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Fundraiser for the Sarah Gapp Cause.
This world record attempt is aimed to raise $30,000 for a young victim of severe stroke.

This is a highly worthy event and we will be attending! I hope as many of you as possible can make it down, take part in a fun pilates class, help break a world record and raise money to help Sarah on her recovery! x

Sarah before and after her tragic stroke.

Brisbane Law Student, Sarah Gapp, had a severe stroke in her brainstem only weeks after her 21st birthday. She had to have 60% of her cerebellum removed and was left with a condition called Locked in Syndrome, a tragic condition that leaves her perfectly aware mind unable to communicate with her body.

Only 1 in 100,000 people ever come out of locked in syndrome. Sarah’s will and determination has seen her defy the odds and regain some speech and movement.
With little support from the medical system Sarah desperately needs funds to learn to swallow and to walk, two things we take for granted every day.

Help LIVe Pilates raise $30,000 for Sarah by joining us from 9am-12pm to break the largest pilates class world record on the 23rd October. Be part of a community bringing hope to a true Aussie battler.
100% of funds raised go to helping Sarah.

Former Perth Lord Mayor and current Perth Councillor Candidate, Chas Hopkins, supports the Sarah Gapp Cause and community fitness. Mr Hopkins will be officially opening the event and will present the Perth community’s fundraising efforts to Sarah on the day.

For more details phone 9367 4299

Register today and be one of 1000 participants to break the current official world record of 862 for the world’s largest pilates class.

Register at http://www.livepilates.com.au/community/. Every participant receives a Gift Bag on the day!

Will you be making your way down this Sunday?

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

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First, a disclaimer. I love couch-bound movie days, a good sleep in, and I have never been fond of exercise leggings. But in January, something unusual happened: I embraced the spandex and started waking up at 5:40am three days a week to work out.

Gyms have never been for me. I found it was too easy to slack off on my own, and group fitness classes were too repetitive. My purse strings were too tight for a personal trainer and I wasn’t big on running around my local park (Hey there, busy main road! Check out my shameful fitness level!).

After an indulgent holiday period, I realised that if I wanted to get fit I’d either have to work up some killer commitment and motivation to do it myself, or find someone to kick my butt on a budget.

So I strolled down to my local park and became familiar with Step Into Life.

Despite the corny name, Step Into Life offers the benefits of a personal trainer at a fraction of the cost, in a friendly, non-judgemental group scenario. Sessions range from five people to 30 people of all different shapes, sizes, ages and fitness levels.

The hour-long sessions run Monday-Saturday in the mornings and evenings, suiting even the busiest of schedules. You can expect high-intensity sessions which tone, improve cardio fitness and even relieve stress (particularly the kickboxing class!). I’ve not yet done the same workout twice, so there’s no repetition unlike that fitness DVD you once used for a week straight before getting bored and letting it gather dust.

The big winner for me is training outdoors! Perth is blessed with awesome weather all year, so I feel it’s my duty to take advantage of it. The fresh air gets you going, even during chilly 6am starts in the middle of winter.

Prices depend on the franchise, but offer better value the more sessions you do a week. You generally sign up on a 3-monthly basis with direct debit or a one-off payment.

Cost vary between each franchise but my trainer in Carine charges:

$19/session/week if you do one session a week
$16/session ($32/week) if you do 2 sessions a week
$14/session ($42/week) if you do 3 sessions a week

Not sure if you want to commit? You can try it for FREE before you handover any of your hard earned moo-lah.

If you’re still in winter hibernation mode, challenge yourself. Start loving the sweat, the spandex and the outdoors and Step Into Life! I can guarantee within weeks of joining you’ll be checking out your guns in mirrors when no one’s around…not that I do that… 😉

To find out exactly what you can expect at one of the 20 franchises kicking butts in parks across Perth, and for information and contact details of your local trainer, visit www.stepintolife.com.au

Ph: (08) 9301 2351
Email: wa@stepintolife.com

Review by Gemma Clark, recent master of sit-ups.

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Hey guys, as some of you know I now write beauty pages for Xpress Magazine quarterly but was recently asked to do a fill in feature for the regular weekly issue. I decided to focus on the fact that beach and bathers weather is upon us and that it can be pretty scary!

