Broadcaster and neuroscience coach champions fitness community
Liezel Van Der Westhuizen, best known for her TV work, hosted a functional fitness session at Cyprium Hybrid Centre, encouraging women to move together and build communities.
Television presenter, broadcaster, and neuroscience coach Liezel Van Der Westhuizen recently hosted a functional fitness session at Cyprium Hybrid Centre on Bram Fischer Drive, bringing women together through movement, mental wellbeing, and community.
Van Der Westhuizen said the session was about more than exercise.
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She explained that while movement is important, training can often feel lonely. Creating a shared space where women can meet, train together, and build friendships helps remove that isolation and makes it easier to stay committed to fitness.
She said community plays a key role, especially on weekends when motivation can be low. Being part of a group, she added, helps people overcome mental barriers on days when they would rather stay home.
Goal setting was another focus of the session. Van Der Westhuizen encouraged women to set realistic and manageable goals, rather than placing pressure on themselves to achieve too much at once.
She explained that trying to reach too many goals can overwhelm the brain, often leading to burnout and disappointment.
Mental health in fitness was a central theme. Van Der Westhuizen shared her personal experience of training for an Ironman event and facing negative comments about her performance on social media. She said the criticism affected her confidence and led her to stop training.
This experience pushed her to work with a mental fitness coach, which later inspired her to study mental fitness and neuroscience. Today, she works with athletes, Olympians, and high-pressure teams, helping them manage focus and performance.
For everyday fitness enthusiasts, she said it is important to accept personal limits and silence negative self-talk.
She also shared her current goal of training for a HYROX event. By breaking the challenge into small, achievable steps, she said she has learnt to focus on progress rather than speed.
Van Der Westhuizen encouraged people starting their fitness journey to find clubs or gyms where they feel welcome.
She added that creating inclusive and supportive communities is what helps fitness spaces grow.
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