SPOTLIGHT SUNDAY// Carly Rowena

This week we caught up with Carly Rowena, the fitness and wellbeing influencer that is taking the world by storm. 

Carly Rowena has been supporting people from all over the world (including me) with her fitness routines and lifestyle choices. Her YouTube channel features a plethora of Home workout videos, advice blogs and her journey of becoming a mom. Carly’s gym routine videos are a proven hit and have reached over 1.6M views. Carly is dedicated to helping people fall back in love with their bodies whilst creating a safe, fun and enjoyable experience to do so. We have enjoyed listening to Carly share her tips on increasing body confidence, pleasure, motherhood and finding your identity.  

Back in 2020 Carly and her family joined the Van Life movement when they bought Stanley, they converted Stanley-Van into their second home and started their adventure to find their forever home whilst travelling around the UK.  Unfortunately, their plans fell through and Carly and her family had to stay put in their current home, this didn’t stop them from being excited to share their story of falling back in love with their home. 

We love the daily affirmations that Carly brings to our social media feeds and for the inspiration and guidance that she provides in her posts, whether that be about fitness, self-love or motherhood. Carly has also created a Children’s story book called ‘My Beautiful Body’ aimed at 1- 5 year olds to help them understand that their bodies are more than appearance, it’s their home and their friend.

So without further delay, let’s shine our Spotlight on the amazing Carly Rowena 

'Tell us a little bit about yourself'  

Hi, I’m Carly Rowena, I have been a Personal Trainer for almost 10 years and a mum to my daughter Jax for 3. I love helping people fall in love with what their bodies can do, I don’t believe in spending an hour in the gym doing something you don’t enjoy, which is why l use my social media platforms to educate people in all the different ways you can move, and how beneficial it can be for more than just your appearance. I am the founder of LetsSweat workouts and LetsEat Nutrition, I also have a book called My Beautiful body which is aimed at 1 - 5 year olds and host worldwide retreats with the aim of transforming clients mindsets and reality.

What inspired you to first start LETSSWEAT and LETSEAT? 

LetsSweat and LetsEat were born out of lockdown. I quickly noticed the need to support people further and help them understand that they could still move their bodies, eat better and get results through a pandemic.

How does it feel to have helped motivate so many people throughout lockdown?  

Honestly, as much as I’ve helped them, the community has also helped me. I feel lucky to have a very positive space on the internet with a following of people who want to support each other. Going through the pandemic online together created new friendships, a book club, language lessons, some of the members were even taking photos of their empty cities and sharing so that it felt like we were still travelling.

What inspired you to write your book ‘My Beautiful Body’? 

I am overly aware that at some point my daughter is going to experience someone talk negatively about her body, character or looks and I wanted to give her a book that would help her understand that her body is more than appearance, it’s your home and your friend. I want all children to grow up knowing all the wonderful things our body does for us and that when we’re 90 we won’t be thinking about the tiny waist or bigger booty we always wanted, we’ll think about all the things we did.

What would be your dream location be for one of your retreats? 

New Zealand is my favourite place on the planet, I leave a piece of my heart there every time we visit, so I would love to be able to take a group of people there to experience everything it has to offer.

What's the best piece of advice you were ever given? 

Never fail twice. It’s ok to fail once, but never allow yourself to not try again. Eg: pressed snooze on your workout this morning - there’s no backing out of doing your workout tomorrow!

How do you balance work and family? 

It’s not easy and I am certainly not perfect at it but realising that you are one person and you can’t do everything is a big lesson to learn when you start your own business or when you become a parent. Routine and lists are my best friend and understanding that the list will never be completed, there is always something to do but there is always life to be lived and that’s more important.

If you could learn anything new, what would it be? 

I would love to learn another language or how to dance!

Do you have any specific goals you want to achieve this year? 

This year we are putting all of our focus into my upcoming App and finding where we would like to raise our daughter!

What's your secret guilty pleasure? 

No secrets, I love chocolate and being anywhere outdoors with food!

What are your top 3 'can't live without' self-care products? 

Erboriam CC Cream, magnesium butter foot cream and the ordinary peeling mask.

Favourite style of workout 

Functional play: I love weights because they make me feel strong and independent, mixed with any kind of circuit, chipper or tabata and I’m very happy!

Favourite Norfolk beach 

Holkham or Happisberg.

Favourite place to meet friends 

Bread Source or Ber St Kitchen

Favourite Family holiday destination  

New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland or Devon.