Testimonials

When I began with Leonie, I weighed 22stone and had an exceptionally unhealthy diet and used to drink far too much alcohol. My original aims with Leonie were to lose 4stone and adjust my diet so it was healthier and would encourage a healthier lifestyle. At the size I was the simple things in life were becoming a chore and I was heading for an early grave.

I have now been a client of Leonie’s for six months and I have managed to lose an incredible 5stone 3lbs and in two weeks time I am going to be running a half marathon, The Great West Run. The half marathon was not originally in my plans but with Leonie’s help it has become a real goal, which hopefully I should be able to complete within 2hours.

Leonie has inspired me to completely change my diet and lifestyle, I believe these changes will now stay with me for the rest of my life. I no longer drink to excess and I avoid fast food and fatty foods at all costs. I now regularly exercise and play sport on an almost daily basis and I seem to have so much more energy, even though I am doing a lot more!

Recently I have decided that I want to run the London Marathon in 2010, as I want to have further goals to ensure that I keep on this newfound health kick. I am a firm believer that you have to have goals that you are aiming for during weight loss and training. The half marathon has kept me training and focused. I tried to lose weight before and had no real goals and no support- Leonie offered both of these and it has led to a great success.

Leonie as a personal trainer is very friendly and is approachable, which are essential for such a personal, and sometimes embarrassing matter, as weight loss and physical training. I would highly recommend her and would like to thank her for her dedication to ensuring that I have continually met goals that we have set. I have enjoyed being a client of Leonie’s and I look forward to continuing working with her.

I contacted Leonie after I broke my leg from a mountain biking accident.  I wanted a safe way of increasing my fitness without damaging my leg and also wanted to increase my level of fitness in general.

Leonie is a highly professional and fantastic trainer and through her detailed nutritional/fitness training programme, I have grown more confident in my abilities to push myself.  She puts an enormous amount of effort into each client and I truly feel valued when training with her.

Leonie is so versatile, I would recommend her to anyone from a complete beginner to a sports professional.

I have been working with Leonie for a year now.  A less enthusiastic person for exercise you could not meet!!  However, with Leonie's expertise, patience and perserverence I actually have reached the stage where I feel better for exercise.  I highly recommend Leonie as a fitness instructor, she has all the required sadistic tendencies needed to be extremely effective!

I started with Leonie weighing 12 stone and at the point of having to wear a size 14 at 5 foot 2 inches and 21 years of age. My goal is to be a size 10 again in 6 months. As I work shifts I’ve never found it easy to fit in exercise as much as I should, but Leonie came up with a fitness plan for me which works very well with my job and very easy to follow, as well as a nutrition guide.

As I lose interest very quickly when it comes to exercise and diets she was happy to set me new targets every two weeks to keep me going. Leonie is very helpful with any questions I have to ask and is always happy to help as much as much as she can. I enjoy my sessions with her, as she is so easy to talk to and is fun to be around. She comes to my house so I don’t need to travel in to Exeter, if the weather is nice we will go outside and she will do the exercises with me. So far since I’ve been seeing Leonie I have lost 8 pounds and I’m back in to a size 12. I’m very happy with the results and look forward to losing more weight and achieving my goal!

I contacted Leonie when I decided I had to get back into shape 18 months after the birth of my son. I was immediately impressed by her style and knowledge, and by the variety of the sessions as I have found exercise quite boring in the past. After 2 or 3 sessions, I discovered I was pregnant again, and Leonie adapted the sessions straight away and has been a superb source of knowledge, advising me on healthy eating in pregnancy and developing a safe and fun exercise program. I am now 4 weeks away from the big day, and although I am obviously having to do less intensive exercises, I feel much fitter than I did with my previous pregnancy, and have suffered much less with back pain.

I cannot recommend Leonie highly enough- as a doctor I have a good understanding about the changes that occur during pregnancy, and the advice I have received from Leonie has always been completely sensible and accurate.

I started training with Leonie in October 2007 and was initially a bit nervous as I am naturally someone who doesn't enjoy exercise and hates the gym! My goals were to lose weight and tone up ahead of getting married in August 2008 but also to have more energy and enjoy life and my hobbies more as a result. Leonie's initial consultation was invaluable. We identified my aim, looked at my lifestyle and the amount of time I had to exercise each week and put together a training plan that factored all of this in. Once we started working together, I started to see how leading a healthy, active life and getting results could easily fit into my daily routine. My 1:1 sessions have been focused, challenging and motivational and each time we meet, I feel a benefit not just in that session but for days afterwards. The best thing is that training with Leonie has changed my attitude, motivation and approach to leading a healthy, energised life and given me tips that I use on a daily basis in between sessions and at the most random times such as when I am in front of the TV or on the way to work! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Leonie to anyone from those starting out on a new health and fitness journey, to more seasoned exercisers who perhaps want a change of direction in their approach to working out. She has a friendly personality and a focussed approach to her clients coupled with an excellent set of qualifications and credentials. Really worth it!