If you’d like to download a copy of how it looks in the magazine you can do so: here (PDF version).

Otherwise read on for my top tips to beat the bikini body blues…

Summer is a comin, and with it, the promise of glorious sunny days and heat which can only be quelled by a trip down to the beach and a dip in the ocean followed by an icecream or bevvy. Sounds great right? You’ve picked out your adorable vintage inspired bikini online, stalked the postman for days and when it finally arrives somethings not quite right… suddenly you realise “I’M NOT READY FOR THIS NEAR NAKED PUBLIC DISPLAY OF FLESH!” and vow to spend summer indoors, dreaming of a snowy getaway.

But don’t give up hope just yet, if you’re in need of some guidance follow these tried and tested tips to beat the bikini body blues and reclaim the beach this summer!

IPL / SPL

Most people have heard of Intense Pulsed Light / Square Pulsed Light by now, but in a nut shell it’s a relatively quick and simple treatment that involves applying bursts of intense light to areas of the body to reduce hair growth (feels like a rubber band snapping on your skin, no worse than waxing).

It works incredibly well on bikini lines, legs and underarms and for those who are prone to ingrown hairs, is nothing short of miraculous (I used to be one of them and haven’t had an ingrown since)!

The real beauty of this treatment is in the freedom it allows you, with treatments every 6 weeks and a diminishing amount of hair each time, it gets easier and easier to slip into your bathers without any rogue hair worries. It works best on those with fair skin and dark hair, and is my number one tip for making summer easier.

There are plenty of places that offer these treatments, I’ve had great luck with: http://www.hairfree.com.au

Move Yourself

This one gets mentioned so much that it’s become more than a little redundant, there is a reason for the constant reminding though: IT WORKS! Exercising is the best way to burn calories and stress, plus get endorphins flowing around your body, all three of which will make you feel great and help you look good.

There are 54 million ways to get moving, from bikram yoga to bike riding, boxing to burlesque dancing – they will all help you get a toned tum and bum, plus improve your posture so that you stand up tall as you take your first tentative steps onto the sand this summer – just don’t burn your feet! Once you’re at the beach, you can even take it a step further by getting into some frisbee, beach volleyball, jogging along the shoreline with a pup… or you could take the unconventional approach and go for a swim.

Full Body Exfoliation

It’s time to put TLC’s “No Scrubs” out of your mind and allow yourself to enter the wonderful word of exfoliation. There’s something about having every inch of your body scrubbed that makes for feeling completely physically and mentally cleansed. It’s a great post-winter ritual that will leave your skin free of built up dead skin cells and able to get rid of toxins more efficiently. It will also make you look all smooth and glowy, which will help ease the pain of taking the majority of your clothes off. So make like a snake and shed that winter skin, you can have this done professionally at a day spa, purchase a cheap body scrub or make your own out of sugar and olive oil.

To (Fake) Tan or Not to (Fake) Tan…

So far we’re free of pesky hairs, feeling the benefits of exercising up a storm and have smooth glowing skin – so what next? The divisive topic of tan vs no tan of course!

Now I’m going to optimistically assume that everyone is onboard with me when I say: actual sun tanning is a Pretty Silly idea given we live in Australia and are unfortunately in peak hour public transport style proximity to our good friend the ozone hole, which means we are in the top four countries most at risk of skin cancer. So no sun baking okay? Yes? Great.

So now there are two choices: summery glow vs au naturale. Being of the more ghostly persuasion myself, I’m all for embracing the skin colour you born with. The advent of shows like Mad Men and all of those fancy historical films with beautiful “english rose” types has made being a fair skinned lass as equally acceptable on the beach as having naturally darker skin, so if you’re giving the colour of soy milk a run for its money then you can by all means EMBRACE IT without fear of social exclusion.

Both dark and pale skin needs to be covered up with cute hats, clothing when possible, protective sunglasses and lashings of sunscreen, or my favourite, Invisible Zinc.

If you can’t bear to get bare without a little extra colour confidence, then a spray tan is the best way to go. My pick is local brand Aussie Bombshell, who are currently taking the state (and Australia) by storm with their extremely natural looking sunless tans. You will still need to apply sunscreen though, no getting naughty and slacking off thanks. Yes miss.

