Hurley. Friday 12th to Sunday 14th November.
Dog walkers by the river may have come across 5 individuals in high-vis jackets doing push ups, squats, jumping jacks, relay races and more. Olympic trainers I hear you cry? No, this is not Berkshire’s answer to Kelly Holmes, these were guests from The Olde Bell doing the very first Workout in the Woods.
From Friday lunch time to Sunday lunch time, 5 individuals walked, cycled, ran, jumped, kicked and ate (healthily) their way through a gruelling but wonderfully entertaining two day workout. Led by Drew Perrot, a certified personal trainer for 11 years whose client base is located mostly in Kensington, Knightsbridge and the City of London, he combined nutrition, outdoor exercise, healthy advice and one on one massages to create a jam-packed weekend of health and wellbeing.
Drew explained where he developed his technique of outdoor exercise and the organisation on the day:
‘It was during my stay at a Thai boxing camp in Thailand that I experienced a new level of exercise intensity, using your body weight only, ideal for bootcamp style training. I developed these training techniques and applied them to the knowledge I gained from my sports science degree, and began to develop exercise programmes that proved to be very effective for my individual clients. I have always wanted to train a mass of individuals, but in an environment that was not artificial, so training outside, army style was ideal.
I researched and attended many other bootcamps and day sessions in order to identify what worked, what didn’t and what I could add to make my offering stand out. Coming from a personal training background I knew how to develop a strong relationship with each individual client, so that each person could feel that the focus was on them, in addition to being part of the group. Once I decided which programmes would be suitable, I needed to apply them to the environment that I would be training clients in. As a result I spent over a month visiting Hurley, learning the environment, and researching which areas would be ideal for my training programmes. I also wanted clients to experience being truly outdoors, being able to see and smell the countryside, so I made a big effort to stay off the beaten track. To make sure I found every hidden corner, I spent a whole day running around the countryside of Hurley, taking photographs and deciding which individual programme would be most suited to where. I visited Hurley at least four more times after that days marathon, I would often come up on my motorbike, and ride around the country roads, picturing the route with myself and my clients, thoroughly going through in my head what my clients may be experiencing.
Another factor that had to be right was the food, as nutrition plays a huge role in helping my personal training clients achieve their goals. Fortunately I own a nutritional catering company that provides nutritionally balanced organic dishes, so along with my menu’s I sat down with the Head Chef, and discussed everything from breakfast to dinner, including snacks and portion sizes.’
Over the weekend, each guest stayed in their own bedroom at The Olde Bell – enjoying decent comforts of pure cotton sheets, the comfiest beds in the world and rainforest showers. Playing card-games by the fire in the evening or lying in bed reading a book and then socialising over meal time, the whole experience was totally invigorating yet strangely relaxing! The kitchen’s food was incredible – proving healthy eating is anything but boring and bland. The kitchen made a real effort to make the food amazing, The Olde Bell staff were faultless in service and the excellent communication between Drew, the kitchen and the service team created a first class workout weekend.
There will be another Workout in the Woods in January – where Drew will develop more ideas and draw on the experience of this last event. After that, if you would like to enquire about future Workouts in the Woods please email Drew Perrott on drew@drewperrott.co.uk or visit his website at http://drewperrott.co.uk/
And finally a note from Drew…
‘One of the real nice things about this training weekend was the bond between all of the people who took part, it grew and grew from the very first moment we took off, when it finished all of us including myself was sad that it ended. Though it was hard work, there was a lot of laughter and peace, lovely conversations and warmth, which made getting up at 6am in the morning all that more easier, because you were spending it with people who were quickly becoming your friends.’
See you all in the woods soon……………….
