Kate’s Fitness Journey
At school, I was the girl who was picked last for sports. It wasn't until my early 20's that I discovered yoga and fell in love with exercise. Although l’m entirely sports-averse, I really enjoy the feeling of moving, stretching and connecting to my body.
“For me, exercise has always been much more about how it makes me feel than how it makes me look. Yet despite regular yoga and swimming; by my late 20’s I was overweight & deeply unhappy. Yoga wasn't hitting the spot the way it used to…..the joy and release I used to get from drinking and dancing were no longer sustainable but I still craved that feeling of freedom.”
I realised that more dynamic exercise was the closest way to feel that same absorption in physical activity and the ability to forget about everything but the music.
I developed a core strength/muscular endurance regime with a good amount of cardio thrown in and by my 30’s I had gotten both lean and strong. The stronger I got physically, the stronger I felt mentally which was handy as at the start of my 4th decade, things began to seriously fall apart….
I experienced divorce, clinical depression & bankruptcy. I lost my business, my marriage, my home and very nearly my mind but even on the darkest days, the one thing that saved me was exercise. It's truly a gift that we have the ability to release endorphins to entirely alter our mood – regardless of our circumstances. I would weep my way through many a
workout, but the fact that I was able to do a complicated plank or kick my legs higher in the air than before, meant that I didn’t completely fall apart. When the music coming through my headphones was joyous and uplifting, I was able to get lost in it and shift the toxic stress, grief and crippling anxiety that otherwise engulfed my days.
At this time, I would regularly be stopped by others in the gym who asked if I was an instructor or where they could learn to do what I did but I was too caught up in the chaos of my life to seriously consider teaching.
However, once my second husband and I were settled into our new life in a beautiful Georgian farmhouse outside of London, I qualified as an Exercise to Music Instructor and was finally able to make my passion a career.
My workouts are designed to be accessible to everyone and are broken down into manageable chunks so that even the most time-poor can take part.
The Warm Up section in particular is designed to lift your mood as much as tone your arms and I would urge you to throw yourself into it - silly dancing and loud singing is very much encouraged!
As with almost everything in life…. the more you get into it, the more you will get out of it!
I'm not here to dazzle you with my six-pack or judge you for any of the vices in your life.
I simply want to encourage you to embrace the life-affirming power of exercise & the sheer joy of moving your body to music.