http://riseholisticcoaching.co.uk/

Rise Holistic Coaching, Farnham, Farnham (2025)

01/12/2025

A few new bits of functional kit have arrived in the gym. Olympic rings, weighted jump rope and 10 kg sandbag.

Always looking for way to keep my client’s sessions fresh, varied and effective.

28/11/2025

Anyone else spend an inordinate amount of time listening to podcasts?! Not just me, then?!

Here’s some of my favourites.

Usual caveats apply!

I don’t endorse all of the content within each and every one of them.

I don’t agree with all of the messages or sentiments portrayed in each and every one of them. In fact, sometimes it takes less than 30 seconds before I turn a podcast off because the agenda being pushed isn’t to my liking.

And yes, I realise many of them are hosted by men.

What I do like about these podcasts is that they have a range of guests on who have a range of opinions on a range of topics. This helps me learn by hearing conflicting opinions, percussive arguments and diversity of thought. Many of them - such as - look and feel extra masculine, but in fact spend a lot of time platforming women experts to discuss women’s health and wellbeing.

You do get to a point, however, where you hit saturation and it’s hard to hear new information or hear from a new guest if you listen to a lot of these sorts of podcasts. It’s at this point I jump back into true crime podcasts for a change in scenery.

What’s your favourite? What podcasts have given you life changing insights?

26/11/2025

It’s Narnia Running Season!

The arrival of winter means the loss of some things. For me it’s less time on the water and outdoors doing sports. It also means having an active 9 year old indoors more going stir crazy 🤪 .

This change of season also brings a lot. Cozy nights in PJs by the fire, endless family movies, a much needed enforced quietening, nourishing warm stews and soups, and one of my favourite parts, the Narnia Runs. It takes a bit more mental gymnastics to get out the door at this time of year for a run, but on the right day, the pay off is mega.

My thermal socks, gloves and hats are about to pay their rent! Hope to see some of you out on the wintery trails.

24/11/2025

I get lots of questions about muscle soreness from clients.

Some are worried that they’ll feel it every time they work out, and others are worried that if they don’t feel it that they haven’t worked hard enough.

You won’t feel it every time if you’re lifting on a regular basis - but you will likely feel it when you’re new to lifting or coming back to lifting after a break. If you’re lifting regularly, the lack of muscle soreness does not mean that you’re not making gains! It just means you’re stronger and your body is better able to cope with strength challenges.

I don’t get much of it these days unless I’m doing something new or have really challenged myself on the weight front - which I don’t normally do as I tend to increase my weights in a slow and steady way.

Basically, don’t worry about it! Its presence or lack thereof is a good thing either way.

I find that stretching, gentle massage, movement (e.g., going for a walk) and Epsom salt baths help!

20/11/2025

Hyrox training just got real!

Today I was lucky enough to tag along with a friend to their regular Hyrox training session at the splendid .athletics.

I don’t have much of the equipment that is used at Hyrox in my gym, so I’ve been trying to (badly) replicate the stations during my training. Not a good plan, but I had to work with what I’ve got.

Things I learned today:
🛷 The sled push and pulls are HEAVY - heavier than I expected. But once I was shown the right technique, I was actually able to move the thing. Result!
🎯 Wall balls are FRESH FROM HELL and I have not got the technique sorted for these. I was humbled by the wall balls. I thought I’d be ok as have been training with a heavier ball but lower target. Nope. My first ten attempts failed and would have been “no reps” in a Hyrox competition.
🏃🏻‍♀️I am indeed a very slow runner, but can’t do much about that between now and the big day.
🎖️ Everything else is hard and challenging, but hopefully doable with a bit of grit and careful heart-rate management.

It was really nice to mix things up and train with others (solitary training is boring and tedious as the best of times)!

Two weeks to go until the big day!

See next photo for the Hyrox format. Looks fun, huh. 🫠

Who wants to join me next year?!

17/11/2025

I did a similar post this time last year, but I think it’s worth repeating!

Many of us are conditioned to align our health and wellbeing resets with yearly milestones. E.g., the start of a new year or after summer. This is largely driven by marketing campaigns (think “New Year, New You”) but it also makes sense in terms of not wanting to feel deprived over the festive or summer seasons, or not having the capacity to face change during busy periods. So I get it. I have been that person before – many times in fact!The problem I found with setting my starting point one or two months in the future is that there’s a tendency to totally abandon any good intentions between now and then because it will get sorted “mañana”. This only made the job ahead far more challenging! Instead, I recommend spending the time between now and early 2026 to get things in place to support your goals.I’m not suggesting embarking on anything extreme (unless you’re so inclined!), but rather thinking about introducing a few positive behaviours and laying some preparation groundwork that will give you a head-start and allow you to hit the ground running. Thinking about your wellbeing now may also help minimise some of the self-sabotage I was talking about above.

Let’s call this your “soft-launch”!Here are some examples of what you can do now:🎯Start walking, building up to up 10,000 steps per day🎯Do the “Couch to 5K” challenge to get into running🎯 Keep a food journal for a few weeks so you have a good understanding of your baseline and improvement areas for 2026
🎯 Find an online training app you like and sign up ready for next year🎯 Research local gyms, yoga and pilates studios, personal trainers, sports clubs etc and make initial contact🎯 Find weekly meal plans (Google and AI are your friends here)
🎯 Source any equipment you need, e.g., trainers or hand weights (Black Friday sales, here we come!)

