GYM GIRLS LOCKER ROOM - Lucy Reeves on Battling Body Trends, Coping With Grief and The Discomfort of Truly Accepting Yourself

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

EP14 - In this episode, Syd sits down with the body positivity queen herself, Lucy Reeves, aka lucy_xfit. They dive into important topics like toxic body positivity, grief, photo editing and Snapchat filters, codependency, the female experience, and much more. Tune in if you need a reminder to feel confident and strong in your body! 🫶 WATCH the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_0IKW5XSWrk connect with Lucy: https://www.instagram.com/lucy_xfit/ 💘 join the GGLR community: INSTA - https://www.instagram.com/gymgirlslockerroom/ FACEBOOK COMMUNITY PAGE - https://bit.ly/3TqhxDG TIKTOK - https://www.tiktok.com/@gymgirlslockerroom/ 📲 find Syd on socials: INSTA - https://www.instagram.com/sydgrows/ TIKTOK - https://www.tiktok.com/@sydgrows/ Mentioned in this epsiode: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/articles/body-image-report-executive-summary/body-imagechildhood#:~:text=Poor%20body%20image%20may%20also,taking%20part%20in%20activities%20like Want to work with Gym Girls Locker Room? Email us: [e-mail] GYMSHARK - 10% off code: SYDNEY

Hello and welcome back to the Gym Girls Aquarium podcast hosted by me, Sydney Cassidy. Today we have Lucy Rees, also known as Lucy Expert Online. She is probably one of the leading figures on body positivity. She really started that trend of being a lot more vulnerable and a lot more open with how your body looks and how everybody's bodies look how they move and that we're not this perfectly shaped formed figure the whole time we discussed a lot and it was really really honestly healing to hear her talk I feel like I personally took a lot away from it I know you guys will too we discussed body positivity acceptance grief and how that can shape how you see the world we

spoke about like the impacts of the media and how what we consume can really profoundly impact and affect how young women see their body and actions we can take to stop doing so and I think it's a really really insightful episode I'm really excited for you guys to listen to it remember you can find us at gymgirls.com on all platforms we also have a clips channel now so if you do just want even more gymgirls.com content remember you can find our clips at gglr podcast um and I think without further ado let's get on with the episode okay well so good to have you on the podcast, Lucy. Thank you so much for coming. Thanks for having me.

So fun. I feel like you are the queen of body positivity. Thank you. She's one of the OGs. I feel, yeah, I feel like I, I mean, I was. Yeah, I am. I was, I am. No, you still are, thanks um what was your like

relationship like with your body when you were growing up not good I remember fixating on the concept of like once I look a certain way then people will like me I think it stems back from being like at school and everybody is like talking about looking a certain way then people will like me I think it stems back from being like at school and everybody is like talking about looking a certain way and everyone's like oh have you guys got a thigh gap have you got a thigh gap or you know making comments about that sort of stuff and I was literally like no I haven't got a thigh gap and I never and I never have and I never will have a thigh gap so I think it stems from like this idea of when you're at school like you're fixating on like did you have it when you're at school like all the girls in the changing rooms

are talking about like different body parts like oh I wish I had a bigger bum or like oh you've got boobs and I haven't got boobs yet and then and then I was also I also danced a lot as a kid oh she's a dancer so that's where that's where a lot of things come from right so you dance and then I remember like ballet teachers saying to me you're just too big for the sport like you don't look dainty and elegant um because I've always had like a bigger chest and big legs like I don't do a lot for them but they've always had like big quads and I remember just being like what do you mean I don't look elegant I looked I was a good dancer so why is it why does it come down to being small and I wasn't

even you know looking that different from everybody else but I just had a bigger chest and like I had to have a sports bra and my ballet teacher remember saying to me like you can't wear that sports bra under that leotard like it looks awful and she made me take the sports bra off before I went into a ballet exam and I was so conscious that I was gonna like spill how old were you 13 12 13 and I was just like and it was it's also painful like if anyone's got bigger chest you know that like flinging yourself around it's painful to be without a sports bra like I could I could never be not in a bra because it's quite painful to like walk around and stuff anyway for me it is so I just remember being like okay so so much of what you look like is based on how far you get because it's not based on just talent

alone um and then I went to sixth form in uni and I was like I just wanted to be smaller and I was obsessed with gym content online and I was like okay so I'll train like a body builder and I'll eat like a body builder and then I'll look like a body builder and then I'll be successful and then people will like me and then I'll have a good career and you know it won't like that's how it'll go down and so I just went crazy in controlling calories and stuff and it was I just remember being like my hair was falling out because I wasn't eating enough food my skin was so bad because like I was just eating whatever would hit like a protein target for a day like doesn't matter what it was it was like maybe like three or four protein shakes a day and nothing else um and I and I really I really thought that how you looked would reflect in how well you did in life or how much you were loved by other people

um and I think that probably stemmed from dancing because that's how much of it is based on that so it's it's so like it's so strange because we literally have just had on like Strictly Star Diane Buswell and that's what was like a really prevalent sort of like theme throughout the episode and I guess throughout her life as well of like being a dancer um but I also wonder because how old are you 24 yeah because I'm I'm 26 and I and I do wonder as well like I also wonder like do girls go through what we went through in school is that just a part of the yeah I mean I think it is female experience because um Alex has got a little sister and she's making comments to me about stuff and I'm'm like, this can't be happening again.

I'm amazed that the conversations are still happening. She said to me, I want to have a flat stomach for summer, so I think I might start doing 12 sit-ups a day in the morning. She's like 11. I was like, please. Where where's that coming from like peers I don't know if it's coming from online content because so what we had growing up was like what other people are saying around us and the content we consumed through like magazines and stuff I remember seeing magazines it was like you know commenting on celebrities and how they looked in like the beach or oh they've let themselves go or all this stuff and then I think that then reflected into our generation right in the front

of like heat magazine was like even like the um do you remember the the programs the tv programs yes like um super super size versus super skinny yeah and like so much of like tv and culture and online not online consumption but like um just like what we used to watch was based on you know being smaller and picking people apart if they you know let themselves go that was like the like headlines and newspapers it's like no it's just a like it's just a shot that they're not posing for um but I think now it's coming from online content because it's so much more and like you can try and avoid it I think as a parent but I think it's so hard because other people have got it in schools but yeah I think like because now you can like even if you don't

let your friend your your child have social media one of their like one of their friends or relatives will have a social media and they can see it um because one of the things I've noticed is young people want to do skincare I'm like you're putting like acids on your face just because you're seeing other people like doing a get ready with me, which is technically harmless content. Right. But people want to then these young girls are using like skincare products that they should not be using on their face. And I think, oh, my God. So it is I think it is happening, happening again. I just think maybe it's a part of growing up and it's just different to how we had it I think the reoccurring theme though is that like it's like young women are just so

goddamn impressionable I know I know like I think about for us when we were growing up and I know it will resonate a lot with like a lot of our audience listening that like we would have I think there was a massive emphasis on being smaller but also on like diet culture I feel like for me I've never had an eating disorder but I do feel like I've definitely had disordered eating habits yeah that like to be honest I didn't even realize we're there until I've had conversations say with my sister who's like hey do you know that's not right yeah and just like even growing up around I don't know if you had the same with your your mom but I I grew up with my mom constantly on like weight watchers yeah which like yeah demonizes food you know good food bad food that's a sin yeah I like as a child I know

yeah I mean my mum didn't specifically use weight washers but like other relatives around me did and I think I I listen to a lot of like my mum's friends when they talk about food and it's so skewed in their thinking it's like well I had a big lunch so I'll have a little dinner and you're like just because you had a big lunch doesn't mean you're any less hungry now and it's and it's very interesting to hear how generations talk about things and what I think is really important is that we probably have a platform and the ability to help change it for other people so that when young girls are looking and consuming content online rather than looking at newspapers they're looking at our sorts of content they can see that these things are normal even though they might be told at school that it's

