This year, at the Good Health Show, Sarah Donohue will be a guest presenter and FamouslyFit.com are delighted to have the opportunity to interview Sarah ahead of time….there is almost no end to her talents! Nicknamed "Queen of the Seas" and "Superbody", this lady leads the most amazing life - James Bond Stunt Woman, Champion Power Boat Racer and World Fitness Çhampion Title Holder!

Sarah, thank you so much for spending the time with us on this interview. I am going to get straight in there – you have chosen quite an unusual sport for a woman? What got you into powerboat racing in the first place?

I was just in the right place at the right time. A nightclub owner who knew I was training to be a stunt woman said, “Would you race a boat for me? If you do, you will be the only all-girl team in the world and it’ll give my nightclub some great publicity.” The rest they say is history! My love of racing later led me into stunts anyway as I did ‘The World is Not Enough’ Bond movie and then ‘The Tourist’ with Jolie and Depp.

We hear so much at the moment about the increasing levels of obesity in the UK amongst children. What was it in your life that inspired you to be active and fit rather than sitting in front of the TV all day?

I was fortunate that I was brought up in the country with 6 boys and was only allowed to watch Grange Hill before they booted me outside in the fields to play. Mum and dad simply walked over, turned the TV off and I didn’t argue. That was the way it was!

I spent my youth climbing trees, making dens and riding bikes. I was then very active at school and was on all of the school teams from cross-country and swimming to netball, rounders and shot-put. I was a good all-rounder because mum and dad kept me fit. I didn’t have the choice to play video game. I am fortunate and every day I thank my mum and dad for being responsible for who I am now.

When you are racing, you don’t do it alone though do you? What is the importance of having your team with you when you are racing?

No, I have a full team. When people congratulate me for winning the European and British titles or speed records, I always take praise lightly and say, ‘I only drove the thing. That’s the easy bit. It’s the rest of the team that do the hard work!’

There are 2 in the boat, but we have a team of 6 engineers working all hours to make it right. I have often turned down beautiful glam dinner dances in places such as Sardinia for an evening with my boys, so I can take beer and pizza down to the pits whilst they work overnight. Without them, I am nothing. I love the dinner dances, but there’s no way I can sit there drinking champagne whilst they work to make me a champion. I’m what’s called ‘humble’.

Tell us a bit about the various championships that you have won? What has been your proudest moment so far?

I won the European Championships in Italy in 2001 and although it’s not the most recent championship I’ve won, it meant the most. In 1999 I crashed in Italy and was on a life-support machine at the hospital in Venice and 2001 was my first International event since the accident. There were 22 teams (all male of course) and me. I became European Champion, but I did so under Italian National Authority so they played the Italian National Anthem after I sprayed champagne which made the audience all confused when I was on the podium. But it was an Italian that resuscitated me and saved my life, so it took a few second for everyone to realize what was going on, and then I got a massive cheer. It was about respect. I love Italians. They gave me my life back.

We hear how fit formula 1 racing drivers have to be – does this apply to power boat racers as well?

Many don’t stay as fit as they could, but we have protection such as Fighter pilot cockpits and breakaway sections and air supply. We also have to dunk test throughout the year and we have divers and medics everywhere, on the water and above us in helicopters. So we are all fit to a certain extent. The rest is covered by advanced safety features. We have strict medicals, but not everyone is as fit as me. Remember that I am tiny compared to the guys and I get thrown about like a rag doll, even when I’m harnessed in so I am more at risk of injury, so I make sure I am almost unbreakable. I am as fresh when I finish a race as when I start. Poor physical endurance over a long rough race is very dangerous. I also have a grip like a vice.

What sort of fitness or exercise regime does a power boat racer have to follow? How might this differ from the general fitness/gym enthusiast?

All the guys have good endurance - they have to - and they all have a very powerful grip and strong necks. As long as their body can take the stressful pounding of racing, then they do whatever they need to. But it is a dangerous and often painful sport. Many gym goers have an all-round fitness. We have specifics - strong, neck, arms and our spines become compressed so we all have strong backs. We also have to have quick reactions and ignore pain for the duration of a race. We don’t have time to feel pain if we get hurt.

I know that you have been extremely successful in the world of fitness too – have you ever had problems with your weight?

Here is something interesting about me. I was nicknamed ‘Superbody’ a while back. I filmed Channel 5’s Diet Doctor where 6 athletes took part in some tests over a 2 week period, 4 of whom were Olympic athletes. I was measured as having the lowest metabolic rate by far. I was the same as a 13 year old. Everyone else was at least twice that. They thought they’d made a mistake so I was tested twice!

