This year’s Kent Sport ‘Fit 4 the Beach’ winner is Anna Cole, a staff member at Kent Business School. ‘Fit 4 the Beach’ challenges Kent Sport members to complete an intensive five-week fitness programme tailored to each individual. During the programme, the chosen few were pushed to their limit, with one-to-one guidance and support from the Kent Sport fitness team. The fitness team have worked closely with participants showing them how they can make significant changes to the way they approach health and fitness, not just for the summer but to achieve ongoing lifestyle improvements. Congratulations to Anna and also to runner up Laura Scavino – read on to see what they have to say about their experience:
Winner of Fit 4 The Beach 2016 – Anna Cole – Staff
I had my final personal training session with Jeni on Tuesday 14 June. The session was amazing, I could really see a difference from my first session and how far I had come with my fitness. In my burpies I had more spring and didn’t struggle as much, I pushed myself to the limit on a plank variation and almost gave up but with Jeni’s encouragement I pushed through and completed the sets which felt great that I didn’t give up. One thing I now know I hate is the battle ropes, they actually made me feel sick doing them so not my favourite piece of equipment. But the real test was the verti-climber at the end of the session; I managed to do seven minutes non-stop and climb above the monument we had set. It felt amazing and to think my first session I had to stop after a minute and could only get to three minutes in total so this was a huge achievement.
This has been one of the best challenges I have been involved in, it has taught me a lot about myself and my abilities and also that a lot of things is mind over matter and if you tell yourself you can do it the likelihood is that you will! I feel that my confidence has grown and I have done classes that I wouldn’t have dreamt of doing before starting this. I am seeing results too and so are other people which is a great feeling. Thank you to everyone for their support and encouragement and especially Jeni, thank you for picking me and helping me find me again – you are truly are amazing – thank you!!!!
Runner up of Fit 4 The Beach 2016 – Laura Scavino – Student
The five-week training Fit 4 The Beach program helped me to become stronger and more muscular while increasing my healthy behaviors. Starting from the weekly grocery shop of fresh food to the invention of new recipes and thanks to the help of my personal instructor Ben Roberts, I am now able to manage a healthier lifestyle. My legs went stronger but not bigger, as I was worrying about at the beginning of the program at the half of May. I also started to cook more and to be more aware of the nutrients, such as proteins in fish or quinoa. At the same time, I had to balance vegetables and fruits with an energetic breakfast, since most of the trainings were held at 9am in the morning. Moreover, I noticed that during the program my muscles had to increase their power and therefore I had to feed them more. Now I can easily lift up to 40kg in squats and 50kg in deadlifts, up to 20kg for shoulder press, 15kg for biceps and triceps. I am really impressed about the way Ben made me achieve those results but at the same time it was a steady increase from the 20kg of just the bar in the fitness suite, which was the same weight I used to lift in Body Pump classes before F4TB. I realised that my attitude towards a healthier lifestyle changed together with the motivation to have a fitter body for the beach. Moreover, I started to be more organised when going library; I prepared lunch boxes during exam period, in order to track record of my balanced diet. At the moment I have a week to go with my personal instructor and I am really looking forward to achieving and keeping high my summer goals.
If Fit 4 The Beach has inspired you to have an active lifestyle but you are not sure where to start, the Kent Sport fitness team can give you expert advice – ask about the personal training and fitness consultations. To stay up to date with Kent Sport news and events, Like UniKentSports on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.