These four suggestions should get you well on your way to bikini body confidence, all you need now is a warm day, your favourite beach and the all-clear from the lifeguard that there has been no shark sightings for quite some time. And that bevvy I mentioned earlier. Enjoy!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

In the summertime when the weather is fine, in the summertime when the weather is fine, in the summertime you got yoga you got yoga on your mind!

I have previously undertaken holistic personal training / private yoga classes with Stuart Watkins and can wholeheartedly attest to them being rejuvenating, inspiring, calming and grounding. You will feel excellent after a class.

Do yourself a favour and get down to one of these if you can, the first class started yesterday and they will be ongoing until further notice, but do get in touch with Stuart before attending to confirm.

Namaste!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

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1. Cheaper Strawberries & Oranges

There’s been an influx of these bright, summer reminiscent fruits in the shops lately and I for one am LOVING IT! I think strawberries were up around the $8-$9 mark for a while and I prefer to buy local oranges as opposed to ones that come from the USA, due to them being gassed prior to undertaking their travel!

Refreshing orange wedges, fresh strawberry smoothies & chopped fruit with natural yoghurt have been keeping me healthy & happy lately. HOORAY FOR SEASONAL EATING!!!

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2. Invisible Zinc.

Although I’ve long heard the hype about Invisible Zinc, it’s taken me until now to jump on board the ‘physical sunscreen’ band wagon. With total babes such as Elle Macpherson and Georgia May Jagger (Jerry Hall’s daughter) as spokesmodels, it’s no wonder that this brand is turning heads. Being a freckled lass means that I should have been sunscreening up on a daily basis. Emphasis on the should have. I’ve only recently been really making an effort to make sure I pop on some sunscreen before putting on my make-up.

Tales of my naughtiness aside, I am really enjoying the Invisible Zinc Environmental Skin Protector SPF30+. It feels great during and after application, lives up to it’s name of being invisible and has THREE (count em) ways in which it does our skin some serious favours:

♥ UVA + UVB protection. Physical sunscreen reflects these danger-rays, unlike chemical sunscreen (the regular stuff) which absorbs only UVB rays and then turns them into free radicals, which is less than ideal. So physical wins here!
♥ Pollution barrier! Stops city smog from interacting with your face, ESP forms a film over your face to protect you from these baddies which can contribute to aging.
♥ Packed full of antioxidants, which help to protect your skin cells pre & post sun exposure.

International model, Simone Kerr, also enjoys it – check out our interview with her here!

3. More Yoga!!!

The benefits I’ve experienced from yoga include: increased mental clarity and calm, less moodiness, increased flexibility, better sleep, clearer skin and a more toned tum. Despite all of these wonderful perks, I’ve been slack with making time to fit in into my schedule. UNTIL NOW! The past two weeks have seen yoga appearing twice in my 7 day routine and I’ve been loving it!

I would love to take part in a ‘yoga revolution’ which is one entire month of doing a yoga class, once a day. I think the benefits would be incredible, but I might have to start off with just a weeks worth first! 😉

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4. Dermalogica Conditioning Body Wash

I am adoring this, hard. I’ve previously talked about it in my birthday wellness weekend article, but wanted to declare my love once more. LOVE YOU BB, DON’T EVA LET ME GO <3. Ahem.

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5. Mukha Natural Yoga Mats – $80

I’ve had one of these for quite some time now, but kept forgetting to take it to class with me! Very silly, I know. The mats were dreamed up when Perth based yoga teacher, Lisa Gawned, was in the well loved downward dog position.

She realised that she was ‘grounding’ herself upon a PVC mat, a man-made material which is toxic to our health and the environment. And so Mukha Mats were born, made from 100% sustainably farmed natural rubber (the smell is very strong in the mat when you first get it, but soon dissipates), healthy for you and the environment. The mat is also completely biodegradable at the end of it’s life, which is pretty awesome.

I found the mat heavier than expected when I first started using it, but quickly got used to it and am now enjoying having my own personal eco-friendly mat in which to stretch and de-stress on. No fear of sharing sweat and bacteria with other people and the knowledge that it’s non-toxic and good for the earth? Double win.