Rebecca Louise YouTube videos motivating thousands to get fit

From the moment you begin speaking with online fitness queen Rebecca Louise, it’s difficult NOT to be swept up by her incredible energy and enthusiasm — even over the phone.

“I’m just great!” the British native gushed from a very long distance. “I just finished up a Fit Camp in Prague and it was just crazy! It was unbelievable, so I’m a little bit wired right now with all that excess energy still with me!”

Rebecca Louise’s comments on her Fit Camp tour were timely, as the exercise pro is bringing that tour to Chicago Oct. 10 (if you want to attend you need to email rlfitcamps@gmail.com to get the location for the event). While millions have watched Rebecca Louise YouTube videos, she admitted that fans tell her the in-person events also have an impact.

“I really engage with people,” she said. “I know a lot of people watch my videos, but when I do these in-person Fit Camps, I ask people if it’s a lot harder, and they say, ‘Yes, because you’re right here! We can’t quit.’

“Of course, in my videos I do try to get across my energy and try to inspire people to keep at it, but I understand that when I’m standing right in front of them, it probably is too intimidating for them to walk away!”

In her videos, Rebecca Louise targets specific body areas for various workout sessions. The reason for that is something many fitness experts stress. As Rebecca puts it, “I actually have a calendar on my website for people to follow — so they can work out every single day. But it’s important to balance that through the week, alternating exercise that targets arms, legs and other body parts to allow the various muscles to recover and rest before you work to strengthen them again.”

Considering that many of her videos have been taped in beach settings in Southern California, how could Chicago residents — who are forced to exercise inside much of the year — relate to her fitness approach?

“Actually, I know that virtually all of my people do their workouts — for the most part — inside their homes. I have created routines that only require people work out in an area that really is only the size of a yoga mat.”

Beyond that, Rebecca Louise added, “I do like to take people on a journey. Just filming in Southern America or as I did recently in South America — to be on a beach — helps give people 10 minutes of paradise away from their busy schedules. Also, I think it’s important you don’t need any special equipment for most of the workouts. You don’t even need to wear shoes if you don’t want to. I want to make it really accessible.”

While active from a young age in athletic pursuits — including playing field hockey and soccer, and becoming the sports captain at her English high school — Rebecca Louise said she came to the U.S. for a reason that had nothing to do with fitness.

“I went to America to learn to fly airplanes,” she said. “I had always been intrigued by flying and I felt it would get me out of my comfort zone – and that turned out to be the case. I did get my license, but in the process I also fell in love with California where fitness is such an important part of people’s lives.”

The young native of Eastbourne, England, not only got her private pilot’s license in the U.S., but also became a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified professional trainer, after moving to the states in 2011. At that time, she also began working with a fitness channel on YouTube, but admitted, “it took me a while to get my own channel launched. Initially I didn’t have the confidence to believe people were going to follow me.”

After overcoming that initial reluctance, Rebecca Louise and her videos really took off. There have been more than 12.5 million views of her videos, and she has more than 156,000 subscribers — joined by more than an estimated 369,000 across all her social media platforms.

The fitness expert also noted that part of her personal journey to a healthy lifestyle included overcoming an eating disorder. “I always stress that the process of being in shape is 80 percent nutrition and 20 percent is fitness [through] exercise. If you have a bad diet — and that’s what I know a lot about — you can work out six hours a day, but if you’re not eating the right food, it’s all for naught in the long run.

“When I was 17 years old, I got down to like 80 or 85 pounds. I felt it was attractive to wear size zero clothes, but it was disastrous. My skin was bad, my hair never grew, and I had a lack of energy. Fortunately, I came to realize good nutrition feeds your body and you will get results.”

Rebecca Louise’s fortunate recovery from anorexia came about when she relocated to London from Eastbourne, after graduating from high school. Thanks to new associates and friends in the British capital she “got a new perspective on life from that new location, and made a change for the better.”

As for the nutrition experts Rebecca Louise looks to for inspiration, she points to Dr. David Heber and Dr. Louis Ignarro. Ignarro is an American pharmacologist who shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for the discovery of nitric oxide. His teachings focus on the eradication of heart disease, the nation’s biggest killer. Heber is the professor emeritus of medicine and public health at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and the founding director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition.

In addition to Heber and Ignarro, Rebecca Louise also confirmed that she works “alongside top doctors and scientists — all possessing PhDs.” Her nutrition plans that she provides to her subscriber followers include certified nutritional information and recommendations for the proper amounts of nutrients for daily consumption.

Asked to describe the biggest mistake made by even people who work out regularly and seemingly take great care of themselves, she immediately pointed to crash diets.

“Think about it. The first three letter of ‘diet’ are D-I-E — or die! My point is this: People need to be very careful about all the crazy and bizarre diets that are out there being promoted. The goal should be to follow a healthy diet, made up of four to six small meals a day. Everyone should stay away from processed foods.

“Frankly, you’d be surprised. If you change just a few things in your diet, you will be amazed by the results.”

The “Rebecca Louise FitCamp” tour arrives in Chicago Oct. 10. Email October 10th. Email rlfitcamps@gmail.com for location details. Rebecca-Louise’s fitness plans are available at www.rebecca-louise.com