Agood Example
Chart star’s wife tells how she sets out to be a fitness role model and why it takes hard work to stay in shape
WITH two children, 170,000 Instagram followers and a full-time modelling career, it’s a wonder Erin McNaught manages to fit it all in.
The 36-year-old Aussie, who is married to musician Elliot Gleave – better known by his stage name Example – has one of the most coveted physiques on social media.
It’s no small feat when you consider she gave birth to her second son Ennio in September BY LIZ CONNOR and the couple also have Evander, three.
She is more than a pop star wife though. The Canberra-born model has enjoyed a successful career and works very hard to keep herself in shape for her job, and healthy for her family life.
And she said even though she has
With my two children, I’m lucky to get to the gym twice a week at the moment
maintained a healthy lifestyle all her life, it’s a battle that needs regulaly fought.
She said: “People want to know if there’s a quick way to stay in shape, but the truth is a combination of a lot of different things.
“I’ve always been really into health and fitness. I raced mountain bikes for about 15 years competitively so I’ve always had really strong willpower when it comes to working out.
“With two children, I’m lucky if I get to the gym twice a week at the moment, but I’m always outdoors when it’s not raining.
“I’ve got a double pram, which is quite handy because it means I can go for really long walks with my two boys. “It’s great because I really like to keep active throughout the day.”
One of the skills any parent learns early on is time management, and when it comes to her fitness and health routine, Erin said she makes a special effort to maximise every minute of her exercise time.
She and hubbie Example, who is a star performer at Martin Compston’s Ardgowan Hospice charity gig at Greenock Town Hall on Thursday, are hands-on working parents, so it’s important to make the best use of whatever exercise time they can manage.
“I really enjoy the buzz I get from doing an intense workout and I’m not one of those people who goes to the gym and just does 10 minutes on the treadmill.
“When I go to the gym, I really go. I pretty much only do high-intensity exercise.
“Some days I do high-intensity interval training for 15 or 20 minutes, and on other days, I’ll still do high-intensity workouts but with longer breaks in-between exercises.
“I’ll never do more than 30-40 minutes at the gym though.”
As any picture taken of the Australian shows, she’s also all about a healthy diet.
And even during her pregnancies, she worked hard to maintain a healthy eating programme and likes to bust some of the commonly held myths about nutrition and diet for those nine months.
Erin said: “I eat pretty well and I think a lot of staying in shape during pregnancy is in not succumbing to the ‘I’m eating for two’ mentality.
“That’s completely untrue – you don’t need all of those extra calories during the first trimester.
“For me, it’s all about being educated about health and fitness.
“With the second pregnancy and birth, I actually was in better shape than the first time, and I can only credit that to the type of exercise I was doing while pregnant.
“The first time, I was still working out a lot but I was doing the wrong exercises core-wise.
“I found out later that they weren’t recommended in your second and third trimester.
“I suffered with diastasis recti, a condition which means your abdominal muscles separate slightly.
“With my second pregnancy, I was aware of the potential for it to worsen, so I did a lot of research into pre-natal core work and I think that had a lot of impact.
“I was still sort of squidgy afterwards, but I definitely felt a lot fitter than after my first
pregnancy.”