Tiger Blood!

About 3 month ago I went out to a social with my partner. On our table sat a very nice young man. We started talking to him and discovered each others jobs (you know the usual small talk). 

Since I’m a personal trainer we started a conversation about fitness and sports and he talked about his wife. He said that before the birth of their child she must have been an extremely sportive person. She played basket ball, was even a basket ball coach and could do thousands of sit-ups. 

After she gave birth she has lost the interest in any sports since her child was born with a very rare condition and needed extra caring. She was much more focused on her child than on herself.

He said that she has given up on her “sporty” self and never believed to get back into shape again.

I said to him “I tell you that once she will put a foot in our studio and start exercising she will be warmed up by her tiger blood. If she has ever been so competitive and athletic than all she needs is a challenge again and she will never stop…she has this in herself and it isn’t gone yet. She has this tiger blood. She knows how this pain feels and she has reached her plateaus already. When she has done it once in her life then she will do it again…she just needs to start!”

He said he wasn’t sure about it but was fascinated by the thought and took my number…but he didn’t promise that I’ll will ever get a call because he thought his wife’s interest in any form of fitness would be gone.

A couple of weeks later I got a call from my colleague. She said that there is a women on the phone who’s husband I have met and that she wanted to start training with me.  

I cannot tell you how happy I was about this call! I think I was dancing around my room because I saw so much potential in this very moment…I saw it as the beginning of something very good!

She is training with me for about 2 month now. She has never stopped since. She has lost 10kg, about 7cm on each of her legs, 10cm on her waist and 10cm on her hips…and she hasn’t even finished yet!

She is so determined and has got it back…her Tiger Blood! I knew it was always there :)

Such an amazing woman!

Never stop believing! Never give up! 

Anne

The press/push up :) Girls can do it, too!

Hi guys,

I have seen so many posts in which some girls have complained they cannot do any press ups.

I know where you are coming from since I had exactly the same problem. 

I couldn’t do a single press up! 

Our chest muscle is smaller than the male version…so naturally it’s much harder for us to do press/push ups.

The other thing is that we have less testosterone in our blood which makes muscle growth a little bit harder, too. So even if we train hard, we might not have the same results as men do (if they would train just as hard) down to this fact.

BUT this should NOT stop us from trying! It might be difficult for us to do push/press ups but it’s not impossible at all.

I’m a girl and here is my press up>

(I’m not only doing a press up here…I actually had to hold this silly position for a couple of seconds to get this movement captured at the camera…THAT was not easy…but I did it for you :) ).

There are even harder versions out there (you might have seen it in the swedish version of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” where the girl does some bad ass spiderman press ups)>

(..and no> To hold this position for a couple of seconds didn’t make any fun either…but I did it for you girls!)

…

So, now you know I’m cool and could replace any action movie hero or model for any Nike advert with fake tan and nude make up in my face (to make it look like I’m not wearing any and pretend I’m hotter than anyone ;)).

^ Well, this was a joke and I’m probably the most uncool person on the planet. But this doesn’t stop me from doing press ups ;) Average girls (and I include myself to this category) can do press ups, too!

Are you still doing the kneeing press ups or “girly press ups”?

Well, they are actually not so bad.

But there are other variations out there which could bring you a little closer to your desired full press up.

I have noticed that a lot of women were actually able to do press ups with their bum up (looks like that)>

or with elevated feet/legs (looks like that)>

The advantage of those press ups variations is that those alternated press ups are very close to the actual normal press up. All you need to do when getting stronger is to either go a little lower with your bum (first variation) or allow less support on your legs when doing the elevated version (basically move from the knee to calf height, then ankle etc).

You will be surprised at how strong you actually are. Try those versions and tell me if you could lower yourself for a press up :)

The “elevated leg” version is slightly easier than the “bum up” version…but I strongly believe you can do one of them.

Take care and always remember> You are stronger than you think you are! I believe in you!

