Paula

Cloud Dodging

We spend our lives chasing blue skies,
as though happiness lives only in the light.

But the clouds come.
They always will.

And sometimes, if we stop running,
something beautiful happens.

We feel the rain.
We hold each other closer.
We love a little deeper.

And suddenly life takes hold of your heart
and makes it bigger in your chest.

Maybe we were never meant to dodge the clouds.

Maybe we were meant
to live beneath the whole sky.

Words by Paula Lamb August 2026
Art by Raeche Dacanay

MOTIVATION DROP 🎤

Be ready for the week ahead with a few fitness truths.

You can start tomorrow… or you can keep waiting for the perfect time that may never come.

I’m not here to lecture you, tell you what you should look like, or dictate what you should do with your body. I’m here to encourage the people who want reality.

Change is possible.
Progress is possible.

And neither requires you to hate the body you’re starting with.

Loving your body doesn’t have to come with abuse, torture, guilt or shame. Exercise shouldn’t be punishment for what you ate, how you look, or what you didn’t do last week.

Real fitness should align with your wellbeing.

It should make you stronger, healthier and more capable while still leaving room for joy, rest, good food, holidays, family, friends and LIFE.

Self-love and wanting to improve are not opposites.
You can appreciate your body AND want to make it stronger.
You can have goals AND be kind to yourself along the way.

That’s the kind of fitness I believe in. ❤️

Paula@Corefit & just turn up ✌🏽❤️✨

Out already! Woohoo! 🥳

Happy 1st Wedding anniversary to my favourite couple in the whole world ❤️❤️ after almost 2 decades together 🥳
Love you both. Enjoy every moment! ✨ .hel

Pigeon Holes

There’s a little trait that humans have,
Not sure when it began,
That makes us want to label folk
And say what they are and can.

We slot them in a pigeon hole,
Or pop them in a box,
You’re free to be yourself in there…
Just stay within those locks.

It bristles people’s feathers
When you branch out and change your path,
When the serious one starts dancing,
Or the quiet one makes us laugh.

When someone dares to change their mind,
To grow, evolve, explore,
It seems to make us restless
When they’re not who they were before.

“You’re not the sporty one.”
“You’ve never been that way.”
“You’re far too old to start that now.”
“What will everybody say?”

We’re comfortable with versions
Of the people that we know,
But somehow feel unsettled
When those people start to grow.

Perhaps another’s courage
Can expose the things we fear,
The dreams we packed away ourselves,
The roads we didn’t steer.

So rather than applaud them,
We may quietly pull them back,
Remind them of their limits,
Point out everything they lack.

But none of us is one thing,
We’re a thousand shades and hues,
We’re allowed to change direction,
We’re allowed to change our views.

The strong can still be tender,
The shy can take the floor,
The sensible can take a risk
And go in search of more.

The old can start a new life,
The young can still be wise,
And someone you thought you had worked out
May take you by surprise.

So when somebody spreads their wings,
Don’t remind them where they’ve been,
Don’t measure who they’re becoming
By the only version you have seen.

Make room for reinvention,
For another route or role,
Because nobody was put on Earth
To fit your pigeon hole.

And maybe when we stop deciding
What everybody ought to be,
We’ll give each other something
That costs nothing.

Room to be free.

So let them ruffle feathers,
Let them wander, let them roam,
For a pigeon hole is fine for post…

But it’s a dreadful place to call home.

Words by Paula Lamb August 2026
Art by Zhanna Kan

LISTS OPEN for September 🤩
Thank you for your continued presence in class 🙏🏼
Lots have already paid, lots booked and paying end of this month.
Please aim to secure your places with full payment by the end of August.
It’s gonna be another busy one!
Thank you 🙏🏼

Peptides & Menopause: Worth the Hype?

A quick, evidence-based guide for busy women

If you’re somewhere between perimenopause and post-menopause, there’s a good chance the word peptides has started appearing on your social media feed.

They’re being talked about for muscle, fat loss, recovery, injuries, sleep, skin and even anti-ageing.

So are we witnessing an exciting development in women’s health or clever marketing?

The answer is: a bit of both.

First: what actually is a peptide?

Peptides are simply short chains of amino acids -the building blocks of proteins. Our bodies naturally produce thousands of them, where they act as biological messengers.

And peptide medicine itself is absolutely legitimate.

Some established medicines are peptides. The problem comes when the word peptide is used to give experimental treatments a medical halo they haven’t necessarily earned yet.

The peptides currently attracting attention in fitness and longevity circles include BPC-157, TB-500, CJC-1295, ipamorelin and GHK-Cu.

These are very different from established, approved peptide medicines.

Why are menopausal women interested?

It’s easy to understand the appeal.

