Jo burrows

Life is to be lived and I love life and everything that exudes being fit, healthy, active and having fun ~ Adventure, travel, at home with a pack on my back … the freedom of tramping, hiking, camping, climbing and getting outdoors and amongst nature every chance I have, that’s me! I love travelling NZ with Mark on our bike looking for the next adventure and together living our lives to the fullest. 

I strongly believe in healthy eating, exercise and lifestyle choices as the panacea to prevent, manage and potentially cure lifestyle illness and disease and have made it my mission to help women, in particular 50+, to adopt healthier more active lifestyles and take control of their health as they age.  It is a philosophy that I live by, understanding that as time passes our physiological needs change and we must continually adapt our lifestyle choices to suit.

Health & Fitness … I live it and I coach it, but even still I’ve had my battle with chronic disease. I understand the mental game needed for the long, challenging road back to a positive state of physical and mental health. With this lived experience and qualifications to match, I’m passionate about helping women achieve and overcome the same, get back in touch with themselves, find and accept their “new normal” and become their best selves.

And if corporate burnout is a problem for you, I can definitely relate to that! After an extensive corporate career culminating at Director level, I’ve experienced the effects that work stress has on our health and fitness as self-care moves further and further down the list of priorities in favour of work commitments, family and day to day life. 

As a Health and Fitness Coach my interests lie in:

Mark Harrison

I started work as an apprentice and qualified as an Automotive Engineer, fixing worn out broken cars and diagnosing engine management problems. Three + decades on, a deliberate change in direction shifted my focus to the human body with its own intricate network of body systems and similar chassis and suspension issues. Our bodies are continually changing, our skeletal framework is rebuilt over ten years, our skin sheds and regrows each couple of months, our bodies reliant on our diet to fuel these processes.

The phrase “we are what we eat” has science behind it, when we short-cut a process the body will let us know through injury or illness. A common example is a diet that lacks calcium which may lead to weak bones that are more susceptible to fractures later in life. When I was a boy, schools in NZ provided milk for kids to drink every morning, and an apple a day kept the doctor away, prevention ahead of cure.

Studying human nutrition for health and for exercise was life changing for me. I had a goal to climb some of Aotearoa’s pristine mountains, unaware of what that would involve. Over a two year period I trained to acquire the physical and mental fitness along with climbing skillsets to achieve my goal. I had to change my diet to provide adequate fuel to meet the demands placed on my body and slowly work to strengthen my bones and joints to cope with a heavy pack and a 12+ hour day.

The knowledge gained on that journey and the lessons learned continue to benefit me now as a Health and Fitness Coach. When you have a goal, a dream, a desire, it requires determination to succeed. You might also need some motivation and support to facilitate the changes required to succeed. Changing life patterns and habits can be challenging, it may even feel like your own personal mountain to climb, but it really is just one positive step at a time. My role as a Health and Fitness Coach is to facilitate change, to help you move away from unhealthy patterns that no longer serve you and to help you become a healthier, stronger, more active version of yourself.