Weight Lifting for Women | The Tale of Two Twins
Weight Lifting for women is a good thing, not bad! Resistance training helps increase lean body mass, which in turn, boosts metabolism. When compared to
Menu
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU WITH YOUR X - YOUR GOAL
We’ve helped many clients JUST LIKE YOU reach their health and fitness goals, people who originally said:
“I really don’t like the gym. It makes me uncomfortable and self-conscious…”
“Although I have a gym membership, I’m very good at talking myself out of going and justifying those reasons because of work, time etc etc, this annoys me!”
“The thought of returning to the gym at the moment is frightening. Very scary and very worrying. It’s just not safe.”
“I was really disappointed I couldn’t motivate myself, but I am pleased to have found a class and program that works for me…”
CHECK OUT WHAT OUR LOVELY CLIENTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT US...
YOUR OPTIONS FOR US TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR X
We’re proud to say we go above and beyond to give our clients the BEST fitness experience possible. Whether your X is weight loss or action sports conditioning – or anything in between – we’ll pull out all the stops to ensure you achieve your goal!
Individual online packages and LIVE GROUP classes. Workout with your colleagues from home, great for team building!
Reinvent yourself, kick-start, improve or maintain your fitness on an all-inclusive, luxury X-Life Escape to Fitness & Adventure.
Train where you please, at your own pace and frequency, using our extensive collection of live-recorded fitness videos!
Designed by our very own mountain pro; prevent injury and stay in shape for the white stuff, the way Bruce does!
Delivered using our awesome smartphone app, this option can be fully tailored to you and your busy life!
A private consultation can make all the difference to your motivation and the success of your fitness journey!
Delivered in person or over Zoom, Els & Bruce can design a bespoke program JUST FOR YOU, as well as motivate you to stick to it!
Choose your coach & book a private consultation or follow our pre-designed meal plans & recipe books to help you reach your goal.
THE X-LIFE...
Brother and Sister team, Bruce and Els are extremely passionate about health and fitness and compliment each other’s teaching styles perfectly. Learning to ski at an early age, they both have an adventurous streak with Els being a keen marathon runner and Bruce being a fully paid up adrenaline junkie! Their shared ethos is to maximise life’s adventures – however big or small – by being as fit and healthy as possible.
Brother and Sister team, Bruce and Els are extremely passionate about health and fitness and compliment each other’s teaching styles perfectly.
Learning to ski at an early age, they both have an adventurous streak with Els being a keen marathon runner and Bruce being a fully paid up adrenaline junkie!
Their shared ethos is to maximise life’s adventures – however big or small – by being as fit and healthy as possible.
Bruce is essentially a Scientist and Mathematician. Holding a BSc and an MSc, his attention to detail is second to none!
Fuerteventura local, Bruce first visited the paradise island almost 20 years ago. He went to surf and left with his new-found passion for kitesurfing! Alongside fitness training, Bruce loves to teach skiers and train ski instructors and alpine racers, as well as teaching people to kitesurf.
His love of all things to do with the sea came from a BSc & MSc in Oceanography & Meteorology and since then if he’s not on snow, he is very near (if not in) the sea. He worked offshore for many years, based out of Aberdeen, where he learnt to kitesurf. This work rotation allowed him to chase his dream of becoming a Ski Instructor and a move to Fuerteventura a few years ago was perfect for him to hone his surfing as well as to train as a Kitesurf Instructor.
He loves to travel, incorporating as many of his sporting passions as he can, which led him to realise that life itself is the adventure, not just the trips we take. Adventure is also in the mind and the people we meet, only being limited by your quota of free time, wellbeing and your level of fitness. This realisation developed into X-Life; a company focused on fitness for adventure, whatever your X!
Finally deciding to give up work as an Ocean Surveyor, Bruce retrained as a Master Personal Trainer and spends the winter months running X-Life Ski fit alongside ski instructing, back country guiding, race coaching and training other instructors. During the summer months he can be found teaching kitesurfing, Personal Training and running X-Life Escapes to Fitness & Adventure.
EIF Master Personal Trainer, Exercise Specialist, Motivation & Nutrition Coach
Level III / ISIA Ski Instructor and Level I Course Conductor with the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance
Level I CSCF Race Coach
IKO Kitesurf Instructor
Meet Bruce:
Yorkshire lad, living in Fuerteventura
Languages spoken?
English (learning Spanish. I also speak skier’s German, French and Italian – meaning I know how to order a beer and a coffee!)
