‘Roaring and ready to go’ is how Candice Warner’s new personal trainer describes the former champion Australian Ironwoman as a client.
The former cricketing WAG and mother-of-three, 39, is undoubtedly in the best shape of her life.
Daily Mail Australia sat down with her secret weapon, women’s strength coach Annabelle Owen, to get all the details on the work Warner has been laying down in the gym to get there.
Annabelle is a Sydney-born strength trainer and powerlifter who has been benching big weights since she was just 14-years-old. Candice is her first, and only, celebrity client.
The cricket WAG turned media personality reached out to a colleague of Annabelle’s at Titan Fitness in March this year, and hasn’t missed one of their thrice-weekly sessions since, she said.
‘Candice doesn’t come from a strength athletic background,’ Annabelle told Daily Mail. ‘She’s primarily a runner and a surfer, so I was actually quite impressed from day one, because I wasn’t expecting her to be so strong.’
Candice Warner, 39, pictured on Tuesday leaving one of her three weekly strength training sessions with Annabelle Owen of Titan Fitness
After ‘several months’ of consistent training, Annabelle said that Candice is clocking 60 kilos on her squats.
‘As a busy working mum, like a lot of my clients, we keep her sessions super structured. They’re no longer than 45 minutes, so we keep it efficient.’
Candice will train three times a week, she said, doing a legs/lower body session on Mondays, an arms/upper body session Tuesdays, followed by a rest day, and an then overall body workout on Thursdays: ‘So we’re hitting everything [in the body] twice a week.’
The reason Candice sought out a strength trainer, Annabelle says, ‘was mostly to have the structure with her routine and training.
‘Like most people, having a coach and something to show up for makes it easier to stay consistent with showing up.
‘It was also to shift away from her regular training, and what she was used to from when she was an athlete, to focus more on getting strong.’
As an example of a workout, the trainer added she’ll often start with a compound moment, whether that’s a squat, bench press, or deadlift, and then move onto more isolated movements which might target Candice’s hamstrings, quads, triceps, and biceps.
‘We usually start with a bigger movement first and then move into those smaller targeted areas for individual muscle groups,’ says Annabelle.
Candice will train three times a week with her strength coach, doing an arms/upper body session one day, a separate legs/lower body session the next, followed by a rest day, and then an overall body workout
The ‘efficient’ sessions are no longer than 45 minutes for the ‘busy working mum’
Strolling out of the gym on Wednesday, Candice looked fresh faced and unbothered in the sweltering Sydney heat wearing a pair of red exercise shorts and a tight-fitting white tank top.
The results of the tall brunette’s ‘arm day’ were self-evident in the bulging muscles she sported as she trotted out to her parked car.
‘We’re trying to get heavier with the weights each session,’ Annabelle said.
‘My goal with her is to get her some good numbers on her squat bench presses and I think that will make her feel really confident.’
‘My biggest passion specifically lies with strength training for women,’ Annabelle explained. ‘I believe that we should all kind of have a deep connection with exercise that goes beyond just how we look, and how we place value on just aesthetics.’
‘My favourite thing about strength training is that it’s super measurable, right?
‘From last week to the current week, or over an eight week span, we can tell that there’s weight being added onto the barbell, or on a certain machine, and being able to lift that makes you feel really good and proud.
‘The focus of the result is on performance and enjoyment, not on a number on the scales or fitting into a particular size.’
As with all exercise, she added, consistency is the key to improvement above all else. But there’s another key component before that: ‘Enjoyment.’
‘If you enjoy something, then you’ll be consistent. And what happens from there is looking good is just going to be a byproduct of that.’
Sydney powerlifter and strength trainer Annabelle Owen, 25, is behind Candice Owen’s body transformation
The women’s strength coach preaches exercise as ‘medicine’ and lifting as an antidote to the cultural moment of women shrinking themselves with fad diets and weight loss medication
What’s more, when women specifically are following a strength program, they’ll find they need to eat more to fuel their bodies correctly, not less.
Age-related muscle loss, called sarcopenia, is a natural part of aging. After age 30, you begin to lose as much as 3 per cent to 5 per cent per decade, according to Harvard University.
‘It’s so important for longevity to hold on to muscle mass for your metabolic system,’ Annabelle continued.
‘I think in the cultural moment we’re currently living in — where shredding fat and the “get lean and skinny messaging is everywhere” — it’s very important to remember that.’
To all the girls and women out there battling the urge to shrink themselves with fad diets or weight loss medications, she says, give picking up weights a go.
‘I think you’ll find you’re actually going to like the way you look more if you’ve got some muscle on you, too, and you feel confident in being strong.’
And unloading groceries, running around after your kids, and all the elements of day to day life, will be positively impacted.
‘People think of exercise as a way to make themselves look good,’ Annabelle said. ‘But a lot forget that it’s actually a medicine. It’s what keeps you healthy over the course of your life.’
Annabelle predominantly trains athlete power lifters, like herself, and everyday women and busy mums, and as well as young women setting foot in the gym for the first time.
‘But nobody like Candice,’ she laughed. ‘She’s so go go go. It makes her easy and fun to coach.’
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