London is arguably one of the world’s greatest cities, but living and working here, Londoners can become blind to its rare brilliance. Precious gems like Trafalgar Square, Parliament, The London Eye, The Mall (etc), are casually tarred with the ‘tourist’ brush, and avoided for fear of disrupting ‘the daily mission’. It’s a superfast-paced city in which to work and live… but it doesn’t have to be that way! In what is the first ever staycation Active Escape review to feature on FitnessOnToast.com, I recently spent 3 cosy days inside the walls of the palatial Corinthia Hotel London investigating something genuinely innovative; the Brain Power Experience. It’s been designed in conjunction with the hotel’s Neuroscientist in Residence, and was totally transformative for me! It worked, and conclusively proved the hypothesis that you can enjoy an exceptional and differentiated wellness break whilst at home in this frenetic city, emerging revived and fired up! Click more to see what your own restorative well-being program could involve… (more…)
“Happy New Year” is perhaps starting to wear thin now that the first working week’s taken its toll, normality has bitten, and delicious mince pies are but a distant memory. Luckily, FitnessOnToast is here to help by offering some ‘on-the-horizon’ inspo! As part of my ongoing partnership with Westin Hotels & Resorts, I’m going to be giving one lucky UK-based reader (+ partner) the chance to savour his/her very own exquisite Active Escape to The Westin Turtle Bay Resort & Spa Mauritius, where everything is designed to help you feel your best! I’ll have even custom-crafted you a bespoke healthy program too! To enter, just do a little Instagramming, then come meet me for run & workout around London this January! Click MORE to see exactly what you can expect, and precisely how to register yourself for this awesome prize!
IMPORTANT UPDATE (Weds 30th Mar):
The ‘group run’ is an upgraded and larger wellbeing experience, and it’ll be taking place in the Olympic Park in London! To anyone who had already registered for the run and had entered into the Instagram competition to win a trip to The Westin Turtle Bay Resort & Spa Mauritius, don’t worry – you’ve been automatically entered in the competition, and a winner will be drawn at random from our new event. I’m so looking forward to meeting you all in person, and to our even-better event where we can all re-energize together with Westin 🙂 Faya x
“Happy New Year” is perhaps starting to wear thin now that the first working week’s taken its toll, normality has bitten, and delicious mince pies are but a distant memory. Luckily, FitnessOnToast is here to help by offering some ‘on-the-horizon’ inspo! As part of my ongoing partnership with Westin Hotels & Resorts, I’m going to be giving one lucky UK-based reader (+ partner) the chance to savour his/her very own exquisite Active Escape to The Westin Turtle Bay Resort & Spa Mauritius, where everything is designed to help you feel your best! I’ll have even custom-crafted you a bespoke healthy program too! To enter, just do a little Instagramming, then come meet me for run & workout around London this January! Click MORE to see exactly what you can expect, and precisely how to register yourself for this awesome prize!
IMPORTANT UPDATE (Thurs 21st Jan):
Due to overwhelming sign-up for the run originally planned for 14:00 Sunday 24th Jan, we have had to RE-SCHEDULE in order to obtain the required bigger-group permit. That means that I’m super disappointed to say that we will no longer host the run this weekend but will soon update you on the new event date – bigger and better! It’ll be an upgraded and larger wellbeing experience, and it’ll be in the near future! To anyone who had already registered for the run and had entered into the Instagram competition to win a trip to The Westin Turtle Bay Resort & Spa Mauritius, don’t worry – you’ve been automatically entered in the competition, and a winner will be drawn at random from our new event. I’m so looking forward to meeting you all in person, and putting on an even better event and re-energizing together with Westin! The new details will follow on my Instagram, Twitter & Blog as soon as possible 🙂 Faya x
After my search for fitness fashion inspiration in Milan, I hopped on the train for 45 minutes and ended up at the breathtaking Lake Como. The eagle-eyed reader will notice this is entitled a ‘Wellness Destination’ as opposed to an ‘Active Escape’; that’s because my choice of hotel, the Grand Hotel Tremezzo, seemed entirely geared around revival, wellness and relaxation, blended with a healthy strand of mischievous indulgence! A brief 3 days here was the perfect amount to recharge, ready for the worst that a British autumn might throw at me! This ‘review’ post is a full photographic round-up of my little wellness escape to an inspiringly glamorous part of this wonderful country! (MORE)
An increasing number of clients, friends and family seem to want to stay in shape whilst on holiday, and even to use holiday as a chance to become a little more healthy. The ‘active escape’ is a proper, growing trend in today’s health-aware world, and whilst I’m not talking about abstinent, monk-like Zen retreats, discerning travellers are after indulgence, with the optional facility to stay fit. With that in mind, I wanted to share my experience of quite simply one of the finest active destinations I’ve ever visited. At the ‘Il San Pietro‘, which is organically (and dramatically) crafted onto a cliff top, nestled on a headland between the towns of Positano and Praiano, I was utterly spoilt by the range of fitness activities on offer, from the most spectacular tennis ‘amphitheatres’ I’ve encountered, to an awe-inspiring spinning location. Click MORE for my fitness-oriented review of the place!
I was recently invited to try out the Gym at London’s Corinthia Hotel, which recently opened at a reputed cost of £300m. Given that level of investment, I’d assumed the fitness facilities would be excellent, and unsurprisingly, I wasn’t disappointed. It’s invariably the largest and best equipped hotel gym I’ve been to, with an ample supply of soft fluffy towels and refrigerated bottled water on hand at a moment’s notice. Fantastic, great workout, good…
… But it’s not the gym that blew me away, unsurprisingly, since I spend most of my days in one! That was reserved, instead, for the Spa. Or more specifically, Espa Life at Corinthia. Living in a ‘never-sleeps’ buzzing city like London, it sometimes seems impossible to stop moving and take a deep breath. That’s never more apparent, I think, than when you go on holiday only to realise how exhausted you feel. But there are things you can do in the meantime to mask that dilapidation of the soul, and to ensure you don’t turn into a ball of stress and combust before you reach the beach!
Aside from the obvious – eating healthy, training regularly, sleeping well etc – spending a day at a spa is the ultimate indulgence for both man and woman! The mood is boosted by endorphin, dompamine and seratonin release, it promotes regeneration and healing, muscular relaxation as well as invigorating & energising, and expunging toxins in your body through the cycles of sweating and re-hydration. Plus it’s likely to make you sleep like a baby later that night! Espa Life is impossibly relaxing, blending outrageously ‘cool’ design (e.g. a sauna with no perceptible walls, sleek lines and fibre-optics) with all sorts of fabulous spa innovations, from heated-stone ‘anatomical loungers’ to effervescent ‘vitality pools’ and regenerative ‘sleep pods’. This hotel basically bisects Trafalgar Square and Embankment – both frantically stressful parts of the City – but you wouldn’t know that you within 500 miles of the nearest ‘Nelson’s Column’! The cavernous (but always intimate) 3,300 square meters of uber-luxurious spa space are spread over 4 floors (!!) which has to be verging on excessive indulgence! You can literally watch the stress receding.
Admittedly, maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle takes planning, dedication and hard work; the pay back is without a doubt worth it, but sometimes a little reward to pat yourself on the back isn’t just allowed; it’s compulsory. Many find that staging a ‘cheat day’ once a week is a great option to keep you on track, especially knowing you’ve earned yourself some extra chocolatey calories. But for me, given that I spent 1 hour in the gym and 3 at the spa, there can be no better treat than this place!
