The Financial Times undercover columnist pins her flat-tummy hopes on London’s Bodyism personal training system – from the article…
CHRONICLES OF A SPA JUNKIE - Financial Times
DAY 1: MONDAY
“You have to stop the guilt. The more you stress, the more you create a hormone called cortisol, which is involved in the metabolism of fat and can cause it to be redistributed, especially around your tummy.”
I’m sat with James Duigan at Bodyism. Together with Dalton Wong, he has created what one can call a truly unique training environment. A converted mews house in South Kensington is where they preside over the careful crafting and sculpting of some of the world’s most beautiful and famous bodies. And they specialise in my life-long elusive desire: a flat tummy.
“Like animals, humans are designed to react quickly to danger,” continues James. “When you sense danger, the brain stimulates the release of adrenaline and cortisol. This gives you an instant burst of energy, which enables you to deal with the danger at hand by either fighting or running away. Today, the body responds to stressful situations in the same way as it does to danger, but if you don’t use up the extra energy when your body expects you to, it stays in your system and gets redeposited as fat – and it collects around your middle because from here it can be quickly converted back into energy.”
At Bodyism, each session is with a private teacher – the theory being that very often the hours one spends alone in the gym are simply not as effective. I see their point. I am an unlikely member of KX, a gym favoured by Holland Park’s yummy mummies, Italian football coaches and even the Royals. It’s the kind of gym where every body is a beautiful body, where you spend more time tea-ing than TRX-ing – the type of gym that’s so intimidating that after my summer holiday I bought a month’s subscription to Virgin Active to shape up before I’d so much as show my face there.
Well, here, James and his gang are the exact opposite.
We are hanging out in the open-plan kitchen drinking chlorophyll water, talking about the 14-day Flat Tummy plan; a miniature Chihuahua called Cupcake is throwing her weight around and, in front of me, a supermodel with straps around her ankles is crouched in a squatting position, moving like a crab sideways across the room. It’s unique, all right.
But James looks serious. “I have to tell you that unless we can change your mind, we will not be successful in changing your body. That’s why there is no blaring music playing. We need to hear you, I need to get to know you and what’s going on in your life. We may become friends, we may not; but unless we break down some of the life-long mental habits, you will just be in this perpetual imbalance.
“So let’s do just a quick bit of theory. A, for Alcohol. I don’t need to tell you it’s full of sugar, and sugar is like a nuclear fat bomb exploding all over your body.” Wow. If that image doesn’t drive the message home, I can’t imagine what will.
“Women who drink three or four times a week usually end up with what I call a ‘wine waist’.” Ah, yes, that podgy and squidgy spare tyre.
James reassures me that there has never been a woman who has walked into his gym without complaining about her belly. Women, he says, are far more prone to have worries in this department. And, of course, there is pregnancy, which leaves many woman with a protruding belly. James strongly recommends two years between spawnings, so your muscles don’t actually forget you were once a beautiful, slim, flat-stomached female and not just an incubator.
As I have my measurements taken for what is called the Body Oracle, a unique assessment at the heart of the Bodyism programme, he ends the theory part of the day with one last dictum.
“You have got to cut out the CRAP: Caffeine, Refined sugar, Alcohol and Processed foods.
“Now, let’s get on the floor and do a light workout.”
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