the options were pretty much endless, and the restaurants vibe was stunning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finding raw healthy desserts was also a breeze. One to definitely check out was a place called ‘Cacao’ situated right next to republic square, which was where the majority of the group bus tours set off from. Not far along from this, was a little raw vegan cafe called ‘Raw Cha’. It was not fully visible from the main road other than the sign on the wall, so be sure to go down the little side street to find it. The menu was limited (as to be expected with a raw cafe), but all the portions were hearty and looked delicious. We enjoyed a raw vegan dessert here, and even the boyfriend loved it!

Raw Cha

Healthy Ingredients

Raw Raspberry Dessert

Why is it that every country in Europe, seems to be a hive of hidden health spots, with every restaurant and cafe serving delicious healthy meals, and even stocking soy and almond milk. Even when we popped into the local Irish Pub (seriously, is there an Irish pub EVERYWHERE in the world!?), they didn’t stock almond or soy, yet the bar next door did! I can never quite wrap my head around how one of the biggest power countries in the world, we can be so behind with the healthy movement of the continent.

My final, and possibly most amazing meal, was at a relatively new restaurant/cafe called ‘Fat Cat’. Let me tell you, the portions here did NOT disappoint! It was our last day, and we wanted to use up the remaining currency we had (we had so much left over as everywhere was so cheap!). They had a decent selection of vegetarian meals, but, as it was lunch time, I only fancied a sandwich, rather than a big plate of food. It turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The ‘Fat Cat’ was so named, BECAUSE of their larger than life portions. I ordered the ‘veggie cat’ which was a sandwich filled with peppers, carrot, courgette, rocket and hummus. Alone it doesn’t sound all that incredible, but as you can see from the pictures, it was HUGE. If you ever come to Prague, this is definitely a place to visit if you want value for your money.

 

Regrettably, I was unable to finish it, and due to strict airport control I couldn’t even bring this wonderful creation with me. We had a shared starter of hummus (which equally looked like it should serve a small tribe), as well as the veggie sandwich, and the boyfriend had a double stacked burger, with cheese and bacon fries. All of this came to a grand total of £12.00. That’s it. You’d be lucky to get one main meal for that in the UK. The value for food over there was amazing. We even managed to have a three course meal, two drinks and water for £22.50. 

 

Prague is a beautiful place for a city break, and having spent 5 days here, I genuinely believe you could see most of what the city has to offer in 3 days alone. I always like to keep track of my steps when travelling around a city, and I averaged around 10km per day, and that was leisurely strolling. If you are efficient with your time, you can see all the major tourist attractions within one day, and not have to spend a penny to do so!

For now, it is back to normality, and the countdown begins to the next adventure in a few months! Poland!

 

Lou xx

 

 

Hello 2018!

Hello 2018!

August 11^th 2016?! Wow, has it really been that long since I last posted on this blog?! My life has changed so much since then, and that is part of the reason why I absolutely love blogging. It’s my little space in the world where I can just completely be myself, and write whatever I want, whilst actively using my posts as a mini diary of how my life has changed. Life is like a river, no matter how difficult the passage it takes may be, it always keeps flowing, and I feel that is a reflection of where my life is at.

I would certainly say that my life has substantially changed since I created this blog is 2014. My focus has shifted from health and fitness being all I could think and talk about, to finding some (slightly off) balance in my life. The gym is not the only place you will now find me, in fact, you’re more likely to find me at the cinema, at home reading a book, or in a far-off destination. I am in a much healthier, stable and empowering relationship, and in 2017 I finally flew the nest. Now I have bills, lots of washing, and my very own hoover. I am officially an adult.

I am very much, still a health and fitness junkie. I think if you cut me open, you’d still find a soul drenched in the health and fitness world, only now, I have so many other interests too. 2016 was the year that I got into the best shape of my life. I didn’t realise this at the time, because I am a typical girl, and always see the flaws not the highlights. I was so in tune with my body, my nutrition and my exercise.

 

Being a PT has been the highlight of my career so far. If being someone’s inspiration to ‘get fit’ doesn’t motivate you to do so yourself, I don’t know what will!

 

As much as being a PT was tough at times, the buzz you had from teaching a class of 30 people was absolutely incredible. That is something that I will always be proud of, from growing up as the shrinking violet who was always shrouded in self-doubt. I DID THAT. DAMN GIRL.

