Charity run in mum’s memory led Crick woman on the path to fitness

When Sue Whitling decided to take control of her life in 2006, she was overweight, unfit, unhealthy and emotionally drained.

She said: “After taking part in a Race for Life in 2007, in memory of my lovely Mum who I lost when I was 25, I was asked to help train a friend for a 10K who had just been diagnosed with breast cancer - how could I say no?

“It was during this time that I realised that maybe I could coach a few others too. After qualifying as a Leadership in Running Fitness Coach in 2010, Crick Crackers was born which eventually became Jog On and is still running today.”

Sue’s personal trainer suggested she trained to become a PT.

“I thought she was joking,” said Sue.

“But after completing the Brighton Marathon in April 2012, I qualified as a PT aged 47 and in July 2012 Sweat was born. Bootcamps, boxercise and circuit classes were held in parks, village halls and PT kicked off in my back garden.”

Fast forward three years and the Sweat Hut appeared at Crick in 2015.

Sue said: “This is when I became ‘we’ - Team Sweat - and I couldn’t do it without them.

“Over the years more and more members have joined us, some loving it so much they trained to become instructors themselves, one even upped sticks from Coventry and moved to Crick.

“The one thing I love about Sweat (Sue Whitling Exercise And Training) is that our members are all ages, shapes and sizes – the instructors are too, with our youngest aged 18 right up to 60!”

They offer several classes including bounce, indoor cycle, barbell/kettlebells, twist n tone and bootcamp.

“Sweat is not just a fitness centre, it’s a whole community where people come to be sociable and meet new friends,” said Sue.

“2020 has been a tough year for so many of us, myself included, so it’s been extremely important to Team Sweat to keep our members motivated and to help them with their mental health. Each time lockdown hit we rented out the bikes and weights, went online teaching out of our kitchens, bedrooms and sheds. Got the kit back in and then taught outside as were weren’t allowed to teach indoors, then another lockdown and out went the kit again, invested in kit to deliver better classes, creating new classes that people can easily do online at home.”

But in November, Sue’s mental health took a turn for the worse.

She said: “Everything seemed to hit me at once and my mental health suffered and I went through two fairly tough weeks, but you can’t keep this Welsh girl down for long. So over the last few weeks I have been creating a 21 week Balance Your Life plan to help others get their life back on track whether its mental health, nutrition, weight management, menopause, sleep etc creating new daily habits which is all taken at their own pace via our app,

“I am very excited about this new venture and the new class being introduced at SWEAT soon called Shadowbox.”

For more information, message Sue Whitling, join the SWEAT Community group, telephone 07748 591307, email [email protected], visit www.sweatltd.com