Tasha Teanby got into fitness around two years ago after deciding to empower herself both physically and mentally. Growing up in Lincolnshire, England, the 24-year-old experienced traumatic bullying in school and struggled with body confidence issues, now reflecting that the gym may have saved her life from the ravages of an eating disorder. Mercifully swapping desires to be smaller for becoming strong and powerful, this PT now wants to use her life experience to coach others, so that they also feel comfortable in their own skin.
“People always say that school is the best time of your life, but you couldn’t pay me enough money to go back there,” Teanby tells M&F. “The bullying that I endured in school was relentless physical and verbal bullying. It did absolutely no favours for my self-esteem. I was getting called fat, disgusting, getting pushed down stairs, hit, getting ganged up on… It was really isolating. I used to eat my school lunch in the toilets. Between the ages of 14 and 15, I had developed an eating disorder. Depression and destructive, self-harm behaviours soon followed. I binged on food and drink at university, had a toxic relationship, and a lot of therapy before I found that I could channel my feelings in the gym.”
When COVID lockdowns began to ease, Teanby decided to make some drastic changes to her lifestyle. In the past, she had viewed exercise as a way to burn maximum calories to stay skinny, but now wanted to re-write her own narrative. “I recall after six months of going to the gym, I finally built up the confidence to go to the free weight area,” she says. “I’d sit on a bench and turn the brightness down on my phone and then YouTube which exercises I should be doing, all the while looking around and hoping nobody saw me, because I just had no clue.”
Soon however, Teanby found herself interacting with fellow gym goers and even began to make friendships. “I began to learn proper technique from them, and by observing others, and reading online. It felt like such a journey because I now had the ability to hold my hands up and ask for help. For a longtime, I struggled with admitting to vulnerability, but finally doing so opened me up to this beautiful thing we call the gym community.”
Tasha Teanby Believes That Having a Strong Physique Makes an Empowering Statement
Teanby has improved her deadlift from a starting point of 176 pounds (80kg) to)298 pounds (135kg) and feels a great sense of accomplishment from working towards failure, pushing herself past physical and mental limits in order to remind herself of her true value as a competitive and determined human being. Inspiringly, Teanby is now a qualified personal trainer in her own right, helping others on the journey to strengthening their mind, body, and soul. “Strong women are sexy,” she says. “I feel more empowered now than I ever did as a skinny young girl. I think that having a strong physique is also quite a statement. I think looking after your body and your health is reflective of you having self-respect. When I weighed just 43 kilograms (75 pounds) going through bulimia and starving myself, I really wasn’t respecting myself, and I wasn’t honoring my body’s needs. What my body needed was for me to look after it and to push it in healthy ways to see what it was capable of, like how much I can lift or how far I can run.”
When it comes to supplementation, Teanby works with MyProtein.com as one of the company’s recognized PT’s and finds that their subscription option is great for her lifestyle. “When I first discovered MyProtein, I had absolutely no clue what I was looking for,” she recalls. “I didn’t even know what a supplement was really. Then, I found clear whey protein. I order it on a subscription basis, so it just turns up each month.” Teanby also starts her day with the brands’ protein oats and takes creatine. Since the powerful personal trainer likes to put herself through intense workouts in order to stimulate muscle growth, it’s good to know that she is always fuelled and ready to go. Want to try one of her butt-burning sessions? Here are the details below.
If you are just starting on your own gym journey, feel free to reduce the number of sets and reps, but never compare yourself to others. “I think comparison is the thief of joy,” says this strong and sexy survivor.
Tasha Teanby’s Glute Focused Leg Day Workout
Warmup with some dynamic stretching such as walking lunges, twists, and arms circles to get your circulation going and your body primed for what will surely be an intense workout.
Seated Abductor: 2 Sets, 15 Reps
Seated Adductor: 2 Sets, 15 Reps
“These are going to be really slow and controlled,” explains Teanby, making sure to make the most of time under tension. “On the second sets, we’re going to increase the weight.”
Triset (x4): Barbell Hip Thrusts, 9 reps
KAS Glute Bridges, 9 reps
Isometric hold (for 9 seconds)
Teanby says that this series of exercises will really burn those buns, noting that for her, barbell hip thrusts are the “holy grail” for glute growth.
Sumo Deadlift: 4 Sets (3 sets, 4-6 reps; 1 set, 12-15 reps)
“Upping the weight for the first three sets, the third set will be the main working set; aiming for between 4-6 reps of super intense effort, and then a back off set on the final set, aiming between 12 and 15 reps,” explains Teanby.
Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat: 3 sets, 12 reps
Teanby says that she aims to hit failure at around the twelfth rep and then proceeds to perform as many further sets as possible with no weights. The trainer says that by this point, she is really testing her mettle.
Cable Kickback: 3 sets, 12 reps
“I love the mind/muscle connection that I’m able to get with these,” shares the PT.
Weighted Glute-focused Back Extension: 3 sets, 12 reps
Working to failure in these weighted sets (you can hold a weight plate or a dumbbell with both hands), Teanby then continues weightless until she can do no more. “The glute pump from this workout could loosely resemble the size of a planet,” jokes the gusty gymgoer.
Follow Tasha Teanby on Instagram.