sports | Fitness on Toast

Posts tagged 'sports'

6 BENEFITS OF TRAMPOLINING!

08/03/2016

When you hear ’trampoline’, the mind most likely shoots back to some childhood experience; perhaps care-free days outdoors in the summer at a friend’s house with a trampoline? Perhaps a bad experience from performing a double backflip with a twist and landing on the mud headfirst? Perhaps, but it’s not just for kids! There are so many fun classes to try out in London, and this one which I’ve seen all over social media recently, certainly gets the heart rate up! I thought I had to give it a go, so I went with a few girlfriends to Oxygen Freejumping in West London for a recon session, and was overwhelmed by the fun I had! It totally brought out my inner child, got me to work up a serious sweat, as well as feeling it in unusual muscles the next day! This post is a review of my ‘top 6’ benefits of trampolining, a photo-review of another fun class, as well as a message for the girls around the importance of a good supportive sports bra, in my case Shock Absorber. Click MORE to see the full post… (more…)

2 DAYS WITH APPLE WATCH!

15/12/2015

From nowhere, wearables have exploded into a multi-billion dollar industry, and fitness has been a massive driver. Stats say that if we buy one, there’s a 50% chance we’re under 30, and a 50% chance that we’ll use the device every day – but that’s still a lot of people who don’t use them regularly! I’ve tried almost all of them, I like some, I don’t get on with others; product reviews are rare on FitnessOnToast, but this post is about the only wearable that’s really connected with me, the one which has game-chagingly lowered the barriers to use, in which I feel emotionally invested, and which delivers the best quality of data to me, in the most aspirationally packaged way. It’s the Apple Watch, and this article is an illustration of “48 hours with it”, from my recent Maldives trip! (more…)

ADIDAS CINEMA !

05/09/2015

A couple of weeks ago, I woke super early one morning, excited to make my way to one of my favourite London parks Hampstead Heath, to shoot a short video with my friends at Adidas. The aim was to help showcase some of their latest vibrant eyewear. As I stepped out of my uber however, the skies properly opened up; it rained biblically for most of the morning, which made for a seriously dramatic skyscape, but tough work! Hampstead Heath is, amongst other things, known for it’s rolling and forest-like terrain, the gorgeous ‘Kenwood House’, and of course some epic views presiding above London – all that yielded some fantastic location material! Whilst it’s a pretty short video, it took a while to capture and I was running up and down Parliament Hill countless times, as well as slaloming in-and-out of the trees for a good half a day! Awesome fun, and decent exercise too, so a massive thanks to team Adidas for letting me be a part of this – I hope you like it! 🙂

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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…)

TRENDY SPORTS !!!

15/03/2015

I recently hopped over to Florida for a photo shoot with Trendy Sports, one of the US’ leading online ‘fitness fashion’ destinations, now in Europe too. When they first got in contact, I took a look at their website and instantly wanted to be involved; they’ve curated a collection of many of my absolute favourite fitness brands in one place (Monreal, Lucas Hugh, J Linderberg, Peak Performance, Hugo Boss etc), and the original imagery on their sites definitely straddles the fitness/fashion boundary. ‘Golf’ may often conjure up dull images of the standard ‘white polos and chinos’ uniform; in these photos the mixture of styles – traditional as well as bold prints and colours were clearly taking 18th (& 19th-hole) fashion in a totally new direction! It was proving what I’ve always believed, that there is practically no separation between fashion and fitness wear. Fitness is a genuine, legitimate fashion occasion, and it’s ok to dress up for it! Click MORE to see some of their campaign images as well as some behind-the-scenes shots I snapped too! (more…)

8 REASONS TO GET A ‘SPORTS MASSAGE’ !!!

20/11/2014

For me, there’s not much better than the feeling of contentment after an intense ‘sports massage’! Elite athletes consider it an unmissable and totally crucial part of their ‘physical conditioning regime’, to improve performance and boost recovery. But whether you’re off to compete at the Olympics, are a regular gym bunny or a sedentary office worker, everyone’s likely to experience discomfort or tight muscular pain at some point. To clarify, a sports massage is not a ‘cosmetic’ or superficial ‘chill out’ treatment you’d find at a spa; it’s an intensive dose of focused, physical therapy schooled in the medically demonstrable study of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems, administered by qualified professionals. If you’ve not had one, I would strongly recommend you to try! It can materially help you to prevent injury, relieve muscle pain and increase mobility… and there are so many other benefits. That’s what this post is all about! I have long considered it a great skill to help clients prevent or relieve injury/pain, so I got to work on a sports massage course with Discovery Learning! Read my top 8 reasons to go for Sports Massage here…

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SPORTY-CHICoverdose !!!

18/05/2014

Happy Sunday! Just a quick update from me – I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be writing for the beautiful Xenia Tchoumitcheva‘s luxury web-mag, CHICoverdose.com. For those of you unfamiliar with Xenia, she’s a fiercely-determined, highly-accomplished, super-smart and quite striking businesswoman / supermodel, who’s site assembles & showcases all sorts of wonderful treasures from around the world!

I’ll be sharing the posts we publish through my Twitter, Facebook & Instagram accounts, so keep an eye out 🙂 Click HERE to read my first post, over on CHICoverdose.com

Faya 🙂 x

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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FEELING SPORTY, LOOKING SLOUCHY !!!

26/12/2013

So the 25th has come and gone, but the Christmas break isn’t quite over yet! I’m still enjoying the festive holidays, lounging around with friends and family, so I like to wear something comfortable for the occasion. The way I feel right now has inspired (more…)

MY HEALTHY CHRISTMAS DINNER !!!

20/12/2013

Christmas is infamous for overeating indulgent sugary, fattening foods. This post is my attempt at a healthier alternative – it’s a tour-de-force of the same foods but with a bit of a lighter twist. Perhaps you can just pick and choose a few ideas from it, and as you can see from the picture above, ‘healthier’ needn’t look any less inviting and ‘Christmassy’ 🙂 ! Click MORE to see lovely pictures of the rest of my meal & get the ‘how to’ 🙂 Faya