Following a major stroke at the end of January 2009, I was determined to recover as much as possible.  Whilst the physiotherapy in hospital was excellent, I was very disappointed with the lack of this once discharged; although I did have 3 x 1/2 hour sessions at monthly intervals.  Needless to say I had to persue the 'private' i.e. payment route for any chance of improving my state, choices have to be made. I engaged a physiotherapist who was excellent, however, I had to think about other possibilities. I continued a previous pilates class with a helper.

Like many others I thought a 'personal trainer' was not within my sphere being for 'celebrities and the wealthy'; but why not at least have an assessment session?  This was my best day's work, I realised I should have had a personal trainer from the moment I was discharged from hospital.  Leonie proved to be the professional I expected and hoped for.  She provided not only an individual achievable programme but 'hands on the body'.  This was crucial to me as my muscles had none / limited sensitivity meaning I did not always know if they were responding or to what degree.  Things have significantly improved.  I cannot recommend her enough and would be very happy to speak to anyone contemplating her services.

I decided to work with Leonie in order to help with weight loss, after having made limited progress beyond a couple of pounds on my own.  Leonie’ s approach to weight loss has encouraged me to not only think about my weight but much more importantly about becoming fitter and having more energy.  As a working mother finding time to exercise is the biggest challenge and the exercises she has given me to do at home I find surprisingly useful!  I really thought these wouldn’t work for me but I stick to them and quite enjoy doing them on a daily basis!

Leonie’s advice about diet and nutrition has been really helpful and I now think about when I eat certain foods as well as what I eat – undertaking a food diary marked by Leonie was very useful.

Leonie has motivated me in a very supportive and encouraging way and I love the fact that she will come to the house so that we can exercise together, she even came swimming with me to give me water based exercises which have been great.

I still have a way to go before I reach the weight I want to and the fitness level I want to but at least I know Leonie will support and encourage me to get there which for me has been invaluable.

I started training with Leonie just over a month ago as I had gained a lot of weight and lost fitness throughout a difficult pregnancy followed by a caesarean section. I have found the sessions to be a lot of fun and really varied! The results I have experienced in a month have meant I have gone down a dress size, and I feel healthier, happier, and have more energy. I would not hesitate to recommend Leonie as an excellent personal trainer.

December, Luke and I found ourselves coming home from work, watching tele and eating biscuits galore.  We were both feeling sluggish, fat and generally rubbish.  We thought of joining a Gym to get an exercise programme but I'd do the same as last time, go for a month then never again.  It's an expensive way to feel guilty about not exercising but with Leonie there is no excuse.  It's a date in the diary and she's so committed to us improving our fitness and well being that we are sticking to our goals.  Luke's gone crazy and entered the Great West run and I am eating more healthily than I have in years.  In fact I'm off out on my bike now training for the Dartmoor Classic - can't imagine I'd be doing that 3 months ago!

Although fitness has always been a large part of my life, there were a couple of barriers I just couldn’t get over on my own or with two other previous personal trainers!  Over the past three years I had a re-occurring shoulder injury and just could not shift that next half stone.  So with my wedding looming I enlisted the help of Leonie!

Leonie was the fourth trainer in the area that I had approached and the only one who’s qualifications and approach I felt comfortable with, professional, friendly but firm!

In a very short time (about four months) Leonie helped me to overcome and strengthen my shoulder and lose half a stone, walking down the aisle at the lightest, strongest and fittest I’d been in over 8 years.

Leonie’s holistic approach meant that she considered all of my physical goals whilst re-training my brain, breaking old eating and fitness training habits I’d formed.

I am now lighter, fitter, stronger, free of injuries and most importantly more confident and happier with myself.

Thanks Leonie you’re a star!

Meeting Leonie has been a huge blessing. After having hard core training for about 4 days a week with a martial arts sensei, it was very difficult to find a similar work out in the UK. I tried different gyms and classes but they were not for me either too easy or not engaging enough. I felt like a hamster in a wheel! I tried kickboxing classes thinking it would be closer to my training back in the US, but sadly I felt it was incredibly impersonal. Finally, I decided to find a personal trainer, no matter the price, within reason of course. I searched online and interviewed a few trainers but as soon as I met Le, her bubbly personality and enthusiasm to work out shined through. Once we started training together the results were incredible. I went from only lifting the light weights to enjoying pressing up over 15 pounds on each arm. My running skills have improved majorly as well, as I was not able to reach a mile without stopping and now I am currently in training for a 10k which I have already reached over 4 miles without stopping. In my opinion, finding the perfect personal trainer such as Le was the exactly what I needed and I highly recommend it to everyone, since it is tailored to one’s personal needs and wants. Lastly, I feel I found exactly what I was looking for which is/was to continue an active lifestyle and improve my fitness levels.