We know the facts: a healthy lifestyle helps prevent illness while keeping us fit, focused and happier. Personal trainers are there to help us achieve our fitness goals. Some find it extremely motivating to join a gym and seek a personal trainer's advice while others do their own thing. However, throughout their fitness journey many have turned to the professionals for guidance and above all expertise. The results speak for themselves.

Daryl and Pamela Psaila are both former rugby players. They emphasise the importance of a varied balanced diet, "...with a little bit of everything - meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and a low sugar  intake." They said the way they eat affects their exercise training as well as their health. "Healthy eating should form part of one's lifestyle and not just be a short term goal, such as for weight loss."

The couple were passionate about fitness for many, many years before they eventually started their own successful venture together with friends when they opened THE PIT in 2012. They keep up with what is going on in the health and fitness world and attend many courses and workshops abroad.

Both Crossfit trainers - which includes weightlifting, movement and mobility and Crossfit kids - they strongly believe that exercising regularly, eating healthily and practising sports is key to living well, together with a good amount of sleep which they say is very important, recommending 7-8 hours per night.

 They personally try to exercise twice daily, five days a week with strength training in the morning and a short intense workout in the evening. This generally consists of a combination of major powerlifting and weightlifting, gymnastics movements and metabolic conditioning (row, run). "At the end of» the session and on our rest days we focus on mobility and stretching."

Daryl and Pamela, a former gymnast and athlete, first joined a gym half a life time ago at the age of 16 and they haven't stopped since. Meanwhile they took up rugby at a professional level and both have represented Malta in international competitions. Eight years ago they started their fitness studies and have been coaching for the past three years.

 "Since the opening of THE PIT, that is where we dedicate most of our time. Coaching athletes of all different levels and ages is our passion. It is a great satisfaction helping people to achieve their goals and seeing them getting fitter and moving better every day."

Johanna Refalo. From a very young age health and fitness has been a way of life for Johanna Refalo, a former dancer who strongly believes that finding a balance between exercise and healthy eating is the key to optimum health and fitness. "It is so important to fuel your body with nutritious food, water, sleep, exercise, as well as sunshine and fresh air."

Professionally, she is certified to teach Les Mills programmes, an international provider of choreographed exercise and group fitness classes. She is also a Les Mills Trainer at GX-1 in Malta and works as a GX-1 ONE2ONE personal trainer.

Johanna says she strives to always stay ahead of the game and regularly travels abroad to attend world-class seminars and conventions. She says 'intuitive' eating and understanding biomechanics are vital to achieving her own goals. She explains about biomechanics and says it is very important not only for her to understand how and why the body is designed to move but also to make her clients aware of which muscles they are using and why. This produces great technique and maximum results.

By intuitive eating Johanna explains it is an approach that teaches one to create a healthy relationship with food, mind and body: "You learn to respond to your inner body cues. Eating when you're hungry, never feeling full or starved...listening to your body."

Besides training clients and teaching sessions, and being a busy mother of two Johanna says she also does power walking, climbing stairs and jogging as part of her own exercise routine. "I make sure I keep moving when and where I can. After all, our bodies are designed to move." Dedicated to what she does Johanna says she loves sharing her passion in the sector and motivating people towards a living a healthier and fitter lifestyle.

Ingrid Vassallo a former professional footballer and football coach and now a personal trainer, says health is the most important factor for self confidence, increased energy, living longer, preventing illness, decreasing stress, and enjoying a general sense of wellbeing.

"Being healthy is a way of life. It is a choice that has to be made and maintained throughout our lives, keeping in mind that achievements do not just happen overnight," she says, adding that a balanced diet and exercise are the basis of a healthy lifestyle.

She attends a number of courses to strengthen her skills and expertise, deepen her knowledge and keep up with the world of health and fitness. She says she also enjoys reading a lot and does research at sports medicine colleges. Besides that she also uses social media, the internet and books on health and fitness.

"My main sport has always been football," she says. Throughout her football career, Ingrid played for several teams including a number of times for the Malta team. Maintaining her passion for football, Ingrid coached 9-year olds and eventually coached Melita and Birkirkara girls' football nurseries. Ingrid's career in health and fitness started 13 years ago when she first started working as a gym instructor. It was then that she decided to specialise in personal training, training to music and T.R.X. Principles of exercise and fitness.

Ingrid currently works at LivingWell Malta and says she exercises 4-5 times a week. "My training consists mainly of cross training. In practice, that means I do weights one day, spinning the other day, crossfit the next day and so on."

She says the key to a healthy lifestyle is time management and a good healthy diet: "In our hectic world, we should all find time to exercise, even if it's just going out for a 30-minute walk each day. Every little bit can make a big difference. And eating a good healthy diet should be a must in our life, and part of our lifestyle."›‹