Posts Tagged ‘Fitness Centre Swansea’

This weekend I took part in the most INCREDIBLE experience of my life. Strictly Swansea was the most magnificent event and I feel so lucky to have been part of it. The journey was so emotional, I was nervous, scared, anxious but also very very excited!

Many months ago Blanche Sainsbury, the Managing Director of SWWMedia had a lightbulb moment about a Strictly event and I was so excited that I was asked to dance. Taking on a challenge and learning a new skill is right up my street, but never in my life would I have predicted that it would soon become one of the biggest highlights of my life.

Mario and Rebekah from DeMarco’s Dance School in  Swansea have been amazing. They are the most incredible instructors and now wonderful friends and I can’t thank them enough for all the effort they have put in to teaching me, and all the others who were dancing on the night. My new Strictly family!

I also feel like the luckiest girl to have been teamed up with the amazing Blair Crewther. We got on like a house on fire from day 1. Blair had a hard task of putting up with me over the months, but he is the most patient, professional and fabulous person (and an amazing dancer btw) and with the help of Mario and Rebekah, somehow managed to turn me into a dancer! We have had so much fun along the way and have become brilliant friends.

The night was a huge success and I was over the moon with my Rumba performance with Blair.

We had the highest score of the night with an amazing 10 from Mark Jermin, 9 from Camilla Dallerup and 10 from Kevin Sacre! Wowweee!

I was so happy to get to the final with the lovely Melanie Walters and along with Lara Johnson, who was so fab the judges decided to choose her with a wild card; we had a really tough Jive in the dance off. It was one of the hardest workouts even for me as a Personal Trainer in Swansea but the best fun too!! Melanie was the winner of the night, and I was proud to have come second and delighted to have raised £300 for my chosen charity Tan Yr Allt Service Users Fund.

Now my amazing journey is over I have the Post-Strictly Blues. I want to go back in time. (In fact, Blair is also amazing by day and is a scientist – so I’m putting all my faith in him to invent me a time machine pronto!!) I miss my lessons, I miss Mario & Rebekah, I miss my new friends that also went through the same journey as me and I miss Blair. Sooooooo…that can only mean one thing!!! I’ve got to keep at it.

Strictly Swansea may be over for me now, but the journey was too amazing to leave there. The dancing shoes are with me to stay and I can’t wait to see what exciting memories they will see me through in the future!!

Keeeeeep Dancing!

Tara xxxx

Did you know we are now offering Group Personal Training at Swansea’s Dragon Hotel?

Work out 1-2 times per week with a small group (average 5-10 people) with a trainer to lead you through a challenging full body workout that will help you reach your personal goals, regardless of your current level of fitness.
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On Sunday 16^th September our Health Club Deputy Manager Rob Crabtree competed in the Ironman Wales race in Tenby, Pembrokeshire. The event consisted of a 2.4 mile sea swim, 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile marathon to finish. This was also his first ever Ironman race and coincidentally his first marathon.

Rob completed his first Ironman in 12hrs 03mins, beating his target by 57 minutes. He also raised money for Help for Heroes, so if you would like to donate, please come along to the club or donate online at www.bmycharity.com/RobCrabtree

Swim time: 1:03:21

Bike time: 6:38

Run Time: 4:03

He is now an Ironman, and will never let us forget it (bragging rights)!

Huge congratulations Rob for such an achievement!

The Dragon Health Club staff have been busy bouncing around the place and we’ve managed to get them still just long enough to tell you what they’ve been up to. Tara has most recently been spotted running around the place with love hearts coming out of her eyes as she’s recently bought a brand new pair of uber bright pink, blue and orange. She even took a photo of her feet after a brutal run up constitution hill.

Rob is still in the thick of his iron man training. It’s been an emotional week for Rob as he most recently got kicked in the face and elbowed in the head by two ladies in the swim leg of a triathlon. However, he survived to tell the tale, and still hasn’t lost his good looks.

Andrew has taken on the challenge of jumping off his bike and has entered the Cardiff Half Marathon. Although he is super fit on the bike, after his first run he has been suffering with achy muscles but is ready to take on the mission in hand but aiming to beat Rob!

