Vanna wears fizzYcaL...

photo by jalu

Vanna of Barz Are My Hustle and Barstarzz rocking our fizzYcaL hot pink hoodie.

Only a few available so head on over to fizzYcaL.com to get yours.

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Respect Is Due!!!

via: Bar-barella

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Shaka Lish Wears fizzYcaL Green...

Friend of fizzYcaL, singer, songwriter, dancer and yogi, Shaka Lish wears a fizzYcaL green t-shirt.

Since interviewing Shaka last year about her love for yoga she has taken some serious leaps and bounds, and tackled more and more tricky postures.

Checkout that early interview - 'Shaka Lish: A Newbie Yogi Speaks On Her Journey'.

And our ladies t-shirts are available with free post and packaging here.

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Be Crucial...

When we were in Rio back in October last year we had the pleasure of briefly meeting Nina aka CJ Crucial, a slackliner and adventurer!

She's a beautiful character with an awesome spirit who is a touch on the crazy side (but in a good way)!

CJ traded in her slackline for a bike then biked around Brazil for over a year with no plans, no destination and no money. She just slacklined everywhere and slept in a tent wherever she felt like.

She's just started to document her nomadic life with a sprinkle of health and fitness motivations and insights over on her facebook page.

Visit it, like it and receive nothing but inspiration.

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MMA with Ottavia Bourdain...

Chef Anthony Bourdain's wife, Ottavia, has stepped out of her husbands shadow and is making a name for herself in the worlds of and Brazilian jiu-jitsu and MMA.

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Plyometric Exercises + Statics Holds = Plyostatics

Plyostatics is genius! A high intensity bodyweight training programme that's as good as if not better than Shaun T's 'Insanity Workout.'

Plyostatics is safe, effective and well put together. With this new regime you'll train for thirty minutes consecutively with no pausing. Sounds gruelling but the intensity is spread fully across the strength spectrum by utilising specific plyometric exercises followed immediately by static holds. So the body moves from explosive dynamic movements to active rest frequently during the 30 minutes, and as such one can safely maintain a sensible level of effective intensity.

We had the pleasure of interviewing the brains behind Plyostatics, Kristelle Sammons, during one of her exercise testing sessions with business partner Sean Mitchell.

Kristelle has been sporty all of her life, competed and won numerous figure competitions and worked with hundreds of clients as a personal trainer. It is this experience plus the knowledge she has acquired that forms the foundations of Plyostatics.

Private classes are currently being held in London, England but plans are in place for the system to be taught to personal trainers internationally and the release of online videos and DVDs are set for later this year.

To keep informed about the programme visit and bookmark plyostatics.com.

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femme fizzYcaL - Fi Silk

If you don't know Fi Silk, you'd better get to know Fi Silk, cos this Londoner is BAD (in the colloquial good sense of the word)!

A former corporate nine to grinder, turned landscape gardener whose handiwork has been good enough to be on display at the Royal Chelsea Flower Show (we said she BAD).

A Karateka who spent two years travelling Japan to hone her skills (what did we say?)

A newbie callisthenican and bar athlete who is already kicking ass and taking names!

Press ups, dips, L-sits, pull ups, muscle ups she got 'em covered (it's spelt B.A.D.).

A fitness YouTuber who can count some of the top names in the Bar world as her subscribers. The likes of the Bar-barians and BarStarzz all follow her progress (super BAD).

A blogger who is penning her journey, laying down her observations and smacking some health and fitness advice on ya, via Bar-barella.com (can't believe how _ _ _ that name is).

And she's a lady with fine taste in hoodies too (she real BAD).

To keep up to date with all things Fi, subscribe to her YouTube channel, bookmark her blog and follow her tweets.

To purchase a fizzYcaL fiz hoodie visit fizzYcaL.com.

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femme fizzYcaL - Minsoo Go

[photo by e-g pro photo]

This pretty face and remarkable physique belongs to Minsoo Go.

Confident, determined and passionate are the best ways to describe her. But the 28 year old was not always so self-assured.

[photo via men's health korea]

The popular view in her native South Korea is that thin women are better looking. So having naturally larger thighs than her peers meant the teenage Minsoo felt very unattractive.

It wasn't until Minsoo came to the USA in 2005 to learn English and found her life's passion in fitness, that she dropped her crippling negative self-image.

[photo by austin imagemaker]

A few months of unhealthy student life, USA style, sparked a trip to the gym and was the catalyst for a career in wellness.