Anne

For comparison> Me after a workout…

> Hair messy

> Clothes full with sweat

> No make up and sweaty face

… basically I look like sh*t!

…I either do something wrong, buy the wrong make up and hair products…or I’m just a case of reality.

Love yourself! It doesn’t matter how you look like in the gym. This is just the “making of” time…give everything there and don’t be ashamed!

Anne

Met my “Relaxation Class” client on the street :)

…and she feels so much better now.

She came with lower back pain and tight muscles and now it’s all gone…hooray!!!

I must say that I did put a lot of effort into this class since I want people to benefit from it long term. So I stretched and pulled her muscles into each and every direction. 

I actually overdid the time by 20min since I was so busy with stretching her…she has booked for the next 8 weeks :)

This is going to be a lot of stretching in pulling! 

It sounds so easy but at some point I actually have to lift my clients upside down to release the tension in the spine and this can be very challenging …especially when I do this with male clients who have close to 100kg…;)

Anyway> I love when a client gets the benefits from it and sees results. That’s the best reward ever. For this I will lift them up for as long as my own muscles can handle it ;).

I’m so happy that she feels better now. After 8 weeks I’ll look like Popeye (kidding) and she’ll have the best back&shoulders ever :)

Take care of your health,

Anne

Raynaud’s syndrome

Hi,

I just figured out that apparently I might have the Raynaud’s syndrome. 

Since I know that a lot of girls are following me (women are more likely to have it), I thought it might be a good idea to share this with you. 

What is the Raynaud’s sydrome?

The syndrome is a disorder causing discoloration of the fingers, toes, and occasionally other areas. 

Have you ever had blue finger tips or did they discolor when you have been in the cold? 

Do your fingers and toes get numb when there is a sudden drop in temperature?

Have you ever had that famous moment when your fingers were so cold in the winter that standing outside and opening the door with your keys was close to impossible because your fingers were so frozen?

Do your fingers get cold even when you wear cloves? Does the same happen with your feet? Do they get cold even when you wear appropriate footwear?

Well, if you can answer this with yes then you might have this syndrome as well.

How to avoid it as good as possible?

Try not to drink anything with caffeine.

Smoking can also worsen the symptoms. 

Keep your hands, feet and face warm when going out in cold temperatures.

Emotional stress can be a trigger as well and should be avoided.

…

It’s getting colder now ;)

Take care of yourselves and stay warm,

Anne

Stretching and Relaxation

Hi guys,

I just gave my first stretching and relaxation class and I’m so happy that my client liked it a lot.

The funny thing is that I feel very relaxed as well now…like pudding…so it must have worked ;)

It’s such a nice difference from all of the more powerful classes I give and brings things a bit more into balance.

I will have my next session soon and need to open the studio for our Zumba lady. It’s always so nice to have her and her powerful music around. It makes people happy. 

I once joined her class just to see how it is and I must say that I felt so happy afterwards. I don’t know if I could do this all the time though but must admit that it was nice for a change.

I wish you a wonderful start in the week.

Anne 

My cheap workout gear…who can beat this price!?

Hi guys,

I’ve said in a post earlier that I only wear the cheapest clothes I can find to be able to have TONS of it and change my clothes for so often that hardly any catwalk model could keep up with it…

There we are…my latest outfit of today (I’m still wearing it)

Werk it baby, werk it….werk your £1.50 top and your fancy £3 leggings…yeahhh!!!

Who can beat this price ;)?

….you see…there is nothing special about this outfit. No brands, no deco, no original cut….just plain and simple since I only need it to sweat and feel comfortable….absolutely boring but it serves it’s one and only purpose.

Take care, work (out) hard and love life,

Anne

Self acceptance…

Hi,

I’m going to make a self check here.

What do I have what a pretty girl is supposed to be having if I follow the rules of the magazines>

Big boobs> Hm…well, absolutely no…I never had them :(

Tiny nose> No, mine looks normal but not tiny

Big lips> Gosh, I was born with very thin lips

Great skin> I’m 31 and still have acne…I have terrible skin, no matter what I do :(

No pores> I do have pores!