not you know so for us showing those elements of like our training sessions it's not posed it's not great lighting we're just in like a normal gym with a normal camera just like propped up and you can see that the whole picture is not this like picture perfect image because I don't know about you but like so much gym content I consumed when I was younger was like the most gorgeous content like it was crisp editing it was some crisp camera it was posed and it was like I think it's just so one body type that was like pushed is like a gym or even like a fitness physique and you're like well no fitness isn't a like a body type it's a way of life and a feeling that you have I think absolutely I almost I'm just going back to the school thing I wonder if they actually have any sort of safeguarding in place

and I don't I don't know I don't know I mean talks that women like are there talks that are set in place as like a nationwide international wide sort of system or practice to speak with women with young girls and talk about like these things you see or these things you've heard I don't know but even like period education isn't done enough in school so I'm presuming that it's probably not yeah I mean I don't like to talk I'm not a teacher so like I don't know we don't know like I don't we don't know the ins and outs there's there's so much I think that goes into education but it's definitely something that needs to happen I think there is the option of breaking a cycle um and I I don't want to have another generation of girls have to get to like 23 24

before they realize way life is way more than just like how I look and my appearance doesn't mean isn't like my appearance doesn't mean that people will love me so was that kind of how like the narrative for you that you had this sort of belief system that you needed to look a certain way up until a certain point and like what was that certain point for you when it kind of clicked yeah so for me I was talking about this yesterday actually it was when I lost my granddad that I saw sat there and realized what am I doing so backstory for you like my family we looked after my granddad I come from separated families so like me and my grandparents on my mum's side did a lot of growing up together um and when my granddad was ill we

were like okay let's provide end-of-life care for him he built the house that they lived in and he wanted to pass away there so we we tried to carry out that wish that wish as best we could so and then my grandma obviously the way she was I was writing my dissertation at the time so she would like bake me cakes and make me cookies and cups of tea on on cup of tea on drip with like a digested biscuit and I remember sitting and wanting to track those biscuits on my fitness pal and I was worried because it was maybe like a handmade cake I was thinking oh I don't know how many calories are going to be in that. And then I looked at my granddad who was literally had like a few days left.

So what am I doing? Why am I worried about gaining weight in a period where I'm caring for someone? I'm very, very like I love a lot. And why am I worried about the calories in a slice of cake that my grandma has made for me out of love because we're trying our best to get through this situation and it was from that point I was like this has got to stop I've got to stop relying on my appearance for validation and for like love so from that point I it's weird this weird thing about grief um and I think a lot of people can relate it gives it like is the hardest time of your life but it also gives you such a pivot you realize at that point that life is really short and that you need to grab it by

the horns as you'd say and so I did that so from that point I've not tracked galleries since my granddad passed away and like it's not it's not based on that but some people can't some people can't and I found like food education being the best way for me to go forward and that was sort of the pivot for me in terms of content. I was like, no. For so long, I was like, okay, I want to make content that looks really clean cut. And I want to make content that looks like everybody else's content. So if I was doing an RDL, I'd film it from four angles and I'd pick the best one. Whereas now, I just film the content and I put it up. Whether I've got a back roll or it's not the best lighting or you know you can still my

cellulite I don't mind because other people need to say see that other people need to see that that's real life it's normal for you to have those sorts of things so yeah my pivot was was based on a period of grief that I was like life's too short and then I have a younger sister myself and then Alex has got two younger sisters and I was like hearing them talk about certain things I was like this is like I just don't want another generation of girls growing up the way we did so I think it's important I think there is a like a lot of like responsibility in terms of we can help people just by making different types of content that we didn't see when we were younger yeah definitely um so do you think like you always was there actually always like a comfort within your own body and in your skin it was just that

you had these like societal pressures or have you had to kind of navigate feeling comfortable in your own skin yeah I mean I did I don't know if it's normal because I've never really spoken to anyone about it but like there are moments where I feel very uncomfortable in my body it's something that you can't really explain unless someone's experienced it themselves still to this day yeah yeah like I mean yesterday I was at a talk and I was just so self-conscious of like the way that my stomach felt in my jeans or if I'm wearing a top that's too tight I'm very aware of my arms and how they feel it's so strange because I can't really describe it but I just get sometimes you can just I just feel so uncomfortable but I know now that isn't okay well I feel uncomfortable

so I've got to change something I know that that's just a moment and that will pass I don't have to then go home and think okay what am I going to do to change that I need to lose some weight or like I need to change this I need to throw that top out or not wear those jeans again or you know I know that it's just a moment it will pass um but I think when I was younger I just felt so uncomfortable I just felt so yes there was this pressure from society to look a certain way but I felt very uncomfortable my physique and I don't know where that stems from I don't know where that stems from and I don't know where it comes from there's no like moment in time where I'm like someone said this to me and ever since then I felt uncomfortable what do you mean by like uncomfortable like I don't what does that actually feel like just

aware of body parts I think is the only way I could describe it um aware of how body parts move or like aware of how they feel in like clothing or um if you like at the gym or on the beach or something aware that there's other people there and are they judging you um two different things but yeah i just the way it feels sometimes is difficult yeah it's hard it's very hard to explain kind of sounds like i mean not to diagnose but i certainly as someone with ADHD, it sounds like sensory issues. Yeah, that's probably more like... Certainly though, you grow up, I feel like a lot of people will know what I'm talking about when it's like you grow up not knowing these things. And then someone tells you, you'll get like a diagnosis or something or someone will just explain something.

Oh, that's why you feel the way you do yeah you're like oh yeah yeah and then life has been based around struggling with this yeah like oh that makes sense yeah I also think as a woman like just I give myself so much grace now and I think social media is quite good at doing so or at least the content I consume but giving yourself some goddamn grace with how much the human the female like anatomy and like body can change that even a month I mean that used to turn me nuts that like because I get bad periods I don't know about you but well bad is a very subjective word but like for me my periods are really hard yeah moments of the month I get very bloated and it's quite painful and I'm like oh okay I'm coming up to my period that's why whereas when I'm when I'm before like what a few years ago I was like

god I hate and then you'd be like god I really hate my the way I look at the moment gotta change something and you and I didn't used to pay attention to the fact that it was probably because my period was due yeah I was like oh my god I look you know so different I'm so bloated gotta do something different gotta change yeah whereas now I'm like in three or four days time I just it will look different that's something I've really noticed I actually am so glad you raised it because I did want to like say this to the girlies listening like that's something I found so noticeable since kind of moving throughout my 20s I'm now like into the second half of my 20s and I it wasn't even really a conscious thing I don't write in the app section

like in an app or something yeah but I've become very in tune with having had so many cycles now at this point and so I really can I am able to kind of come from this like objective lens now where like I'm like whoa why do I feel like I've like put on so much weight and I'm like why do I not like being in my body and and then I just take a moment and I'm like, where am I at in my cycle? Oh, there's a trend there. Yeah. Oh, and then like for me, I also get really, really heightened like sensory issues around certain parts of my cycle.