Crazy eh? And what most people don’t realise is that there are almost as many people struggling to put weight on rather than take it off!

Tell us what a typical training day would like for you and how do you juggle 2 sports?

I’ve manage to combine racing with winning World fitness titles but I wouldn’t recommend competing in 2 international sports to anyone. In Malta I was up at 5am running and doing Plyometrics around the pits before a pilots briefing at 7am! Then I had the worry of severe injury during the race, not because I was worried about injury, but because it could wreck my chances of the fitness title I was just about to go for in the USA the week after.

I train 4x a week max. The body needs to rest. I do lots of plyometrics, super-sets and giant-sets. I also lift heavy and do a lot of reps. My trainer says I’m like a machine, my muscles just don’t tire. One of my giant sets has over 1200 reps. It’s a leg workout. My killer small set is 2 minutes on the highest level on the stepper (no cheating by holding on) it’s like running on air…try it!
Then superset, with no rest!

• 50 box jumps onto a 40cm high step
• 3 mins on the stepper
• 40 jumps
• then 4 mins on the stepper
• 30 jumps

But admittedly I immediately lie down on the floor to recover. My trainer allows me 1 minute. It’s the hardest 12 minutes you can spend in a gym. My trainer usually stands over me asking me why I’m breathing so heavily when it’s just the warm-up. And he’s not lying. That’s just the start - the rest has people in the gym staring in disbelief.

Do you think that fitness is just about exercise? What role do you think nutrition has to play?

Fitness isn’t just about exercise. You have to be mentally fit just to cope with everyday life. We need clarity and vision and it is about taking care of our self inside and out. I often visit schools to talk about this subject and recently in Southampton I spoke to children on the necessity of a good diet referencing certain foods that help concentration levels and learning. Without the right nutrition, I couldn’t have won so many medals or had the right concentration to focus.

So what sort of things would you typically be eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

I always start the day with porridge. For lunch, a protein shake and if I’m running around, I buy packets of beef or seafood. It’s fast food, but good fast food. Salmon Flakes and chicken satay sticks. I always also either have fillet steak or tuna steak for dinner with a small jacket and a massive salad. This food for me is food heaven. I love clean healthy food. Junk food has never interested me. I never leave the house without packets of ham in my bag. And I don’t have a sweet tooth. My parents simply didn’t allow junk food in the house.

Do you take any supplements? If so which ones, and what role do you believe supplements have to play in building a healthy and balanced lifestyle?

I am sponsored by Reflex which is great because it’s the quality of the supplements which is important to me. I take Omega 3, Glucosamine and Chondroitin, green tea and their Banoffee protein powder. It tastes so naughty!

I don’t think people need to pay a fortune on supplements but a ‘one-a-day’ is good. I don’t believe in kids having supplements because if you are feeding them correctly, why would they need them?
As we get older our body needs certain things for our bones and joints for example. Age and health play a big part in this and we shouldn’t take something because our friend takes it. We are all individual and all have different needs. In reality we can get all we need from a very good diet, but our life-style often dictates our diet. Cavemen didn’t have the choice, but then again, they didn’t have a fast food outlet on every corner depriving them from important nutrients.

I know that you have been starting to change the focus of what you do – working more and more with others to encourage them to adopt healthy lifestyles. From your experience, what do people find as the most challenging or difficult things to change?

Just gripping change itself - especially when they have a family to cater for. It’s trying to break the routine, but it has to be broken to advance and move into a healthier lifestyle. Those with kids need to be healthy themselves to pass it to their young. This is an obese society, and a society of children with too many ipods and computers and easy access to fast food.

Please think about yourself just for a few minutes. You deserve time for yourself, and my focus is on women’s fitness as women rule the roost and do the juggling. And women are more prone to weight gain with an increasing number showing signs of depression and comfort eating.

We need to embrace change and not be scared to do so. I’m currently working with a lovely lady now who is twice the weight she should be because of certain factors. Her first session with me made her husband phone me overwhelmed by the change in her emotional state. He couldn’t thank me enough. But she just needed some positivity and guidance, and this is what I’m good at. I’ve been through hell myself, so I like to feel that the qualification of life itself gave me this gift in helping others.

Sadly, we all get older and even with lots of exercise and healthy eating, it can start to catch up on us. What are your thoughts on things like cosmetic surgery, botox and so on? Do you have a view?

