Fitness guru Lilly Sabri reveals her top tips to help you feel strong, toned and confident. Photo / Getty Images
Lilly Sabri, 33, the Pilates instructor, uber influencer – with nearly 4.5 million YouTube subscribers – and founder of the fitness app Lean with Lilly, is used to hearing women’s body insecurities from her online community: thighs, bellies, cellulite.
Stomachs are the big one, she says. “The women I speak to want to work on their abs, to work on their core. They say, ‘I want to feel more confident in a bikini’, to tone and tighten and they come to me because that’s what I’m known for, I train women and it’s very specific to the female body.”
But she also thinks we women spend far too much time worrying about our bodies. “The biggest thing I’ll say is no one is 100 per cent confident all the time. But confidence is a mindset and I think it’s very much linked to exercise. Working out will make you feel more confident because it will make you feel great and healthy and happy. And on top of that it will hopefully help you achieve your aesthetic goals as well.”
As we hit midlife it’s all the more important to exercise, says Sabri, and not just to address our swimsuit angst, but also for our health, as new research from Sport England’s Active Lives survey suggests that 36 per cent of us don’t reach the minimum target of 150 minutes a week needed to build density and prevent preventing muscle atrophy.
Sabri agrees that we “need to load” our bodies, but should resist pounding our joints into oblivion.
“You need to keep moving, as that’s essential for preventing brittle bones, but at the same time not to overload your joints, especially the knees as that can be an issue for midlife women. So it’s kind of a fine balance,” she says, “that’s why I recommend doing lower impact exercise, like Pilates.”
If you’re over 50 the general wear and tear can lead to the cushion-like tissue between the bones breaking down. Oestrogen has a naturally anti-inflammatory effect in the body; as it declines this can increase inflammation, compounding joint issues.
“We’ve got a lot of women in their 40s and 50s who are part of our community. And in the past, they loved HIIT (high intensity interval training), but their knees are starting to get a little bit sore. So what I do is keep them on HIIT but pull back a little bit and introduce more Pilates. At first a lot of them thought it was too slow. But now they’re getting results in the way their stomach looks and their core strength is amazing.
“Pilates is brilliant, because you’re still working on strengthening your muscles, especially your core, but in a more controlled way, with less chance of injury. It’s also keeping your energy levels high. People mistakenly think slow or low impact will be easy, but it’s still challenging.”
The female body hasn’t always been Sabri’s stock in trade. After training as an NHS physiotherapist, Sabri worked with young, elite footballers at Watford and Chelsea FC.
She enjoyed her time with an “elite team of professionals”, but the part of the job that appealed most was seeing the impact her work could have on people’s lives as she got them back on their feet.
She always believed she’d end up working in sport. Sabri grew up in Hertfordshire, the youngest of three children, to an Irish mother and Cypriot father.
As a tall “gangly teen” she was a natural athlete, swimming at a national level and playing tennis tournaments. There was dancing too, “that’s my Irish side”; her mother and aunt are both world champions in Irish dance. “I was dancing as soon as I could walk, Irish music was always in the house and at weddings.”
She thought of becoming a professional athlete, until her mother, a nurse, suggested she try physiotherapy. It was work experience aged 15, both in NHS hospitals and a local hospice, that sealed the deal. “People might think ‘Oh that’s depressing’ and it was challenging, but I loved helping people, like my mum did.”
It’s this that keeps her focused now, when she doesn’t feel like exercising. “I’m filming and working out for my community, there are 4.5million people tuning in every day for my workouts and that’s amazing. My goal with every workout I teach online is for whoever’s doing it to feel better than when they started, to feel more energised, to feel calmer and to get more confidence.”
She is obviously a natural teacher, radiating positivity, but like the rest of us she sometimes struggles. “There are still days when I’m not feeling great and when I don’t feel as good about myself and I have less energy, but now I’m more honest and I’ll say: ‘I’m on my period and I’m not feeling it.’
“But I’m proud of myself for showing up, and exercise gives me endorphins. I say this to my students, not every single workout needs to be 100 per cent. Maybe you can only give me 40 per cent if that’s what you have in the tank that day, and that’s OK.”