Alas, I said goodbye to my dream job as a PT and class instructor. For a mixture of reasons really. I expect self-doubt played a huge role in my decision, but also some paperwork mix ups sealed my fate. I am starting to believe, that everything happens for a reason. Whether that is true or not, it sure does help you to overcome negative situations. Even more bizarrely, I ended up working in an office! I became a 9-5, desk bound hermit, and boy has that been a mental challenge! I took my 10 years of freedom at coop for granted. Finding yourself bound to your desk is tough when you are used to being so active in your day job. That being said, my waistline also suffered. 2017 was the year for insulation layers. Winter is coming after all. Having the freedom in my two previous roles to go to the gym at convenient times always made fitting in my workouts easy. Working the ‘traditional’ hours meant saying goodbye to this freedom. Slowly I found myself no longer going to the gym, usually because of the standard excuses ‘it’s too far’, ‘I am too tired’. No, I was lazy. I found myself leaving work and feeling tired, even though I had done nothing but sit down all day. LAME.

Eventually I cancelled my gym membership altogether. I had bought myself a fly wheel spin bike for the spare room at home, and brought my kettlebells from my previous nest. I genuinely thought I would find the motivation to train my own ass. Who knew better than a PT after all?! It wasn’t all bad, I did exercise, not regularly or as much as I needed to. You forget that going from ‘active’ to ‘desk sloth’ sure slows your metabolism right down!

Alongside this (it does get better I promise), towards the end of 2017 I transitioned into a vegetarian diet. I have a love and appreciation for animals, but that was not my sole purpose for the change. I have never eaten a variety of meat. I usually stuck to your white meats (chicken, turkey), and the occasional beef burger or pork sausage. I wouldn’t say it was a struggle to give it up. I definitely didn’t go cold turkey (ironic), but the plan was always to be a strict veggie/plant based eater by 2018.

I actually enjoy eating this way, and surprisingly by boyfriend does too! I think the common consensus is that veggies just eat salad and low-calorie popcorn, when in actual fact, there are tonnes of amazing recipes out there! I even signed up for ‘veganuary’ (not because it’s the latest ‘fad’ or ‘trend’), and surprisingly I am excited to see how my body feels at the end of the month.

 

I was lucky enough to travel with my lovely boyfriend. We visited Barcelona for 4 glorious days in September, and it was pretty perfect. I got to see things that so many may never get the opportunity to, and I am very grateful for the life and opportunities I have.

We took a family holiday to Cornwall, laughed and ate too much, whilst watching the world go by overlooking a harbour. I visited Winter Wonderland in London, and went on rides that mentally I didn’t deem safe (how do they go up overnight?!) and had my first Bill’s breakfast (the real deal). I experienced Thorpe Park’s Fright night which was amazing, and I survived the zombie apocalypse that seemed to have only hit the island. I binge watched way too many Netflix shows (if you haven’t seen ‘Stranger Things’ are you even okay?), and swung from a tree like a monkey at Go Ape.

I have so many exciting things lined up for 2018, I can’t wait to keep travelling the world and learning more about myself.

I am determined to make this year amazing, physically and mentally. Nothing will be ‘cured’ on day one, and habits don’t fade out easy. It takes patience and consistency, and boy am I ready for it!

 

Here’s to 2018! Let’s do this!

Lou xx

 

 

 

Becoming A Personal Trainer : What I Have Learnt

If somebody had told me 4 years ago that I would train to be a personal trainer, I would have probably passed out from laughing. Not only was I extremely unhealthy, but I was carrying some timber, and NEVER went to the gym. My first ‘memory’ of the gym, was going with my best friend, and we had a programme to ‘follow’, which concluded with med ball sit up’s, toe to toe. I never really enjoyed it, but it was a social event for me at the time. I do however vividly remember often driving to the gym, sitting in my car and having a massive internal debate with myself about how much I REALLY needed to go. More often than not, I would leave without going in, and head to McDonald’s, and that’s not even an exaggeration. I was stuck in the viscous downward spiral of always starting the diet Monday. Why do we do that? It’s not like our bodies have any clue what day it is, it’s all a mental process. I knew how unhappy I was with my weight, and I knew exercise was always going to help, yet still I couldn’t shift my butt to the gym! 

