Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You are the founder of the fantastic blogfitnessontoast.com, which has won both the Cosmopolitan and UK Blog Awards ‘Best Lifestyle Blog’ accolade, along with many other awards. Walk us through your incredible journey and tell us how it all began?
Ms. Faya Nilsson:
I’ve been a personal trainer for over 10 years, and I wanted to find a way to help clients out beyond our 1-hour slot together. There was so much more ethos to share with them that just couldn’t get covered in the session, so I whipped up FitnessOnToast.com to pick up the slack. The aim was to give clients views on fitness trends, healthy recipe ideas, options for Active Travel, and fitness fashion. Over the years, the content has appealed to others beyond that original audience, and I’m extremely happy to call it my job to share that with like minded readers!
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You are a Personal Trainer, Fitness Blogger & Author. How do you manage such a busy lifestyle?
Ms. Faya Nilsson:
I’m still getting used to the Author label (http://bit.ly/fitin3book is my recently-launched book!). Overall though, I love to feel busy, and this is a job that very much keeps you busy! Ultimately, whilst you’re self-employed and can choose your hours, it helps you to develop new skills all the time – you’re constantly learning how to communicate on different media, practicing photography, videography, familiarizing yourself with new technologies and staying at the leading edge of what society cares about right now – the health and wellness revolution! I wrote a blog post on it HERE: http://fitnessontoast.com/2015/08/24/blogging-101/ . It’s worth noting that it’s not easy, and regular press trips come with a punishing schedule that totally wipes you out, especially with jet-lag layered on top; but after a short recovery period, it’s totally worth it to meet great new people and work with some world class companies!
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
What exercises comprise your fitness regime or workout routine?
Ms. Faya Nilsson:
Overall I’m a huge advocate of weight training and train at least 3 times a week myself. Aside from that I love HIIT training, especially when dispatched outside. I’ll find a steep hill and run up and down it like a Duracell bunny! Finally, I love yoga, especially Ashtanga.
Whilst I like to mix it up, if you’re looking for my top crucial body weight exercises, they’d be…
a) The humble Squat is a compound movement (employing multiple muscle groups simultaneously), one which we all perform everyday when whilst [reluctantly] getting out of bed – the basic movement has some mighty powers! The exercise targets your legs, gluteus, and core, and is the most remarkable calorie burner when done right. The afterburn effect, which continues to have a metabolic effect long after the workout is over, is a particularly strong feature, to my mind!
b) Then there’s the classic Deadlift – An oldie but a goodie, one which targets your legs and glutes as well as your torso and lower back.
c) Finally, there are pull ups, the mother of all compound movements. This is an amazing exercise – it’s almost unparalleled in the way it helps develop a functionally strong back and arm complex. Depending on your grip positioning (wide / narrow / overhand / underhand / neutral / spread), they are very versatile indeed, and quite exhausting!
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Do you take some special diet or have a strict menu that you follow to remain healthy and physically fit?
Ms. Faya Nilsson:
I’m a pescatarian, so I eat fish and veggies. My ethos has always been heavily influenced by my upbringing in the rural Swedish countryside, and because of that, it frames everything I do in my efforts to lead a sustainable, healthy life. We enjoy thousands of miles of coastline stretching up and down the country, so fresh fish is in abundance. Given how lean a source of protein that is, it forms a large part of our diet, and is naturally rich in healthy fats, which I dig into a little more in the book. For me, ‘healthy’ is about variation and existing flavors proving healthy does not need to be bland and or boring. There’s also a fixation with baking; Swedes are famous ‘cake snobs’, and a huge majority of the world’s cardamom supply gets consumed on our pastries! So it’s about occasional enjoyment as well as healthy staples!
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