If battling her insecurities was one tough fight, then carving herself a successful future in the fitness industry whilst working and studying full time in a second language was even tougher.

[photo by donbgphoto]

By limiting her socialising and working two jobs Minsoo funded her way through university and gained a BA in Public Relations from the University of Texas at Arlington and an MBA from Texas State University.

And in amongst all the struggle and academic achievement her healthy lifestyle and diligent workouts saw her win the 2010 Natural Physique Committee (NPC) Capital of Texas Bikini Overall, at her second ever figure competition.

[photo by rocksolidfitnessphotography]

So in the space of six years she learned English, gained a BA and an MBA and won a major fitness figure competition! Now a World Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation (WBFF) professional Minsoo has returned to her motherland where she works as a fitness instructor and is known as 'Korea's top fitness model.'

With all she's achieved and the media attention she gets from around the world Minsoo's encouraging young Korean girls to adopt a healthier less harmful view of what a woman should look like and how it should be achieved.

[photo courtesy of minsoo go]

To keep up to date with all things Minsoo Go checkout her facebook page.

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Norway's Got Talent...

17 year old Norwegian lady gets to grips with some seriously tough exercises over there at CrossFit Bergen in Norway.

She attempts muscle-ups, push-ups, clean and jerks, pull-ups, front-squats, handstand push-ups, deadlifts, bench press and a spot of tumbling.

Source: Philipo Negro

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Shaka Lish: A Newbie Yogi Speaks On Journey...

To describe singer, songwriter, dancer and friend of fizzYcaL Shaka Lish as a yoga enthusiast would be an understatement. She's been bending our ear about Ashtanga for months and we're very glad she has. Even the most basic of basic moves have improved our flexibility.

So committed is Shaka to her practice that for this video she performed her full hour long routine whilst we filmed. We didn't have the heart to disturb her serenity so half way through we popped to the pub. Only joking!

When we weren't filming we were being convinced more and more of the need to drop some yoga into our exercise regime.

When you find yourself asking:

"How strong and agile are we really if we can't stand completely straight on one leg whilst holding the big toe of the other leg with barely a wobble?"

"If I tried to do that everyday could I wrap my leg around my body like that too?"

You got to give yoga a try. Ah...and another one:

"How is she managing to stay so focussed in this heat and noise?"

Being the quirky folk we are, we thought it'd be kinda cool to have yoga performed in a very different setting. And it doesn't get any more different than the basketball courts under the busy Westway motorway in the heart of Central London.

So enjoy the video that we've nicknamed 'zen meets chaos' starring yogi Shaka Lish.

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Zen Meets Chaos!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for the upcoming video featuring Yogi Shaka Lish.

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Cassey Ho: Pilates Instructor & Blogilates Blogger...

Producing suggestive and risqué content is a ridiculously sure fire way for young, attractive female fitness bloggers and YouTubers to gain plenty of hits, likes and views. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that their audience consists of a large percentage of drooling male followers rather than loyal female fans.

Fitness blogger and YouTuber Cassey Ho of Blogilates fame is young, attractive and...female yet her huge and ever growing fan base is made up of predominantly women, which she estimates makes up 96% of her followers. Why? Her legions of loyal female fans seek inspiration not titillation.

The 25 year old delivers her pilates based content with a touch of her trademark chirpy style which takes nothing away from the substance of her work. Informative, motivational and friendly she's the healthy living ammo of choice to her currently 128,368 YouTube subscribers, 54,425 facebook likers and 26,907 twitter followers.

We owe our friend Justyna eternal high-fives and a few mango sorbets for pointing out that Cassey was in London for the Olympics courtesy of YouTube and that we should get in contact.

The winner of YouTube's Next Trainer and FITNESS Magazine's Best Healthy Living Blogger was unexpectedly down to earth and very easy going. Cassey's personality was as infectious on screen as it was in person and since meeting her we've been inspired by her passion and work ethic...and she's sold us on pilates. Froggers are a b**ch!

To follow Cassey visit Blogilates.com.

Cassey was filmed on location at Primrose Hill, Danceworks (Thanks to Athena) and University London Union (Thanks to Donna and Yasim).

Music - 'B W' by Micall Parknsun.

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Cassey Ho of Blogilates...

[Cheese with Cassey of Blogilates and Ify of GETfizzYcaL]

Super inspirational and hugely popular Cassey Ho of Blogilates fame is in London to cover the Olympics courtesy of YouTube.

