One Step, Two Step

Much to the dismay of all my English boarding school teachers, I - a 6 foot tall Jamaican - was NOT athletic. I was an uninterested, pseudo-rebel, I just did not want to do it. I spent so much time figuring out new, creative ways to get out of PE class and any games sessions, Joanne the Scammer would have been proud of me and the non-athletic rejects.

That all changed when I was in university and first started modelling. I was on the treadmill 5 or 6 times a week, running 5 or 6 kilometers each time. It was an obsession that became unhealthy. I went from being unfit and being insecure about my body to being super fit and even more insecure. I think when you're wrapped up in that kind of mentality nothing is good enough. No matter how many pounds I dropped, or bones I could count on my rib cage it did not seem like I had stopped being the girl I was in high school. Pounding my knees on those treadmills for many years made me develop some sort of tendinitis - I can't run 5 K any more.

Fitness is still a huge part of my life. I have a gym near my house that I try go to in the mornings before work. 6:15 am wake ups do not happen easily, so I don't go as much as I would like, and the pounds are visibly piling up.

What the Americans do the rest of us follow, and so the fitness-coconut-avocado-no-gluten craze has fully reached across the pond and cemented itself in our capital.

  Perfect sized portions at Detox Kitchen

This city has so many classes and studios to choose from. You don't need a membership, but the classes fill up quickly they have waiting lists.

One of my favourites is Psycle London Mortimer Street branch.

The classes are amazing - dark room, flashy lights, great music and at £20 per class it better be. They give you the cleats (spinning shoes) and can have your bike fully set up for your height before every class. Its a combination of using your upper body, lower body and some weights thrown for a full-body experience.

It is the only place in Britain I have ever heard a group of white people enthusiastically clap and whoop like a gospel choir. The facilities are immaculate white with clouds of freshly laundered towels, complimentary organic Bumble & Bumble hair products, dove deodorant, hair ties GHD hair straighteners and anything else a girl needs to grab a fancy-pants smoothie in the cafe outside.

The best part about the studio is the instructors. They make you feel like your part of a team, and when riding on the beat with 50 other tired ass people you really feel that way. I'll share my secret - if you like dancehall and hip hop, riding with Alana on Sunday at 11:45 on a Sunday is where you want to be.

Just try not to party all night and do a class in the morning.... trust me.