Royals

Fit for a Queen! Princess Diana’s personal trainer shares her secret to keeping in shape

''She was a hard worker, some might say determined.''
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A royal icon, style icon and humanitarian icon, there’s so much of Princess Diana we’d love to emulate in ourselves.

The People’s Princess was the epitome of grace under an intense public spotlight.

Just one part of keeping her poise and posture came down to her fitness.

While her memorable workout aesthetic can be easily copied with a trip to the shops, he actual fitness regime is not as easily accessible.

Luckily for us we had the chance to chat with the Princess’ former personal trainer, Cameron Falloon, about her personal routine, how it holds up in 2021 and what Diana was like.

Diana knew how to pull off the athleisure look.

(Getty)

Talk us through what Diana’s fitness routine looked like…

Diana’s program was predominantly strength based, similar to Body Fit Training and consisted of 3 sessions per week when her schedule allowed. The programs mainly focused on leg strength, back and core strength for posture.

The program was on a split training cycle, which meant we targeted specific muscle groups each session.

We used compound, free weight movements such as squats, romanian deadlifts and lunges with some isolated strength exercises and core routines. Cardiovascular work was short and intense and the majority of one on one time was spent lifting.

Fitness routines and styles can change a lot over time, would you adapt her workout for today’s standards?

Things do change over time but the reality is that while various trends and fads come and go, the basics remain the same.

Diana’s programs were predominantly strength based, so from that perspective I would not change much.

You too could look as could as the Princess did in her iconic revenge dress.

(Getty)

What was Diana like to work with?

Diana was very down to earth and had a very good sense of humour. She was a hard worker, some might say determined, and did not mind putting in the effort in the gym in each session to get the desired results. She was very personable which is no surprise given her title of the Peoples Princess.

What’s your advice for staying motivated?

Community and fun. Very few people have the motivation to achieve the desired results when it comes to physical training without having fun. It is also a very long hard road doing it by yourself. Getting around other like-minded people, keeps each other accountable, while having fun with it.

Do less fads like extreme weight loss in unhealthy time frames and focus on being consistent, having fun and being connected. If you can tick these boxes the results will come. Health and Fitness is a journey and is hard for a lot of people. Set realistic goals, reward yourself for achieving goals and enjoy the journey!

Cameron’s Body Fit Training follows the same principals as Diana’s workout.

(Body Fit)

You have your own program Body Fit Training, how does it work?

Body Fit Training (BFT) is progressive strength-based group fitness. We do cardio workouts and target both aerobic and anaerobic conditioning but the strength training is what sets us apart.

First of all every week we program to specifically target every energy system in our programs. Eg: Monday – Aerobic Conditioning, Tuesday – Glycolytic Conditioning, Wednesday – Anaerobic etc. Secondly is that each week we target fast and slow twitch muscle fibers in our programs. Thirdly we train through all fascial planes of motion.

This sets a foundation to give people a well rounded approach to their training and also mitigate against the risk of injury.

What big trends are you predicting for 2021?

What we have learned through this global pandemic is that humans like being around humans and need that interaction. To be in a group training environment like Body Fit Training, where you connect with people, support each other through each training program and feel the endorphin rush post workout together.

This connectivity I think will be the biggest trend coming out of COVID for people being isolated in lockdown. Building communities through fitness will be huge in 2021 and beyond. The physical and mental benefits of participating in a group fitness community are undeniable.

You can read more about the Body Fit Training program, here.

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