Sports interests / aspiring to?
Fitness, HIIT, skiing, surfing, kitesurfing, wakeboarding, SUP, MTB. Aspiring to Speed Flying (a cross between skiing, kitesurfing, paragliding and BASE jumping)
Favourite Exercise / Stretch / Pose?
Super skater / Pigeon & Dragon
Most interesting escape activity?
To escape, I love to completely unplug and go for long walks on the beach or up the volcano next to where I live in Fuerteventura
Biggest fear?
Losing my teeth or being trapped underwater (shivers!) 😬
Strangest Talent?
I have a naughty bar trick that I do with a paper napkin (I bet your imagination is going nuts now!)🤣
Last Adventure?
Life IS the adventure for me…I guess the latest crazy experience was last winter, travelling from Fuerteventura to the UK to collect my ski kit, before a quick hop to Barcelona, then Andorra for my level 4 ski training. After a couple of weeks there, I then went back to Barcelona and onto Munich before flying to Tokyo, Sapporo and catching a train to Kutchan, before finally arriving in Niseko for the winter in the Japanese POW! Legendary journey, topped off with an Asahi when I finally arrived in staff accommodation… 🍺
Best Adventure to Date?
For the diversity and sheer fun and adventure, backpacking in Ecuador & Peru or backpacking / surfing in Indonesia, both for the summer when I was ‘working hard’ at university! For its experience of extreme emotions and outcomes though, my journey to becoming CSIA level 3 ISIA instructor. Anyone who knows me understands how much it meant to me and the sheer determination it took to achieve…
Adventure bucket list / ambition
I’d love to do a road trip from Alaska to Patagonia, involving all my sporting passions along the way, most likely not surfing or kiting in Alaska; only skiing! 🥶
Oldest item in fridge / cupboard?
That’s gotta be a jar of instant coffee and a bag of white sugar that a guest here bought and I haven’t touched in 5 years – I admit it; I’m a coffee snob! ☕️
Nerdiest thing you do in your spare time?
Reading. Since starting X-Life, I enjoy all kinds of self-improvement and business literature. Right now, I’m reading the ‘Clever Guts Diet’ and ‘Unstoppable’…
Favourite sports person?
Lewis Hamilton – When I was a kid, I dreamed of being an F1 driver or a fast jet pilot (what little boy doesn’t though, right?). Lewis’ never give up attitude rings very loud bells with me!! 🛩 👨✈️
Ever met a famous person / who?
Yes. I taught one very prominent and wealthy guy to ski in Japan. His name I can’t mention, having had to sign an NDA, but you’d definitely know him! I did have beers with Jimmy Jagger, who’s an absolute legend and a great laugh!
Biggest adrenaline rush ever?
Ooooh, there have been so many; scary ones as well as euphoric ones! Way too many to mention here but right up there would be surfing my first +4m wave at Lobos, just over the water from Fuerteventura. That feeling of being past the point of no return when I was paddling for the monster chasing me was insane, but the rush of nailing the take off and bottom turn is a feeling I’ll never forget! 😍
Explain this photo!
Ha-haaaa…That day was INSANE! So 4 of us had been assigned to a job in Niseko last season. We showed up at the clients’ accommodation at 08:00 to take them skiing, only to be met by a surprised Japanese cleaner when we rang the doorbell. The guests were arriving the following day so, being the conscientious ski trainer, I ‘led’ an impromptu training day…it just so happened that we’d had over half a metre of fresh JaPOW overnight – it was the worst day’s ski training I’ve ever led!!!! 🤪🤣
Els started her working life in catering and later, retrained as a Modern Pilates Instructor and Running Coach.
Yorkshire born & bred and currently based out of Pudsey, Leeds, Els is a hugely passionate and respected Pilates instructor.
However, her career started out somewhat differently…Working first in her family’s hotel and restaurant then, after uni, with a prestigious contract catering company in central London, serving Blue Chip companies she then relocated to the Cotswolds, where she successfully ran her own Pub and Restaurant, with rooms, for 5 years. After selling that business came a move to Yorkshire, whilst then running her own business as a Consultant for the licence trade, before she re-trained as a Pilates Instructor and Running Coach.
A lover of sport, she is a keen skier and passionate runner, she now runs X-Life Pilates alongside working with her husband at their textbook company and coaches with her local running club, Pudsey Pacers.
Els is trained with Modern Pilates, a physio led system, with a clinical, contemporary approach to mat work Pilates.
