Jo Ellis - mojo fitness

Jo Ellis - mojo fitness I am a fully qualified Personal Trainer, Boxercise Instructor and Kettlebell Instructor based in Tavistock, Devon.

If you want a personal training session that involves being shouted at by a very muscular person holding a stop watch as you flip tractor tyres over then I am not the right trainer for you! I prefer my exercise sessions to feel more like an exercise class with a friend, where we work hard together whilst having a bit of a giggle. Its my job to find a type of exercise for you that is both effective

AND enjoyable. I love helping and motivating people to improve their fitness, whatever their starting point. I gained a lot of weight during my 2 pregnancies, but through exercise and sensible eating, I have since lost 4 stone. Now, at age 45, I feel fitter and healthier than I ever have :). I currently have availability for personalised 1 hour training sessions on weekdays during school hours. I charge £20 per session at my Covid-19 compliant outdoor home gym in Tavistock, or £30 for 2 people to exercise together. I offer a free informal consultation where we discuss the client's goals and exercise preferences and decide if I am the right trainer for you.

I think it's high time I jump on the bandwagon and answer the BIG question; what do I (as a 50 year old perimenopausal P...
23/06/2025

I think it's high time I jump on the bandwagon and answer the BIG question; what do I (as a 50 year old perimenopausal Personal Trainer who's maintained a 4 stone weight loss for 12 years) eat in a day?!?

The answer is a) I'm not going to tell you and b) you really shouldn't care. Let me explain...

I know that my life makes eating well and balancing my calorie needs relatively easy. I work from home with no early rises, commute or shift work. I'm in full control of what and when I eat. I don't have to walk past a vending machine, eat a business lunch or dutifully eat someone's birthday cake or smell anyone else's chips on a Friday. I work part-time and my children take up much less of my time these days. I don't have to struggle with an eating disorder or emotional eating. I actually enjoy eating the food that's good for me. I can afford to buy the food I want. I get paid to exercise for goodness sake! So what's the use of me telling someone else with a much different life without all these advantages what I eat?? It's just another way for people in my industry to make people feel like crap.

If you see a video of someone telling you what they eat, scroll on. Their diet may be impressive but the idea that it's going to help anyone else is ignorant garbage 🗑 xx

Very chuffed to report that after grading last weekend, I am now a 2nd Dan Black Belt in taekwondo💪. I can't really beli...
10/06/2025

Very chuffed to report that after grading last weekend, I am now a 2nd Dan Black Belt in taekwondo💪. I can't really believe it, but the belt has my name on so it must be true! All thanks to a combination of amazing instructors Daniel Hunt and Anna Hunt , perseverance, pushing back against the imposter-syndrome with self-belief and of course perimenopausal-brain-fog-busting-HRT!

I am now registered with the Safe Space Alliance, an LGBTQI+ led non-profit that helps members of the LGBTQI+ community ...
13/05/2025

I am now registered with the Safe Space Alliance, an LGBTQI+ led non-profit that helps members of the LGBTQI+ community feel accepted, respected and free from discrimination.

Everyone is welcome here and can consider me a steadfast ally. I have (and continue to) learn a lot from my LGBTQI+ friends and do my best to inform others too. Jo x

Crikey, somehow I'm 50 today! I follow the user manual of my body well and so far she has done me proud.Hair colour clea...
10/04/2025

Crikey, somehow I'm 50 today!

I follow the user manual of my body well and so far she has done me proud.

Hair colour clearly isn't natural and I have 1 gold tooth but everything else is 100% real I swear!!

Strength training (aka resistance training) is something we know we should be doing. Have you started yet?Strength train...
06/04/2025

Strength training (aka resistance training) is something we know we should be doing. Have you started yet?

Strength training can increase muscle strength and size, stabilise joints and improve neurological signalling (your mind/body connection).

Strength Training can also improve balance, resulting in a reduced likelihood of falls. It is also proven to reduce the symptoms of arthritis, depression, osteoporosis, sleep disorders and heart disease.

If that's not enough to persuade you, strength training also means that you'll become too strong to be trusted with many unappealing domestic tasks😄. So far this weekend I've broken a sweeping brush and a washing machine, woohoo!!💪💪💪

If, like me, you enjoy baking but don't like being tempted to eat cake every day for days, this might be a helpful recip...
06/03/2025

If, like me, you enjoy baking but don't like being tempted to eat cake every day for days, this might be a helpful recipe.

Basic sponge using 1 egg. Weigh the egg in it's shell. This weight is the amount of butter, sugar and SR flour you need. Half a teaspoon baking powder, splash of milk if mixture too thick.

