sport | Fitness on Toast

Posts tagged 'sport'

HOW TO WEAR COMFY SPORTS LUXE!

28/01/2019

🚨 Fashion post alert! 🚨 I recently fell in love with this look I was sent from the new DKNY Sport collection. I was en route to an event at the Edition Hotel – a “sacred cacao ceremony” with meditative gong vibrations (more on vibrations and sound baths HERE) with some utterly glorious, crisp January London weather. My photographer and I managed to snap some impromptu pics in Fitzrovia. The oversized jacket is rendered in the most gorgeous inky velvet material which catches and plays with the light in a wonderfully intriguing way. Paired with subtly matching velvet leggings and my Adidas Superstars it’s the sort of sporty look I’d happily wear in or outside of the gym. Due to the oversized nature of the proportions, it’s also super comfy and all-enveloping, but the pluming nature adds more of a relaxed-yet-luxe sporty aesthetic. Whilst it was sunny it was uber cold, so I layered up, wearing a DKNY hoodie and the perfect polo underneath to keep my neck warm! I love an oversized jacket and this one I think is a classic – I’ll have it for years – paired with a pair of jeans, tight leather pants with sneakers, heels or boots. I’m trying to say that its versatile. I also love playing with proportions; wearing something super duper oversized on top always makes the legs look proportionately smaller which I love as a silhouette. Click MORE to see the rest of our shots and some shots from the choco-meditation ceremony! (more…)

TENNIS & CHAT WITH STEFFI GRAF!

29/08/2016

There are some sports figures who transcend the era in which they played; they’re few and far between, but they’re immortals, the ultimate hall of famers, era-defining legends, and their very names are synonymous with the sport itself. Bjorn Borg was such a character in my home country (and beyond), but on a scale almost unimaginable for two decades, it was Steffi Graf for the female game. During my Olympics trip to Brazil with adidas, I had the epic opportunity to meet, interview AND play with Steffi, who is herself a representative for the brand. It was remarkable for so many reasons! Click MORE to see and read about how we got on 🙂 (more…)

THE BENEFITS OF SKIPPING!

19/02/2016

TOP 5 BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES!

07/01/2016

London gym memberships can be so lofty as to price many out of the market – but that doesn’t have to mean that fitness is unachievable! This post is intended to showcase my Top 5 Bodyweight Exercises which can help you get [or stay] in shape for 2016. To illustrate this full body workout which can be dispatched without weights, I shot these images on London’s gorgeous Primrose Hill, wearing the new Superdry Sport collection! Click MORE to see the full post…
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RACING WITH TEAM SPEEDO !

17/07/2015

Last weekend, I had the awesome opportunity to meet, interview, train and swim with four elite Team Speedo athletes; Michael Jamieson & James Guy (both pictured above, with me in the blue suit), plus Jazz Carlin and Siobhan O’Connor. It was part of a collaboration with Speedo to promote their #GetSpeedoFit campaign, which is all about inspiring people to swim more in pursuit of their full body workouts and healthy lifestyle; that’s something I fundamentally agree with, and I found the insights from these athletes to be absolutely fascinating. Click MORE to read my interviews along with a brief ‘Benefits of Swimming’, and to see some of our fun/goofy photos from the day at the London Olympic Aquatics Centre! (more…)

SWIMATHON – CHECK !!!

02/04/2014

Very recently, I completed the 2014 Sport Relief Swimathon 1.5 kilometre front crawl in the Zaha Hadid-designed Olympic aquatic centre! Having never learned to swim the crawl prior to December 2013 (and considered myself a bit of a swimming novice), I’m left with a ridiculously satisfying sense of achievement, like some sort of Viking conqueror! Swimming on such an infamous ‘stage’ to face my challenge was a powerful experience and I would totally recommend anyone who’s considering taking part in a charity fitness event to sign up for it next year; you’ll be (more…)

SPORT RELIEF: FINAL ‘SWIMATHON’ PREPARATIONS WITH SPEEDO !!!

