Fitness gets personal

SUPERSTARS Madonna, Meg Ryan and Christian Slater are among hundreds of celebrities who keep in trim with the aid of their personal trainers.But the trend of taking fitness into the privacy of your home, garden or even the park is becoming big business.

LESLEY INNES met up with a fitness trainer who is hoping to change the lives of some ordinary people in East Cambridgeshire.

IF squeezing your body into stretch lycra and pounding away on an unforgiving treadmill in a bid to get fit fills you with horror, then think again.

More and more ordinary people are taking a leaf out of the celebrity book and recruiting their own lifestyle gurus.

Superstars like Madonna and actress Reese Witherspoon invest thousands of pounds in personal trainers to show them how to get more out of life.

Now the idea of dumping the diets and the gym in favour of a personal trainer is proving popular with everyday folk who want a better way of living.

Littleport personal trainer Steve Rose wants to give East Cambridgeshire residents the chance to get fit and change their lives in the comfort of their own homes, gardens or even the park.

"This is a chance for people to reach their goals and have a life changing experience," said Steve, 48, of Burberry Court.

"When people go on diets they only change their lives for a very short period of time. Then they go back to the way they were living before. In many cases diets are based on calorie reduction. Their main weight loss is fluid and muscle as opposed to fat reduction."

Steve offers lifestyle counselling, changing the way people live to improve general fitness and well-being.

His advice and help, which can cost as little as £20 a session, begins with a general discussion about goals and ambitions followed by a blood pressure check and a simple health assessment.

If necessary a referral to a GP to make sure an exercise regime is okay will follow and then a two-week food diary will be kept, before devising an individual exercise programme.

Steve said: "I found exercise about seven years ago and I loved it. I knew the feeling I got when I went to the gym or out running.

"I enjoyed it so much I decided to study it in more detail. I thought if I could make others feel even half as good as I do it's got to be worth it.

"I can train people in the privacy of their own homes or gardens so that they don't feel intimidated. "

Steve knows the misery of being overweight, weighing in at 10 stone with a 36-inch waist when he was just 10 years old.

He loved food and hated exercise and his mother would send him to school with bacon sandwiches for break time.

"I put myself on a diet and made myself incredibly ill," he said. "But when I went to secondary school I started taking part in sport.

"There is a perception that personal trainers look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I am clearly not like that but I can do all the exercises he can do and I can show others how to do them."

Steve gained his Master Trainer and Certification of Fitness qualifications through the Australian Institute of Fitness before launching SR Personal Training.

INFO: Steve can be contacted on 01353 860616 or 07821816753.

WITH Government figures showing that 12 million adults and one million children will be obese by 2010, health officials are working hard to improve diets and exercise across Britain.

# A good diet and plenty of exercise can also play in important part in relieving stress and improving relaxation.

# Vitamins and minerals stored in the body are rapidly depleted when you are experiencing a stressful situation and the need for protein is increased.

# The need for vitamin C increases dramatically and extra doses of vitamin B can also help during a stressful period.

# Regular exercise is a good way to deal with stress, helping you to regain focus and control your life.

It is also thought to increase the mood-enhancing hormones in the body.