Yesterday, she held a POP Pilates Meetup in London attended by about 60 of her followers or as they're called POPsters (checkout the pics).

In the next instalment of fizzYcaL video profiles we'll be featuring an interview with Cassey so keep it locked on these here pages and or subscribe to our interview's channel.

Thanks to 'Woman Named Justyna' aka WNJ via 'Man Named Luke' aka MNL for bringing Cassey to our attention ;-)

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Awwwhhh Yeahrrrrrrr!

[screenshot gif via sohohouse]

Marawa Ibrahim's "Awwwhhh Yeahrrrrrrr!" can only mean one thing. It's Hoola Hoop time!

American toy inventors Arthur "Spud" Melin and Richard Kerr get all the credit for creating the hoola hoop and fuelling its craze in the 1950s and '60s.

Apparently, though the originators of the twirling art were young Australian children who used ratton hoops in much the same way that Melin and Kerr's plastic versions are used.

Doing a fine job of putting her nation's stamp back on the art of hoola Australian Marawa Ibrahim aka Marawa The Amazing is bringing the exercise form back into vogue with a touch of her trademark quirk.

[photo via nattybumbum]

Follow Miss Amazing's lead and some of the health benefits you'll get from a good twirl are:

1. Better Shape

Hoola hooping engages the hips, abs, hamstrings, quads and glutes. In order to keep the hoop up a good amount of effort is required from these muscles which means you burn fat. And the constant tensing and relaxing of these same muscles also helps to tone them.

Using weighted hoops can add to both these effects.

[photo: joduck]

2. Better Heart

As a low impact exercise that can leave you slightly out of breath it's a prefect aerobic activity that challenges your heart just enough to build itself and ward off high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks.

4. Better Coordination

Rhythm and timing are essential to keep the hoola whizzing away and off the floor. As your coordination gets better adding hoops will improve your rhythm and timing a lot more. [photo via marawatheamazing]

5. Better Mood

Going to the gym is not everyones cup of cha and hoola hooping provides a fun alternative that you can do at home, in the park or just about anywhere.

To get you started here is Marawa's Hoolla Schoola:

For more info and to get yourself some decent hoolas visit Marawa's website and download her app too.

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Getting Sweaty Is Not Feminine...

According to a recent BBC article girls exercise concerns were that "getting sweaty was not feminine" and as a result few participated in sport and fitness.

Along with the lack of female friendly physical education classes, like Zumba, being employed in schools a lack of positive female role models was also suggested as the reason.

Enter friend of fizzYcaL and the inspiration for us starting this blog, Sally Moss.

The former Cambridge graduate and UK civil servant swapped the brief case and pinstripes for barbells and dumbbells in pursuit of her bliss...weight lifting. The hobby has led Sally to compete at amateur level, to teach, and to personal train.....and she’s never been happier.

Gubernatrix.co.uk is the home for Sally’s thoughts and musings on nutrition and exercise and is a valuable source of inspiration for anyone, especially women, considering taking up weight lifting.

A great role model for girls as well as guys, Sally believes (and we agree) that being fit, healthy and strong complements femininity!

One of our favourite posts on her blog is the '10 Good Reasons Why Women Should Stay Away From Weights.' She writes:

"1. You might break a nail.

2. You could even bruise a male ego or two.

3. You’ll eat properly and still be able to lose fat. Work of the devil!

4. You’ll look more like an athlete and less like a runway model. Skeletal is sexy, right?

5. You’ll be able to lift heavy things without asking a man for help, thus upsetting the balance of the universe.

6. You will be seen in public without high heels.

7. You’ll grunt, sweat and feel sore. So unladylike!

8. You’ll be proud of your pert bum instead of being self conscious about it like a normal woman.

9. You’ll be more active and confident instead of sitting around looking pretty. What are you, some kind of feminist?

10. You’ll be stronger, leaner and sexier – and we all know where that can lead!"

Encouraging women to challenge their views like this have meant Sally has persuaded a large audience of women of the benefits of weight training.

Another successful vehicle she uses to do this is her ‘Ladies Who Lift’ sessions. These ‘women only’ classes teach and promote weight training in an environment void of machismo and more palatable for ladies.

As Sally says, working out with like minded women is “more motivating and productive than training just with men.”

