Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 77, December 2015 | Page 21

Images: Chris Hitchcock, courtesy Freshpak Fitness Festival & Expresso

feel good,” says Leigh-Anne. “Yes, we are required
to look good and feel good, because we’re selling
a feel-good show, and when people watch us it
has to translate on screen, but training is also
important to me because I like the way I feel when
I’m healthy and fit. It’s about finding a gap in the
day, and often I have to sneakily fit it in by creating
a ‘meeting’ here and there, but if that doesn’t
happen, I train after the radio show, from 7pm till
9pm. I find a way.”
Ewan immediately nods in agreement, saying, “Just
like I need to fit in eating and sleeping, so training
is part of my day, and if I can’t fit it in, I will make
a plan, because it’s part of my lifestyle. It doesn’t
matter where I am working or travelling, I will
always pack my training goodies. If I can I train six
days a week, and if I know in advance that I am
going to be very busy for a few days, I try to put in
the extra work before or afterwards, to make sure
I don’t lose momentum. Sometimes that does bite
into my already limited family time with my wife
and two young kids, but I try to make it up on the
weekends. And then some people tell me they don’t
have time to train… You can do it if you put your
mind to it.”

STAR QUALITIES

Leigh-Anne comes from a radio background, having
worked at Good Hope FM since 2006, and for the
past four years she has also been on Expresso.
Earlier this year she was one of the 10 celebrity
contestants on the reality competition series Strictly
Come Dancing, and she says that really raised her

public profile. “At Expresso I was actually lucky to
fly under the radar – people would recognise me,
but would it would always be ‘There goes Expresso,’
I didn’t have a name – but then I did Strictly
Come Dancing, and after that things were insane.
Expresso has also grown so much this year, and I
think people now think of us as part of their family.”
Ewan grew up in Gauteng and was a swimmer
and sprinter at school, then relocated to Cape
Town in 2001 for modelling work, where he took
up road running to keep fit and explore the city.
His appearance on the front cover of Men’s Health
magazine in 2008 and participation in that year’s
Men’s Health Look competition launched his TV
career. He’s also a qualified personal fitness trainer
who has made it his mission to motivate and
inspire people to change their lifestyles and become
healthier and fitter, and that’s why he and LeighAnne are working on their own sideline project to
produce an online health and fitness programme.

need to work for it – and that’s also why LeighAnne’s story is so important to our message.”
In October last year Leigh-Anne decided to get into
shape ahead of going on the road for three months
for the Presenter Search show, so she signed up
with a personal trainer and lost 11 kilograms in
five months. “It was the hardest thing I have ever
done, but there was such a massive response from
women across the country who said please can I
help them do the same,” says Leigh-Anne. “Before
embarking on this journey I think I was always
hiding, not being true to myself and not living to my
full capacity, and once the weight was gone I found
who I really was. With it came confidence, and the
courage to do things I had never done before, like
Strictly Come Dancing, and the biathlon. I would
never have done either of those before in a million
years! That’s the gift that we want to give people
with the new show.”

“This is something that we’ve been wanting to do
for a while, we just needed to find a gap,” says
Ewan.