So it's kind of understanding that. And then also for me, I really, I'm a little sensitive girly. I find. I'm so sensitive yeah I find me crying most moments of the day oh yeah honestly um but like even you know around certain parts of the like a prime example when I was telling you earlier like me crying at goose because I just loved her so much like the other day yeah that's like oh we're actually I'm not maybe I'm not having a downward spiral or a rough patch maybe i'm just at a certain part of my cycle yeah i think

in terms of like both physical and mental well-being it's very nice to be aware because i get crazy depressive cycles but just before my period i'm like everything is bad I hate I'm like I get very self-destructive just before my period I'm like I'm not doing enough I'm failing you know I need to do this like so nasty to myself and then my physique's changing I'm you know I'm bloated I feel uncomfortable I almost have like a sicky feeling sometimes and I used to be like so mean to myself and then it'd be worse and I'd be like and then you almost you come out of that period just before your period and it's like there's a light you're like oh my god it's not all bad yeah you're like I feel fucking fabulous you're like oh my god brilliant yeah yeah it's like is

this the same person like because like last week I hated life I hated myself both physically and mentally and this week I'm fine and yeah I mean it's it's hard but acknowledging that is the best thing I could do because I'm the same as you I have some severe sensory issues in terms of like clothing when I'm on my period so I almost have like period outfits oh yeah like I like a go-to gym fit that will be like that's fine that's not gonna bug me it's not gonna be too tight um and yeah I just I wish people spoke about that back back to the school thing but I wish people spoke about that at school because they were like everyone's I remember learning about periods like right yep so it's this this amount cycle

um but no one talked about like the exhaustion you can feel as well because for like for us in terms of training you can't compare one week to the other you have to compare it almost like points and cycle into the other point of your cycle and because I run a lot more now and like running marathons and stuff I get so worried that the marathon date is going to fall on that extreme low in terms of energy mental like mental stability and physical feeling I'm like I don't know if I could run a marathon in that but then what do you do you just have to do it I know I know it's what you know when you hear people talk about how like everything's kind of set up for like a man cycle that 24 hour reset

hormones are good to go I know and it's like it's just such a different experience for us women at the point you're at now like is your experience in your body like are you kind to yourself or is it like no matter like what your content is in your style like this is still something you'll probably always have to like ongoing sort of practice within yourself like yeah I mean I say this a lot on my like on my stories especially I'm very much still in the middle of a self-love journey um I don't know if there is really like a definitive end point but I am 10 times better than I used to be um I look back at who I was like two years ago and it's nowhere near who I am now in terms of like how kind I am to myself or you know the way I feel about who I am and how I look

but I mean I do have self-destructive moments and I do have sometimes I'll leave an event I'm like why did I say that and then you sit and you pick it apart and you're like oh my gosh why did I say that why did I say that I shouldn't have done that you know I should have been nice to that person I should like you know given her a hug when I left oh she's gonna think I'm rude because I haven't given her a hug as I said goodbye and then it's like oh you know I do have moments where I pick my physique apart um and I was saying this to one of my gym friends is that it's the highs and lows and I know but the difference is now in the low point I know that I will come out of it and there will be a high so that's where it's significantly different to when

I was younger because when I was younger I was like there is no end to this low point um but learning to like love who you are is a long journey and I think it's talked about a lot online now but no one really describes how it can take a while for some people and I'm very much still in the middle of it um but yeah it's 10 times better than I used to be it's so easy to say like oh you just gotta love yourself just love yourself but it's like you know the act in which one takes on to love themselves is like hard it's hard it's nitty-gritty it's not pretty and flowery and running through fields I love myself yeah and there's a lot of confrontation like you have to really confront some parts of you that you

didn't realize that you had um one of my biggest things when I was well I say younger like two years ago was um clothing I would just try to wear what was ever whatever was trendy at the time um and I now fully accept I look at trends I'm like that's not gonna work for me and that's fine like that's fine that's not gonna work for me that's absolutely fine and I'm like I just don't even I don't even bother trying on in the shop and that was the first piece of of advice I give to other people, was that you just learn what works for you in terms of fashion pieces and clothing. And for me, that was one of the first steps I made into feeling more comfortable in my body and feeling more comfortable in my skin and feeling confident in places, because a lot of it stemmed from feeling so uncomfortable in my body in the clothing I was in,

that I then just wanted to retract and not go to the events that I was invited to like not go to the pub with my friends because I was like oh no I just I nothing looks good every girl can relate to the fact that you have like 500 outfit changes that's fine but when there's a 500 outfit change and a little mental breakdown at the end of it and then you're like I'm not leaving this house for the next month that's when it's a bit too severe so I've sort of just I threw out all the clothes that didn't ever that I'd put on and I'd have to feel probably like one day out of the month that I could wear it I'm like I just don't I just don't have it in my wardrobe anymore just throw it out and like every piece I look in the wardrobe now and I'm like most of this I can feel comfortable in but the one thing I still struggle with is vest tops which is interesting how so just because it's a fixation on my arms and how they look without being in a t-shirt it's so funny like

I've like never looked at you and thought that no but it's find like, because I go from periods where I'm like, I love my arms. And then on periods of like, I really struggle. And it's that spring when I've been sat in a jumper for like majority of the year, because we live in the UK. And then you go, okay, so I can't wear a jacket anymore. And then that's that confrontation again. You're like, no, that issue that I have, that like feeling towards my arms is still there, but I've just been able to hide it for the past six months because we've had to wear jumpers.

So you get that confrontation and again, it's like in a bikini. You go, no, I'm fine. And you have to confront it almost summer on summer, but it just gets less and less daunting each time. I've mentioned this before about exercises exercises that you can do like mental exercises to help you move through whatever you're struggling with for example when you're feeling anxious I like to think of myself like as a little tiny dot on a map and you just zoom out and you keep zooming out zooming out zooming out zooming out until you reach like the freaking universe

and you realize things aren't so big right and another one is like with regards to like your body is like if you can really actually simplify it and just think about it like we your body is a vessel your body has a purpose and it allows you to do all of these things and it allows you to like move here dart there and you know we look at ourselves under such a microscope that like it's just like I don't know it almost feels kind of unnatural and it feels like we're kind of fishing for something yeah like we didn't you know back in the day we wouldn't have had all these mirrors pasted everywhere all these photos so it's like no wonder you feel that way and I think for me that really helps bring me back down like nope my body's serving a purpose

I wondered are there any sort of like practices you have for like I don't know visualization or sort of like a mental um there's a few things I've changed in terms of trying to build healthy habits so one of the first ones I did was I stopped asking to check photos of me once people had taken them so you know you'd be at a family event and your grandma or whoever will just be like snapping pictures and or like you're with a group of friends and you're taking photos and you're like oh can I see it can I see it please just so you're almost like just in case it goes on socials or something what I've done is I've stopped saying oh can I see it please because in that moment I would find myself picking apart so like let's say it's a group of your friends and you go on your phone and you're like oh can I see it please and you zoom in and you

almost zoom in specifically on you no matter what the moment was let's say it's someone's birthday or they're celebrating graduation or whatever and you're't know zooming in you're like no I don't I don't redo that I don't like the way that my arm looks or the way that my legs look in that um I stopped doing that and I found subconsciously I was picking myself apart way less when I looked in like mirrors as well or like just like in terms of just sitting in my body I fixated on it less because there was I wasn't talking about it in like out loud I think because in that moment where you're like zooming in on a picture you're like you out loud say oh can you redo that I don't know the way I look in that you're like also just like

stepping out of like such a beautiful moment I know it's a moment right there's a reason why someone's taking the photo you know it's because of something that's like amazing or just like a happy memory and that's how I see it so that was the first one I sort of did. And now I look at photos as like happy memories rather than being like, no, I had to look good. It has to be like good for Instagram. You know, it's like, no, whatever it is will be. And then it's just happy moments and memories that I can keep for myself and remember. I do that a lot. What you said about is in terms of seeing your body as like a vessel or a machine um because when I was younger a few people said to me like I've got big legs like I said I've

always had quite big quads and I you know from dancing and people someone once said to me like did you want your legs to get that big and I was like it's a byproduct it's a byproduct of doing something that I love you know training in the gym or running and because of my legs I can run marathons and because of my legs I can you know play with family members or siblings and I'm like I don't sit there and think god my legs are big I'm like no my legs are strong sorry so I think that shift and then like I say like sometimes I have like fixations on my arms but it's not all the time and it's way less now so I'm like no because my arms let me hug my friends and family and that's lovely um but also I constantly remind myself if I'm looking at myself