Makes enough for 1 small sandwich tin or 5/6 cupcakes🙂.

Sorry if this just got everyone thinking about cake!!

Apologies to my Cornish friends for this one BUT did you know you can make considerably less calorific pasties by using ...
10/01/2025

Apologies to my Cornish friends for this one BUT did you know you can make considerably less calorific pasties by using dough instead of pastry? This was pizza dough which takes 45 minutes in the bread machine. Filling was pre-cooked chicken carrot, potato, courgette, onion and sweetcorn with a few herbs and some soft cheese.

On the left: macaroni cheese. On the right: 'diet' macaroni cheese😁.Honestly, it can be this simple. Of course you could...
16/12/2024

On the left: macaroni cheese. On the right: 'diet' macaroni cheese😁.

Honestly, it can be this simple. Of course you could mix veg into the dish itself, but not everyone in my family has the same taste in veg

28/11/2024

One month from now it'll be the day after boxing day and it's smart to look ahead now, and think about how you might be feeling then.

Depending on how many times you say "sod it, it's Christmas!" over the next month, two possible scenarios are:

1) Feeling bloated, sluggish and full of cheese. You're miserable and disappointed with yourself, AGAIN. You know you've gained 8 pounds on top of the excess weight you were already carrying, making your goal feel even further out of reach. You wonder what new diets there are to try. You just haven't found the right one yet. Maybe you'll buy a weighted hula hoop in the January sales? 🤔

2) You feel good, healthy and positive. Your clothes aren't feeling tight and you're very proud of yourself. The conscious decision you made in November to stay 'on it' and not take every MPO* available has paid off! Not buying multiple tubs of Quality Street (despite them being on offer) was a massive break from tradition, but you didn't miss them. A definite case of confusing nostalgia with pleasure. Come and get me 2025, I'm ready for you!

* Mince pie opportunity

Batch cooking tips. Hope some of these are helpful😘Pre-cook veg to avoid long simmering times. For my curry I microwaved...
25/11/2024

Batch cooking tips. Hope some of these are helpful😘

Pre-cook veg to avoid long simmering times. For my curry I microwaved leeks and kale to soften them and I pressure cooked the butternut squash and lentils.

Frozen veg is a great way to go. Already chopped and you know it won't be rapidly deteriorating in the bottom of the fridge.

Veg going soft in the fridge but don't have time to make a proper meal with it? Just cook it plain to stop it spoiling, then you can figure out what to do with it later or just pop it in the freezer.

Chopping garlic is fiddly. Some garlic presses don't require you to de-skin the cloves, which helps. If you don't use garlic much and you have a whole bulb, press the whole lot and freeze in portions of 1 or 2 cloves. Same applies to fresh ginger - grate the lot and then freeze.

Frying off onion is also an unpleasant job. You could do several onions in one go and then freeze it once it's fried - will save you 20 minutes next time as all you have to do is microwave your frozen onion and crack on.

Tupperware drawer a nightmare you don't want to enter?! Sort it out and introduce a 'no lid, no entry' policy. I have a holding area for lonely lids and lidless pots under the sink. Once they're reintroduced to their partner, they're allowed back in to the drawer🙂.

Got some time but don't have ingredients for a particular recipe? Google recipes containing things you have: 'beetroot leeks butterbeans recipes' for example, it's amazing what you can find.

Missing an ingredient for your recipe? Google 'alternative for....' chances are you'll have something else that'll do.

Once I find a recipe on line, I scribble it down. Saves frustration when screen repeatedly turns off, means you don't get greasy fingerprints and food on your phone and you can easily keep the recipe for next time.

Tweak a recipe to your taste. I don't like too much coconut milk so instead of 2 tins I swapped 1 for tinned tomatoes.

It's easy to under-season when you cook in bulk because it feels like you're adding too much salt. Taste it to check. If it's bland when it has loads of tasty spices in, it probably just needs more seasoning.

Feel bad making loads of something no-one else in the house will eat? Sod them and cook it anyway, put yourself first for once🙂.

Anyone else got any good tips?

Done! 8 meals, veg to make speedy soup for lunch, cooked leeks to chuck into something else. I'll post some tips on batc...
24/11/2024

Done! 8 meals, veg to make speedy soup for lunch, cooked leeks to chuck into something else. I'll post some tips on batch cooking later, to try and make the process more appealing and therefore more likely🙂.

Address

Tavistock

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 9pm
Tuesday 8am - 9pm
Wednesday 8am - 9pm
Thursday 8am - 9pm
Friday 8am - 9pm
Saturday 8am - 11am
Sunday 8am - 11am

Telephone

+441822611453

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Jo Ellis - mojo fitness posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category