Find Body Confidence

Body Shaping and Toning for Women

I’ve always tried to encourage a belief in my clients – most especially my female clients – that exercise can do more for you than weight loss and toning. Arguably the greatest benefit of exercise, I believe, is a boost to your body confidence and mindset.

Last Woman Standing

This fostering of self-belief was apparent in the BBC3 series Last Woman Standing. If you didn’t catch it, this UK reality show sent five active women to remote locations around the world, to compete in various physical challenges: canoeing across open sea on bamboo rafts; running over treacherous mountains; wrestling with native champions.

As I am responsible for fitness training a number of women (indeed, my fittest client is female), I took a professional interest in the show and noted three messages in each episode:

1. For the most part, the women exhibited a level of fitness which had not originated from hauling dumbbells – one of the group happened to be a personal trainer, but the rest were fit from a variety of other disciples: boxing, wakeboarding and endurance running.
2. All the women demonstrated a positive ‘can do’ belief in themselves, a confidence in their own capabilities, which I find is a common experience of most physically active people.
3. Finally, it was a refreshing change to watch a physical fitness competition performed without any macho posturing.

Discovering Physical Confidence

Completing a weekly exercise routine can be the lynchpin to achieving other successes in your life, whether that’s having the physical confidence to try new challenges, or simply finding the energy to take a busy day in your stride.