Alison Hammond lost 11 stone after changing how she trained with Ellis Gatfield. The 51-year-old This Morning presenter moved away from long cardio sessions and into resistance-based work that she could repeat consistently.
Gatfield said the setup mattered because Hammond never took to traditional cardio. He said, "She never particularly enjoyed traditional cardio, so instead of forcing long treadmill sessions, I focused on raising her heart rate through resistance training performed in a circuit format, using mainly compound movements."
Ellis Gatfield and 30 minutes
Five years ago, Hammond hired Gatfield, and the routine that followed was built around sessions kept to around 30 minutes. He said, "She loved being able to come in, work hard for 30 minutes, feel accomplished, and get on with her day."
That time limit is the practical detail readers can use. Shorter sessions remove one of the biggest barriers to consistency, and the plan also included scheduled recovery days, which Gatfield said helped regulate stress, reduce fatigue, and allow her body to adapt and improve.
Resistance training over cardio
Gatfield called the old assumption the biggest mistake: "The biggest mistake from her training before was believing that exercise had to mean long, boring cardio sessions to lose weight." He said the change worked once the sessions matched what Hammond actually liked, not what sounded punishing.
He added, "Strength training played a huge role in Alison’s weight loss because it allowed her to burn calories, build lean muscle, and improve her metabolism, without relying on long or exhausting cardio sessions." The visible result was 11 stone gone, but the method behind it was the real story: resistance work, compound movements, and repeatable effort.
For readers comparing approaches, Gatfield’s advice is direct: "For most women, especially those new to resistance training, I’d recommend two-three sessions per week." Dermot O'Leary welcomes Angela Scanlon as Alison Hammond misses June 19 sits in the background of Hammond’s on-screen life, but the weight-loss lesson is simpler than celebrity chatter: build a routine you can keep, then leave room for rest.
Gatfield summed up the balance in one line: "Rest was equally essential [to her results]." That is the part many people skip when they chase quick change, and it is the piece that makes Hammond’s 11-stone loss feel more like a repeatable system than a one-off burst of discipline.
