Champion heptathlete Louise Hazel reveals the secrets to her killer figure with new weightloss plan

With her washboard stomach and pert bottom, it's not surprising Louise Hazel is often asked how she gets her enviable figure.

Now the Commonwealth champion, who recently announced her retirement from international heptathlon, is letting people in on the secrets of her toned body.

She's become a personal trainer and has devised a new workout and nutritional plan, called the Podium Effect, that's designed to help people lose weight and shape up. The plan is based upon the Olympian's own training methods but is aimed at beginners.

Enviable figure: Louise Hazel is often asked how she gets her toned abs, now you can find out with her new workout plan

She told MailOnline: 'People always ask me "how do you get your arms and your bum like that? And how do you get your abs?"

'Now I have the opportunity to share the knowledge and tricks of the trade that made me an elite athlete.

The Podium Effect 2 Minute Abs Workout

Personal trainer in your living room: Louise demonstrates workouts that can be followed in your own home

Simple but effective: Louise said the workouts are high intensity but suitable for beginners

Fight the fat: The plan involves moves and nutritional advice to help people lose weight and tone up

'The 60 day plan reflects what we do as athletes as we know what training we have planned for the next four weeks. I wanted to give the average person access to something like that. I hope I can be a role model and give people the information they need to better themselves.'

The Podium Effect is an online programme that people can subscribe to for £9.99 a month. They can then log in to access workout videos demonstrated by Louise and nutritional advice including meal plans.

London-born Louise said the workouts are all 'simple but effective' involving moves such as sit ups and burpees that you can do in your own home.

Golden girl: The heptathlete came first at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Dehli

Team GB: Louise with fellow heptathletes Katarina Johnson-Thompson, (left) and Jessica Ennis-Hill. She won't carry on training to qualify for Rio 2016 due to a number of factors including lack of financial support

She explained: 'I wanted to make it so people have no excuse not to exercise. The main excuse for exercising nowadays is "I don't have time" and people can't always afford to join a gym or get a personal trainer. So I wanted to offer a solution to the average person to get them into fitness and kick start a new regime.

'People get out of the habit of exercising and I wanted to create something that takes the stress away. It's effectively a fitness DVD but streamed and available to you wherever you go. The workouts are 45 minutes long including the warm up and down.'

Louise developed the nutritional side of the plan with Kim Pearson, who was her nutritionist in the build-up to the London 2012 Olympics.

Louise explained: 'It's a low glycaemic, low carb diet and is based on portion sizes not calorie counting. Having to count calories is just tedious and I wanted to create something that's sustainable both in terms of fitness and nutrition.

Still training: Although she's retired from the heptathlon, she will keep running and plans to take part in a 10k for the British Heart Foundation

'Having to monitor every bite you put in your mouth seems ridiculous. You just need to know the nutrients and foods you need to put in your body to stay healthy. That's the information we are providing.'

She added: 'Dieting shouldn't be a case of "today I'm just eating celery". It should be exciting and people should be able to look at a list of ingredients and create something tasty.'

'Having to monitor every bite you put in your mouth seems ridiculous. You just need to know the foods you need to stay healthy'

The personal trainer said she's seen 'amazing results' with the people she's worked with so far.

'Some lost 5kg in 26 days and 7cm around the waist,' she said. 'When I put the programme together I knew I needed to create a calorie deficient to ensure users will see results.'

Louise's new fitness venture comes as she hangs up her track spikes, retiring from athletics at the relatively young age of 27.

She has been competing at international level since the age of 15, excelling at the seven different disciplines of the heptathlon in order to represent her country in the European, World and Commonwealth Championships, as well as the London Olympics.

The highlight of her career was a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010.

The University of Birmingham graduate admitted some have seen her retirement as premature but she said the time was right to pursue new opportunities due to a number of factors.

She said: 'The London Olympics was an incredible time for me and I've had a great career gaining a Commonwealth gold medal. The Rio Olympics is another three years which is a long time to keep training. I wanted to do other things and explore opportunities that could be equally as exciting and rewarding.

 

The Podium Effect 2min Glute Workout

'It's a personal decision and injury and illness has come into the equation. They can mean you train hard but still don't fulfil your full potential on the day of competition. Some people have been sad about me retiring but I'm really enjoying it. I've had an amazing opportunity to represent my country and it's opened so many doors for me for which I'm very grateful.'

Without bitterness, the heptathlon added that her ability to carry on as a full-time athlete till Rio 2016 was hindered by a lack of support from sport governing bodies and sponsors - as she was dropped from lottery funding and had no kit deal.

She said: 'Not having funding made it difficult for me to consider a long term future in the sport. We talk about Olympic legacy but it remains to be seen for those athletes who didn't medal at the London Games. The onus is on us to create our own Olympic legacy.

'There are athletes out there like Greg Rutherford who has said he can't get a kit contract. That's a basic you'd expect for someone who has achieved an Olympic gold medal.

'It's no surprise for me that there's a struggle for funding in sport and I didn't want that to be an on-going battle for another four years.'

She added: 'It's difficult to keep going when you don't have a means to stay on track. The heptathlon means training for seven events so it's more than a full-time job. You have to be at the track five hours a day. I would train twice a day, six times a week.

'If you can only fund that by getting a part-time job then you have to ask what you can achieve when you can only give it half your time. I had to be realistic.'

On the plus side of retirement, Louise said she's grateful she no longer has to run painful lactic acid inducing 800m races. But she doesn't want to stop running altogether so she's signed up for a new challenge - the Blenheim Palace 10k run on Sunday 6th October.

She'll be taking part as an ambassador for the British Heart Foundation - a cause that resonates with her as she lost her father to heart disease in 2008.

She said: 'He had a heart attack and a stroke and spent six weeks in hospital before he passed away. It was tragic as he never got to see me compete in the Olympic Games. So I want to help give people information about how to have a healthy lifestyle and a healthy heart.'

Louise is running The British Heart Foundation Blenheim Palace 10k on Sunday 6th October, to sponsor her visit www.justgiving.com/TeamHazel. To subscribe to The Podium Effect®, visit www.thepodiumeffect.com