A Streatham nanny has taken up a role as a representative for This Girl Can’s campaign Fit Got Real to encourage women to get in to exercise.
As part of this campaign, Ella Palmer, 23, also stars in a new 10-minute online workout video in collaboration with Take a Break magazine.
She said: “The video is trying to show its really easy and everyone can do it, no matter what shape, size and ability.
“We just used things like tin cans as weights or you can use chairs, basically a lot of things you just have at home that are so easy and accessible that really work for everyone.”
Ella is just one of the 20 women who represent the Fit Got Real campaign to empower other women to exercise in inventive ways.
“I’ve always tried to fit in exercise when I can, but with This Girl Can and the Fit Got Real campaign it’s just shown how much you really can do just at home and in a small amount of time and how much effect it makes on your life,” she said.
The Fit Got Real campaign was set up by Sport England, aiming to inspire women of all backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and shapes to get active without paying extortionate gym fees.
Sport England’s 2018 Active Lives survey showed that women in lower paid jobs are twice as likely to be inactive compared to women in more senior, managerial positions.
The survey also reveals that a lack of confidence and fear of judgement have an effect on women’s ability to exercise to their full potential.
Ella expressed similar concerns and said that feeling self-conscious has affected her ability to work out.
“I felt like I did not fit in at the gym and I felt like all eyes were on me, even if they weren’t, but you do just feel very insecure,” she said.
“I think women have a lot more out there that they need to look at and say I don’t look like that.
“I’m sure men also have insecurities but I feel that it’s just not pushed in their face as much as women.”
To combat these issues, This Girl Can created an initial video in October for the Fit Got Real campaign designed to inspire women to get active in their own way.
In this video, Ella is filmed using a hula-hoop in her kitchen at home, demonstrating how exercise can be fun and accessible to women from all walks of life.
“Hula-hooping makes me feel fantastic, and I also like to dance whilst doing it but just generally exercise really makes you feel so much more positive for the rest of the day.”
The survey also indicated that ethnicity plays a role in activity levels among women. It showed that South Asian and black women were less active than white women in particular.
Ella said: “When you see personal trainers and people on adverts for gyms you rarely see non-white people.
“I didn’t realise until I read this research and thought there’s something lacking here, all the role models that are fit and healthy aren’t really diverse.”
She added: “I feel like there’s a lot of diversity in Streatham, so it’s really great to be able to show that anyone can exercise no matter who you are or what you do.”
