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Easter 2025



Happy Easter 🐰 


Firstly, a big warm welcome to everyone who’s recently joined AliceGracePT — what an awesome way to kick off your year!


I hope you all had a lovely long weekend and are cruising into this week knowing there’s another one just around the corner (only three days away — yes please!).


Next week marks the start of May, one of my absolute favourite months. Not only because it’s my birthday month (hehe), but also because the autumn colours are just stunning. I’m soaking up these last sunny days before winter rolls in.


As the colder months approach, it’s totally normal for motivation to dip and for those pesky winter bugs to start creeping in. That’s why now is the perfect time to lock in those healthy habits that’ll carry you through ‘til summer. 


Throughout winter, staying active, eating nourishing meals, and keeping a solid sleep routine are key. And hey, why not pencil in a mid-winter getaway to have something exciting to look forward to?

Here are 5 tips to help you stay healthy this winter:


  1. Keep your body moving - Shorter days can make it harder to stay active, but you're already ahead of the game by having your training sessions locked in. Consistency is key — keep showing up for yourself!

  2. Enjoy healthy winter meals - It’s totally normal to feel hungrier in winter, so fuel up with warm, nourishing meals. Think hearty soups, roasted veg, and slow-cooked goodness. Kumara and broccoli are two of my faves this season!

  3. Prioritise quality sleep - Aim for 7–9 hours of sleep each night. A relaxing wind-down routine can do wonders — ditch the screens, enjoy a warm shower or bath, and unwind with a good book before bed.

  4. Stay on top of prevention - Make sure you’re up to date with your flu and COVID-19 vaccines — they’re your best defence. And of course, regular handwashing is a simple but powerful habit to keep bugs at bay.

  5. Look after your mental health - Winter can feel a bit gloomy, so make time for things that lift your mood — whether that’s catching up with friends, getting outdoors when the sun’s out, or planning a little winter escape to look forward to.

Recommendation of the Month

You may have heard me mention Dr. Stacy Sims — and if not, let me introduce you to someone interesting.

Dr. Sims is an internationally renowned exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist with both an MSc and PhD. She’s leading the charge in helping women train with their bodies, not against them, through smart, science-backed approaches to fitness and nutrition.

Her well-known tagline? "Women are not small men" and she’s doing amazing work to support that message, with research that’s delivering real, game-changing results.


I highly recommend checking out this podcast episode where she shares practical, actionable tips on how small lifestyle tweaks can lead to big improvements in your performance and overall wellbeing.

Enjoyed it? You’re in luck — Dr. Stacy Sims has featured on hundreds of other podcasts. Just pop her name into Google and you’ll have a playlist ready to go!


Alice Ultee REPs Registered Personal Trainer BPhed Otago University

 
 
 

MARCH NEWSLETTER

Updated: Apr 22


Autumn has arrived!


And just like that, we are in March already and hopefully you're all sticking with your new year resolutions and the year has started off great despite a few weather events going on around the country. 2023 appears to be the year of change with so many of you moving into new and exciting work roles. I wish you all the best in these and hope that you can continue to strive for that work/life balance. With that in mind, the focus for this month is RECOVERY. Working hard in the gym is great, but if your recovery outside of the gym isn't happening, you're not giving your body it's best chance to make the positive changes we all want and work hard to achieve. I know you're all too familiar with the muscle pains we sometimes get a few days after a hard strength session and this is what we call DOMS or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. The reason behind this pain being due to temporary muscle damage and inflammation. With good recovery, your muscles repair from this and become stronger. You all know that nutrition plays a large role in this recovery, but did you know that nutrition can actually help with your sore muscles too?

Here are three nutritional strategies that can help with DOMS:

1) PROTEIN: Protein supports the growth and repair of muscle tissue following exercise making it a key nutrient in minimising DOMS. Try incorporating a protein source into your meals, especially around workouts. 2) Omega 3 fatty acids: These help to regulate inflammation in our body and studies have shown

that they can help improve DOMS.


3) Caffeine: Most commonly known for decreasing fatigue & improving focus but caffeine can also help with DOMS by reducing our perception of pain. Do note however, that we all have difference tolerances to caffeine and it varies greatly among drinks such as coffee.

Remember: Having good overall nutrition is more important for optimal recovery that any individual nutrient or supplement.

We all know how important sleep is however, when our lives get busy, it's usually one of the first things to suffer. So let's use this month to focus in on our sleep and all reap the benefits together!

The goal is to aim for at least 7 hours of sleep each night. None of us are perfect and this might seem like an impossible task, but let's just try and improve on our sleep over the next 4 weeks.


- Start with setting yourself a consistent bedtime.

- Then, create yourself a bit of a wind down routine before bed, to tell your body it's time to switch off.

- Have a read of this great article about how sleep can help you!


I'd love to hear how you get on!

Recipe of the Month:

Roast Pumpkin Salad - brought to you by my lovely client Tania!


- Peel and dice 1 small pumpkin - (I prefer a dry one eg buttercup)

- Roast pumpkin on 180deg for approx 30min along with 1 large red onion roughly chopped, a few sprigs of rosemary, plenty of pepper and salt and a fine drizzle of olive oil. (Add a couple of whole cloves of garlic if wanted to add into dressing).


Let the above cool to warm and combine with a bag of baby spinach and handful of cashew nuts.


Dressing

In a lidded jar combine the following:

- Juice of 1 lemon

- Splash of olive oil

- Plenty of pepper & salt

- roasted garlic cloves (squeezed) if desired


Options - I often add left over shredded roast chicken and also roast capsicum with the pumpkin

Great for lunches - although best to keep the dressing seperate if possible.

Easy to make salad when cooking up a roast ….

HITT

Looking for a high intensity workout to ramp up that calorie burn?

Come join me for group fitness in the Cityfitness HIIT studio

Tuesday 6:20pm // Wednesday 12:15 // Thursday 1:10pm

Referral System

Have a friend, family member or colleague interested in Personal Training? Let them know about my trial offer for new clients wanting to try out personal training: 3 x 30 minute sessions for $100! Refer them to me and you'll receive a free session!

Yours in health and fitness, Alice Ultee REPs Registered Personal Trainer BPhed Otago University

 
 
 

© 2024 Alice Grace Personal Training

REPS 2025
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