Blogger Spotlight: Faya Nilsson, Fitness on Toast

Faya Nilsson is the Top 10 Fitness and Exercise Blogger responsible for Fitness on Toast. Advocating every element of a healthy lifestyle, from fitness to nutrition, Faya is also a personal trainer. We caught up with Faya to talk about her favourite kind of workout, the importance of quality photography to her blog’s success and collaborating with brands.

How would you describe your blog?
Fitness On Toast is meant to be an easily-digested dose of ‘healthy lifestyle’ motivation that doesn’t take itself too seriously (in a world where too much is serious!), and which helps to inform people about their health choices, and injects a little bit of fun into the day!

Why did you start your blog?
I’ve been a personal trainer for over 10 years, and I wanted to find a way to help clients out beyond our 1-hour slot together. There was so much more ethos to share with them that just couldn’t get covered in the session, so I whipped up Fitness on Toast to pick up the slack. The aim was to give clients views on fitness trends, healthy recipe ideas, options for active travel, and fitness fashion. Over the years, the content has appealed to others beyond that original audience, and I’m extremely happy to call it my job to share that with likeminded readers!

What makes your blog different from other fitness blogs?
I think it’s a unique combination of workout tips/routines, healthy travel ideas, fitness fashion and nutrition advice in a single destination, properly written by a qualified, practicing professional, who always gives unbiased opinions. It’s also complemented by fabulous professional photography, shot in some of the world’s most wonderful locations, which I think massively lifts the appeal of what I’m trying to say!

What’s the next big fitness trend going to be?
The next big trend will be more of a ‘slow movement’. HIIT training has its place but excessive, uninformed HIIT has led to a swathe of injuries and has become the physio’s best friends. People are steering away from the rushed approached and seeking more routes to really connect with their bodies – getting the foundation right first. Random training leads to random results. This, alongside a growing focus on mindfulness, is the future of fitness, to my mind, and that’s very much something which chimes with my ethos, and the direction in which I want the discipline to go.

What piece of equipment or tech is your go-to workout companion?
Not new, but it’s my Apple Watch. I put an in-depth post together on the first edition, and then the second edition.

What’s your favourite workout class or routine?
There are almost too many to choose from.

Barry’s Bootcamp, originally an American franchise, is a superb addition to London’s fitness scene, and for my money, is exceptional. The classes combine bouts of high intensity interval training on a very high-end treadmill, with strength training on the floor. Jumping between the two (strength and HIIT) is gruelling, metabolism-raising, and ensures that you leave the class soaking wet. Afterwards there’s a really social little ‘fuel bar’ where you can mingle and take in some tasty protein concoctions whilst recovering.

Also, Heartcore in St John’s Wood stands out in my mind. I wrote a post about it, inspired by the stunning location.

What was your favourite blog post to create and why?
Well I think that would have to be the trip to the Olympics with Adidas. The sheer scale and importance of the occasion was quite overwhelming, and to have experienced it from such a unique angle was ultimately empowering.

How do you see your blog developing in the future?
I prefer not to think about that too much. Blogging as a discipline is so nascent, that part of its childhood development is in finding its own way. These platforms tend to meander with the times quite nimbly, so other than expressing a real passion for travel (visible from my Active Escapes section), I can’t foresee much by way of the future.

What makes a blog successful?
Animal spirits! If I had to guess, I think that would be writing about a subject on which you have a genuine and differentiated view. I think it’s important to be yourself and use your own voice when writing because occasionally we all encounter a platform where everything feels a bit ‘forced’ and there’s a distinct impression that what’s being written isn’t genuine.

Also, those who focus on their writing seem to do well. While I’m by no means the grammar police and admittedly make mistakes with my missives, sloppy spelling mistakes are a proper turn-off, so spending a little time crafting the message means that people should be happy to take the work seriously, to consider it professional.

I think the quality of imagery can be a serious differentiator too, so those who invest in a good camera, and/or have a photographer they use, will outperform. In 99.9% of my blog posts, I use my own imagery, and indeed across Instagram and Twitter too. The reason I go to some lengths over the photographic component (often doubling the amount of time it takes to put a post together) is because I think that original imagery can really transform and lift the written content I’ve taken time to craft.

The final component I think is engage with a network. Whether you’re left with one or 50 comments, I like to reply as much as possible because someone has taken the time not only to read the post, but was also moved enough by it to make a comment.

How do you like to work with PRs?
I have an excellent agent, Nicholas Douglas from PRJCT Management, who acts as an intermediary for me. He knows the type of content I love to produce and helps field the outreach accordingly, which is an enormous help, as there is just too little time in the day to tackle all PR emails properly. When we decide on a super exciting project with an agency, then the fun part begins, and I love to get really hands on at that point. I’ve laid out the ways in which I work with marketers and PRs on a separate ‘Disclosure’ page, which I think is an important manifesto to consider for any blogger.

What one thing should PRs know about you?
I don’t want to sound like a stickler, but my name is Faya, rather than Fay, Faye, Freya, or even ‘Healthy Haddock Ratatouille’ (that was the title of one of my posts, which someone once believed was my name…). Not that it’s important in itself, but it can speak to the counterpart’s attention to detail as it may impact a project, if that sort of basic thing gets overlooked.

What are your favourite blogs to read?
I follow all sorts of blogs; I have around 200 other blogs on my WordPress follow-list, and on top of that, there are all the Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, Twitter handles and Pinterest boards which all make up my consumption of ‘blogosphere’! My favorites are often a real pick n’ mix of personal opinions written by real people, often with some wonderful photography from some fabulous locations. It’s all really quite inspiring. Visually speaking, I love fashion blogs, like Kayture and TheBlondeSalad for example. I also like Deliciously Ella for a good bit of healthy recipe inspiration, and TheLondoner and ChicOverdose.com for some aspirational lifestyle fodder.

Faya Nilsson features on the Vuelio Media Database along with thousands of other bloggers, influencers and journalists.