Up close and personal with personal trainer, Rebecca Calveley

As the warmer weather is finally upon us, outdoor group training is back on our radar!

So, we decided to interview Katrina and Gerard’s favourite outdoor group trainer, Rebecca Calveley, on a few of her health and fitness tips and tricks. Rebecca runs her own mobile Personal Training business, BeFit Training & Fitness, and keeps Katrina and Gerard in shape at free outdoor health, fitness, and nutritional education group, Australia Live Life Get Active.

 

1. What is your number one tip for people who want to start on their fitness journey, but who don’t have much experience?

Before starting out, I would definitely recommend anyone serious about embarking on a fitness regime to speak to a fitness professional.  You can develop a list of goals, and a trainer will help put you in the right direction to achieving them.

Once you have begun your exercise regime, my next bit of advice would is not to be fooled by spending your entire time doing cardio!!  I see so many people coming to the gym spending an hour moving from the treadmill to the bike to the cross trainer, all the while putting in 50% effort.  Go on these machines, but challenge yourself by increasing the intensity either by changing the speed or gradient.  You will be far better off doing interval sprints at 100% over a short period, than you would running at a slower, steady state for 45+ minutes.

 

2. What’s your typical favourite post-workout recovery routine?

After a big workout, I like to have a whey protein vanilla shake. Whey protein takes a little while to be absorbed by the body, so it sustains you for a long time after your stop working out. I hate to eat immediately after exercising, so this helps a lot – combined with rehydrating by drinking lots of water of course.

 

3. Name your top three exercises for toning up quickly ahead of summer.

Hip Bridges are the first on my list to firm up that bum for the summer! (Lie on your back, legs bent, arms beside you, and raise your hips up and down while squeezing your buttocks.) These can be done using just your bodyweight, by adding weight onto your hips, or even using resistance bands to make it more challenging.

Squats are also great, because you can do them anywhere, anytime, and there are many variations to target different areas. I did a squat challenge which incorporated many different types of squats a few years ago, and was amazed at how my body started to change in areas I wouldn’t have expected.

Lastly, I would recommend adding a HIIT (high intensity interval training) aspect to your workout to burn more calories.  This could be intervals performed almost anywhere – the treadmill, the cross trainer, or the rower (which is my least favourite but definitely does the job!).

 

4. What’s your favourite healthy meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

For breakfast, I love to have my big bowl of porridge in the morning with a cup of coffee.  A bowl of porridge usually sees me through until lunchtime which is exactly what I need when I am rushing around in the morning.

For lunch, I can’t go past a delicious juice which will typically consist of kale, spinach, apple or orange, ginger & chia seeds. With this I will have maybe some fish, salad or I love cottage cheese & avocado on crackers!

And my favourite healthy dinner would be a nice piece of salmon, roasted sweet potato & steamed green vegetables. I love chucking everything in a pot and making an amazing soup in the winter as well!

 

5. What are the top three benefits of group training versus solo training?

The first benefit which comes to mind straight away is the motivation and encouragement from other members you get when training in a group. As a Personal Trainer, I obviously do help my 1:1 clients with this, but there are a lot of people who prefer safety in numbers and will perform a lot better in that environment.

Secondly, being in the outdoors with the open space and fresh air in itself does wonders for our moods.

And finally, there are all the friends you make! I have been working with Live Life Get Active for over a year and half, and it is so rewarding watching friendships grow. I too have made some really good friends along the way.

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Rebecca Calveley is the owner of Personal Training business, BeFit Training & Fitness, and keeps Katrina and Gerard in shape at free outdoor health, fitness, and nutritional education group, Australia Live Life Get Active.