James is getting ready to get his head back in the books and will be doing his First Aid course, so we’ll all be in safe hands once he’s passed the course. Sandra has come back to work fully relaxed and refreshed from a 10 day break, however we wonder how long she will feel stress free as Bryony has now gone on holidays and Sandra is running a one woman show in beauty! Nothing like being thrown in the deep end after holidays!!

We had some exciting news this week that the Dragon Hotel is proud to be sponsoring Tara Hammett, our Health Club Manager in the Evening Post Strictly Swansea event being held in October.

Strictly Swansea promises to be the biggest night on the Glitz and Glamour calendar! Tara will be performing with her professional dance partner Blair Crewther and will be competing against 7 other celebrities & personalities and their partners on Sunday 7^th October.

Tara is so excited to be taking part. As well as learning a brand new skill, Tara has chosen to raise money for a cause that is very important to her. Tara regularly visits care homes and hold exercise sessions with the residents and is delighted to be raising money for the Tan Yr Allt Service Users fund.

“At the moment I have two left feet, I am totally unbalanced in my 3 inch heels and I need to become a little more elegant.

All my training has been very powerful and explosive, so to try and loosen out and be a little more dainty is a bit tough at the moment, but I’m sure with more practice and a lot of patience from Blair I’ll get it mastered by the night”

We’ll be keeping you up to date over the forthcoming weeks with Tara’s progress and how she’s tackling one of her biggest challenges to date!

I’m sure you’ll join us is wishing Tara Good Luck in the meantime!

My book is aimed at anybody that is interested in improving their lifestyles but need a bit of a point in the right direction. There are a few myths out there that people still believe so I’m aiming to educate people on a few rights and wrongs with nutrition whilst giving some handy, easy ideas along the way. Many of the people I meet struggle to think of new ideas to keep variety in their meals which will help keep them on track, so fingers crossed there may be a few yummy ideas of mine that people fancy trying.

Everything I’ve covered in the book is all tips and information that I’ve been following myself and passing onto many of my clients over the years helping them to lose tremendous amounts of weight, boost their fitness levels, increase their confidence and achieve their own goals.

In the book I scratch the surface on a bit of nutrition info that I think people will be interested in and there’s loads of other info on how to increase your metabolism, how to stay motivated, things you already knew and things you may not. There’s also a few home exercise ideas in there plus a handy little note section that people can record their weigh and inches and track their success.

There are lots of quick and easy meal ideas and little twists on a few classics that everybody loves. My ‘Spin Bol’ (Spag Bol, without the Spaghetti but with Spinach instead) is becoming a little bit famous now and loads of people I have suggested it to totally love it.

As you’ll see, all my photos are my actual meals from my iphone (none of them airbrushed by the way . They’re all incredibly easy to make (If I can do it, I guarantee you can!), convenient and YUMMY!

I hope people will enjoy this book, carry it around with them, share it with their friends and family and I hope it encourages them to release the healthy person wanting to get out!!

For a limited time you can purchase my new book, for only £5.00 with a FREE VIP DAY Pass  to The Dragon Health Club Facilites

To buy your copy of my book, either call into The Dragon Health Club or it can be puchased online at my website.

Happpy Reading !

The late great Audrey Hepburn once wrote….

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness…
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone…
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.

Now, that’s all well and good and may indeed make you more beautiful on the inside but sometimes we need a little more help with the outside…and that’s something we can happily take care of here at The Dragon Hotel Healthclub and Spa.

Introducing our fabulous new full time Beauty Therapist Sandra Halfpenny, who is ready and waiting with fantastic facials, marvellous manicures or a mind chilling massage.

Sandra hasn’t been with us for very long but I have to say that her eyebrow shape and tint powers are amazing and age defying facial treatments, wonderfully relaxing.  Her favourite colour is black although she is an extremely colourful and bubbly character, and she would most love to snog George Clooney (wouldn’t we all ladies?).

I’m sure you will all join me in welcoming Sandra to our team at The Dragon Hotel.