I think surgery is great! Many people would say not to have it and you can obtain anything you want in a gym. The fact is, not everyone can. Many people lose weight but need tummy tucks because of loose skin. Bingo wings cannot be ‘worked off’. You may be able to reduce them by weight loss, but you cannot spot reduce and any trainer that shows you exercises for bingo wings needs to retrain!

But a good surgeon can assist. If it makes you feel good, do it! You have one life! Make it count, make it sexy and treat yourself. You are beautiful, and if there is something which makes you a little bit more confident and at ease with yourself, then do it.

But I will say one thing. Never compromise yourself by going somewhere cheap. Yan Stanek for example may be expensive, but at least he is brilliant.

Did I hear that you are very involved in a campaign to help people stop smoking? Why is this so important to you?

My gran had throat cancer through smoking. I now have a bioresonance business which is new to this country. It stops 90% of my clients from smoking in just one hour. The Doctors over here are nervous of it because it so advanced and they often say its ‘Dr Who’ medicine, but they just haven’t studied physics and don’t like to understand that something has advanced ‘past’ the archaic patch! It’s used by NASA in their manned satellites by way of a Schumann wave generator. A member of my family used to work for NASA designing metals for nuclear warheads and another works in physics and they both give it a massive thumbs up. They love it. You can’t argue with those brains! It also gets rid of sugar addiction in approx 5 appointments, and helps with many other things such as injury, PMT, bloating etc. It’s genius. The affects are amazing depending on the skill of the practitioner and I’m so pleased that I have made a difference to so many people lives. Many have come back to me to assist with other problems they have, which is a huge compliment. My site is www.instantquit.co.uk and I will have info at the show on it. Terry Christian is due to see me in the next few weeks. He’s an old friend of mine and has smoked 20 a day for 24 years, so thinks it’s about time to quit! So he will quit with me.

You are actively involved in a number of charities – how can people find out more about what you are doing?

My website is www.sarahdonohue.com. I am heavily involved with ‘Help for Heroes’ and presently have a 2012 Calendar out to help raise a million for Richard Cooks quest. It is all on the Help for Heroes website.

What’s next in the pipeline?

Well I’m very excited to talk about this so soon, but I’m bringing from America the original Galaxy Competition. This was the first ever fitness competition for women where they could showcase beauty, health and functional fitness all under one roof. Over here we have Miss World or Bodybuilding or the odd Fitness challenge for example. But ‘Miss Galaxy Universe’ encompasses everything.

In America, these competitions are huge and some have their own reality TV shows and encourage up to 250 competitors. This is where my career in fitness was born. After my crash it took me 2 years before I was fit again. I became so fit and so strong, I went to the USA and represented Britain in Galaxy where I came 4th out of 150 women. Now I hold the world fitness title and Britain needs a show like this.

We are going to encourage all women into fitness. We have a Yummy Mummy Class and a Newcomer Class, as well as the original Bikini and Fitness Model Classes. It will be a breath of fresh air for the UK! We want to showcase strong beautiful women and also help women back into fitness. ‘Galaxy Universe’ will also have fitness tests, and to win the grand title, the girls must compete in the fitness and the evening wear as well as wearing swimwear.

I will soon be looking for a gym to work with us on this competition. We are leading the way for a new era of functional fitness and encouraging women to join us by coming along to one of our Galaxy Training camps. These are for anyone - you don’t have to compete to come to one and learn. We have many experts to give advice including the lovely Sarason from the original Gladiators and Destroyer from the new Gladiators. Please have a look at www.galaxyuniverse.org

So, you are coming along to the Good Health Show as a Guest Presenter. What can we all expect from you?

I will have stand at the show for both the Smoking treatment and for ‘Galaxy Universe’, but the presentation will be different to anything else delivered. There are lots of experts to give you advice on health, so I’ll be looking at the easy way to get you motivated. First I’ll be showing a short DVD of my accident where I died for 4 minutes. BBC reconstructed it as well as some real footage. It shows the Bond movie I was in and race footage and how someone can go from lying lifeless to being a World Champion. You simply need a vision and dedication! The human body is phenomenal in how it recovers from trauma. The crash made me who I am today and I want to share my worst and my best moments. This has inspired many people.

And some quick fire questions

Fave Drink? Vimto
Fave Food? Indian, Chicken Pathia
Fave Hotel? The Von Essen chain
Fave Running Shoe? Asics
Fave Designer clothing range? I have a degree in design, so if i really want something, I design and make my own. It fits better!
Fave all time action hero? Arnie
Perfect sports woman / man? I don’t have a favourite. I admire anyone who has so much discipline that they can achieve great things.

Sarah Donohue
www.sarahdonohue.com
www.instantquit.co.uk