A Work Week With Artur Zolkiewicz - Fitness Guru
Think you know it all about fitness and nutrition? Well, Artur Zolkiewicz's work week might just change your mind. And, if you think you can keep up with him, he's doing a residency at the ultra-luxe The Sanchaya in March.
MONDAY
I usually start my day bright and early on Mondays, and my alarm lights up at 5:30am- I use Lumie Bodyclock, an alarm clock which gradually wakes you up with natural light – I find it much easier to wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day with this. I always have a bottle of water next to my bed, and drinking it is the first thing I do in the morning. I also always make my bed right after I wake up, which I always find starts me off on a productive note! I also make a point of not looking at my phone in the first half an hour upon waking. I don’t want to start my day with a stressful email or text!
On my way to work, I listen to Podcasts – my morning favourites include ‘Big Questions by Cal Fussman', ‘The Tim Ferris Show’, ‘How I built this’ and ‘Things you should know’ – and grab an americano. I’ve been following intermittent fasting for over 6 years now and I simply don’t get hungry in the mornings!
Monday mornings are always very busy. My first session starts at 6:45 am I’m at the gym at around 6:30am so that I have time to go through my daily full body mobility routine, which consists of Controlled Articulate Rotations (I’ll be teaching this routine during my classes at The Sanchaya!).
Next on my list is a cryotherapy session (5 minutes in a chamber at -90 degrees Celcius) at the @111cryo studio in London’s Knightsbridge. I love cryotherapy because it gives me a huge boost of energy, makes me sleep better, improves my digestion, helps me to handle London’s cold weather and strengthens my immune system.
After an afternoon of training clients and working out, I eat dinner at around 8pm and in the evenings I try to relax reading a book. I’m currently reading Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari. Before going to sleep I stretch and mobilise for 20-30 minutes. I’m in bed around 10 pm as I need to wake up early on Tuesday!
TUESDAY
Tuesday is quite an intense workout day. After my weightlifting session I have to complete an hour-long bike ride. I’m currently preparing for a charity cycling trip London - Paris which I’m doing with a few friends in June. Right after my cycle I jump to the sauna. Train hard, recover smart is the rule I follow, and I’ll be integrating this into my sessions at The Sanchaya.
I spend the afternoon with some of my regular clients, who I’ve been able to build up strong relationships with over the years. I love my job for exactly that reason. I’m lucky to work with some amazing people who are very successful in their respective fields and industries.
In my job you build relationships with clients. They tell me their stories, speak to me about their food, sleep, lifestyle. There is a great wealth of information I have to take into consideration when coaching a person. I think a good personal trainer should be more of a performance or even a lifestyle and health coach rather than just a person telling you what exercise you should do. Having said that it’s also important to know your boundaries and know what you should and shouldn’t say!
It’s one of the reasons why I’m so excited to return to The Sanchaya, too – my clients in London are amazing, but it’s always refreshing to go further afield, outside of your comfort zone, and meet new people from different walks of life!
WEDNESDAY
I wake up excited, because tonight I’m flying to complete my second residency at The Sanchaya. I will be staying 10 days at the resort running a morning group class for guests and seeing them for personal training sessions. My first stay was a huge success so we decided to do a second round.
My flight is at 10pm and I still head to work before going to Heathrow. I always make sure to find a trusted trainer who can take care of my clients whilst I’m traveling. I don’t want my trips to impede my clients’ progress.
I always try and do everything to make sure I can mitigate the jet-lag. A few hours before flying I go to do yet another cryotherapy session to reduce the inflammation and refresh before getting on the plane. I mostly arrive earlier at the airport and eat dinner there as I don’t like to eat on a flight. It might sound weird, but I always foam roll and stretch when I get on the plane to make sure I relax. I also try to avoid any screen time so that I can have a relatively good sleep.
I arrive at The Sanchaya on Thursday night after a quick ferry ride departing from Singapore’s Tanah Merah terminal, which is really close to Changi Airport. I enjoy a delicious, al fresco dinner with Magnus and Jared, the hotels management team – it’s lovely to be able to enjoy the balmy weather and hear the waves crashing on the shore. We discuss a few more details about my stay, chat for a while and I’m off to sleep. Friday will be very exciting as I’m going to run my first class and I already have a few hotel guests booked for personal training sessions.
FRIDAY
I wake up at 7am and have a coffee on the balcony of my beautiful little villa. It feels serene, calm and relaxed. I’m very excited to start my second residency at The Sanchaya. I met some amazing people and got inspired to start working on my new business last time I was here. I really look forward to seeing what’s going to happen and what interesting people I’m going to meet during my stay this time!
The class starts at 9am at the yoga pavilion on the resort’s stunning beachfront. We begin with some gentle mobility and dynamic stretching exercises to warm up the body and the intensity increases as we progress. We only have 8 people taking part in it, I want to make sure that all the participants get as much of my attention as possible. My goal is to make people move better and simultaneously give them a great workout!
After an hour of breaking the sweat we head to breakfast during which the guests can ask me questions about fitness, wellness and nutrition. I do my best to answer all of them. We laugh and get to know each other. That’s exactly what I’m at the estate for - to help guests understand how they can live a healthier and more active life without having to sacrifice many of the things they love doing!
It’s time to soak in some vitamin D, something I don’t get much in London of. I head to the pool and relax reading a book or listening to a podcast. My first personal training session is booked at 1pm and I really look forward to it, it’s always a great feeling to meet a new client, get to know their story and do my best to help them improve their health. I eat lunch at around 2:30/3pm, head to the beach for an hour and do some reading. Next sessions are booked later in the afternoon. I get my own workout done after I’m finished with all the work.
I finish my day sipping on fresh coconut water, inhaling the breeze coming from the South China Sea and admiring the peace and quite atmosphere of the amazing estate in Bintan.
End of content
No more pages to load