Tiny bum> My bum and hipbones are huge, I can’t change this since I cannot cut off my bones

Nice teeth> My teeth are terribly small, they don’t look like those Hollywood teeth

Flawless feet> My feet are not nice looking from all of the workouts and running

Soft skin> Wow, the inside of my hand is with very thick and ugly skin from lifting weights/doing pull ups so much

Pretty face> I could win an award in a horse face competition. Have you seen my chin?

Being max 25 years old> Well, I’ve past this stage a long time ago

Having a model look a like boyfriend which isn’t older then 25 either> Well, that’s certainly not the case here…I love my partner for who he is…and he doesn’t look like a model at all.

Wearing designer clothes> Since I have to change 5 times a day due to all of the workouts I do, I simply cannot wear expensive clothes…if I would have paid a fortune for all of the 20-30pair of sports bras I have, I would be very poor by now.

Skinny calves> With my calves I could compete with any wrestler and football player

Small ears> One of my ears could fly me to the Bahamas… that’s for sure ;)

Beautiful hands> I have lost two fingers and got them operated back on my hand. They look far from perfect. 

Good Smell> …I tell you…after workout session number 4 I definitely don’t smell like a perfume store anymore ;)

Looking good in any clothes> Ah…no…just…no!

Looking cute in the shirt of your boyfriend> My boyfriend is 16cm smaller then me…he is more likely to look cute in MY shirts ;)

Tan> …when I stand in front of a white wall then you couldn’t find me anymore. I’m as pale as a vampire. 

…I could go on and on and on…

So what do I have then?

Long and toned legs> Hooray…at least something! But please don’t look at my calves!

Defined abs> Yoooohoooo! But they still aren’t perfect looking because my muscles look uneven!

Toned everywhere> …yeaaaahhh…but noooo…means toned on my chest area as well…which means again> No boobs :(. I can’t afford a plastic surgeon!

…

so…after this list here I should actually either shoot myself, go to a plastic surgeon, complain about how I look like 24/7, be depressed, dream/wish to be someone else,  feel ashamed for myself, never show myself to anyone in public (especially not my face…only until it’s fixed by my plastic surgeon of course ;)) and just simply hate myself to death and hope it makes me prettier.

OR…

I can try to accept what I have and make the best out of it.

I can start to love my height and maybe my funny ear isn’t so bad at all. My partner loves it!

I can start to actually appreciate my bulky calves since they carry me through very intense workouts and never get tired.

I can start to like my small boobs since boobs don’t have to be big to be pretty. My partner loves them and calls them cute :) I was ashamed for them for many years until I found out that there is nothing wrong with it.

I felt ashamed for my face…so much that sometimes I didn’t want to speak because I thought it might show my features even more. I got bullied at school because of it. Now I like my face :) 

I also had to accept that I cannot be polished for every workout session. My feet get dirty from working out barefoot, my clothes stink from sweating, my hair is a mess from moving/jumping around so much…I just cannot be as “perfect” as the girl on the cover of a magazine. 

I will also never be the tiny, cute, skinny hushy pushy little girl for my partner…since he is much smaller then me, older and weaker (he does’t work out). You know> There is nothing wrong with being the strong girl! We don’t have to be fragile…strong can also be very beautiful!

What I mean with this post is NOT to change your likes or dislikes towards certain looks. There is nothing wrong in finding big boobs attractive and being happy that the shirt of your boyfriend doesn’t burst when you try it on ;)

But what I do want to say with this post is that we shouldn’t only love what others have but what WE have as well. 

We shouldn’t only find others acceptable but we should find ourselves just as acceptable and lovable. 

This is not a post to say that you/we are wrong…I made this post to say that you are RIGHT! 

And now put the paper bag away from your face, your body, your whatever you don’t like and live!!!

Take care,

Anne

5:47am…

…and ready for my next 1to1s to come.

