How I Sweat With Fleur East

Welcome to How I Sweat, where we catch up with members of the Sweat Community to find out more about why they choose to Sweat.

Today, we’re mixing things up and handing the mic over to the newest member of the Sweat family, trainer Fleur East.

Based in the United Kingdom, Fleur is a singer, TV presenter, radio host and qualified personal trainer and her programs, Dumbbell HIIT with Fleur and Energising HIIT with Fleur are available exclusively in the Sweat app.

Between breakfast radio (and an alarm that’s set for 4 am!), her music career, TV gigs and her latest role as a Sweat Trainer, we wanted to know: just HOW does Fleur fit it all in?

“If I don’t allocate time to tasks, it all goes pear-shaped and can also be very overwhelming,” she says.

“I wake up at 4 am every weekday morning for my breakfast show on Hits Radio and after I’m finished there, I will sometimes have a recording session, or will go on to present a show on TV or perform,” says Fleur, highlighting that with such a busy lifestyle, being organised (and having a great to-do list!) is crucial.

What is Energising HIIT with Fleur?

Fleur’s 6-week high-intensity program is perfect for anyone with a beginner or intermediate level of fitness. “Come on in! Everyone’s invited!” Fleur says of the new program, adding that we’re all in this together.

Energising HIIT with Fleur is a great program to do at home and all you’ll need is a set of dumbbells and an exercise mat to get started.

With a combination of HIIT and strength workouts, Fleur will motivate and coach you through the movements in a guided workout that feels like you’re training together in real-time.

“I was so excited the first day and equally terrified,” Fleur says about filming the new program. “But it was so cool to be shooting my own series after following so many over the years!”

Exercise has always been a huge part of Fleur’s life and she's now a qualified personal trainer. With a better understanding of what fitness does for physical and mental health and how our bodies work, she can’t wait to share her knowledge and training style with the incredible Sweat Community.

What is Dumbbell HIIT with Fleur?

Fleur's second Sweat program, Dumbbell HIIT, is perfect for anyone with a beginner or intermediate level of fitness.

If you loved Energising HIIT and are ready to take the next step in your fitness journey or think Fleur's inspiring training style and feel-good attitude towards fitness sounds like it's right up your alley, this program is definitely one to try!

It's a high-intensity 6-week program that can be done at home or in the gym with a focus on effective compound exercises. With workouts under 30 minutes, you'll have a mixture of full-body AMRAP and Tabata sessions, upper-body strength and HIIT as well as optional Express workouts.

To get started, all you need is a mat and a set of dumbbells, making this a perfect program if you prefer to Sweat at home.

How Fleur Sweats

Although she prefers to work out in the morning, that 4 am alarm for breakfast radio doesn’t really lend itself to an early-morning workout, and she currently works out in the afternoons and evenings during the week.

Believe it or not, Fleur’s not naturally a morning person, and it takes a bit of work to get her out of bed when that alarm goes off!

“I need four alarms to wake me up! I snooze and snooze and snooze again until my final alarm goes off and I get out of bed! Once I’m up, I’m fine and ready for the day, but it’s never an easy wake-up call!”

While she finds morning workouts give her a boost of energy and set her up for the day, now that she exercises later on, how she feels before she trains depends on how her day has been.

“Sometimes I’m really pumped and raring to go and other times I feel quite tired or not as motivated. But I always feel great afterwards no matter how I feel before and that’s what keeps me motivated: that post-workout high.”

Fleur’s nighttime routine

Let’s be honest, for many of us, Fleur’s wake up time feels like the middle of the night! With such busy mornings, what does her nighttime routine look like?

Fleur’s sister is a makeup artist, so she’s taught her all about her skincare routine and she likes to take a long, hot shower before bed to set herself up for a good night’s sleep.

“I treat myself to a nice deep moisturiser, put my hair up, put my PJs on and have nice soft socks for bedtime. I also use a lavender spray on my pillow to help me wind down.”

Fleur’s perfect rest day

We know how important it is to take time to rest and recover, so how does someone with a schedule as jam-packed as Fleur prioritise rest?

You won’t be surprised to hear it involves Fleur turning that alarm clock off and prioritising getting plenty of sleep.

“I enjoy rest days,” Fleur says. “They make the workdays even better because I have more energy to do my best.”

Along with saying no to early starts, her ideal rest day involves plenty of Netflix, quality time with family, great food, and finishing off the day with a long bath.

“It’s all about recharging and allowing your muscles to repair themselves,” Fleur says, having learned the importance of self-care from experiencing burnout before.

“Clear the diary and relax at home or go away to reset,” is her advice for anyone who is feeling burnt out. “It can get overwhelming at times, but I have learned from those previous experiences and now try to allocate time to rest and recuperate.”

An important reminder from Fleur

If you’re at the beginning of your own fitness journey, Fleur wants you to know that you need to do what works for YOUR body.

“I used to think that fitness was a “one size fits all” model and if something worked for one person, surely it would work for me. That is so not true,” Fleur says.

It’s something she wishes she knew when she first started training.

“We all have different body types, different shapes, different metabolisms, different abilities and genetics so learn what works for you and your body,” she says. “This helps take away all of the comparisons and competition because you only compete to be the best version of yourself.”