All posts tagged: Fitness

6 Alternatives to a ‘Beach Body’

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The term ‘beach body’ has had a lot of bad press recently. It all started last summer with Protein World’s bikini-clad campaign and culminated in Women’s Health banning the phrase. Now, I don’t know why that particular ad started the backlash, because it’s something anyone who has ever bought any women’s magazine ever will have seen a million times before. In and of itself, the saying ‘beach body’ is not offensive at all, but the expectation that all us mere mortals should be 5’10”, beach blonde, long-legged, big-titted, with an ass like Kim Kardashian, abs like Jessica Alba and Jennifer Aniston arms is so overwhelmingly unachievable. Not to mention we all need to have completely hairless bodies, with no excess fat (except on the aforementioned ass and tits) the colour of molten gold that don’t sweat… enough already. Lets’s look our bests, yes, but in an inclusive, mentally healthy way. With that in mind, here are my six alternatives to that impossible ‘beach body’. 1. A HUGE F*CKING SMILE This is so cliché and I …

How to Stay Fit & Healthy While Backpacking

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There’s nothing worse than travelling the world, visiting beautiful beaches and not feeling body confident. We’ve all done the emergency ‘beach body’ thing before a two-week holiday, which is mainly unsuccessful and usually way too last minute. But what if you’re always on holiday… like, for a year? Before I embarked on my travels I started a little fitness kick to make sure my body was prepared for the backpacker’s life. I didn’t want low fitness levels or lack of body confidence to hold me back from doing anything – whether that’s climbing a mountain or strutting my stuff on a beach. While I wasn’t striving for a Victoria’s Secret Angel bod, I did want to feel strong and capable. Getting fit and achieving a toned body without a gym, large budget or a well-stocked fridge is hard, I admit, but there are a few tips you can follow to keep your bod looking beach-ready while travelling. 1. Er, swim I’m always surprised by the amount of people who bake on a beach all day and never get in …

Hey Ladies, Don’t Forget Your Sports Bra!

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If this sound like the most random article ever then I’m sorry, but it’s not. This is me imparting some knowledge that will seriously improve the quality of your backpacking life. I’m totally alive with excited energy as I type this because I simply believe this is one of the greatest lessons I have learned in my, ahem, twenty-something years on this earth. Okay, a bit OTT, but read on for why you need to embrace the sports bra… THEY LOOK PRETTY GOOD THESE DAYS They’re an actual, legit fashion item now. Forget those grey elastic over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders, today’s sports bras come in myriad colours, patterns and designs and they’re really flattering on most people. This means you can wear it as a fashionable crop top as well as a bra. Score. I love a multi-tasking item. YOU CAN SWIM IN IT Speaking of multitasking, your sports bra will double as a bikini top, and you won’t look weird, I promise. In fact there are bikinis that specifically and truly double as sports bras these days …