Tired and cold. I hate the new temperatures outside and the darkness to go with it. It was so easy when it was already bright and warm at this time of the day in Summer. I didn’t mind the times at all…but now it feels like midnight :(

Good morning to everyone and have a great day,

Anne

The Abdominal Wall

Hi guys,

since a lot of clients do so many exercises and are still unhappy with their belly, I thought I might let my artistic talents speak and explain a little bit to them (gosh…my paintings are so bad that they are definitively not made with any talent…but I still hope that they are easy enough to understand what I wanted to say with them).

Yes…good…so when you have finished with laughing at my drawing skills I can start to explain what I have done here ;)

The first happy fella you see on this pic (when you go from the left to the right) is someone who is fit, low on body fat and surely has some nice abs to show off. The organs are kept very tight behind his/her strong wall.

The next fella surely is just as fit as the first guy. The only difference is his higher body fat. So he probably doesn’t eat as “clean” as the first guy  (or has started a new lifestyle and the fat is still there but the fitness has improved a lot) but still has some good core strength to show off. He…or she …will not have any visible abs although he/she has some beautiful abs underneath his/her fat. The organs are kept tight behind the abdominal wall. 

The third person is a person who has never ever done any exercises. The person is probably slim but complains a lot about a bloated looking stomach… this might be a thin and unfit person on a bad diet, a thin and old person who hasn’t done any exercising or a post-natal woman who hasn’t done any exercising to tighten up the abdominal wall again…a lot of people carry this version around. The organs are not kept tight behind the weak abdominal wall and they press against it.

The forth person is an unlucky fella. He/she hasn’t done any exercising and ate too much over a long period of time. The abdominal wall is very weak and has to bear even more then the weak abdominal wall of the thin person since the organs are probably bigger from all of the visceral fat around them. It might be so bad that this person even suffers from hernia (a broken abdominal wall). 

So what does this say?

Thin people are not always fit. Fit people don’t always have a visible six/eight-pack and core strengthening is always good for you :)

Take care, do your workouts and stay toned! 

Anne

Fit vs Skinny …I let my own pics speak!

Hi guys,

since I have been through a lot in my own life and struggled I thought it might be helpful that I let my very own private pics speak to let people understand how much of a benefit a fit body vs a skinny body is.

My before and after pictures are very different towards the ones of others as most of the people show pics of them being bigger to them getting smaller.

I will do it the OTHER WAY AROUND!

Not only this> I will show what it actually means to put on a lot of ACTIVE muscle mass and lose body fat. 

To not make anyone confused:

I will show the difference in between me as a starving anorectic person and me as an incredibly fit and healthy person. In between those pics are 14 years of difference…

Okay, let me start:

Be aware that I’m 180cm (5’11) and my past weight of the old pics is 47kg (103 lbs) and my weight now is 59kg (130 lbs)…so in between those pics are 12kg (26lbs) of weight difference.

This is me 18 years old with 47kg (upper body tiny and bony, legs look healthy…down to the pear shape which was even visible at only 47kg!!!)>

This is me 31 years old with 59kg (bulked up 12kg of muscle mass at the right places)>

Those are my shoulders when I was 18 years old with 47kg>

Those are my shoulders now>

….but the best part yet to come:

This was my bum when I was 18 and had 47kg…flat, straight through the leg, flabby, saggy and I had a reason why I only showed it from the side ;)>

…and this is my bum now …31 years old, 59kg>

So…have you noticed anything?

You are asking yourself how the world I can possible have 12kg more on my new pics?

Yes…well…it’s all muscles! I have gained a lot of muscles and since they are much more dense then fat I just got more and more toned, fitter and shaped. If I would have put on 12kg of fat I would look different…this is for sure!

My measurements are very different now…when I was starving I had a very tiny upper body compared to my lower body and now it’s much more balanced. 

When I was young I tried to starve myself to skinny legs but as you can see: I lost all of my muscles around my upper body. So starving made my situation WORSE!

