Boot camp virgin Emily Maddick embarked on a seven day, life-changing trip to Ibiza to stay at Kate Moss’ favourite villa. She left glowing, grinning and giddy on life – purely from exercise and healthy eating. Not to mention 5lb lighter. Welcome to the new A-list fitness retreat, Pop Up Fitness, that is revolutionising healthy holidays…
Champagne on arrival, male models waiting on and goodie bags in the bedroom – this is my kind of boot camp.
It’s a glorious, not-a-cloud-in-the-sky May day in Ibiza. I’ve just pulled up at my luxurious 8-bedroom villa that Kate Moss and gang often stay at during her notoriously wild holidays on the party island. Bart, a Calvin Klein male model greets me by the pool with a glass of champagne and a perfect six-pack (of abs, not beer). There is a top DJ on the decks and a host of beautiful bikini-clad celebrities lounging in hammocks by the pool. So far, so Kate Moss. Except, dear reader, I have arrived on a boot camp.
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I would like to point out that I am really not the boot camping kind. (I was voted Games Captain at school as a joke.) Yes, I like the odd run and Pilates class and once even ran the London Marathon. But burpies, boxing and being barked at before dawn? Er, no thanks. However when I heard about Pop Up Fitness, and it’s promise to pamper you like an A-lister, leaving you feeling healthy in both body and mind and set you on a new, attainable and balanced path, I was intrigued...
‘We don’t want our clients leaving feeling beaten up and starving.’
Olivia Cooney is the gorgeous genius revolutionising the traditional military boot camp. Personal trainer to the stars (Storm Models, Katherine Jenkins, Little Mix) she launched her first Pop Up Fitness Ibiza retreat last summer, and is hosting three more weeks this year. In August there will be a four-day retreat at Ston Easton Park Hotel in Somerset and for 2016 she has plans to take the retreat to Morocco, Thailand and Miami. The concept is simple: a balance of rigorous and varied exercise with clean eating set in luxurious surroundings. There are nutritionists, chiropractors, chefs and fitness instructors on hand for round-the-clock advice. Pop Up Fitness also incorporates mindfulness and meditation. ‘I don’t want my clients to be barked at military style and only given half a boiled egg to eat, leaving them feeling deprived and beaten up, ’ Olivia, 25, explains. ‘So everything is optional, nothing is forbidden. We even have an “honesty bar”, if someone wants a glass of wine or some chocolate, although I find clients don’t tend to, because they become so quickly focused.’ We’ll see...
Day One
The alarm goes off at 6.30. My new Lucas Hugh kit is waiting for me (my theory is that the brand who created the Hunger Games kit will make me look like Jennifer Lawrence next to Millie Mackintosh and Laura Whitmore.) I’m heartened by the variety of fitness levels amongst the twelve women in the group. Ranging in age from 23 – 50, there are part-time runners, professional rock climbers, those who have sustained injuries and fitness fanatics like Millie. First up is yoga in the beautiful grounds, followed by a ‘Breakfast Power Smoothie’.
Last night it was a Moroccan sharing feast we indulged in, with tips from the TV chef Gizzi Erskine. She too is big on not depriving yourself and advocates food over fads such as juice cleanses. ‘In my opinion, eating food that is rich in nutrients and good fats is far more healthy and sustainable,’ she says. Everything on the menu is gluten, dairy and sugar free. 11.30am Boot camp and I’m paired with Millie. Gulp. But she swears and sweats like a trouper. Lunch of carrot and ginger soup, a couple of hours by the pool then its 4.30 Beach Boot camp – the less said about that the better. Circuit training on sand - hard-core. Dinner of fish and green veggies and its bed and asleep by 9pm. SHATTERED.
