Fitness Roadtest: My Revive Project
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Have you ever spent the day shopping for the perfect pair of new jeans? It can be such a nightmare, don’t you think?
You’ve got to find a pair that smooths over your least favourite parts while accentuating your best assets. Everyone has their own preferences for style—comfort, fabric, quality… everything. It’s a very personal experience.
It’s an experience not unlike that of trying to find the right personal trainer, nutritionist, fitness program or activity. Everyone’s different, and it can be a difficult task but when you find the right one for you… it’s heavenly.
For me, that’s Harriet Walker and her My Revive Project. It’s a one month program that’s packed to the brim with offerings designed to give you a kick start on your health. It includes group fitness, qualified nutrition advice, healthy cooking, and so much more.
Best of all, it works. How do I know? Because I’ve just finished off the program and I feel amazing – and so will you.
I started by receiving a booklet from Harriet, which would become my fitness bible over the next few weeks. In it I was given a timetable for the month with workouts, reminders to email Harriet my food journal, the cooking class and other one-off events. It also included an exercise program for the week with specific workouts for each day. It had a goal-setting page for you to map out what you want and how you’re going to get there. It also contains eating guidelines, easy and simple food options, snack ideas, a food diary… everything you need. To be honest, I’d probably pay just for this alone because I found it so helpful.
Included in the project is two morning boot camp sessions at Project Fitness in Mitchell. I enjoyed these so much. Every single session was different and challenging and made me feel stronger. Harriet tests different elements of your fitness including how many push ups/sit ups you can do in a minute, how long it takes you to row 500m and my personal favourite—the beep test. This is awesome because in just four weeks you can see what a difference you’ve made and how much you’ve improved, which in turns encourages you and keeps you on the right track!
Results from fitness testing.
The classes themselves are a real mix but it’s often high intensity interval training (HITT); a technique known for its effectiveness in shifting fat and building muscle. It’s a mix of cardio (think hill sprints, spin bikes, and a lot of rowing) and resistance – everything from deadlifts with sand bags, jump squats, rope slams, push ups, kettle bell swings, crazy ab workouts… you name it Harriet’s covered it. She tells me that she’s found it’s a great way to train for the female physique specifically, and I can see why. Of course everyone experiences training differently but I found that I lost fat from my stomach and thighs, and gained a lot of strength in my upper body, which in the past I’ve struggled to do.
Boot camp is twice a week and Harriet gives you a program for the other days too consisting of mostly cardio and one other strength workout that you can easily do at home. What I enjoyed about it is that I could incorporate other training and activities that I did as well. I didn’t feel like I was too tired to play touch footy or drop down my running or swimming; it was very easy to incorporate into my lifestyle. I’m sure it would be the same even if you’re other activities include maintaining a household or taking care of the kids. This isn’t a program that will run you into the ground or present any impossible challenges. It’s simple, achievable and effective.
I didn’t lose buckets of weight but I toned up, gained strength and feel fabulous!
One of my favourite parts of the project is the level of support that you receive. There’s a special private Facebook page for the My Revive Project Group where you can ask questions, share, chat, and get tips from Harriet. In addition to this, she sends you weekly emails with information about diet and nutrition, and little group challenges (like cooking a healthy meal and sharing it on the Facebook page) to keep you engaged the whole way through. After one boot camp, Harriet even surprised us with little packages of healthy muesli she’d made complete with a recipe.
The group members themselves were all kind and welcoming. There was a real mix—we had a couple, some friends, and (like me) some people who came alone but we all got along well, laughed and chatted and it really felt like we were in it together.
Harriet also includes a one-on-one nutrition session with each client. I found this so helpful. She analysed my diet, gave me feedback and then emailed me with recommendations and small tweaks to my diet. There was never once an ounce of judgement on Harriet’s lovely face, not even when I confessed my hormonal ice cream and cookie dough binges. She’s the kind of person you could tell anything to.
Even if you think you’re on top of your diet or you know exactly what you’re doing, visiting a nutritionist can be helpful in establishing any small issues that you might have in achieving your goals. For example, Harriet tells me I’m eating too little carbs and a few hundred calories short of what my body needs during the day, which can actually hinder weight loss (one of my personal goals). I never would have picked this up and would have continued to have energy slumps and question what I was doing wrong.
Her diet options in the booklet are great, but what if you’re helpless in the kitchen?
L-R: Harriet, me and my fellow participants learning to cook yummy, healthy and nutritious meals.
Harriet provides a small group cooking class where you can get great recipes and learn how to make really yummy, nutritious meals. I’ve made each and every one of them since, and even tested them out on my family over Christmas. Given the fact that they don’t even like vegetables, they were seriously impressed how delicious and filling the meals were…and without any nasty added sugar or processed products.
I wish I could do Harriet’s challenge EVERY month. It gets a big, wholehearted endorsement from me. Did I lose crazy amounts of weight? No. But I did shed a bit of fat, tone up, kick some goals, gain some confidence and I feel really fantastic. Best of all I gained knowledge and practical skills to carry with me, even after the program finished.
Whether you’re already fit and looking for a change, or just looking to get off the couch, join the My Revive Project and start 2015 looking and feeling fabulous.
The essentials
What: My Revive Project
When: Starts 15 January 2015
Where: Project Fitness, Mitchell
How much: $349
Web: www.harrietwalker.com.au
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