Brooke gets her fitness skates on
CORONATION Street star Brooke Vincent has revealed how she got into the best shape of her life as she prepares for her Dancing on Ice debut at the weekend. Corrie favourite Brooke has lost more than a stone in weight and dropped a dress size after a 12-week health and fitness transformation.
But more importantly for Brooke, it helped her QUIT her junk food habit, STOP smoking and improve her fitness.
Brooke, 25, admits it was “very hard” but was so pleased to finally tackle those bad habits. She says: “It was very hard but it put me in good stead for a bit of discipline that I needed for Dancing on Ice.
“I had to stop eating junk food, stop smoking and drinking, and I did all that for 12 weeks. I only had three or four days off the whole time.
“I didn’t want to be stick thin, I wanted to be healthier, and stopping smoking especially was a massive thing for me.”
Brooke, who plays Corrie’s Sophie Webster, undertook her 12 week transformation with Manchester’s UP Fitness gym, working with their personal trainers on a tailored fitness regime, for three one hour sessions a week, while eating prepared meals giving balanced nutrients.
Brooke says: “It was a chance for me to tone up, so the exercise was for the whole body rather than certain areas, although we did focus on the glutes and the bum which is a bit perter! They had me doing a lot of weights and at first I was like: ‘aren’t they going to make me bigger?’ But it really opened my eyes to what it takes to get fit and toned.”
She was already a slimline size 10, but has now dropped to a size 6-8 and says she’s noticed the difference in her skimpy and figure-hugging ice skating outfits. Brooke’s regime included weight training for 45 minutes then a 10-15 minute of cardio fitness to get the heart rate going.
Brooke laughs: “I hate cardio, I feel like I’m going to pass out! But coming away from it you really do miss it.
“Hopefully all the training has helped me with getting ready for the lifts on Dancing On Ice, and of course I’m a little lighter which helps my skating partner!”
Using the meal prep service at UP Fitness was perfect for Brooke - as she admits she always grabs food on the go because of her hectic lifestyle and filming late on Corrie.
She says: “My lifestyle is very, very quick, I need food and I need it now I haven’t got time to prepare it and all that jazz. I can be having tea one minute and then my friend would say do you want to go out for food, So planning didn’t come easily.
“UP meals helped me so much, I don’t think I’d have been able to do it without them, they were just three mins in the microwave, there was healthy curries and that kind of thing, I actually do miss the food.”
She’s now busily training for the first episode of Dancing On Ice which returns to screens on Sunday night with a whole new cast of celebrities paired with professional skaters.
Brooke is already being hotlytipped by bookies to do well in the series - although she says her skills are a tad unpredictable! She laughs: “People say ‘I bet you’re amazing’ but I’m very unpredictable!
“My partner Matteo is not worried yet. He’s from New Jersey so I’ve been teaching him some English slang, which obviously with my accent is going well!
“The first few times he was saying: “how’s Corey?” and I was like “who’s Corey?” “He meant Corrie. “We’re very different but both very much perfectionists.”