The Hunday Times #2: Phoebe, who the hell are you?
Hiya Hun, if you’re reading this, welcome to The Hunday Times!
Welcome to blog number 2! Is there a structured roll-out of this blog? No. Can I tell you when to expect the next one? No. But much like Rita Ora, I’ll appear when you least expect it (and maybe release a Primark collection, who knows what the future holds?)
For blog number 2, I wanted to chat a bit more about who I am and why I started this. As much as I’d love to say there’s a huge team behind all this - there isn’t, it’s just me! I’m the resident personal trainer, hype woman, finance officer, marketing hun… I do all of it.
If you’re reading this, you might be interested in becoming a fitness hun. You might already be a fitness hun! But either way, if you’re getting involved, we’re going to get to know each other, so you can get some background on me & decide ‘yeah, this is someone I wanna chat to!’ or ‘who the hell is this woman and who gave her free will’.
There’s bits dotted around the website already about who I am, why I started this, but I want to get into the full nitteh gritteh.
You might know me from Instagram or Tiktok as ‘afitnesshun’, where I post about the highs and lows of my own fitness journey, mostly running-related chaos. That page started off as a private account to a couple of my friends, where I’d post blurry gym pics like ‘look, I’ve gone up from 3kg to 4kg on my bicep curl!’ I could NEVER imagine what the page would become!
The Kid Who Hated PE
At school I was last to be picked for team sports, first to drop out of the bleep test and would fake illness, period pain and injury every week to try and get out of it! Even though I was a high achiever academically, PE was where I fell flat - literally. It was impossible to hide. My bullies thrived at netball, rounders, athletics, and I… frankly… was RUBBISH.
I now realise that so much of it was down to lack of confidence, not lack of skill (or maybe both, but mostly confidence.)
I really feel like the ghost of PE follows lots of us into adulthood. It leaves us convinced we're "not sporty" or that we're somehow not the kind of person who can run, lift weights, or enjoy exercise.
I’m here to tell you, you CAN!
Every single person in the gym started off as a beginner once. It might not look like it, but they did.
It’s ok to be bad at things, you can still do them! One of the biggest lessons fitness has taught me is that when you stop taking it so seriously, show up consistently, and allow yourself to be bad at something, you often end up becoming pretty good at it.
Craaaaazy thought, I know.
Yeah but who are you REALLY, outside of fitness stuff?
Biiiiiiig breath…
I’m an actor as well as fitness hun, you might’ve seen me in Coronation Street or a McDonald’s advert with some particularly wiggly eyebrows.
I’m a Leo, a pop music fanatic, a huge advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, prosecco guzzler, two-time (soon to be three-time) marathoner.
I have a rescue dog named Olive who is now less scared of people but still terrified of bin bags (???)
I have ADHD (heavy on the hyperactive).
I’m based in Balham, South West London but originally from Manchester.
Green is my favourite colour unless it’s food, and then beige is my favourite colour. I could eat chicken goujons and garlic bread for the rest of my life (gluten free, sadly).
I love bright colours, anything rhinestoned, anything leopard print, and I refuse to leave the house without hoop earrings.
Hopefully that gives you a little more context about the woman behind The Fitness Huns.
A Fitness Hun’s Number Ones:
-
Did we all forget about banger? I very sadly missed her at Mighty Hoopla this weekend, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been on repeat.
Need to run fast? Whack it on. Need to blast through chores? Whack it on. Need an energy boost? Whack it on.
They don’t play this song often enough in clubs for me!
-
The award goes to the ICON that is Jane McDonald. I saw her at Mighty Hoopla last weekend, and not only does she have PIPES, she is hilarious. Look at this video. INCREDIBLE!
-
Front load your week with your biggest, hardest or most dreaded session.
Getting this done on a Monday will make you waaaaay more likely to smash the rest of the week! If you’re leaving those hard sessions till the end of the week, when someone invites you to the pub, that session is GONE! Whereas getting the hard sessions done first, you’re far more likely to do the easy ones later in the week.
-
DID SOMEBODY SAY CLUB CLASSICS?
This playlist I use for pretty much all my workouts. It gives you the hype & energy boost you need!
I’ll leave you with another (fake) Carrie Bradshaw quote…
“And I couldn’t help but wonder... are abs exercises really that bad, or am I just afraid of working hard...?”