and then comparing someone that I'm looking at online think of the amount of times they retook that photo right so you're like okay well I wish I had her arms there was a thing a while ago that's everyone wanted Miley Cyrus arms and I was like okay she but she looks great but I can't look like Miley Cyrus nothing in my life is like Miley Cyrus and we're so far apart like I can't I couldn't look like her even if I did the exact same thing as her for the rest of my life well I love the recent trend as well I've seen you do it um as well as other creators of like being like you're trying to look like that fitness influencer who doesn't even look like that yeah yeah she doesn't she doesn't even look like that yeah so it's a snapshot yeah exactly a moment in time

you're then so I'm only saying it because of the like where we're where we both met is the gym stuff so like I used to be like okay but I don't look like that gym girl all the time I'm like well because she doesn't look like that either and that's not being like nasty to ourselves or nasty to other people but like in a picture you look way different to like moving like when you're picking a weight up off the floor and when you're moving around the gym like of course you're going to look different so then when you glance in the mirror and you think oh my god I can't look I don't look like her I need to change like all that stuff you like no but she probably looks like that when she's walking around as well you just don't see it because it's a picture you can bring or like a like a great

pose like some videos as well you can't you know and also in terms of who you're following some people can edit videos these days and that is scary i know you can edit a video to look different and you're like okay so what's actually real and ai is mad so it's it's bonkers and it's scary and it's like ai is wild ai is scary you know i definitely um used to edit my photos when i was a teenager i think most people did yeah i mean i never i've never edited a picture but it's because I could never do it it's not because I didn't try I just I just I used to try it all the time with like pictures of like on holiday or like pictures that your friends take and I would try and edit but I could never you know everyone used to be like you can see this is edited because the background is wonky I would try and I'd be like I can't it just looks so bad so then then you'd never that photo would

never see the light of day but I tried it's not because I didn't try I always used to like stretch my I used to like stretch the photo so it'd make me look taller taller and it's just like but I mean really when I was in school, school, that's when like Facetune was a thing. Facetune was big when I was at school. Yeah. And filters, Snapchat filters. Put it in, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. But like Snapchat filters were crazy as well. Yeah. I, you know, I feel like I made a vow to myself to not ever use filters. When I first started creating, I couldn't talk on camera without using a filter and then I remember just because because the reason I called my account Siggro is because I was like on a full-on like growth journey and I was like right I'm committing to this and um yeah I remember being like no this is the step I need to take but yeah I haven't used a filter

since I don't I don't use filters anymore i mean i used to i i definitely used to use some of the instagram story filters are crazy as well like and some of like you know it like like tiktok some of the filters you can use in it like your different eye colors different eyelash extensions and yeah but you know and it looks so normal yeah but that's stuff I'm like okay cool right but like when it's so subtle that like you can't notice it even fools you to the point where you're like oh yeah have you seen like even when they say as well if you were to walk past yourself in a street you wouldn't even recognize yourself yeah and it's like I feel like that's a real testament to the fact that like I don't really feel like we'll ever be happy because we don't even see the real us. Like we only see, of course it's going to be, it's going to look off when we see a reflected image all the time.

We spent years looking at this reflected image. So for most people, unless you have a career like us or like you're a model or whatever, you not used to having all these photos taken yeah so for you that feels very foreign yeah I think the other thing that's helped me a lot is that I look the way I do and my friends look the way they do but I don't say to people I can't wait for you to meet my best friend. She looks like this. Yeah, I know. I've seen that trend. I think it's so clever. I just, it's, and that is like a huge shift that I, it's so simple, but it made it like

almost like re-altered my brain chemistry a little bit. I'm like, so why am I so fixated on like, oh, how I look when I'm meeting people or I'm going out because people that love you don't, they're not oh I love Sid because she's got curly hair yeah you know you're gonna love her you're gonna love her thighs don't meet exactly so it's like so why why am I so like oh my no I can't wear that like my arms are out people aren't gonna be like I can't wait to meet Lucy she's got cracking arms yeah it's not it's not how it's i would never describe my best friend based on her features no i would i mean i've never even said to them i can't wait for you to meet her because she's got brown hair another one i love which i remember hearing as well is like if you were to care for someone's body if you spent like the day a week yeah yeah a year in someone's body would you

what you would you would be tender with them and you would care for them and you would like soothe them when they're feeling stressed and you would like be gentle. You would exercise them so they're healthy. You would eat like the right things that fuel your body. You wouldn't do all the things we're talking about. I thought that was so beautiful because it is so, that's a real easy one to visualize. Someone you love that you would do anything for or that you think the world of and they thought that was so beautiful because it is so that's a real easy one to visualize someone you love that you would do anything for that you think the world of and they have no imperfections in your

eyes and it's like I don't know I think it's a really good exercise to think about yeah and the other one was like it's it's very similar but like when I was at my granddad's funeral no one went oh Mick was great because he had a full head of hair he didn't but like no one was like no one made a single blooming comment on how he looked they just mentioned all the things he'd done in his life that made him an impactful kind loving person yeah so you're like so why am I so fixated on how I look when it's that's not that's not what what matters what matters is how I treat people how i treat myself if i'm kind and loving and you know supportive of people yeah it's not based on how you look absolutely um i've got some quick little facts to read because they're kind of staggering okay so these

are all on like body image when we're younger one survey of uk adolescents by Be Real found that 36% agreed they would do whatever it took to look good, with 57% saying they had considered going on a diet and 10% saying they had considered cosmetic surgery. Among secondary school boys, 10% said they would consider taking steroids to achieve their goals. That's nuts. Children with poorer body image are less likely to take part in physical activity and survey data from be real finds that 36 of girls and 24 of boys report avoiding taking part in activities like physical education due to worries about their appearance that's so sad did you what was your relationship like with pe back in school i loved me you you've always

loved it but i was that's because i loved sport as a kid um my mom's very sporty single parent household so my brother was very sporty um you know my brother did i was very much the big sister's like okay well if he's gonna run i'm running faster you know yeah very competitive yeah so i always loved sports i wasn't very good at sports a lot of them because i've got an eye condition of double vision right so but it wasn't yeah so i see two of everything without my glasses on but that wasn't diagnosed in me until I was 16 so ball sports at school I sucked at ball sports really badly I couldn't catch anything it's so diverse this is this is so off topic but I couldn't I couldn't catch a thing so I was I was quite bad like netball

rounders hockey I just the concept of where the ball was going was mad to me um so I struggled in terms of ability but like it wasn't really struggling in terms of ability but I did struggle in terms of catching a ball but um I think it's a huge thing that I recognized in some of my other friends at school that the reason they didn't enjoy PE was because we're shoved in PE kits that are uncomfortable and quite almost like revealing sometimes I think for the guys as well like the you have to get changed in a in a in a changing rooms full of your peers that's crazy you know I remember being at school thinking why isn't like the concept of wanting to wear a bra yeah and you're like okay well everyone else in this in this changing room's got bra on a padded

a padded bra or they had like some nice pants that weren't you know your typical pants and i remember going home like mum please let me have a thong yeah she's like no i my thing was the bra my all the girls had padded bras that looked like bras yeah and i remember being like to my mom like i i want a bra she said no you'll have it you can wear a training bra yeah which is like it's so funny because like it's actually all i want to wear now it's all i wear i don't put me in a bra i've got one don't put me in it please it's so uncomfortable i literally don't even have like I don't think I even own a padded like I don't own a pad don't even talk to me about a wired bra that was like but yeah it's weird and then I remember being because I like I said I had a bigger chest from

