Lifestyle Coach Sene Naoupu Flexes Her Muscles in Ireland

When fitness and lifestyle coach New Zealander Sene Naoupu came to Ireland with her husband, Connaught Rugby’s George Naoupu, she had no idea that she would end up lining out for Ireland’s Six Nations-winning women’s rugby team.

The 31-year-old has had to come a long way (not just in terms of air miles) before she was able to rediscover the sport she has loved since childhood. And Naoupu is embracing the opportunity with open arms.

Naoupu’s love of sport, her studies in the area and her experience with anorexia in her early twenties, has led her to pursue a career in holistic lifestyle and fitness coaching.

She studied holistic lifestyle coaching in San Francisco to complement her education in sports performance and now mixes the two areas in an all-encompassing health and fitness programme called The Senshaper Series.

So what is Naoupu’s first step when it comes to setting people on the road to health, fitness and wellbeing?

“You must realise that it is a lifestyle change,” she explains. “You are not going to lose lots of weight in a week and there is no quick fix. The first step I advise many people to do is to simply set themselves the challenge of having breakfast and focusing on that for the first week. Sometimes changing just one thing at first, as opposed to every single little thing, can work very well.”

Original article by Joanna Kiernan, Irish Independent, April 14, 2015.