LIFT BIG WITH LAURA
Your freak-out-proof guide to the scariest bit of the gym…
‘It’s about the weight I lift, not my weight on the scales’
We’re ready to start a revolution. For years, women have been sticking to cardio in the gym, staying in the safe zone of the cross trainer and the running machine. But it’s time to reclaim the weights section. The stomping ground of hulk-like men who seem to spend more time looking in the mirror at their biceps, there’s a misconception that lifting weights will turn us into a bulky She-ra. Newsflash: weights are the secret to getting amazing Jen-an arms, and the feeling of being able to lift weights is better for both your brain and your body.
Don’t believe us? Meet Laura Hoggins, trainer at Ministry Of Sound Fitness. She’s on a one-woman mission to convince us that weights will have an amazing effect on our body, both inside and out! “Weightlifting has so many benefits to your posture, bone density, your mood,” she says. “Cardio is great as it does burn calories, but weightlifting will give you the shape that you want. And you’ll be burning calories after you leave the gym, too.”
In her new book Lift Yourself (Penguin Life,
£14.99), out 25 July, Laura explains how she went from watching every calorie she consumed, to developing a love for lifting, which has given her a major body confidence boost. “Fitness used to be about getting thin. I weighed myself every single day and I was convinced that I’d be happy when I was thin. I eventually did reach my goal weight after coming out of a long relationship and going full revenge body. But was I strong? No. Did I feel good? No. And did I find happiness being that weight? Unfortunately I didn’t.”
Now, Laura admits that her body shape isn’t for everyone, but most importantly, it works for her. “I fell in love with what my body could do, and it was about the weights that I was lifting instead of the weights on the scales. I’m such an advocate of strength not size – we can be healthy at any size. Health and fitness is for everyone. Don’t feel like you can’t be a part of something because of what you perceive yourself to look like. Feel confident in your own body, celebrate what you can do, cheer other people who support that and ignore the people who don’t.”