Els is interested in the functional movement of the body and loves to help people improve their strength, mobility and flexibility, therefore improving their form and reducing injuries. She works with an ethos of prevention is better than cure.
Modern Pilates instructor Level III
Diagnostic Pilates for Spinal conditions, Hip, Knee & Shoulders
Anti and Post-natal Pilates
One to One Postural analysis
Fitness Coach Level II
Coach in Running Fitness
Meet ELS:
English Rose, living in W. Yorkshire
Languages spoken?
Kitchen French very badly
Sports interests / aspiring to?
-My passions are running and skiing. I enjoy cycling and would love to do a triathlon but I’m not very good at swimming!
Favourite exercise / stretch / pose?
Single leg deadlift with variations I’ve invented! Pigeon stretch…
Most interesting escape activity?
I attended a couple of run camps / escapes. This taught me it is possible to train 2 or 3 times a day, 6 days a week, training like a professional athlete!
Biggest fear?
Really deep water
Strangest talent?
I can lose my glasses, even when they are on my head!
Last adventure?
Skiing on French-Italian border last winter
Best adventure to date?
13 years of marriage to my wonderful husband, Andrew
Adventure bucket list / ambition?
I would like to see elephants in the wild and tour New Zealand
Oldest item in fridge / cupboard?
Mumtaz madras curry paste!
Nerdiest thing you do in your spare time?
Watch Country File
Favourite sports person?
Nicky Spinks, fell runner
Ever met a famous person / who?
Prince Phillip, I served him dinner!
Biggest adrenaline rush ever?
Unlike my brothers I’m not an adrenaline junky, so probably competing at the start of the London Marathon
Explain this photo!
Lol…that’s Andrew a few years ago ready to start the Coniston Chill Swim. Lake Coniston end to end 5.5 miles.
Fat is the most energy-rich macronutrient, weighing in at 9g per calorie. Following a well designed nutrition plan, which includes plenty of Essential Fatty Acids and carefully controlling [bad] fat & carbohydrate intake, encourages the human body to use its stored fat for energy...
The body's preferred source of energy, reducing carbs has two main effects. Fewer carbs helps lower insulin levels, leading to increased glucagon. Insulin transports glucose (as glycogen) to the blood, whereas glucagon removes it. So, eating fewer carbs lowers insulin, helping the body to burn stored fat AND reducing further fat storage.
The body's least preferred energy source, protein is used for growth & repair of lean muscle mass, as well as healthy hair, nails & skin. It is only used for energy once the body's glycogen stores are depleted, commonly known as 'hitting the wall'. Sustaining lean mass helps keep the body's metabolic rate higher...
Weight Lifting for women is a good thing, not bad! Resistance training helps increase lean body mass, which in turn, boosts metabolism. When compared to
In my article, ‘Weight Lifting for Women,’ I tell the ‘Tale of Two Twins.’ I hope you’ll agree that story goes some way to proving
Copyright ©2023
Contact X-Life.
View our Terms, Conditions, Cookies & Privacy
Policy.
All Rights Reserved.
Yorkshire born & bred and currently based out of Pudsey, Leeds, Els is a hugely passionate and respected Pilates instructor.
However, her career started out somewhat differently…Working first in her family’s hotel and restaurant then, after uni, with a prestigious contract catering company in central London, serving Blue Chip companies she then relocated to the Cotswolds, where she successfully ran her own Pub and Restaurant, with rooms, for 5 years. After selling that business came a move to Yorkshire, whilst then running her own business as a Consultant for the licence trade, before she re-trained as a Pilates Instructor and Running Coach.
A lover of sport, she is a keen skier and passionate runner, she now runs X-Life Pilates alongside working with her husband at their textbook company and coaches with her local running club, Pudsey Pacers.
Fuerteventura local, Bruce first visited the paradise island almost 20 years ago. He went to surf and left with his new-found passion for kitesurfing! Alongside fitness training, Bruce loves to teach skiers and train ski instructors and alpine racers, as well as teaching people to kitesurf.
His love of all things to do with the sea came from a BSc & MSc in Oceanography & Meteorology and since then if he’s not on snow, he is very near (if not in) the sea. He worked offshore for many years, based out of Aberdeen, where he learnt to kitesurf. This work rotation allowed him to chase his dream of becoming a Ski Instructor and a move to Fuerteventura a few years ago was perfect for him to hone his surfing as well as to train as a Kitesurf Instructor.