The Body Holiday

TheBodyHoliday gave me the ultimate health and fitness experience

What a fantastic way to kick off the year by flying to the beautiful island of St Lucia and staying at TheBodyHoliday, LeSport to get healthy and fit. On arrival I was given my schedule of spa treatments at the health and wellness centre and my BodyAware program for the week. I had just enough time to watch the beautiful sunset go down with a fruit punch on the beach.

I spent my first day joining a morning Hatha Yoga class, followed by a one on one personal training session in the gym. I then sat down to eat my healthy breakfast and enjoyed a Thai Massage at the award winning spa after. As the day went on, I joined a Tennis lesson and Neil the resident coach helped improve my technique as I was so rusty, I also had an elementary golf lesson and then it was time for lunch at the deli and a Mango Tango Smoothie.

By day 3 I had done more yoga to include Ashtanga, Kudalini and Vinyasa Flow. I had also tried a Pilates and BodySpin class on the bikes but the Body Burn class was my most challenging, however I felt great afterwards from working up such a sweat. I decided to put my name down to go diving and snorkelling at the Pitons, yes I was trying to pack in a lot of activities but I wanted to try as much as I could. I even attempted an Archery lesson and introduction to fencing. I always endeavour to try out new activities I’ve not done before.

I really enjoy watersports and participated in a windsurfing and waterskiing lesson, followed by kayaking. An Elemis body scrub, LA Therapy facial and a Marma Massage in the Ayurveda wellness centre had me feeling so refreshed and energised by day 6. I joined in with water and beach volleyball most days if I had time and the food was just divine. I particularly liked dinning at Tao restaurant, the best steak and fish I have ever eaten.

I had also signed up to The BodyAware program with a holistic health coach called Rob from London. I really did get the one on one attention I needed to improve my health and wellbeing. The program started with a lifestyle consultation and health and fitness assessment. I received a detailed nutrition and exercise plan during my stay, activities included a beach boxing session and TRX Suspension training which is the new body weight training session to target your core muscles. I was also given 4 personal training sessions with on-going support throughout my stay along with posture analysis.

If I had more time, I would have signed up for some of the soft adventure programs off resort which include Zip lining, a Gros Piton Climb for those who love a challenging hike with beautiful views of the island and for extreme adventure the River Doree Rappel is serious adrenaline.

Their mission statement - if you give us your body for a week, we will give you back your mind and TheBodyHoliday does exactly that.

- Paul