Evonne Mudzingwa believes in the adage; All work and no play makes Jill a dull girl.
By Moses Mugugunyeki
She is the brains behind Ladies Fitness Battle, a fitness event that challenges women to compete in various aerobic and anaerobic activities.
A hardworking and ambitious woman, Eve, as she is popularly known, was motivated to start the battles by her desire to see women consistently train throughout the year.
“The battle is a challenging yet fun and goal-driven motivation for the ladies to keep training all year round,” she said.
She has four active fitness projects under Eve’s brands — Ladies Fitness Studio, Eve’s Ladies Fitness Battle, The Man Cave and Eve’s Little Gym.
“The motivation with all these projects is the need to make a difference in somebody’s life; to make someone’s life just a little bit better by helping and inspiring them to be fitter and healthier,” she said.
The battle which was founded in August last year is a fitness and wellness initiative held three times a year — in April, August and November.
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“The growth in popularity of the event has been truly remarkable since its inception in August 2014 and it has become bigger and more successful at each turn. Last year the battle attracted two teams, in November 2014 it had five teams and in April we had nine participating teams. But this month it’s most likely that the number of teams will increase,” she said.
“There are 24 teams provisionally booked, each with 12 competing members. This, together with the individually registered participants, means there will be over 300 women from all over Zimbabwe taking part at this year’s Fitness Battle scheduled for next Saturday.”
The 41-year-old fitness enthusiast said Ladies Fitness Battle has proved popular and attracted teams from outside Zimbabwe. She said her agenda was to make fitness sexy, relevant and a viable and sustainable lifestyle choice for Zimbabwean women.
“I am inspired by the need to make fitness more than just a sweat and pain affair. I wanted to bring a fun element to fitness. I had noticed that women were struggling to keep their new year’s resolutions of staying fit and healthy throughout the year. So giving them a fitness battle to train for every three months seemed a clever way, albeit a bit manipulative,” she said.
Born and bred in Chegutu in a family of five, Eve did her primary school education at Hartley Preparatory School in the same town, before she moved to Harare for high school at Girls High.
She did diplomas in Personal Assistant and Marketing with BIC Academy and IMM respectively.
An internationally-certified fitness coach, Eve trained to be a group fitness coach with LesMills Asia Pacific. She has also done courses in body combat, body step, body pump and RPM (studio cycling) and Zumba.
She said the Ladies Fitness Battle was not meant for fit people.
“Professional athletes and fitness instructors are not eligible to compete. This event is for the ordinary woman, who just wants to maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle. All fitness levels are welcome,” she said.