quite a younger age felt very self-conscious in my PE kit and my sports bra because I was like my boobs are going everywhere you know so I can imagine how it would feel um if you know you were super super super uncomfortable in your body at that age because like I as an adult I would not be able to get changed into my PE kit or my gym clothes in a changing room full of girls completely like out in the open. Like when I go to the changing rooms, I stand in like this private locker, you know, to get changed. I struggle to like fully be in my underwear in front of other women. And I'm an, I'm a grown adult. So these, you know, kids that are like, I think that might be

where a lot of issues come from MPE that you have to get changed in front of everyone else and also there's this culture isn't there I remember being younger being like yeah be fast oh he's cool he's really fast in the year oh he's really cool he's good at football or they'll be like oh yeah she's you know she's really good at rounders or whatever um so if maybe you struggled to like kick a football i don't know it would have been different difficult but i think there's a big thing to say about p kits let's make them more comfortable let's make them more please let's make them more comfortable and like not a white t-shirt that could be see-through oh is that what you had my my it was like a white it just had to be a white polo oh right and a skort had to be a skort um and the white polo was so uncomfy and it was like depending where you got it from how what the quality was like could been see-through um so i think we

could make just allow girls to wear a big t-shirt if allow girls to wear a big t-shirt if they want to wear a big t-shirt rather than having to wear a skort. I hate skorts. Well, no, I don't hate skorts now, but I hate skorts at school. Absolutely. This is a side note, but like, I don't know,

it just made me think of it like how, I think that's something that I just find so beautiful about like females in sport, like as an adult now, because I think there's such a lack of enthusiasm um you know at school at schools like girls like it it's kind of uncool to be trying so hard and to be passionate about something that's like the most embarrassing thing you could do we just literally had a gym girls locker room event and it was like I think the count in the end was like 110 girls we had some GB athletes there that were doing powerlifting

workshops with them and they were saying like oh I can't believe how like into it the girls are like it's so refreshing and like I think it's such a amazing thing to be able to sort of like reclaim that yeah as an adult is yeah i think that's why so many of us are into like i mean i say so many of us but that's just because of the industry we're in right but like into fitness of some form whether that's like gym lifting running high rocks all these things it's because we're like we finally have the chance as an adult to be passionate and be obviously passionate about it and it's not embarrassing to be like to try things to try to try new things and to be oh i'm not very good at that like in comparison

to a lot of people that i run with i'm the slowest there but i love it and i'm not gonna stop running just because i'm so as far as at school i would have forgot my pk because i was slower yeah you know you don't want to try that thing you don't want to try you don't want to be not very good so you just didn't didn't do it whereas now i feel like we have this almost encouraging culture to no try and fail because it's what's the worst that can happen you find oh you don't like that sport you can do something else which is really nice but i do think there is a big space for young guys to talk about not having to look a certain way i feel very much in females because but we're trying to do something to to help that right but whereas with some guys that want to have like a physique or steroid use like you were saying in that statistic that's really sad that

like young guys feel like they want to take steroids to look at such significant like impacts on your health yeah yeah and your body to me like oh have you ever thought about taking steroids and if i'm honest i was very naive of how common they are yeah even in my own public gym like at home i was like oh so many people are taking steroids here of different forms i thought steroids meant get bigger there are so many out there really there was there are like fat burning steroids uh and there are like hunger alterings yeah like suppressants yeah i mean i'm very uneducated i don't actually know but like i've heard all these things i'm like oh i actually got a dm the other day which is like so random but i got i got a dm i looked at my phone i thought no way have i just received that it's like do you want steroids

oh my god you can get needles you can get tablets a dm of of steroid sales like mass production steroids oh my god i was like um you're speaking to you know you're speaking to the wrong girl literally um okay so i want to know where you sit and where you feel about being this like body positivity girly and actually genuinely like just wanting to objectively say, for example, lose body fat percentage or objectively wanting to, I don't know, build more body mass, right? Where for you are like the boundaries within kind of balancing body positivity and also kind of wanting to work towards some aesthetic goal of sorts? Interesting, because I've almost removed that from my my life to be like let's focus on healing um I think I could possibly look at doing something along the lines once I felt no I am fully healed within myself this isn't just me leaning back on a negative habit you know it's

I'm not looking and thinking I want to lose weight because of a negative super super negative thought process I'm having it's just like no I would like to you know maybe lean down or you know whatever but I think the encouragement I make to anyone is make sure you're doing it from the right place it's not a place of complete self-hatred it's almost a place if you wanted to be like self-betterment yeah um there's no i don't think there's a right or wrong i don't think you know you can't lose weight if you're trying to be body positive you can still be body positive because you're thinking about your body in a positive manner but you are just accepting that it can change and sometimes as a byproduct of habits changing your body changes so um which is something i found when i was running um my body lost weight and also gained weight while i was running and i it didn't bother me at that point if i was bigger or smaller because i was like no i'm a machine um and it was i was training for marathon right so at that point i was having

to eat a lot of food because i was so hungry all the time i've heard about this yeah and i gained weight fine that. That's okay. And at that point I was like, okay, there's a part of me that's healed here because I didn't straight away go into self-destruct mode because I didn't pick it up or notice it. But I think I would just encourage anyone who has really struggled with their physique or body confidence and feeling comfortable in their body to make sure it's coming from a positive place and not like a negative old habit you know um because that can happen it can sometimes you

can just think it's like let it not come from a breakdown that you've had over a pair of jeans let it come from just like do you know what I think I'm I think I'm okay to do that now I think I'm gonna get to start that start that process again yeah like as an example for anyone listening I I would hope I'm really trying to like be honest with myself and I'm like yeah I think this is the case for me what we've just been talking about because for me right now I'm in a cut which is a calorie deficit for anyone that doesn't know and just kind of like an effort to lean out and objectively just lower your body fat percentage and for me it's come from a place of kind of wanting to look like I want to have that aesthetic yeah and not I held myself back then from saying better. Better, yeah. Because it's not necessarily, it's just I want to have more of like an athletic aesthetic.

Yeah. And also from a place of wanting to challenge myself physically and just be like, oh, can I do that? And I feel like the ways I'm going about it are actually, you know, if you are listening and you're thinking, oh, you know, I want to be positive and kind and gentle with my body. But I also do maybe have these goals that I am like inquisitive about. Well, for me, what I'm doing is like I'm not in a huge deficit. I'm still fueling my body. I'm still eating three meals a day. I'm just like watching what I'm eating and like watching my macros and just making sure I'm you know eating things that are going to keep me full like I'm having protein which is going to really help me build that muscle

and also like the things I'm doing I'm not doing obsessive amounts of cardio on a freaking stem muscle like I used to do just kind of like going and going until I literally couldn't get off like I'm actually running and I'm doing like hit training sessions with like a group of girls which is fun and like seeing what am I actually capable of and and like you said that then becomes a byproduct where actually yeah you know quite often when you work on these goals then suddenly your body does just change from having a different lifestyle absolutely um and like the only thing I wouldn't do is like on my page be like super like talking about it because I wouldn't want a lot of people to think that then they have to do it well also I wonder if like you yeah because I'm interested in you touching on that because I do I did wonder like you deciding to do that would you would you feel conflicted then because yeah I would I would feel I would

definitely feel conflicted and I would feel um I'm very protective over my community and I you know brands can be like can we get you to do this no can like what about this product you know can you say it does this for you no not happening yeah um and because i know how it feels to have someone that you trust say something and you think i'm gonna do the same thing or that's gonna work for me you know and i feel very passionately about a lot of people because i when you meet people in person you know it's they can say to you it's really helped like you've made a difference and with that comes responsibility absolutely so you I just I wouldn't be like super promotional about it I'd be like yeah I have some physique goals but if I'm honest it's so far from where I am because I don't think it would be a healthy habit for me to have right now that I don't really think about it that much yeah because