Sabri’s “Lean Method” uses “a rule of thirds”, so one third is Pilates, one third is cardio and one third is strength. “That special trio has incredible results because they all complement each other,” she explains.
HIIT burns through calories (and body fat), while Pilates improves posture and balance; strength training maintains muscle and can turn your body into a fat-burning furnace for up to 24 hours after your workout. “With weight training your body is burning fat at its ultimate.”
But how quickly can we see results? That depends on where you currently are – and what you’re hoping to achieve. For anyone looking to lose weight, she recommends a nutrition programme that will put them into a calorie deficit (though never below 1600 daily calories). Her app works out a calories-intake figure based on your weight.
In terms of exercise, “you just need to get your body moving, in any way that works for you,” says Sabri. “Short-term goals are a great way to get started on your fitness journey, but also, it’s important to visualise how you want to move your body in later life; do you want to be able to move around, pain-free, pick-up grandchildren and go on adventures? Getting your body strong now is going to help with all that.”
Exercises to try now:
HIIT can be anything that gets you moving, says Sabri, and a simple combination of burpees, press-ups and reverse lunges will do. For burpees, place your hands on the floor in front of the feet, then jump back into push-up position; return to squat position, then jump into the air while extending arms up. For less intensity, swap jumping for stepping the feet out.
For press-ups, an easier modification is to rest your knees on the ground. And for reverse lunges, stand with feet together, then step back with one foot and dip the back knee, before standing up straight again.
Workout as hard as you can for a short time period, stop, rest, then repeat. For beginners Sabri suggests four sets of 30 seconds per workout move and 30 seconds’ rest. For those more advanced, do 5-6 sets of 45 seconds per workout move, with 15 seconds’ rest.
“Feeling confident about themselves on the beach is what women want,” says Sabri. “But Pilates isn’t just an aesthetic goal. It’s also about strengthening your core and your pelvic floor, which typically become weaker in midlife.
“People think our cores are just about abs, but actually the core is made up of four layers, and as well as enhancing sporting performance, a strong core is crucial for back health. I do Pilates core workouts three times a week myself,” says Sabri. “Do them slowly and steadily.”
The sit-up (10 repetitions for three sets): start in a crunch position with your legs in a tabletop position, bent 90 degrees at the hip and knee. Straighten one leg out at a time, and back in again (it should take about 45 seconds), then rest for 15 seconds. Want it harder? Mirror the action with the opposite arm at the same time.
Strappy dresses look great with sculpted shoulders and back, giving the appearance of a nipped-in waist, “like an optical illusion”, Sabri explains.
“Since I stopped neglecting my upper body, it appears leaner, especially my arms and shoulders. I do one upper body workout per week: a combination of Pilates, body weight exercises, and using light 2kg weights for the best results,” she says. “Your goal is to progress the weight as you get stronger.”
For arms she suggests tricep dips to target backs of arms.
Lateral raise: holding your weights, straighten your arms out, slightly in front of your body; lift them up to 90 degrees and lower down, controlling the movement.
To make it harder, raise your arms to 90 degrees, then lower to around halfway down, raise up again and lower completely. Repeat.
Beginners: eight reps per exercise, for three sets.
Intermediate and Advanced: 10-12 reps per exercise, for four sets.
“In all my YouTube videos I wear leggings, not shorts, because I have insecurities too,” admits Sabri. “But I’ve worked hard on them. I’ve been training with a specific split between Pilates, strength and cardio.” On top of that, she says, she’s embraced shorts – “and some self-acceptance!”
How long before you see a difference? “After one month you can see changes,” she promises.
For a firmer bottom, the same moves that deliver a Kardashian-style lift will also strengthen our backs; by building up our glutes we support our back and core muscles, too. “The glutes are crucial, but there are other muscles. It’s crucial to work them all if you want to shape that butt.”
The modified clam (20 repetitions for three sets): lie on your side, lifting your feet up in the air; your feet and knees are touching. Keeping your feet together, open your knees and – with slow control – close them, keeping your waist up off the floor.
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