18/03/2014

During my recent blog trip to Morocco, I forced myself to wake up early everyday and go for a refreshing, active morning swim in the Kasbah Tamadot’s gorgeous pool. Given that I’m now less than one week away from jumping into the vast Olympic Aquatic Centre to swim for Sainsbury’s Sport Relief, I’m taking all the last-minute tips on board that I can; to that end, whilst in Morocco, I went to work with these Speedo Biofuse Power Paddles (which look like vast dolphin-flippers worn on your hands) to help maximise the energy and drive that I generate from my shoulders and arms. I learned ALOT!…

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PLAYING TENNIS WITH BJORN BORG !!!

15/03/2014

As you might have guessed, I’m Swedish (well, half Swedish). Ours is a modest nation, and we don’t boast about too many international icons but one of the country’s spirit-rallying figures is undoubtedly Björn Borg; we all get behind his legendary accomplishments even though they took place long before many of our births. He’s almost the personification of the Swedish flag to the nation; a great ambassador for our national achievements.

With that in mind, it was with enormous excitement that I was recently contacted by the Björn Borg clothing line, popularised in the UK for its adventurous and quirky underwear, but very much under-appreciated for its heavyweight performance sportswear credentials. They invited me along to their SS14 press event (hosted at the Piccadilly showroom, and staffed mainly by tall, striking models – sigh), and offered some new-season samples to be reviewed. This is a dangerous juncture, and I must declare a waiver of my strict impartiality for this – I feel a certain bias, especially when the clothes’ colours are blue and yellow ;)! Read my thoughts HERE:

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‘SPORT RELIEF’ ON TOAST – MASTERCLASS WITH SWIMMING ROYALTY !!!

22/02/2014

As I build towards the Sport Relief games, yesterday I attended a ‘Swimathon Masterclass’ led by swimming legends Karen Pickering (4 x World Championship Gold Medallist) and Duncan Goodhew (Olympic Gold Medallist). For those who’ve been following my ‘Sport Relief posts‘, you’ll know that I’ve been splashing away in the pool since October learning to swim the front crawl to raise money & awareness for the fabulous Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Swimathon on March the 23rd 2014 at the epic Olympic aquatic centre!

Demonstrating my nascent and highly amateur swimming skills to two world-class, decorated athletes was massively daunting, but fortunately Karen and Duncan were so approachable, sympathetic and very generous with their sage advice – and luckily, quite patient too! I got to sponge up some fascinating tips on how to improve my technique from perhaps the best-qualified teachers in the sport. One of my favourite vignettes from the class came just before we jumped into the pool for the first time, when Duncan pointed out if we’d been lying next to the pool on a sun-kissed holiday, we would certainly be appreciating it’s glorious opalescent colours, the elegant reflections on the water, the mesmeric way it creates beautiful rippling; “just think about that for a second before jumping into the pool, and appreciate it“. That really struck a chord with me; in an active life, the ‘London’ pace tends to rush us through without affording us time to just stop, breathe it in, appreciate what’s there, and then enjoy it more fully. Click to see more of their pearls of wisdom…

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SPORT RELIEF ON TOAST: OPTIMISING FOR THE SWIMATHON!!!

30/12/2013

I’m still splashing away in the pool, learning to swim the front crawl for the fabulous cause that is Sainsbury’s Sport Relief, kicking off on March the 23rd 2014 at the epic Olympic pool. Anyone can take part and if swimming isn’t your cup of tea there’s also the cycle / marathon . You’ll be getting fit for 2014 (the classic resolution) whilst raising money for some of the poorest in the world. Why not sign up?! Check it out HERE!

You might notice that whilst I’m rattling on about swimming, I’m not in a pool in these pictures (shot outside the newly re-opened Kenwood House, just at the top of London’s Bishops Avenue, aka Billionaires Row). Yes, it’s hard to swim through air, but this post is actually about training the small stabiliser muscles that comprise the shoulder; it’s usually these smaller ones that are susceptible to strains in the pool, and are often neglected when you train in the gym. To build them up and prevent injury, there are a few simple exercises you can do with just a trusty resistance band…

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