Meet the Base Body Babes, the personal training sister duo changing the face of fitness for women the world over.
Promoting an active lifestyle through fashion, confidence and self-love sets Felicia and Diana aside as true inspirations, and they've chalked up a following of over 600k on their Instagram account @basebodybabes whilst doing it!
The pair also keep their followers informed with a blog packed full of recipes, exercises, and - our favourite topic - fashion. Showcasing the very best in new and classic activewear, these girls have their fingers on the pulse of everything hot (and not) in fitness today.
We were lucky enough to speak with one half of this dynamic duo, Felicia Oreb, to get the low-down on how Base Body Babes eat, sleep and breathe a healthy lifestyle; and most importantly, what they wear whilst doing it!
Thanks for taking the time to answer some of our questions Felicia. Have you and Diana always been into fitness, or is it something you tried later in life? We have been training in the gym for almost 15 years, which is as long as I've been with my husband Sebastian Oreb (@australianstrengthcoach), who is also a personal trainer. We were always sporty as kids, so being active has been part of our lives since we were young.
The Base Body Babes website offers a range of health and fitness packages that help women achieve their wellness goals. What was the inspiration behind this? The three of us all love training together and educating ourselves on all things health and fitness, however it wasn’t until about four years ago when we started our business. It was after I had my baby, that I really started to focus on my own training and getting my body back in shape. I studied to become a Personal Trainer, and Diana had already completed hers years before, and then we began running outdoor bootcamps for mums to help them get their bodies back after pregnancy too. From there we took our business online offering online personal training for women all over the world and the business has just continued to grow quite rapidly. We now have a boutique gym (@basegym) in North Sydney and a health food cafe Base Fuel also.
What made you want to start your own business? We have been passionate about health and fitness for a long time now, but when we realised that so many women were interested in our training methods and wanted to learn more from us, it was the the obvious path to develop our business. I have a degree in Design, and Diana has a degree in early childhood learning, which we both love; but once we started training and helping others, everything shifted for us and we knew this was what we wanted to do and as sisters. The fact that we could both do it together was even better. We felt like we really had a lot to offer our clients and women in general. It's a really great feeling helping them achieve their goals and change their lives, so it was a no-brainer for us, we just had to make a career out of it.
What was the biggest challenge starting your business? Opening the gym and cafe were are huge challenge, and our most complicated development to date. The most challenging part of our job is keeping on top of it all. We love our work and want to do it all, however there not enough hours in the day to get through our workload, so time management, organisation and having a great team are so important.
What is the most rewarding part of your work? Helping our clients. We are inspired everyday by the women that we have the opportunity to coach and we couldn’t imagine doing anything other than what we are doing. We are so passionate about health and fitness and we want to help as many people as we can to be as happy, healthy, fit, strong and confident as possible and we are able to that daily with our work, which is such an amazing and totally satisfying feeling.
What gets you up in the morning? Our family and work! I have a daughter who depends on me, so I am up bright and early with her and my husband getting ready for our day. For Diana, it's our work! Diana comes straight to work for her morning long black from our cafe, Base Fuel, and straight into work!
What are your top tips for looking good and feeling great? Lift Weights and Be Active! Lifting weights is our favourite way to stay active and truly shape and transform the body. Base Body Babes training consists of a combination of strength and circuit style training with weights. We love working out because it makes us feel happy, healthy, fit, strong and energised. Plus of course ensuring you have a good nights sleep every night (aim for a minimum of 8 hours) and you are fuelling your body with wholesome and nutritious foods. Be consistent and maintain it for life. Consistency is key!
You recently collaborated with Glue Store on the new Wrangler Physical collection. What are your favourite pieces from this range? We love the logo tees and singlets; you can’t go wrong with one of these paired back with denim or training gear.
Athleisurewear is everywhere these days, from a resurgence in apparel from brands like Nike and Adidas to Beyoncé’s activewear project Ivy Park. But what do you wear when you're not in activewear? Our style is quite casual, we live in basic pieces - denim and white tees are our go-to. Our aesthetic is always sporty, casual, minimalist and comfortable.
What's your favourite fashion trend this season? Sportluxe of course! We don’t think we will ever get over this trend.
Do you mix your activewear into your everyday wardrobe, or do you keep your daywear separate to your activewear? We definitely mix the two. We live in the gym, so our everyday wardrobe consists of a mix of activewear and athleisurewear. We get bored with just wearing activewear pieces all the time, so we like to mix in some more casual pieces to give our style a more casual street vibe.
What do you look for when shopping for activewear, and what are the most important features to you? Style and fit are our main priority. We aren’t as concerned with the functionality of the pieces, but rather how they fit on the body and how they look and feel. We do like good quality fabrics that can withstand lots of washing.
Your instagram is an inspiration to thousands of followers, but who inspires you? We always try to surround ourselves with positive people, people that support us and people that bring out the best in us. My husband, Sebastian Oreb is a leading strength coach for Australia’s elite athletes and trainers. He is by far our biggest influencer and motivator – his knowledge and experience is second to none and he has taught us so much. He is also our coach and really helps us stay focused and push ourselves to achieve our goals both in the gym and in our business. Also our mum, she is the most loving, caring, dedicated, loyal, hard working woman we know. She guides us, supports us and teaches us something new everyday and always inspires us to be the best people we can be.
Research and introduction: Paige Maris | Interview: Alexander Elsey
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