Best known for presenting A Place In The Sun, TV presenter Laura is no pushover. Just four weeks after an emergency caesarean, she was ski jumping on channel 4 show The Jump. Here are the tracks she works out to
“My birthing plan went out the window with Rocco when they discovered that he was breach. I had an emergency c-section and four weeks later I was off to Austria, Rocco in tow, for The Jump. It was a massive challenge but I wanted to prove that as a new mum, you can do it. I did downhill skiing, bobsleigh, skeleton, you name it! It was a great way to kickstart my fitness and I had the best medical advice and support along the way.
Working out is tricky when you’ve just had a baby. I’m trying to do two to three days a week. My freelance career means it’s difficult to commit to specific classes and times. So I love skipping because I can do it anywhere. Bruised Water by Chicane featuring Natasha Bedingfield is my favourite song to skip to. It makes me think of the summer before my wedding. I was on location filming A Place In The Sun and my hotel didn’t have a gym. So I’d come back in the evening and skip on the roof terrrace. It inspires me to get my pre-wedding body back.
Don’t Let Go by En Vogue is my go-to for floorwork: sit ups, squats, that bum thrust thing [glute raises]! I’ll use a gym ball for some of the exercises. Plus the plank is an essential. After a C-section, there’s this myth that you can’t exercise. Obviously you can’t do anything intense because you need time to recover. But you DO need to exercise to get your stomach muscles back and your core. You don’t need to go to a gym – you can do these exercises anywhere.
I’m a fan of tabata (HIIT training) and have a mixture of songs that get me going. Rockstar by Rihanna is one of them – it’s got a fantastic beat and it helps me to keep a good pace up. I’ll do four or five exercises in rotation for about 20 minutes – weights, sit ups or plank, star jumps or squats. These are exercises I can do wherever I am so I can keep them up when I’m away filming.
The Rocky 4 Soundtrack has some amazing songs. It makes me think of working out with my husband, Alex. We’ll do some boxing together at home, he’ll be holding the pads and I’ll get to punch him!
Weights are important. People think they bulk you up and you’ll end up like muscle man. But use them correctly and you get really good tone. Stronger by Kanye West is my weights track – I’ll do some free weights to that.
You can’t NOT like Happy by Pharrell. It puts me in a good mood for something I hate: running. Listening to that makes me…er…happy!”
Follow Laura on Twitter: @laurahamiltontv or visit her website: www.laurahamilton.co.uk
Words by Eva Caiden. Follow Eva on Twitter: @EvaCaiden
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