I don't think it would be healthy for me right now to have a physique goal also the thing that's changed my life is goal-based training training for a marathon or training to you know hit a certain number in a deadlift pb or whatever that for me is where I'm happiest I'm not actually when I if I have that thought I'm like maybe I do want to you know change my body I don't find that lifestyle for myself very happy um so I don't think about it I don't do it I don't I haven't really thought about what that much about what you said because I just it's not something that I would put myself in to the situation right now I enjoy goal-based training yeah well I also think as well like for you it seems that you do take like your responsibility

as a creator seriously and like understanding that you know those people that have followed you probably have followed you because it's something that they're actually actively trying to work on so I think understanding your audience and and yeah exactly exactly because you get some some brands that they they want you to say certain things about products I'm like that's not the case i'm not saying that like you can put price back it on me misleading or not even misleading but just saying something i don't fully believe yeah it's not completely aligned yeah exactly and um the the community that i think we both have of girls that are trying to self-betman in some manner

whether that be mental or physical or confidence or whatever so I think that's I think that there is a lot of beauty in you don't have to change but like if you want to just make sure it's from a healthy place yeah absolutely um if I said to you like sort of like toxic body positivity what would your sort of thoughts and response be to that toxic body positivity so I think people doing it because it's popular that I struggle with people doing it because they've seen a video do well online they then recreate it not from a place of passion or of caring but because they want views that that can upset me sometimes because i'm like now it seems that it's something that you want to do just because it's got views not because you have a deep passion for it um but i haven't really seen too much toxic body positivity culture um apart from that that's the only thing I've seen that has

I've noticed and I've thought is that coming from a place of genuine passion and love or is that coming because you want it you want to have a good video and do you think that with regards to sort of social media and do you think like this whole body positivity, like specifically like the kind of like showing your body from different angles and that sort of thing. Do you think that anybody of any shape and size can do that? Like even if you are like a super slender athletic sort of physiology i think it really depends because my point of view is i've never experienced what it feels like to struggle in a smaller body so for some people they may genuinely struggle in having a smaller body and want to you know change and to be bigger I've only ever experienced it the reverse way so I find it almost hard to comment on on that because I'm I can't relate nor experience it but again I think it just has to come from a place of if you are doing that because you know you're you're almost from one angle than the other if you're doing that because you

want to you think it's going to help somebody and you genuinely think it's going to help somebody and you think it would have helped yourself as when you were younger then then fine but if you're doing it just because it's going to get views that's what i struggle with does that make sense yeah but i think body confidence as a movement applies to everybody because i think no matter the shape or size we've all struggled of some regard in feeling confident because people might look at me and be like what do you mean you've got nothing to struggle about you know so i would find it hard to say that about somebody else because we don't know what battles are going on inside yeah their heads about their

physiques and how their bodies look um but there is an element of people doing it for views i think yeah where do the boundaries lie between sort of encouraging people who have sort of body types or lifestyles that are potentially unhealthy and would potentially have like i am specifically referencing say obesity and they like have maybe they aren't doing exercise but they're promoting sort of body positivity like where in the community does that sort of lie like I'm just asking out of genuine curiosity like for me I always wonder about like how do we how do we navigate promoting a healthy life actually in terms of you having a long life you know a healthy life and um body positivity do you know what like the genuine genuine stances on that I don't yeah um I think you could definitely deep dive into the industry and find out yeah um

I think probably half my problem here is I don't try i try not to spend too too much time on social media so i can't i don't really see too much content um i like i try to spend time on social media but not i found the definite correlation between too much social media exposure and feeling negative but um i think you just the general theme of it has to be happiness and health you're happy and healthy you know um but I I yeah I don't really know because it's I only ever really speak about it from like a personal experience and I try not to talk about things that I don't really know about firsthand yeah um so far because I I don't really know about it firsthand um what is your relationship like with social media um I definitely I do I love social media i love a doom scroll on you know either app um but

i find a lot of self-comparison lies in too much social media exposure and often that comes from lifestyle based um comparison now than it did a few years ago it was all body-based like comparison whereas now it's all like lifestyle-based comparison which i don't know if that's a shift that happens as you get older or if it's a shift shift that happens as you heal one phase of your life and then you're moving on to the next um but i look quite often i'm like how she got that have they bought that house you know um so i just try to if i find something that then triggers a negative thought i'm like okay off it now and let's do something else i'm trying to really increase my amount of habits that happen off the phone

what do you mean by reading walking outside sitting with my mom having a cup of tea do you know i mean trying to do stuff that doesn't involve me sitting on my phone and then doing it at the same time so i don't know if you've you can notice it but sometimes we go and see friends and you sit there on your phone and you think no no try and be present and i flip the phone over and i lay it on the table and i'm like okay no let's try and be present and talking to my friends and not being too fixated on what's going on on the phone that can wait um and trying to do like reading I think I saw your story the other day like painting yeah trying to switch off in a way that isn't socials well yeah it's something I definitely struggle with I am with a man that

really doesn't use social media at all really doesn't post doesn't come from this world at all and he's definitely been saying to me recently that like my consumption or well to be honest I wouldn't even say my consumption because I really don't use social media to consume anymore I just use it to create and put stuff out there you know as my job but being on my phone answering emails replying to people yeah I really don't have any boundaries there right now do I I think it's very also very hard with our job to have boundaries in terms of that because you always want to be active and you always want to be like no I'm working you know you wouldn't be like if you see an email that's like something you want to you're like no no let's reply to it now or and it's hard to have those boundaries I

definitely think it is and I I've I must admit in the in the name of honesty um recently you know I've been getting annoyed at him and I I buy it and he says Sid you're literally on your phone and it's like the evening and I'm just sat here doing nothing and you know I go yeah but it's my job and I'm busy I am busy but I equally have really slackened off boundaries that I set in place to make sure that I am doing other things so yeah I definitely think it's it's really really tough with social media it really yeah resonates what I do the same thing though with my boyfriend so don't feel yeah bad I mean do like it's not great but yeah it's I really struggle I'm like no no don't do that don't be or like to your mom because I still live at home so I'm like no I'm trying to do something right now yeah and she's

like okay I was just asking you how your day went. I'm like, yes, sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. Yeah. You know, so I definitely do find that I'm just trying to have phone free time. Yeah, definitely. Phone free time. How do you, you've been in a relationship for how long?

We best speak about the boy. Nearly. Alex is Lucy's boyfriend who we probably should have said that earlier. Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Yes. Seven years in October how have you found has that been a thing obviously you've been in a relationship like your whole adult life adult life is that a thing where you do again see social media and do you at points feel I don't know alienated I know a lot of girls will probably relate to you yeah I mean I

sometimes possibly could said that I've felt you know left out or strange or whatever but not really because I have a great partner obviously otherwise you wouldn't stay with them for seven years so you hope not yeah well yeah I can't say that there's no there's no rules in that but um it is it's definitely interesting because a lot of my friends haven't had partners since they were 17 so like every life hurdle there's I've had him there so some of my friends come to me for like dating advice i'm like i haven't dated really i've never dated anyone yeah i've been on dates no i went on a date and then i had a boyfriend and then i've had a boyfriend since then so i've never dated i can't and a lot of

people say do you do you feel like you missed out don't feel like you missed out on dating I'm like no because I have my I found my person early you could say early but yeah I've I found my person so it's it it's fine I don't have I don't have any like FOMO I'm not like oh maybe it would have been fun to go on dates because I don't I don't think I would have found that fun because I'm quite introverted in some manners I don't think I would have found that fun because I'm quite introverted in some manners I don't think I would have found that fun but the whole grass is greener concept is is definitely interesting yeah because then I speak to some of my girlfriends and they're telling me about their dating stories I'm so glad I don't have to do any of that stuff oh yeah honestly life single life is fun when it's fun and when it's not you're out here in the trenches yeah you really are so i i'm i'm it's hard to say because i don't ever try and think about

because i have such a problem with self-depression i try really hard not to outwardly think about other situations i could have been in how i would have been happier or could i have been happier in that situation i'm very happy where I am so I don't think about it yeah I don't I couldn't imagine not having Alex in my life it's almost like we sometimes give too much attention to things I think I think that's something I do I I almost it's like I'm trying to like tease these things out of myself that don't really need to be. Because we're like, let them be. Someone older than me goes, do you not think you missed out on like having fun and dating?