Fast forward 4 years and I’m now a personal trainer, working crazy long hours, covering 14+ classes per week, as well as fitting my own training in between. I absolutely LOVE how my life is right now. I spent so many years in the darkness, not knowing what to do to make my life better, to feel happy. I can’t imagine doing anything else now, and I want to pursue a career in the health and fitness industry. 

I personally think that you are constantly learning as a personal trainer, not just in terms of exercises for clients, but even how to handle yourself as a business. Because that’s how you need to look at yourself, as a business. You work for yourself, you decide the rules and the hours, and the money is only going to come from working hard. The moment you go self employed you need to be prepared to put the hours in. Business isn’t just going to fall into your lap, you need to get yourself out there and work at it. When I first started out in the industry I didn’t know all that much about business, or even the best approach for PT, I had to learn on my feet. The first few months are tough, you need to be putting in the hours, getting to know customers at the gym, meeting the morning, middle and night time people, often resulting in 12 hour days. Just having your profile up on a board in the gym isn’t going to be enough to guarantee you clients. You need to get yourself out there, be approachable and friendly, and have a great knowledge of training. 

The smallest of gestures will help plant the seeds in a potential clients head, and within a few weeks you may find them seeking you out for PT. I remember observing a lady who was incorrectly performing a tricep extension on the cable machine. I had seen her in a few of my classes, and I slowly approached and suggested a slight change in her form which would give her better results. She was really happy to have the free advice, and a few weeks later I found her coming up to me asking about personal training. 

You can have various approaches to PT, some people prefer to be pushy, really enforcing the benefits of PT and the need for multiple sessions per week, but this is something I know I currently lack the confidence level for. I personally don’t believe that you want to come across as being too pushy with potential clients, as the results should be the main focus, not the guarantee of money. 

I definitely made some school boy errors over my first few months. My first being not taking payment up front from my first client. We arranged for a block of 5 sessions, and she would pay me on the day, but the hour before the session was due to begin she cancelled. Needless to say, I always take the money up front now, and if they choose not to show then that is their own issue, not mine. 

The consultation period with a client is where you really get a chance to sell yourself as a business. This is the part where you explain all about the benefits of having a personal trainer. When I first started out, I had a folder with my par-q forms, and a list of my prices and packages. 
Don’t be afraid to be fussy with your clientele. What I mean is, you don’t have to take people on for the sake of it. Having clients is great, but if you don’t get any enjoyment from training them, or they have a huge goal fast approaching and they aren’t training with you more than once a week, and they never train alone, how much can you really help them? Personal training is about ensuring clients reach their goals. A client who only commits to training with you once per week, isn’t realistically going to achieve their goal, which ultimately means they won’t feel they benefitted from your services, they wouldn’t recommend you to their friends, and you’ll feel demotivated because your time was also wasted on the programming. I’ve slowly started to realise the importance of ensuring clients fully commit, and train 2/3 sessions per week with me. It’s not just about the money, it’s about guaranteeing results which is only going to aid you as a business. 

You will have good days and bad days. I think every PT out there has fallen into that ‘lul’ at times, where you forget to plan your sessions, end up forgetting your clients goals, and not taking the time to put a plan in place. I’ve come to realise that’s all a natural part of the process. I found the best thing to do, was schedule in your working hours. Generally, your hours of work will be early mornings and evenings, leaving you a large chunk of the day free. Allocate a few hours during the day where you totally focus on your work. Plan your PT’s, evaluate their food plans, sort out your schedule etc. I really found a benefit when I started to do this, and I write myself check lists of things to complete within that hour. That way, you feel far more prepared when you next see your client, and you feel you’re delivering a better service. 

Being self employed is a very scary experience. Although the money is extremely good, the nature of the work means it is never guaranteed. Make sure you set yourself up a business account, so you can really monitor your funds. Often when you have block bookings, intermingled with one off sessions, it’s hard to work out just how much money you are earning on a monthly basis. To begin with I would spend the money far too quickly, whereas in my previous job I had to wait for 4 weeks.   It’s easy to forget that clients may not stay with you forever, so really keep an eye on your funds, and be sensible with your expenditure! 

I’m still relatively new to the industry, and I really am learning new things on a weekly basis. If you are planning on taking a career in the PT industry, then I hope you found these points helpful. Don’t be fooled into thinking it will be easy money with minimal hours of work, the reality is very different. However, seeing your clients get results, and receiving positive feedback is the best feeling in the world, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. 
Lou xx