q&a it needn’t be


Have you always been fi t? Not at all. When I had my baby, Angel, I gained 75lbs and she only weighed 5lbs! But I didn’t want a crash diet or a quick fix. I wanted to be fit and healthy, with working out part of my lifestyle. A lot happens to women in their early


30s – you have to be active, because your metabolism slows down. So I really wanted to get into the fitness world, but I was really intimidated by the idea of going to a gym – you walk in and there’s all this equipment that you don’t know how to use. So I started working out at home using exercise DVDs. I began to drop the baby weight and felt


really good – much more awake, more focused, more in tune with my body. So I ventured out, doing a few classes in different places, and eventually decided to give the gym a go. I ended up going to a Fitness First club with a friend and it was great – I saw how much fun you could have working out in a club environment.


What’s your fi tness routine? I usually work out every day – it’s about taking that time out for yourself. I run,


do Kinesis, a few abs, some weights. But I mix it up so it doesn’t get boring, and I usually work out with friends so it’s a social thing too. In terms of diet, I eat super-clean, lean


and healthy throughout the week, then eat whatever I want at weekends.


Does your family exercise? My husband Stephen doesn’t exercise at all. Not yet anyway – I will break him in one day! Angel likes to dance, as does my stepdaughter Giselle, and my elder daughter Phoenix likes to play basketball. But my gym is my space, fully kitted out by Technogym. I have Kinesis which I love, two running machines with TVs, a full weight system and a stretching machine.


Tell us about your new fi tness game It’s called Get Fit with Mel B and it came out in November. It’s incredible – we filmed it two years ago and it’s taken that long to build the technology behind it. It scans your body and then puts you – a virtual ‘you’ – on-screen beside me, in real time, so I can comment on your technique: “You’re


INTERNATIONAL FITNESS WEEK


Taking place at Fitness First clubs in 15 countries around the world is the second annual International Fitness Week (IFW) on 14 –20 March. Originally launched in 2009 as


National Fitness Week, it’s since developed into a global campaign designed to get more people exercising and doing something they enjoy. All clubs will be open to both members and non-members throughout the week, with personal


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training taster sessions, free classes – including Get Fit with Mel B – and free health checks. There’s a different focus for each


day of the week, with clubs offering a range of free activities to fi t the day’s theme. Monday is strength day, Tuesday is a Spinathon, Wednesday looks at workouts for different body shapes, Thursday is health checks, Friday is sport, Saturday is posture check and Sunday focuses on health.


Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital


SCARY


Former Spice Girl Mel B – aka Scary Spice – is the face of this month’s International Fitness Week for global health club chain Fitness First. She tells Kate Cracknell why she wanted to be involved with the initiative


not breathing right” or “Make sure you tense your stomach”. You select your goal – maybe you


want a ‘bikini-ready body’ – and you type in how long you have to achieve that goal. It then sets a workout for you using a combination of the 250 different exercises we fi lmed, plus a full nutritional plan, day-by-day and for each meal. It’s for home fi tness, to use with the


family, and that’s great. I think everything starts at home. Obesity’s such a problem and, although I’m not saying it’s parents’ fault, if people just took time out to be educated on what they put in their fridges and what their kids see, I think we could make a big difference.


And what about your new group exercise concept? The Get Fit with Mel B game was a project with Black Bean and Fitness First, and now we’ve launched a class at Fitness First clubs – also called Get Fit with Mel B – which uses some of the exercises from the game. It’s the workout I do myself, but the exercises can be tweaked so it’s suitable for all levels.


So are you qualifi ed to comment on technique or design programmes? Not yet, but I’m working towards a Level 3 qualification at the moment. It’s fascinating. When I’ve qualified, I’m going to kick my husband into action! Until I’ve qualifi ed – although I’ve


drawn on my own experience and used my ideas as the basis for the workout – I’ve worked very closely with the experts at Fitness First. They made sure my technique was right, so I’m not sending out the wrong signals to people who are following me, and they helped to put all the exercises in the correct order to properly work all the different muscle groups.


march 2011 © cybertrek 2011


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