Grief, Barbells and a Stadium Workout: The Two Women Redefining What Fitness Actually Looks Like

This week on What the Health?! with Claira Hermet, we have two guests and two stories that prove fitness is about so much more than how you look. First, Claira is joined by Ifende Ozuko, known to her community as MsFitQueen, a four time bodybuilding champion, fitness coach and someone whose relationship with fitness began in one of the darkest moments imaginable. In 2013, Ifende lost her sister and became a full time carer for her three children overnight. While most people might have crumbled, Ifende picked up a barbell. What followed was four bodybuilding championships, a thriving community of real women with real lives and a coaching practice that goes far beyond sets and reps. She opens up about grief, what it actually takes mentally and physically to step on a bodybuilding stage, why she eventually walked away from competing, and what strength means to her now compared to the day she first walked into a gym. Then Claira is joined by Gina Obeng, founder of Beats and Bands, the fitness movement that started as a simple lockdown idea and has grown into one of the most exciting things happening in UK fitness right now. Gina's question was simple: what if working out actually felt like a night out? Six years on, she's found her answer and on the 7th of June she's taking it to a football stadium. Gina talks about building a community rather than a client base, why live music does something to a workout that a playlist simply cannot, and what happens when someone who has always believed fitness isn't for them walks into a Beats and Bands event for the first time.