Why the smart set are training by mood

"SORE" is the answer I give Nancy Best when she asks me to describe my mood ahead of our second PT session in her studio in Clerkenwell.

- Katie Strick

It's quite the contrast to the "hopeful" response I sent her last time as I danced, spring-like, into the office before the first of our week's sessions and before I knew quite how many rounds of squats she was going to put me through.

Then again, having any kind of WhatsApp conversation about my feelings is a rather different experience to any PT sessions I've had over recent years, when they've asked what I want to focus on in our sessions going forward. Sure, I'd love to tone up my arms for bridesmaiding this summer, and it would be nice to be able to lift a heavier dumbbell, but Best-founder of female-only fitness community Ladies Who Crunch - is less interested in those parts.

Thanks to the new "mood glossary" she's launched for clients, our workouts going forward won't be based on aesthetic or body part, but rather the specific mood I'm feeling on the day of each one. Think "long day at the office" classes instead of "bums and tums", and workouts designed to fight the post-holiday blues over the post-holiday bloat.