The Real Bride Column: Bridal Bootcamp with Bodyism

Welcome back brides! Part III of the Real Bride Bootcamp with Bodyism will take an in-depth look at the gym and exercise regime – AKA the one part of shaping up that everyone dreads. Why is it that being told to cut out sweets seems relatively manageable, but 20 burpees and running? Actual physical exertion? Even the thought has us running to the snack cupboard. So when Rosie, our wonderful real bride, couldn’t stop gushing about her incredible workout experiences at Bodyism, we had to learn more. Could this really be the bootcamp to end all bootcamps and have us actually enjoy getting fit? Read on to find out!

“And so to the gym! Or the very swanky private studio designed purely for 1-2-1 personal training. Instructor number one, Berti, was firstly so good looking, I considered calling off the wedding right there and then! (Sorry Hamish!)

We started with an extended warm up called Movement Preparation designed to prevent injury. To my surprise, this took around 25 minutes of rolling out muscles using foam rollers, stretching as you would usually when cooling down, and some Pilates style postures- all really quite relaxing!

We then jumped into circuits covering 30 seconds each of intense training- squats, lunges, mountain climbers and planks with a two minute rest in between- less relaxing. Gorgeous Bertie then introduced me to a piece of apparatus called The Climber- a sort of suspended step machine meets ladder. The never ending 30 seconds felt like I was fighting for my life.

This meant two things. Firstly, that I started turning pink, red and finally purple and secondly, my light glow turned into a full on deluge of sweat. Gorgeous Berti was very encouraging, standing over me like a living billboard for this lifestyle, but  the marriage is certainly back on- Berti will never have me!

But in regards to the workout? Despite the not-so-pretty-picture that was me by the end, I really felt like this was a workout I could get behind. The commitment to loosening and prepping my muscles at the beginning of the session made sure that I didn’t injure myself in the strenuous portion of the workout, as well as helped me with my form. This in turn ensured I got the most out of each exercise so therefore an even better work out! The sets themselves, though exhausting, really felt like I was targeting, blasting and tightening all of my problem bits (tummy, bum and arms). So all in all, the perfect combination of therapeutic warm ups and real hard work that are sure to get my body aisle worthy in no time!”

Up Next in the Real Bride Guide series:

Bodyism’s amazing ‘Clean and Lean’ classes and the final verdict!

Be sure to read Rosie’s past three articles in our Real Bride column here!