Welcome

Welcome to the Preface of TheaDora The Explorer.  In this blog post, I am going to be giving you a bit of background about what the idea is and where it came from, a bit of an introduction about me and then what to expect from 'TheaDora The Explorer' blog posts going forward.

Where did 'TheaDora The Explorer' come from?

About a month ago, I realised my complete and utter love (....borderline obsession) for CrossFit meant I hadn't kept in touch with all the amazing things happening in London and all the new fitness places popping up.  With that in mind, I decided I wanted to try all these places out for myself.

I started going to a different studio once a week with the view to broaden my horizons, meet new and like-minded people (who love health and fitness as much as I do!) and to have an ABSOLUTE BLAST at the same time.

But then, I had an epiphany.  If I hadn’t been keeping in touch with all the places popping up, surely I wasn’t alone and neither had lots of other people?!  It got me thinking, how could I turn this great adventure, into something useful for others and thus was born the blog, ‘TheaDora The Explorer’.

A bit about me.

Well first, my name is Thea, I’m 28 and I am from Putney in South West London.  Workwise, I am a Personal Trainer in the City and in South West London, offering PT and small group training, but I also spent many years working in an Experiential Marketing Agency.  Which certainly means I understand the pressures of full time job life in London.

In terms of my sporting background.  I was pretty sporty at school and did a lot of cross-country/long distance running. Unfortunately, I never made the top spot of anything that involved hand-eye co-ordination though - That is a skill which has eluded me all my life! 

When I left school, I had a ‘hiatus’ from exercise for a couple of years as I was having too much fun being 18!  However, that break didn’t last long, as I soon discovered rowing which I did for 6 years from 2008 at York Uni and Vesta Rowing Club (Where I also met my lovely husband). 

After that, I joined a local gym near work and found my love for classes, Body Pump, Body Attack, Spin…you name it, I loved it.  The truth is though, this was really for one purpose, I had it in my mind that I needed to be fitter before I joined my local CrossFit gym. What I now know, and wish I had known then, is ‘don’t wait for perfect’ just ‘Jump and grow wings on the way down’ – both amazing quotes from none other than Ben Bergeron (A CrossFit genius) and could not be more accurate.  Get stuck in and start moving forward, if you are always waiting for perfect, you may be standing still for a long time. 

Since then, I have been getting stronger, faster, healthier and in truth, much happier over the last 3 years.  I’ve been to a few individual comps, lots of group comps, tons of events and made tons of friends.

What is ‘TheaDora The Explorer’?

‘TheaDora The Explorer” will give you an overview of the studio, the session and my experience.  As well as giving you a snapshot of the level, style, duration, location and who I think it would suit.

I started exploring studios because I felt a bit out of touch, but there are a number of reasons why this guide might be helpful for anyone looking to try out a new place:

• It can be hard to find un-biased views of what to expect, as generally most of the information about the classes that are available, are on the website of the company putting them on.

• Sometimes, going to new places and trying out new classes can be a bit intimidating.

• If you live in London, like me, you probably live a really busy life and that can mean, it’s hard to keep up with everything that’s happening

I am hoping that this guide and review of places in London will help take away some of the unknown, keep you up-to-date with the latest must tries and give you an honest overview of what to expect from the session!

What happens next?

If you’ve made it this far, that’s a good sign, and hopefully you are interested in what is coming next.  Watch this space for volume 1 on Barry’s Bootcamp, coming soon!