http://riseholisticcoaching.co.uk/

Rise Holistic Coaching, Farnham, Farnham (2025)

17/12/2025

That’s Christmas sorted for me!

Such a lovely message from one of my lovely clients.

11/12/2025

| B Y P R O D U C T S |

Strength training delivers far more goods than many realise. It’s not just about getting ripped or being able to ego lift heavy weights. For many of us women, the deeper mental and emotional outcomes are what keeps bringing us back to strength training.

When it comes to fitness, I’ve basically done it all over the years, but in my experience nothing comes even close to how good it feels to be strong.

07/12/2025

| H Y R O X |

I’m converted.

This was an amazing event. In addition to a buzzing race environment on the day, the training was actually fun and helped develop my fitness and functional ability on multiple fronts. If you hang out in a gym a few times a week, this event could be for you.

I started training nine weeks ago and didn’t have access to lots of the competition equipment (e.g., ski-erg and sleds) until a few weeks before the event. This shows how accessible the event is. If you can put in some effort to develop your cardio, strength and power bases, you’ll be just fine. Don’t let the promotional videos filled with semi-naked jacked demi-gods put you off.

I wanted to finish under two hours ☑️

I didn’t want to lose my composure during the dreaded wall balls ☑️

All in all, a really good day out.

You wear an ankle chip that (aside from the criminal vibes) gives you timing splits so I came away knowing exactly where I blew out and where I need to improve for the next one (pretty much all of it!).

Who’s coming with me next time?!

04/12/2025

Hyrox is tomorrow!

Quite terrified and I really wish I was doing a doubles race and had something with me. Feels intimidating to be rocking up on my lonesome for this challenge. After the Coast to Coast, I realised having a team makes a huge difference.

I have only two goals for tomorrow.

🎯I want my time to be sub 2 hours.
🎯I don’t want to lose my s**t during the wall balls.

Unless things go really wrong, I think the time goal is probably doable so long as I manage my thresholds, fuel and hydration well.

The second one is really up in the air. I am seriously rubbish at wall balls with at least 50% of my practice reps being no reps because I cannot hit the target. This means I might end up having to do 200 of the bloody things to get to the end. They’re also the last station, so doing something that is physically and mentally demanding under huge amounts of fatigue is going to be interesting. I’ve seen videos of people crying, screaming and shouting during the wall balls. I’ve even seen people fall to the ground in sheer exhaustion and frustration. I don’t want to let myself down on the emotional regulation front, but I also know my limits (and they’re pretty low!).

So, cue another pre-race sleepless night and this time tomorrow I’ll be on the train heading into the unknown.

Any first time tips from veterans would be very greatly appreciated!

03/12/2025

Just a small appreciation post for this little guy. Once I’ve taken care of work, training and family life for the day, an evening cuddle on the sofa with him is the best.

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!)

Rise Holistic Coaching

17/12/2025

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