I'm like, no. Also kind of fucking rude. Mind you, I'm beeswax. Also haven't thought about it because I've been in love with a guy for seven years. I haven't ever looked at him and thought, I wish I was dating. No. And perhaps if you had, you would have, you know what I mean? Like, it's just, yeah, it's interesting.

I'm also very aware, and I've always said to Alex, like, I will never be in a relationship with someone where I feel it's detrimental to my happiness. I've watched those forms of relationships in my life, and I will not ever be a part of one. Yeah. forms of relationships in my life and I will not ever be a part of one yeah um having been together for such like pivotal like moments you know throughout your 20s and your is it teens as well yeah well yeah we got together when we're 17 yeah so that's like I turned 18 we became adults I bought my first drink with Alex yeah oh he was he wasn't 18 at the time I had to go clubbing for my first time on my own that's probably my biggest that was like the biggest thing I did without him there because

he was I was I'm two and a half months older three months older have you ever sort of been codependent with each other because I know for certainly for myself that's something I've struggled with in past relationships kind of just almost I think it's like a um it's almost like a distraction probably from myself you know not I find it easier to pull myself into other people yeah I do the same yeah navigated that over seven years and making sure that you do sort of have your separate lives and passions and what are things that you've been able to do to kind of implement that um well when we were younger we had very different lives I went to uni Alex was a training mechanic so yeah our lives were very different um he had an eight till 5 30 not a nine till five. It was like eight till five. I was in university. I went to university

of Winchester. So, and then we both also worked in a pub part-time. So Alex had two jobs and I had uni and a job. So like, we actually didn't see each other that much when we were like growing up. So that's how I think we didn't become super reliant on each other because we actually didn't see each other that much we worked in the same pub so that helped in terms of what we saw but we would almost take the same shifts we'd be like no let's both work a Thursday night because then we can see each other because I'm you're working Friday night and I'm working Saturday night and then we're both working Sunday so like and we'd see each other like almost outside of that but I have always said I will not become codependent on Alex I find it easier to not become codependent on my love partner than I do my friendships

I think because I've seen toxicity in my relationships around me when I was younger I was like that won't be me and I said very from this when me and Alex got together from the very start that is not going to be me I have my own life I had dreams I had goals I was like I'm not doing that before I was with Alex I had a partner who I was with that I felt that I mean we're very young so it's very different but I almost was like whatever you do I'll be there I'll be there and I'll support I'll drop everything yeah I'll support and I'll be there so as now I'm like no no no I have I have a career goal um well I had a career goal very different career is now I've got a separate goal but i wanted to work in um marketing but i wanted to do what i'm doing now but the other side of it yeah so marketing for fit for a fitness brand

but like be the person that you know we talk to being like sorting out sorting out campaigns and running the campaigns and having the creative it's very similar to what we do right there is a very blurred line yeah but that was my goal i was like no i'm gonna i went to university to study marketing and i was like i'm gonna do that and i'm gonna get the job i my first job started before my degree finished because i was like they offered me the job they're like we can't hold it and i was like fine i'll take it so we've been very clear with so that would be what I would say to anybody in a long-term relationship just have very clear no this is me my passion is my thing they can merge like me and Alex are very fitness we both love training

yeah I was going to ask you so when you got into like fitness gym and exercise did you have him by your side the whole time no so I was I the gym we used to train at I was there like a year before we got together Alex didn't grow up in where I live we didn't grow up in the same town so like um I started started going to that gym on my own he was a is like a boxer so kickboxing boxing and he went to a very boxing orientated gym so like commercial gyms he didn't he hadn't been to like a commercial weightlifting gym he'd been to his kickboxing gym so when I remember there was a few times that he when he joined my gym and he got a gym membership he was like how do I do this what do I do and I sort of we sort of I sort of taught him a few things about weightlifting um I think I mean it was very long time ago um but yeah I haven't haven't always trained with him. We also didn't train together.

We trained at the same time, but we didn't train together. I used to be like, no, this is my time. I don't want to train with you anymore. No offence, love. I love you, but I don't want to train with you because I just wanted to have headphones in moments. We trained together at the odd moment. It's actually more enjoyable now that we train together.

I have a great laugh, but before I was like, no no this is my time um so it's just having those clear boundaries I think yeah but I've never I went I joined my gym without him but I've only ever trained in two gyms really yeah oh I know I just I get I get really nervous about changing also where I live is there's nothing there's hardly anything around where I live so it's not I didn't change gyms out of an option because I was like no I'm very comfortable here it was just because there was not really anything else um it was like yeah there was not very many gyms in my local area and if they were they were very expensive so then I was like I'll just stay here and I just stayed there for like eight years I

stayed in my same gym eight years I've just switched gyms now but why did you switch gyms um because I wanted a more variety of equipment for like a switch in lifestyle training so like I needed something with a pool a swimming pool yeah yep yep and oh she's got a bougie bougie do you remember yeah yeah so I've got a swimming pool um because what I was doing was I was going to a swimming pool gym and um paying like almost the same because I was asking like paying for like one-off trips to like to go swim and it actually ended up being the same amount of money if you were just to yeah combine the two things together with a little bit more money but I will say they are definitely worth it when you utilize

them you know those spa leisure center sort of yeah more expensive gyms they are definitely definitely worth it if you do make the most of it and also my one has got like a cafe area and because I still live at home with my mum it gives me like a workspace yeah um where I because I'm trying to save to like move out I was like okay what is probably the best option for me and it was paying like a for a nicer gym that had that area that had like a cafe as well as a swimming pool whatever because I was actually spending the same amount just like going to a coffee shop every day and buying like two or three coffees just to sit there for the whole day to do my work so i actually looked at my budgeting sheet and i thought actually if i add all these things up together i can go to a nicer gym that's got a pool cafe and you know a spa area treat myself a little bit yeah also it's one of

those things that you think once you're getting older you think no i think it myself a little bit yeah also it's one of those things that you think once you're getting older you think no i think it's a sign that you're getting older you want a nice hoover oh yeah you want a nicer gym yeah and you think right this is here i'm getting older i'm maturing it's a small thing but also do you drink no so it's like is it treat yourself thing a lot of i i speak to some of my friends that are like, God, do you not think there's a lot of money, like what you spend on like fitness stuff? And I was like, similar pricing to what you guys spend

when you go out and you're drinking. I have no problem if you want it. Like I'm not one of these don't drink judgy people. If you don't, if you want to drink, absolutely drink. I don't like it. It increases my anxiety to the absolute max. I don't want to drink so I do have the occasional glass of wine but like I'm not a drinker yeah I'm not I think that's what I don't like as well I don't like for me my only real experience of drink drinking has really been like that whole drinking culture of

like trying to drink as fast as you can as much as you can yeah and like when I went traveling I remember I was I went solo traveling but I've met a really good group of guys and they were all talking I remember it so vividly they were talking about like their favorite drink and I was just like I don't have that and I think I just like as you get older you really learn to like lean into the parts of yourself that like you maybe couldn't accept yeah so much and so like now I just don't drink but equally like this weekend I had two cans of copperback which is a fruity cider so like you know it's like you don't have to be so boundaried with it like you don't have to create these rules for yourself if you want to tap into that one day you can if you want to tap into that the other day you can i'm not like i don't i'm not like i