Two of our Health Club employees Andrew Morrissey and Rob Crabtree took part in the Glyn-Neath Triathlon on Sunday 25^th September. Rob, who has recently completed a very impressive half iron man race and is a seasoned campaigner of triathlons, was aiming for a top 10 finish, while Andrew who’s a cyclist was aiming to survive.

The race started with a 400 meter indoor swim followed by a 22km cycle and a 3km run. Due to different expected times in the swim we were set off at different times.

Andrew was first to go, with swimming being his weakness he was dreading the swim and this showed. Having struggled through the swim he finally finished the 400m and first transition in just over 13mins. Andrew knew that he would pull a lot of time back on the bike and he did coming in just over 41mins and passing everyone who beat him swimming, however it should also be stated that Andrew dropped his glasses and Garmin while cycling and got stuck behind an annoying slow driver so lost a lot of time (this is not a excuse for Rob beating me just stating the facts and it will also never happen again). He then completed his 3km run in over 13 mins with a finishing time if 1 hour 8 mins coming in 42^nd out of 128. “I did enjoy doing my first triathlon however I am very disappointed with my swim and bike; I will carry on swimming but will be concentrating on my bike for my return to France in June”.

Due to Robbeing a far superior swimmer, he set off at a later time. He would be competing against athletes who spend 20-30 hours a week training and have completed Ironman competitions all over the world. Rob started strong in the swim setting a very good pace and putting half a length over his nearest rival. Having realised is pace was too quick he started to slow down, finishing the swim in 2^nd place and transition in 7.51. Going into the race Rob knew that out of all three discipline cycling was the weaker but he put in his best performance (some would say lucky but very impressive) finishing 41 mins to stay in contention for a top ten finish.

He then set off on his run and finished in 12min 11secs giving him a overall finishing time of 1 hr 1 min, and coming 18^th out of 128. “I was happy with my overall performance but felt that knowing Andrew was also racing I had to push myself to the limit and call on my experience . Overall both we happy to finish but both agreed they could have done better”.

Baby Beautiful!!

 Well it’s all happening in the Healthclub this month……!! Not only are we giving you the opportunity to get your Beach Bodies ready with our June offer of 3 Free Personal Training Sessions or 3 month Summer Body Membership, we are now able to offer you the support to lose the pounds and get into that bikini by joining our fantastic weight loss club!! So get motivated and get ready to strut your stuff this summer!

 Motivation speech over with…time for the news!!

 We are due to say a temporary farewell to our fantastic Beauty Therapist Michelle, who is going off on Maternity Leave (her bump has officially out grown the treatment room!) She will be missed by us all (her Dermalogica facials are to die for!)  We wish her all the very best for the imminent arrival of Baby Domenic (Sparkle as named by the rest of the team) and hope she enjoys her baby holiday!

 So with the lovely Michelle out of action, the Beauty treatments will be placed in the very capable hands of Harley, who many of you are familiar with (another facial and massage goddess) and a new Beauty Therapist Karen Young who we offer a very warm Dragon Hotel welcome! So don’t worry girls and boys…our team of pamper experts are here to make you beautiful!

We will keep you updated with all the latest offers and baby news!! Until then – think beautiful thought!

As detailed in The South Wales Evening Post on Wednesday, 16th February 2011(right), February 14th saw The Dragon Health & Fitness Club staff and members take part in an organised event celebrating 50 years of the British Heart Foundation. Along with other gyms and health clubs in the Swansea area, The Dragon had to promote an event with the 50 theme in mind. Some discarded ideas included 50km on the treadmill, bike and rower but we finally set the challenge of swimming a combined effort of 50km in one day, it took a lot of hard effort and some long hours in the pool, in fact 2,777 lengths in total, but we managed to hit the target at 9.30pm! We would like to thank everyone who took part and sponsored the team for this great cause, the final sum of money raised is still unknown but appears to be over £350.

Completing this challenge now frees up the team to put their heart and soul into celebrating 50 years of The Dragon Hotel – I somehow don’t think that 50km on the treadmill is going to be included in those celebrations either!