04/11/2025

A number of clients have told me recently that they are looking to take on new and exciting fitness challenges.

Anything from Couch25k, 10k runs, half marathons, full marathons, hiking adventures, cycling holidays, Tough Mudder, Hyrox simulations - the list goes on!

💖I simply love this💖

Seeing women step outside of their comfort zones and do amazing things is a joy for me. It is the reason I started my fitness communities last year and took seven complete newcomers to Tough Mudder. What is fantastic about all of this is that I know these women will find the experience to be incredibly rewarding and will likely be first of many, and that they too will inspire many women around them. The end result being more and more women participating in fitness. What’s not to love.

Feel the fear and do it anyway. Do hard s**t. Put in the work and get the rewards. It’s what this phase of life is all about. Not letting ourselves be diminished, but stepping fiercely and fearlessly into our power.

Love your work, ladies.

Ps: drop me a message if you’re looking for a fitness challenge but don’t know which one is right for you. Very happy to chat about this topic!

29/10/2025

| S W I T C H I N G • O F F |

Are you having trouble sleeping? Getting to sleep and/or staying asleep? You’re not alone! Many perimenopausal women - some estimates are as high as 80% - have sleep dysfunction of some sort.

Prolonged lack of sleep hits anyone hard, but for perimenopausal women it exacerbates an already joyous (*sarcasm*) set of symptoms and can work against all our efforts to combat the hormonal chaos we face.

In a lovely (*again, sarcasm*) twist of irony, the hormonal changes from perimenopause (specifically reduced estrogen and progesterone) can greatly interfere with our sleep, and one major thing that could really help with our symptoms is consistently restful and restorative sleep! Lordy.

Sleep is often called the First Pillar because it’s necessary for the other pillars (nutrition, exercise, etc) to deliver their full effect.

My new clients always get asked about their sleep and we’ll address sleep first if it needs improving before setting goals on the other fronts.

So, if you’re struggling to see outcomes from eating right and exercising and doing all the other things we’re told to do, perhaps take a look at your sleep.

A recent UK study found that for perimenopausal women who wake up through the night, the most common time to wake up is 3.29 am. I have most definitely woken up at that time. Anyone else??

22/10/2025

If you struggle to keep consistent with your workouts over the holidays, please know you’re not alone and please don’t be hard on yourself!

We’ve all seen the fitness influencers who never seem to miss a beat, preaching consistency at all costs. What they often fail to disclose is that they likely have enabling factors available to them that many people don’t have.

I’m only able to have some sort of consistency during the school holidays because:
☑️ I have a gym at home
☑️ I work from home
☑️ My son is old enough to keep himself entertained while I train (y watching Netflix on the treadmill with bare feet 🤷🏻‍♀️)
☑️ My work schedule usually becomes quieter during the holidays - for many it stays the same or even ramps up over the holidays!

All of the above means I can squeeze in short workouts over the school holidays whenever suits me. Exercising during the holidays when my son was young and I had to get to a gym? Forget it! I would easily go three to four weeks without doing any fitness - it was just too hard. I tried getting dumbbells at home but there were too many distractions or demands to ever get through a full workout. It was only once I was able to train in a dedicated space away from the hustle and bustle of the house that consistency became remotely achievable.

Don’t let the images of perfection wear you down over half-term. Do what you can and be proud of anything active you manage to squeeze in! 🏅

For those looking for active ideas with kids over the holidays, here’s some I’ve used over the years:
🤩 Take kids for a bike ride and run alongside them
🤩 Do a long hike but add geocaching to keep them engaged
🤩 Invest in cheap boxing gloves and pads and do daily family boxing drills (kids LOVE this, lots of family boxing workouts online)
🤩 Similar to the above, find family-friendly yoga, Pilates or HIIT workouts online
🤩 For older children, have a joint holiday challenge, such as doing the Couch25K together or daily steps competition
🤩 If time and budget allows, book an active skills-based family holiday, eg a surfing, biking or hiking trip (I have my eye on Cycle England’s gravel bike holidays for next year)

20/10/2025

How are we already at October half-term?!

Here comes the next instalment of the work/kids/training juggle. Always a bit chaotic, not going to lie! Working from home does, however, really help and I’m so grateful to be set up on a way that allows me to continue seeing my lovely clients during the school holidays.

I know that time flying is a sign of a full and busy year, but I’m still bewildered by the speed at which this year has flown by. Anyone else feel like time is speeding up?!

Best wishes to those also about to face a half-term juggle! We’ve got this!

13/10/2025

This has to be one of the most powerful fitness mantras out there.

I use it with my clients all the time. I use it myself all the time.

If you want to see real and dramatic change, you need to take real and dramatic action. As frustrating as it is, we can’t expect to make tiny changes and for things to miraculously and dramatically improve. I’ve been there. Thinking small and inconsistently applied tweaks would get me fitter, stronger, leaner and healthier. Was it denial or simply a lack of awareness? Probably both.

While this mantra can can really drive us to make the big changes we need in order to reach our goals, it’s also a good way to help us be realistic about the outcomes based on what effort we put in. If we want transformative change, we need to transform the way we live on multiple dimensions for a sustained period of time. Sometimes that’s not realistic or not something we’re willing to do - which is fine (everything has a time and a place), it just means we need to adjust our expectations accordingly. Once you appreciate that inputs lead to outcomes, things can really start to unlock.

Rise Holistic Coaching

01/12/2025

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