10 questions with… Loz & Lib, LB Fitness

What sparked your interest in health and fitness?

We have always been passionate about health and fitness from an early age. We attended dance classes when we were younger, played netball at school and from around the age of 15 we started Morpeth Harriers running club and going to the gym.

We would train in our lunch breaks at school, especially during A-levels. We found it really helped our mindset during studies, enabling us to focus.

What inspired you both to become personal trainers?

Initially fitness was a hobby and part of our daily routine. After completing our A-levels, we both secured positions at separate universities to study biomedical science. Still unsure of our future career path, we deferred a year and travelled to the east coast of Australia. The beaches and the active lifestyle in Australia really appealed to us and inspired us to pursue a career in health and wellness.

In our second year of university, we entered lockdown which created a whole new university experience. We observed how challenging it was for people to stay active and look after their health during this period.

We set up an Instagram platform and used this to share gym workouts throughout our time at university. In 2020 we stepped up our game, creating and posting home workouts. The aim was to motivate, inspire and keep our friends and family active through such an unprecedented time.

The page kept growing and we would often receive personal training enquiries. This led to us achieving our qualification in Fitness Instructing and Personal Training, which we completed alongside our degrees. We both graduated with first class honours.

After graduating we were offered positions as biomedical executives at a natural electrolyte supplement company. While this role offered some varied and useful experience in the corporate world, we were not in control of our own destiny, and we wanted something that was more dynamic. We weighed up our options and decided to pursue the thing that we enjoyed most and set up our own personal training business – LB Fitness.

What is it like working alongside your twin sister?

It’s a good relationship with a bit of healthy sibling rivalry. This keeps us both super competitive and helps us strive to be the best in everything we do.

Working with family can be tricky but also very rewarding at times, we know how each other works and accept one another’s strengths and weaknesses. We are best friends, and a twin connection is like no other. We have similar interests and passions and while the occasional disagreement does happen, we are quick to make up and move on!

How would you describe your philosophy on health and fitness?

Number 1: It’s all about balance.

Our friends and family always joke when we use the word ‘balance’ as we’re digging into a chocolate brownie after doing a gym session.  Our stance is that life would be boring if we spent our time doing deadlifts and eating salads every day.  We believe you can still reach your goals without restricting diet and lifestyle.

Number 2: Look good + feel good = attract better.

Health and fitness provide more than just physical benefits. They strengthen the mind, body and soul. Feeling good is just as important as looking good.

We believe that looking after yourself through good nutrition and frequent movement through a balanced approach is the foundation to good health (physical and mental) and overall happiness.

You recently pivoted LB Fitness from a women-only model to one that offers support for corporate clients. Why did you make that change?

We are passionate about women-only training, it’s a concept that really captivated us when we first started our personal training qualification. With our consumer hat on we could see that the North lacks ‘women only’ gym spaces and personal trainers.  We are aware of the struggles that some women face when entering a gym environment. Women also go through lots of changes from puberty to menopause and there is no one size fits all approach.

Many of our clients with office-based jobs have struggled with back pain, bad posture, poor flexibility and stress. They attend our sessions and find relief through training both physically and mentally. Feedback suggests that social or team bonding activities rarely focussed on well-being.

This influenced our decision to branch out to corporate clients with the hope to improve staff physical and mental well-being. Our aim is to encourage healthy habits and build a positive, motivated and social environment in the workplace.

We believe fit, healthy, happy and motivated employees are the key to success for any business.

How do you tailor workouts to accommodate clients with different fitness levels, abilities and goals?

Every client is unique. We like to get to know each client in detail and on a personal level so we can help them in the best way possible. We assess the client’s mobility and fitness level during their initial assessments to create their own tailored programme and nutrition guide that aligns with their goals and lifestyle.

We always offer alternative exercises if a client struggles to do something, even in a group training environment we try to give everyone as much of a personalised experience as we can.

We want to show our clients that every goal is possible if you put your mind to it.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to incorporate fitness into a new, healthier lifestyle routine?

Do it, start now and don’t wait.  You have to make the first step, no one else can do it for you.

The more time you spend contemplating what you should do is wasted time on what you can do. Find what works best for you and can fit into your lifestyle and routine.

Making smaller changes is the best way to start as it is more sustainable and achievable. This could be anything from getting more lunchtime steps in, swapping buying food out for meal prep or aiming to complete 3x 45 minute gym sessions per week instead of 2.

Eventually these small changes will lead to bigger changes.

Eventually these become habits that you can’t live without. Trust the process.

Who or what gives you the most inspiration?

Honestly this is a tough one, we have a lot of influential fitness figures we look up to but it’s probably the individuals that don’t have the choice to move their body, go for a run or lift weights that inspire us the most. Paralympians that have adapted to their disability, achieve great things and do not give up, these people are truly inspiring.

We have choice, it is a gift, and we urge people not to take it for granted.

What do you find most rewarding about being a personal trainer?

Witnessing clients achieve their goals and seeing results is the most rewarding.

It’s the little things. One of our clients said to us last month that she teared up in the gym because for the first time she was able to wear a strapless sports top instead of baggy one, she felt confident in her own skin. That means the world to us.

We love helping people become mentally and physically stronger. We love the energy that fitness creates and being surrounded by like-minded people who enjoy training and feel better for it.

It’s an environment for self-improvement where you set the foundations to achieve more in everything else you do.

Transforming our client’s mindset and approach to health and fitness is what keeps us motivated.

What are your future plans for LB Fitness?

Continue to build and grow a community of strong, empowered women who believe they CAN and WILL get to where they want to be by following a balanced and non-restrictive approach to food and fitness.

We hope to bring these women together through social events where they can inspire and drive each other to be the best versions of themselves.

Following success with current corporate work we hope to expand further and improve wellness in the workplace with many other firms who are interested in looking after their employees in the best way possible.

We are also looking to launch our online coaching platform for those who want the motivation and accountability but aren’t around to train with us in Newcastle.

 

Follow LB Fitness on Instagram: @lbfitnesstwins