I can tell you: I had such a horrible life when I was at this starving mode. I was tired, exhausted, depressive, weak, was constantly thinking of food, was constantly thinking of killing myself…I was so so sad!

I wanted to come out of this situation so I forced myself to eat and train. I tell you as an anorectic person it was AWFUL to see that my weight went up and up. I constantly had to tell myself that it is not fat but muscles. I wanted to give up so much since gaining weight was so horrible for me. 

So I decided to not weigh myself anymore and just train and eat…and I haven’t given up on this since.

To the skinny girls and training girls out there> You must accept that you might not lose weight but gain weight. You must not give up because of this!!! DO NOT GIVE UP! Do not get dictated by the scale. The scale might hinder you to train and eat. The scale might trigger your feelings of being fat.

Just train and eat healthy and have this as a lifestyle. There will be a point when your fit body is your constant body. I haven’t put on or lost any weight for many years now. This fit look is my constant look and I neither want to go up nor down.

Since training and eating clean has become a lifestyle for me I’m not obsessed with losing any weigh or changing anything. 

I can say> This is me! This is who I am…living my healthy lifestyle. This is my set point weight. I have finally found myself and don’t need to change a thing.

This feeling is one of the most relaxing and rewarding feelings a woman can have. I have no weight goal when I train…I train for the fitness itself. My goal is not to change anything look wise but to be fitter and  better.

Don’t be obsessed by the scale…just don’t look at it…just train and eat clean! Be fit and your new self will come eventually. 

I am 12kg heavier now!!! And I don’t regret a thing! Thanks god I have forced myself to ignore the weight gain. 

I love being 12kg heavier. I love to be strong and powerful. I love my 12kg!

Take care, train hard and love your new lifestyle,

Anne

Thigh Gap Explanation, Part 2

Hi,

since it must be hard to picture the wide hips bones, the bones higher attached, the bones lower attached and the different shapes of the bones…I looked for some example pics so you can understand better how and why this thigh gap occures.

You see> I’m rubbish at painting that’s why I chose those two pics below my “artwork” to explain it a little bit more.

You can easily see on the hip bone pic on top that the leg is attached higher and rather on the outside of the hip.

On the second pic you can see that the leg is attached lower and rather more below the hip then on the outside.

As you can see on the pic I “painted” above> Two people can have identical thick legs but just because one person has them further apart from each other this gap occurs …the person with the more narrow hips will not have this gap!

I hope that this took out some funny ideas in some peoples head and made it more clear why some people have a gap and some just don’t.

It is not an indication for being skinny or not skinny!

Take care,

Anne

Starving=No thanks!

To all of the starving girls out there:

Those are NOT my ribs:

Those are my hard earned core muscles which come from FOOD and workouts!

Ribs wouldn’t get me up there!

Don’t starve! You are taking your life, talents, energy and abilities AWAY from you. You are making yourself worse.

Eat healthy, work out and GIVE yourself energy. Make yourself better!

Take care, be strong and stay positive,

Anne

1to1s with me:)

Hi guys,

today one of our personal trainers took the camera and captured me while doing a 1to1.

I so enjoy working out with this client of the pics as her personality is just amazing and her little girl, which always comes with her mommy to the 1to1s, is just too cute to be true.

Sometimes she stands in front of us adults and shows us how to move. It feels like having the smallest personal trainer in the world :)

But now I let pictures speak:

Doing some downward facing dogs. Do you see the little girl? Isn’t she cute? She LOVES when we do the downward facing dog as apparently we look like houses for her.

Doing some lower back exercises …bum in…bum out…bum in…bum out…well done!

…but twisting the spine isn’t so bad either :) Come one let’s twist again!

Going to Daddy’s corner as mummy is too busy with working out :)

After all of this twisting, shaking and moving some “banana” stretches back with our little assistant.

I hope you enjoyed the little tour from the “woman at work”. 

Take care and enjoy your day,

Anne

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