👋 Hi! Tell us about yourself and your training
My Name is Lailla Sena. I’m 31, was born in Brazil and moved to Australia about 10 years ago.
Fitness has been always a big part of my life as I grew up in a beach town where surfing and exercising was part of the culture itself.
During my childhood, I tried pretty much every sport was available. From ballet to boxing. Volleyball, swimming, surfing, tennis, running, dance, you name it I had done it as a child.
When I was around 14 I joined a gym and I remember spending literally two to three hours there every day. I used to have so much fun doing some of the LesMiles classes that were available at the time.
As I grew older fitness continued to be a huge part of my life. In the past five years, I went through a big transition from doing a lot of weights and being deeply immersed in Crossfit to becoming a yoga teacher and enjoying functional movement and training.
⏱ Describe a typical day of training
At the moment training for me is about discovering new ways to move while improving my strength and flexibility.
A typical week for me looks like this: I will do three to four days of Tabata training, using a mix of weights and bodyweight exercises (Tabata works really well for me because I feel like I can give 100% on each interval and never get bored).
Three to four days of strong yoga practices, where I go to different teachers and learn new ways to move my body.
My favorite exercise is deadlift when I am at the gym and free movement as a practice. My favorite cardio exercise is beach run.
I prefer training alone. I bring the basics like water, phone and towel.
👊 How do you keep going and push harder?
Believe it or not, for me it is about having fun!
I love working out and I love how my body feels after I had a good session. My biggest motivation to keep training is the fun I have with it!
🏆 How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
I would use my backpack to do squats and lunges
I feel really grateful for where I am at the moment. I am teaching yoga classes during the week, holding workshops on the weekends and retreats every four months.
The pace I’m at allows me to fit in time for training, fun, and connection with loved ones.
My plans for the future are to keep working with what I do now only on a bigger scale and taking my retreats and workshops to a few more countries.
If we are talking about training-related, biggest challenge was traveling for six months and having to be creative when it would come to exercise.
I would use my backpack to do squats and lunges, and whenever I had time, tried to find a quiet space to practice yoga.
🤕 How do you recover, rest and handle injuries?
I haven’t had a significant injury in a really long time!
I believe that Yoga has helped me a lot in finding a good balance for myself where I am not pushing my body over my limits and instead I’m finding a place where I can grow and stay away from injuries.
But I do find that certain times of the month (especially just before getting my period) I need more rest! So I really listen to my body.
I avoid doing heavy weights on the two days before my period and opt for active rest, like long walks at the beach or playing sport with friends.
I sleep about eight hours at night.
🍎 How is your diet and what supplements do you use?
I drink lots of green tea.
I have a rule for my diet that is quite simple but works for me: The more natural the better.
Lots of greens in my plate, and lots of fresh veggies. Fewer things that comes from a package or has 200 ingredients on the label.
I drink lots of green tea. Alcohol is no longer present in my life, unless is a special occasion.
As for social gatherings, I will have food at home so I don’t need to eat foods that are not nourishing at the party. If it is a dinner celebration, I will look for a light option such as salad or veggies.
I don’t crave junk food as it has been removed from my diet a really long time ago. But I do crave chocolate!
I have my favourite brand of chocolate, which is dairy free and super dark, so I am happy to indulge myself with that whenever I have that craving.
👍 What has inspired and motivated you?
I have a lot of things that inspire and motivate me. My students, my community, my friends and co-workers.
I also love to listen to Podcast: Aubrey Marcus and The Bulletproof podcasts are on top of my list.
I enjoy listening to electronic music while working out.
✏️ Advice for other people who want to improve themselves?
Be around people that you admire and are aligned with your value (including friends and co-workers).
Be aware not only of the food that you are feeding your body with but with the food you are feeding your mind with, the content you are consuming will shape your thoughts as much as the food is shaping your body.
🤝 Are you taking on clients right now?
Yes! Always! I am a breathwork practitioner, yoga teacher, and coach.
My private clients come to me normally because they want to take their lives to that next level. I support them in letting go of old belief patterns to move forward without having themselves as the biggest obstacle.
“How can I relax?” or “how can I handle stress?” are the common questions of my students and my answer is to always come back to the breath, I teach them a few easy breathing techniques that will support them through stressful times.
📝 Where can we learn more about you?
You can learn more about me on my website laillasena.com or my Instagram @laillasena.
There you will find my next workshops and retreats as well as some tips on how to feel more alive and how to attract more of what you want in your life.
