If Instagram #transformationtuesday pictures are anything to go by, changing your body is easy if you just dedicate your life to it.
But the fact of the matter is, most of us aren’t able to dedicated our lives to fitness. We have jobs, social lives and commitments which mean we can’t workout everyday and eat chicken and broccoli for dinner every night even if we wanted to.
However surely it is possible to transform your fitness and physique and still live your life if you set your mind to it?
To put this to the test, two of The Independent’s staff members, Rachel Hosie and Matt Payton, worked out with a different personal trainer each for six weeks – we focused primarily on weight-training rather than HIIT or cardio.
Could we turn our bodies into those of fitness influencers in a month and a half? Read on to see how we got on.
The problem is I am 28, overweight and if I do not sort myself out now – I will never stop looking like a podgy Boris Johnson.
So off I went to the Six3nine gym in Covent Garden to meet Joshua Peters. Teaming up with Joshua was brilliant as we share a love of cricket, golf and music of the early 2000s. There was only one real difference – he is built like a terminator and I look like a trifle on a plate.
At 5’11” with a starting weight of 94.1kg and a body fat percentage of 32 per cent, I needed to get cracking.
My goal was to not only lose weight and get fit but to find a sustainable workout and regime and diet to carry on after my six weeks… Here is how it went.
WEEK 1
In my first session with Rich, I do lots of peculiar exercises so he can learn how my body works. The good news: I’m quite flexible in my joints. The bad news: my back is like that of an elderly lady. Always excellent to hear at 24 years old.
I’m given an introduction to the basic weightlifting moves such as deadlifts, and am pretty chuffed to lift 40kg. Or I am until Rich tells me I should ultimately be lifting 1.5 times my bodyweight.