Cyclist Laura Trott shares her fitness secrets

Cyclist Laura Trott shares her fitness secrets

Where else to get your motivation but from the pros, and here, top cyclist Laura Trott shares her fitness secrets.

The double Olympic gold medallist is a champion on both the track and road. Her ability to train and work hard is phenomenal, with her drive in keeping healthy and sticking to her fitness regimes contributing to her success. Willpower we certainly wish we had! Despite the challenges she faced at an early age, Laura has gone on to win the Junior World Championship title in the Omnium and she was the youngest member of the Commonwealth Games squad. She is also a four-time World and European champion in the team pursuit. And she’s not finished yet. Such a determined an inspirational women, wouldn’t you agree? Here are her stay-on-track secrets.

Choose healthy foods you enjoy

It is important to make sure you are eating well in order to assist your fitness regime, and for your overall health. Laura loves a daily dose of Ohso probiotic Belgian chocolate. She says it’s ‘clinically proven to be three times more effective at delivering good bacteria to the gut than milk-based probiotic products’. Not only is it great for delivering health benefits but it is also a great ‘daily treat’, which is important.

Stay hydrated

We’re big fans of the old H₂O and Laura is too. ‘You can lose up to a litre of water an hour while exercising, so it’s fundamental to keep your fluid levels topped up,’ she says. ‘Therefore, you need to ensure that you get the right amount of water before, during and after exercising.’ Always keep a water bottle to hand for your workouts and ensure you sip through the day, too. We love Bobble bottles and Brita Filter bottles, which both come with in-built filters.

Monitor your progress

Isn’t it great when you’ve been giving it your all and you finally start noticing results? For ultimate motivation, Laura recommends keeping track of your workouts by documenting them. That way you will be able to assess your development, allowing you to improve in areas you aren’t completely happy with. You can always use fitness apps to help you keep track. We recommend Strava if you’d like to monitor your cycling or Runkeeper to keep track of your running. These are only a few of the many fitness apps out there, so have a browse.

Set yourself realistic goals and visualise where you want to get to

In order to see results, you need to be realistic and set yourself goals that you have the ability to achieve. There is nothing worse than setting out to do something you aren’t capable of and then giving up before you’ve even started. In order to avoid this, creating a fitness routine that you’ll be able to follow in the long term should help. ‘It can also help to structure your goals into phases,’ says Laura. ‘For example, try extending your run for two minutes every week.’ It may seem like a small adjustment but those minutes will add up in no time, and you’ll be running longer and further than you imagined.

Incorporate exercise into your daily routine

Whether you work or not, including exercise in your daily routine is one of the easiest things. And it’s so beneficial. By doing this you’re ‘killing two birds with one stone’, says Laura. Whether that’s cycling or walking to work or taking the stairs, it all adds up. Now the weather is starting to perk up, you really have no excuses…