Josh: Hi, this is Josh from the DVCC and I’m sat here with Elaine, who is a client at Bedford. And the reason I’d like to speak to Elaine is because… she’s very strong!
So, lifting weights, for a lot of people who maybe haven’t trained before, can be a bit of a daunting prospect and I’d like to get Elaine’s opinion on that; and she can give her insight on how it’s benefited her and how she uses it as motivation.
So, Elaine, would you mind first telling everyone how old you are?
Elaine: I’m 24 years old.
Josh: And how long have you been training in total, in general?
Elaine: In general, ever since I’ve left Uni, it’s kind of been a priority to join a gym and keep fit; because I do a desk job so it’s important to keep moving in the evening.
Josh: So, talk to me a bit more about that. I know you do quite a stressful job, would you mind explaining a little bit about what you do and how you manage to fit the exercise in around that, first of all?
Elaine: Basically, I’m a client service executive at a company in Milton Keynes, but I live close to the Bedford site. I finish at 5.30 in the evenings and I generally don’t get home until about 6-6.15pm.
So I generally train about 7pm in the evenings, it’s an hour of my day. I do a desk job, speak to loads of people, I’m always glued to my computer. So it’s nice to be out somewhere, away from home, to stop me from crawling into bed and going to sleep! And I go home feeling like I’ve achieved something for the day.
Josh: Good – so let’s move on to the weights. You do have a very impressive base of strength. To put it into perspective for some of you out there who might have had experience lifting weights, Elaine can goblet squat 30kgs quite easily and she’s now dumbbell snatching over 18kgs.
So, if you could talk to people about how you’ve managed to build up that base of strength and why it’s an important thing for you?
Elaine: Generally I’m quite strong, having a brother who bullies me! He’s into martial arts and everything like that; he’s always been like a little goalpost for me to be stronger and be just as fit as him.
So I’m not afraid of weights because he’s always embedded in me that it’s a good thing to be able to lift heavy, or maybe to carry things for my parents, help them around. Because we own a takeaway, so lifting bags of potatoes and all that! So it helps me just generally in everyday life.
Josh: That’s awesome. So, going forward, do you have any goals that you’d like to achieve, strength wise?
Elaine: Nothing in particular; I’m just going to go for it, really.
Josh: So to finish, could you give, to everyone listening, your top tip to be able to progress and get stronger and improve their results?
Elaine: Just generally have a positive mental attitude. If you’re given a new weight, try it; if you can’t, go back, regroup, go again!
Josh: Thank you very much! So that is a short little interview with myself, Josh from DVCC Bedford, and Elaine, talking about how strength can help you in everyday life. Thank you very much for listening – bye.