Aimee Long is one of London’s leading personal trainers, you can find her in top studios across London, such as Bodyism & Heartcore, whilst also working with A-list celebrities and members of the Royal Family.
She is renowned for her expertise in the fitness industry and with her unique mix of disciplines from pilates to strength and conditioning.
Aimee reshapes her clients’ bodies, nourishes their mind and works with each of her students to help them gain a better understanding of the four pillars of health.
Her BodyBeautiful method gives clients a training and nutritional programme that works with their lifestyle and truly gets the results they are after.
Aimee's beliefs are all about bringing the best you forward; she wants to nourish your mind and body to help develop your true self in that one hour of your time.
Each session she leads will leave you feeling energised, happier and stronger. Her sessions are not easy, but they are fun, dynamic and accessible to all who want to push themselves and feel empowered by the end.
The London based trainer caught up with GLAMOUR South Africa and shares her fitness and health routine.
What sparked your passion for fitness and living a healthy lifestyle? Was this always important to you, or did a certain instance in your life inspire it?
I have always been quite active, played a lot of sport when I was younger and loved musical theatre / dance as a child, but it wasn’t until I came to London that I realise how much I loved fitness. I studied at LCF and there wasn’t much of a female sport team, so instead I started going to the gym.
I had a personal trainer while I was at university and he made me fall in love with strength and conditioning. Whilst I was at university, I studied my personal training course and started working for a few studios in London. From there it just grew.
Knowing that time is a major factor when working and becomes a deterrent for many people, how is it that you are able to manage the demands of your busy schedule and still make time to incorporate fitness into your lifestyle?
I guess I am lucky that I love fitness and so do most of my friends. Our version of socialising (pre COVID-19) would be to head to one of our favourite classes and grab brunch or dinner afterwards. I also teach a few classes a week, some of which I have to do myself, so I would say I am very active day to day.
What is your fitness mantra/philosophy, and how has it evolved?
Do what you enjoy! Over the years I started off doing fitness just to burn calories and try and be in as best shape as possible. Now I have found what works best for my body and makes me feel great.
What is your current fitness regimen, and what is the nutrition plan you use to stay in shape?
The majority of my clients I train in the morning so predominantly workout in the afternoon and evenings. I mix things up each day depending on how my body is feeling.
My mixture is barre, Pilates or strength and conditioning sessions. It’s a vast mixture but when my body is feeling tired, I like to focus on slow controlled movements that I use in Barre. I sometimes do @issacboots workouts on Instagram. His energy gives me that motivation on days when I don’t really want to workout.
What is the best fitness advice you have ever received, and from whom?
Do what works for you and don’t compare yourself to others. A good friend of mine once told me this is what works best for them.
What's something most people may not know about you?
When I was 8, I went to stage school and singing is still one of my hobbies today.
What's the biggest mistake that fitness newbies make?
Overloading their workouts so they are too intense. This often results in severe DOMs and a loss of motivation to train. I’d 100% recommend the ethos of easing into things allowing the body to adapt and then gradually progressing the workload.
Why is it important for people to stay fit… and how can we overcome procrastination and fear of working out on a regular basis?
To me in this current climate it has magnified the importance of staying fit not only are you going to be physically fitter but your mental health is going to improve as well as your mental focus.
To avoid fear of working out this goes back to my third point of doing something you really enjoy. This will help keep you motivated to train.
What sorts of strength training exercises are most beneficial in developing strong muscles and keeping a high level of physical fitness? Weight training vs cardio? What muscle groups?
Compound lifts are a must for me. Squats and deadlifts are a staple for strength training; they hit large muscle groups like your posterior chain as well as elevating your heart rate as they require large efforts of exertion.
You can play around with tempo and rep ranges to help build your strength and endurance.