don't drink i just don't like drinking that much so i have like the occasional glass of wine or cocktail or a cider let me say sometimes like a nice sunny day a little cider cute but like i'm not i used to work in a pub which is obviously very alcohol-based and i watched alcohol consume people's lives and i was like i can't do that also i think working in hospitality it changes you oh boy oh boy you don't want to drink anymore or nor do you have the time because your days off are like a tuesday and a mond Monday night you're working the the social hours of the week so you'll be like oh you're coming out tonight I'm like sorry I'm working so actually I think it's just like a byproduct of like the job I had as well that I didn't end up drinking

too too much because I was like well I'm working till 1am I'm working for like eight nine hours I don't want to go to clubbing right now there was a few times there when I was younger that I went clubbing on the back of like an eight hour chair oh yeah they're rough yeah I think you can do it more so I mean can you imagine god forbid if we tried now I wouldn't make it I wouldn't make it carry me home they think they think I'd passed out from alcohol I'm just asleep in the corner yeah I'm done um yeah I just don't I just don't really enjoy it and it also gives me such anxiety so I'm just like no I'm okay I think it's like such a culture now of like wanting to just like get up in the morning and utilize your day and be up when the sun's up go on that run meet those friends get that coffee get that pastry

exactly and I think also part of your healing journey is you recognize what doesn't serve you anymore yeah and like you said you you almost lean into those parts of yourself that like sit better with you yeah and for me i now know what i feel happiest at doing and it's not drinking it's i feel happiest doing certain things and i think that's what's that's part of a healing journey that i i can't wait for like for when people get there that you sit there and you can actually the same way as I look at like in the clothing shop now that just doesn't suit me I don't like that that doesn't make me feel comfortable I do the exact same thing with habits that doesn't suit me I don't like that that doesn't make me feel comfortable yeah I don't feel comfortable in a big drinking situation so I don't go yeah I don't feel happy

when I can't wake up in the morning and go for my run or go to the gym or go for just a walk with my dog you know i like waking up clear-headed happiness that's where i sit and i'm like okay fine you don't i think a lot of us when we're younger did what we thought everyone else wanted us to do yeah so you just fall into habits that you're not actually really happy with you just think everyone else is gonna want you to do it yeah definitely um a question we like to ask everyone who comes on the podcast is what is your workout split what is my what is my workout split now that is a question just because go on I'm in and out of training blocks so currently I don't have one okay amazing well don't worry because Lucy Davis gave us a 10 week breakdown as in well what was

it a 10 day breakdown a 10 day yeah so so whatever whatever suits you how do you like to train well what I mean by that I don't have one at the moment is because i'm on the edge of starting a new training block it's like this week i don't have one because um i'm basically i'm thinking about entering a triathlon put it out there go on girl oopsies um so i'm currently working out my training plan. But for me, I do three weight sessions a week, three cardio-based sessions a week. And by cardio, I meant it used to be three runs a week. Now it's two runs, one swim. Swimming, I just...

It's a look. I can't get on board. Do you go full cap and everything? Full cap. Cap, goggles. More aerodynamic? that yeah also i hate when i hate when i lean to the side to breathe oh i and the hair goes in my mouth oh i thought you just meant you hate leaning to the side to breathe period because like that's why i

hate swimming no i used to swim a lot as a kid um and i love it I actually find so much peace. No one can talk to me. No one can get hold of me. It doesn't feel like work. Yeah. And I just, I'm going to get some waterproof headphones. Oh, is that a thing? Yes.

I've just seen shocks do waterproof headphones. The same headphones I run in do headphones you can swim in. And I think it's going to change the game for me under the sea do people do that I don't know if people do that but I'm going to do that oh is that what we're listening to Ariel really absorb yourself in the water moment um and then I run twice a week and I do um leg day, a body day and a full body day. That's my split. God, she's got it all going on. Yeah, my problem is I don't have an identity. I just, I like doing all of it.

So like I just do. Oh, I love it. You know, something I've been really trying to do recently, well, practice recently is I realized I had this sort of thought process in my head that a workout or like a day you know a tick tick I've done my exercise for the day wasn't valid unless it was um a gym a really intense gym session and it's like you know last week I was like oh I only went to the gym like once and it was like yeah but I was I was running I was doing functional fitness like yeah yeah and so um I mean maybe people will relate maybe they won't but like yeah I think the hybrid training is interesting I think it's really cool and it's exciting yeah it's exciting it's cool um it means you're not surrounded by mirrors all the time um and it also means you really have that

thing of like no I'm challenging my body it is a machine and for me that's really changed the perspective I have of like my body and how I care for it um so in depth in terms of what you were saying in terms of what's my split I do one interval training run a week one long run a week a swim and then I just thought I'd clarify that I thought to myself what does a long run look like when you're not training for when you're not like in the whole marathon prep and everything um i just try and stick with anything above a 10 okay at the moment um just sort of to keep my stamina going i can't lie there is a thing that i've discovered i don't know if it's a universal thing post marathon running is really hard um so i had it after London last year I had it after Paris this year

that like I'm like oh I ran a marathon but now I'm really struggling it's just because I'm I think because I'm still quite new to it all I don't know um so at the moment the furthest I can do is is 10 um but I'm building myself back up to it so like it's the most beautiful but also most frustrating thing about fitness is that like nothing nothing's here to stay no I'm like guys I ran a marathon like six weeks ago what's happening what's happened I'm struggling um what's on the agenda for the rest of the year what have you got coming um in terms of training in terms of anything anything she's really in her travel era i am in a travel era um i'm basically trying to utilize everything before i move out smart um

it's a really expensive process leaving home i almost think that's one thing that looks almost normal on social media how easy it is to move out or buy a home everyone's like yeah it's so expensive so I am just living at home with my partner and my mum and my brother when he's home from the RAF and then I'm going to Australia cool for six weeks which I'm really really excited about but I'm also low-key petrified that I'm not gonna want to come well approach that when it comes but I feel like everybody that goes there doesn't want to come home um and yeah a few trips i've got booked and then like i said looking at doing a triathlon but i'm just finalizing which event it is i want to do or can do like which one am i going to be able to

actually do um and then i've got a few work things in the picture looking at going to schools to speak to girls about everything that we were talking about earlier um because i think it's important to look at breaking the cycle but that is also a little bit complicated going back to school like i said to you earlier it was you there's a lot of things to do for that to make sure that you're doing it in the right manner yeah so but that's something that I'm very excited for and trying to put most my effort into um yeah but I'm very excited to go to Australia that's gonna be so exciting I know I do feel I do understand what you mean like I think that's why I've not gone there.

Cause I'm like, I don't want to know. I don't, I just, it looked, the lifestyle looks so fun. Everybody always looks like they're having a great time. The weather looks like it's consistent.

Cause like yesterday it was really hot. And today you need a full track suit. So it's a lot um where can people find you um instagram tiktok youtube lucy underscore expert always beautiful is mine um and thank you very much for having me it's been really fun oh my god no I was honestly gonna say I think what you're doing is incredible always and you ever inspiring ever just like you know setting the record straight in the most gentle and kind lovely way and i think um the girls will i know the girls will massively benefit you've been one of our most requested guests so so pleased you made it thank

you so much hello darling i'm done she says i'm done now yeah she's like guys come on now she says time to play with the mobile again yeah literally um remember guys you can find us at gym girls locker room on all platforms don't forget to give us a big old five stars and thank you lucy so much for coming thank you so much for having me and thank you for listening girls bye