Two personal trainers in the borough are trying to help “women feel confident doing exercise” through one-on-ones and their innovative new class, LoveLift.

Nicole Aristides, 26, from Whetstone and Frankie Hassan, 24, from Barnet, work out of Blueprint in Whetstone. It is a gym designed specifically for personal training, something which is usually only found in central London, the type of place celebrities would frequent for a tailored workout.

I spoke to Nicole about her work and despite also working with men, Nicole explained why her passion lies in female health.

“I enjoy training women because I can relate, so it’s more of a passion for me. It’s not just about giving people six packs but changing people’s lifestyles.

“I was a gymnast from really young but it was stressful as a child. As I got older body image was such a big thing, everyone was so obsessed.

“I really enjoyed eating, I didn’t understand the extreme lengths people went to so I started looking at fitness magazines and noticing I liked that look more than an average model. Then I came to realise it made me feel good, so I educated myself and trained.

“It’s a harder job for a woman but for them to train and eat properly gives them much more in life,” Nicole adds. “It benefits them when it comes to things like pregnancy and the menopause.

“It’s something everyone can do. We often have many insecurities we can’t control, but everyone can control their health to an extent.”

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Despite working with men and women of all ages, Nicole estimates her average client is aged between 30 and 40. I wondered whether, at that point, it was hard to break people’s conceptions of how to eat healthy and how best to exercise.

“You get people who have been on crazy diets and things like that,” Nicole tells me. “You need to reverse their bad habits and get them to trust you. Then there’s women who come in and they have no idea. You just start from the beginning.

“We try and do that in LoveLift so that women soon feel confident doing exercises. The focus in the class is weight training for fat loss. Females only, purely because women are intimidated, especially when it’s not a cardio class.

“We use resistant bands and body weight to coach them. A lot on the glutes, core and some HIIT (high intensity interval training) to keep the heart rate up. We teach the specifics so people know what to do on their own, so they don’t have to worry about money for a personal trainer and we offer national package too.

“We’re trying to create a community in the class. It’s fun, but it’s not for fun it’s for results. If someone is struggling we can coach them as personal trainers, we don’t expect the same thing from everyone.”

I asked Nicole what she would say to somebody who was scared of weight training, or worried that it would make them bigger than they wanted to be.

“You can look the same but smaller by burning calories, if that’s what you want that’s fine. If you want a physique like toned arms or stomach, then what you’re looking for is muscle so you have to use muscles and feed them. Cardio burns calories in the moment, if you build muscle mass you raise your metabolism so it continues.

“It’s nice to be strong. My older clients who have had babies overcome problems like needing to go to the toilet often. Or it can be about just being able to lift things and feel more secure.

“Everything is threatening and scary when you’re new to it so we try to encourage confidence through learning. Now my women tell me ‘I’m the only woman in the weights section’.”

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Nicole, a WBFF Pro Athlete (World Beauty Fitness and Fashion), adds: “I look the way I look because I’m training to look this way. I appreciate that most women don’t want to look muscular and lean.”

LoveLift classes take place at Blueprint on Mondays at 7pm - nicolearistides@hotmail.co.uk or nicolearistides.com