Interview with YouTube Fitness Trainer Lucy Wyndham-Read

Describe your typical day?

My cats, Princess Sultana and Princess Raisin usually wake me up at 4.30am by knocking at my bedroom door!  As their servant, I let them in and normally drift back to sleep, waking up properly at 6.00 am. Come rain or shine, I like to start my day by going for a walk. I actually love walking in the winter when it’s dark as I find it so peaceful and relaxing. Walking allows me to be more mindful, to not only take control of my health but to have quiet, uninterrupted time alone to come up with new content ideas and allow myself to feel creative.

Once I return, it’s coffee time! My coffee machine is my desert island must-have to be honest!

Despite being self-employed, I always wear a ‘uniform’ to work as it provides me with structure and sets me up for the day. Dark blue jeans and a navy shirt are my go-to items and I have enough of them for every single day of the week.

I only wear workout gear one day a week when I film several workouts in one go. The rest of the week is dedicated to my navy uniform!

By 7.30 am, I’m sat at my desk working on fitness challenges, writing blog posts, answering emails and coming up with content ideas.

I take regular breaks throughout the day, and even in my jeans, I do some of my own standing workouts in the office to keep me feeling energised.

I normally work until 7pm and in the early evening, I’ll do another of my 7-minute workouts plus some press ups before taking a soothing bath.  I usually do a little more work on the sofa and often end up falling asleep there until my cats jump on me, prompting me to go to bed.

 

What do you feel are your greatest achievements?

The day I received an email from journalist, Anita Singh, requesting an interview for the Telegraph after Ofcom announced that my YouTube Channel was the most viewed channel during lockdown is a stand-out moment! I was simply blown away! I, like everyone else, had assumed Joe Wicks’ channel would have been crowned the most popular (as he did an amazing job keeping kids active during that period). The story made national news and I was even interviewed on This Morning! Knowing that my YouTube workouts had helped millions of people throughout lockdown will always be one of the biggest highlights of my career.

Receiving emails from followers letting me know that my workouts have transformed their health is always an achievement. These messages bring me great joy, and purpose.

 

What’s in your handbag?

My laptop, charger, several pens with no lids (!) plus my foundation, lipliner, mascara, lipstick and eyeliner are always in there! Possibly a bag of Maltesers (empty), my bank card, the left side of my air pods as I lost the right and reading glasses (I’m now at that age)! Oh, and my keys which have a massive fluffy ball keyring attached to them as I always lose them!

 

What are your ambitions in life?
To help as many people as possible on their health journey and to change the narrative on exercise and body image. My greatest ambition is to teach others that exercise and fitness should be less about how we look and more about how we feel and that exercise is the best investment in our future health.

 

What do you wish you’d known at that start of your career that you now know?
That every single one of those rejections would send me on a different path and that all of the detours were the best thing to happen to me because they taught me to find my own way in life and create my own path.

 

What is the biggest challenge you have overcome in your career?
Being dyslexic has been a challenge I’ve overcome as so much of my work involves content creation. I also found my former career in the military hard as one of few females there. I had to prove myself as a woman, that I was capable and that I was also utterly determined to be taken seriously which was tough. At the time, a lot of men didn’t like women being in the army so I felt very isolated. When I joined, there where only a handful of woman serving but nowadays it is pretty much equal.

 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Still wearing my dark blue jeans and navy shirts and writing blogs posts, creating videos and hopefully adding motivational speaking to my achievements, sharing how we can all be and feel our best thanks to exercise.

 

What advice would you give a budding fitness trainer and content creator?
Remember not to change who you are. The superpower you have is being you. Also, don’t be scared to think out of the box. Be different and embrace it.

 

Finally, what is happiness to you?
Happiness is spending time with my family, cats and friends, and walking in the mountains. As is reaching a dream then making a new one.

 

Read more about Lucy on her website. You can also follow her workouts on Youtube.

Photo by Michael Lloyd Photography.