Day Two
Another morning, another 7.30 Boot camp. ‘Because it’s so early, you kind of feel like you’re doing it in your sleep, and come 9am, it’s like you’ve dreamt it,’ my new pal Laura Whitmore confides. She has an excellent point. At 10.30 we embark on a 12k, four-hour mountain hike by the beach. Millie stops on to do a side plank on a jetty. I’m not quite there. Yet. It’s hot. There are a lot of hills. Back at the villa and it’s straight into Pilates. It’s going to be tough resisting the wine list at dinner out tonight. But I do.
Day Three
I can’t actually get out of bed I hurt so much and at 7.30 its HILL RUN AND a boot camp. But when you’ve got male model Bart Van Maanen telling you how brilliantly you’re doing it makes it far more bearable. Acai berry bowl for breakfast and, ahhh, free time for treatments – hello sports massage. To the beach for extra Paddle Boarding with Millie. (Pop Up Fitness can organise extracurricular activities including: tennis, horse riding, tickets to Space…JOKE!).
Lunch of chicken salad followed by half an hour ‘Abs Blast’ class. Somehow, even in the 30-degree heat, I find myself going straight into the ‘optional’ boxing class. (Is this reverse psychology?) And who knew? I LOVE BOXING. I request more tomorrow morning. Tonight was the 90 minutes of ‘Moonlight Meditations’ with local gurus Pete and Kinan, specialists in Quantum Healing. This was most magical and I kind of had an out of the body experience…
Day Four
Slept so deeply, yet astonishingly I leap out of bed for my 7.30 boot camp. Olivia’s upped the ante today and there are all sorts of scary equipment including ropes and tractor tires for tire rolling. As requested, she’s incorporated my new passion for boxing to the class. Quick Breakfast Smoothie and it’s into an intensive ‘Arms and Butt’ class followed by half an hour ‘Abs Blast’. Wow. Quinoa and avocado for lunch, then a two-hour run along the beach before Pilates. Black cod for dinner. Thank GOD for my giant bath and gorgeous goodie bag products from Ren and The Oil Hut.
Day Five
Rest day, yay! And at an exclusive beach club too, but not, of course, before we’ve done a dawn hill run and Boot camp. And they’re tough on us this morning: circuit training with burpies, jumping jacks, skipping and TRX. Glorious weather at the beach, and a delicious seafood lunch. I bond with Laura when I – learnt from Monica and Joey in Friends – offer to pee on her after a jellyfish stings her. She declines, but we agree the retreat has brought us this close. Back to the villa for an hour of yoga, followed by a cooking workshop from the Ibiza Kitchen. The virgin cacao espresso martinis send us delirious. We dance around the pool til 11pm (late night here) with Ms Whitmore on decks, pumping out Abba and Donna Summer. Not a drop of alcohol between us. I can’t remember the last time I felt so happy.
Day Six.
My hips ache from all the dancing! Pilates at dawn, boot camp at 11.30. Then I have Reike with another local ex-pat guru, Faye. Wow. Intense 30 minute ‘Abs Blast’ after a tuna wakame sushi bowl for lunch. Another run – it’s hot. Yoga before dinner at a restaurant by the sea. Some of the gang hit the wine. I find it extraordinarily easy to abstain.
Day Seven
This morning we finish with Zumba – and I fail at the final hurdle. Laura declares my attempt is like a scene from the classic Eighties film, House sitter where Goldie Hawn manically attempts an aerobics class with no rhythm, no coordination and no dignity. She then posts the clip to her 346k followers on Twitter. I’m in hysterical laughter. I feel healthier and more toned than I ever have in my life, even after running the London Marathon. In this age of Mindfulness, Pop Up Fitness achieves a Boot camp for your emotional and physical health. I’ve lost nearly 5lbs and made some amazing new friends. And I only have one sip of champagne at our farewell champagne brunch, before reaching for a wheatgrass shot.
Starting prices from £1,850 per person. In August there will be a four-day retreat at Ston Easton Park in Somerset £730pp) and for 2016 there are plans to take the retreat to Morocco, Thailand and Miami.