Personal Trainer Tally Rye: Why I Love/Hate Getting My Ass Kicked
Welcome to Love/Hate Stories, the 657Journal’s series exploring our unique relationship with exercise, by those who’ve fallen for it after years of stubborn resistance.
Like so many people who become personal trainers, Tally Rye started on a very different path.
She was halfway through drama school, just starting to learn about her relationship with exercise and nutrition when she realised this “distraction” was in fact her passion.
On graduating she dove headfirst into fitness, becoming a personal trainer, writing recipe ebooks and co-founding #GirlGains, an online community dedicated to inspire women to become fitter, healthier and happier.
For her, happiness is getting beaten up in fitness classes. She knows what works for her won’t necessarily work for others and yet she firmly believes it’s worth giving it a try. That’s because — as she found out — learning more about your fitness and nutrition, your strengths and limitations, can enhance every aspect of your life.
Here she opens up about how she made this discovery.
Further reading: Actor Neil Jackson: Why I Love/Hate Being Competitive
I love discovering what I’m physically capable of. It’s so motivating to see what you can achieve and how good you can be at something. I’m really motivated by physical goals, like doing more pull-ups. Last week I got a new PB on my deadlift and I was buzzing about it.
It’s important you know when you need help. It took me two and a half years to realise I needed a personal trainer. When you’re training other people you don’t have the mental space to plan your own sessions properly.
I want to be able to go to any fitness class in London and feel like I could smash it.
I used to train for looks but that wasn’t enough. I used to focus on my abs and compare myself to others but I would struggle for motivation. Now I just want to be fit. I want to be able to go to any fitness class in London and feel like I could smash it.
I love getting my ass kicked. I love doing tough workouts. I’m hopefully going to do my first half marathon in the summer and I’m not a great runner but I’m looking forwards to testing my strength of mind and character and pushing myself out of my comfort zone.
Challenging myself physically has a positive impact on the rest of my life. The reason I stick to fitness and healthy living is because I know it makes me a more confident person, it makes me happy, more ambitious, more driven. I’ve seen the positive impact it has on everything else I do. I firmly believe everyone should work out and be healthy in some way because it can help your self esteem, your confidence and all other aspects of your life.
There are days when I just don’t want to work out. Those are the days when I’ll go to a fitness class. You just need someone to tell you what to do. Other times when I feel under pressure to exercise and don’t feel up to it I find it’s better to listen to my body and go easy. If I try to exercise and feel ill or have really low energy I know I’ll regret it. Sometimes it’s best to hold back and go when the time is right.
When it comes to exercise think quality over quantity.
I’ve learned the hard way that when it comes to nutrition moderation is key. You’ve probably heard it before but it is so true. I’ve always loved my food. I was overweight until I was 20 but managed to slim down through moderation. You can eat all the things you love but you need a balanced approach. About 80% of the time I try to eat really good stuff for my body and then the other 20% I eat the things that will nourish my soul.
Ten years ago I wish I knew that less is more. When it comes to exercise think quality over quantity. When I was a teenager I’d spend hours on the treadmill without any results. Actually just half an hour of effective, intense workouts is all you need. You don’t need to slave away and punish yourself.
You can learn more about Tally Rye here, follow her on Instagram here and on Twitter here.
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