For details on Sally’s ‘Ladies Who Lift’ sessions visit ladieswholift.co.uk and check out the intro video:

[Photos courtesy of Sally Moss]

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Endless Roads: Chapter Four - Costa Da Morte...

[Screenshot: Juan Rayos]

Filmmaker Juan Rayos partners with Sector 9 and Roxy in a film project called "Endless Roads." Split into four parts the film chronicles seven female longboard riders 15-day road trip through Spain.

'Costa Da Morte' is the fourth and final instalment. Click the picture to watch it.

If you missed the other episodes they are Yellow Horizons, The Island and Land Of Castles.

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Calling All Female Bikers...

[Screenshot:Ashley Bird]

Danny MacAskill's crew The Clan, the only UK stunt cycling team that features female members is running a competition called She-Rad to find a new lass to join them.

The departure to Canada of one of their star women, Lynne Aitchison, has left an opening for a bmxer or dirt jumper to fill her shoes for this summer's round of Scottish events and school tours.

All entrants for She-Rad will receive expert training before a lucky winner is selected.

The Clan manager Iain Withers says, "It's important to have diversity in our team and especially to ensure a female rider is present to show all the girls out there riding is not just for boys."

The new member will perform alongside The Clan's top quality stunt cycling talent and add to the sister count which includes Polly Harrison and Ashley Bird. Here's Ashley showing all the girls that riding is not just for the boys:

£5000.00 is up for grabs for the winner of the She-Rad competition but it ends on the 20th April so ladies hustle, hustle and get emailing Iain at iain@mb7.com.

Source: Fi Silk of gai.ninja

Adidas Presents Powerlifter Monique Newton...

[Screenshot: Adidas]

Adidas the official Olympic sponsors have begun their Take The Stage campaign in the run up to the 2012 games.

The clever campaign puts a spotlight on up and coming talent that would other whys be eclipsed by coverage of 2012's Olympians.

British powerlifter, Monique Newton is one such talent and the little stick of dynamite is followed by adidas to Latvia for the World Powerlifting Championships.

Hats off to adidas for shining a light on the inspirational Miss Newton. We look forward to seeing more from her in the future.

Source: Sally Moss

Fast Girls...

[Photo: StudioCanal]

A British sports movie about a catty rivalry between attractive female athletes, filmed in the Capital and premiering in June 2012 ahead of the London Olympics - has got to be be a winner!

Multi-talented Noel Clarke heads the writing crew and also stars in "Fast Girls" a movie which sees streetwise Shania (played by Lenora Crichlow) and middle class Lisa (played by Lily James) clash on and off the track jeopardising harmony in the GB camp and hopes of medal wins.

For updates on the movie like the facebook page.

femme fizzYcaL - Shasta McNamara

"Set a goal to change her life 11 months ago today. It's unreal the amount that you can accomplish when you believe in yourself and refuse to give up!!"

Shasta McNamara's facebook status (6th January 2012)



The weight loss success story, mother of two and stay at home wife, Mrs McNamara, has no idea the full force kick up the backside her status and transformation pics has given us. 2012 is definitely going to be a year when we stick like glue to our New Year's resolutions thanks to Mrs McNamara.



The familiar scenario for most women following childbirth is to give up. To resign themselves to never looking quite the same and laying their pre-pregnancy selves to rest. Shasta never read that script and chose thankfully to write her very own.



She's now got a body that women 10 years younger would kill for and come to think of it guys of any age would also turn murderous for. Unfortunately fellas, before you draw your duelling swords that is a M.R.S. before her name.



Lucky Mr McNamara's wife's transformation has ignited a passion for all things fitness and Shasta is currently pursuing a career as a fitness model. There is little doubt that with her sculpted physique and remarkable and inspirational journey she is gonna make waves. You gotta agree?! And if you do click the 'like' button on her Status Magazine picture to get her a step closer to her goal.



The passion's also spilled over and turned into a furious thirst for knowledge and a want to give back. Juggling the kids, the husband and the training with dedicated study she'll soon be adding nutritionist to her resume. As a living breathing advert for healthy living and with a greater understanding of the shifts she made to her diet a year ago, the odds are looking pretty favourable that Shasta's gonna be inundated with clients.

There's no greater teacher than one that talks the talk, walks the walk and...looks the look so we'll be keeping our eyes peeled for equally amazing transformations led by Mrs Shasta McNamara.



To keep up to date with Shasta's happenings visit her facebook page.

Source: Lee Wade Turner