During and after the menopausal transition, maintaining muscle, strength, bone and connective tissue becomes increasingly important. Research confirms that musculoskeletal changes accelerate around menopause. (PubMed⁠)

Then someone offers something that supposedly helps you:

recover faster • preserve muscle • reduce body fat • heal tendons • sleep better • improve collagen • increase energy

Of course women are going to be interested.

But biologically plausible isn’t the same thing as clinically proven.

Take BPC-157…

This is probably the best example of the current peptide phenomenon.

Animal and laboratory research is genuinely interesting. BPC-157 has demonstrated effects involving inflammation, blood-vessel formation, collagen, fibroblasts and healing of muscle, tendon, ligament and other tissues. (PubMed⁠)

That sounds fantastic.

But we don’t yet have good-quality human evidence showing that it produces those same benefits in women going through menopause or even in the general exercising population.

A 2026 scientific review found that available clinical evidence amounted to fewer than 30 people across three uncontrolled pilot studies, with no completed Phase II clinical trial and no validated dosing regimen. (PubMed⁠)

That’s a very different picture from some of the claims we’re seeing online.

What about peptides for growth hormone?

Another increasingly popular approach involves peptides such as CJC-1295 and ipamorelin, which interact with the growth-hormone system.

Here there is human evidence showing a biological effect.

A placebo-controlled study of CJC-1295 found substantial and prolonged increases in growth hormone and IGF-1 in healthy adults. (PubMed⁠)

But here’s the important bit:

Increasing a hormone marker doesn’t automatically prove improved muscle, fat loss, recovery, longevity or health.

Those are separate questions requiring proper clinical trials.

And manipulating growth signalling isn’t biologically trivial.

Why have peptides suddenly become so popular?

They actually aren’t new.

Some of this science has existed for decades.

What’s new is the environment surrounding it.

The huge visibility of injectable weight-management medicines has made injections feel much more normal. At the same time we’ve seen an explosion in biohacking, longevity clinics, hormone optimisation and social-media health influencers.

Peptides fit perfectly into that world.

They sound cutting-edge, personalised and scientific.

There is also genuinely more research appearing, including several major reviews published in 2026.

But one recent sports-medicine review summed up the situation rather well: clinical adoption of injectable peptides has moved faster than the high-quality evidence supporting them. (PubMed⁠)

So are peptides safe?

For many of the fashionable fitness peptides, the truthful answer is:

We don’t know enough yet.

That doesn’t mean they’re necessarily dangerous.

It means absence of evidence of harm isn’t the same thing as evidence of safety.

The FDA has specifically highlighted insufficient safety information and potential concerns surrounding compounded BPC-157, CJC-1295, ipamorelin and injectable GHK-Cu, among others. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration⁠)

There’s another consideration too.

With injectable products, you’re not only considering the molecule. You’re trusting that the product contains the correct substance, correct concentration and no contamination or problematic impurities.

Compounded medicines aren’t evaluated for safety, effectiveness and quality in the same way as approved medicines before being marketed. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration⁠)

My takeaway for women

I’m not anti-peptide.

Actually, I think this is an incredibly interesting area of research.

Some peptides may eventually become genuinely useful treatments for musculoskeletal health, recovery and other aspects of ageing.

But I’m equally uncomfortable with presenting promising early science as established medicine.

Right now, if you’re a peri-, menopausal or post-menopausal woman wanting to protect your body for the next several decades, don’t allow exciting new interventions to distract you from the things for which we already have much stronger evidence:

progressive resistance training • sufficient protein • regular physical activity • appropriate nutrition • good recovery and sleep • maintaining cardiovascular fitness • addressing menopausal symptoms appropriately with a qualified healthcare professional

The new science can sit alongside the fundamentals.

It shouldn’t replace them.

The simple Corefit rule

When someone tells you a peptide will heal your injury, burn fat, build muscle, reverse ageing or transform your recovery, ask:

Which peptide?

What human trials demonstrate that particular benefit?

Were menopausal women actually studied?

What do we know about long-term safety?

Is the product medically regulated and quality-controlled?

If nobody can answer those questions clearly, enthusiasm should probably wait for the science to catch up.

Peptide research is real. The potential is exciting. But for many of the peptides currently being marketed to women, the hype is several steps ahead of the evidence.

Research & further reading

2026 review: Injectable Peptides in Sports Medicine — PubMed⁠

2026 review: BPC-157 evidence and development — PubMed⁠

BPC-157 tissue repair and pain review — PubMed⁠

Human CJC-1295 randomised controlled study — PubMed⁠

Exercise, nutrition and musculoskeletal health in women — systematic review/meta-analysis⁠

FDA: Safety concerns with compounded peptide substances⁠

For information and education rather than individual medical advice. Anyone considering a peptide or other prescription/compounded treatment should discuss their individual circumstances with an appropriately qualified medical professional.

The current home of my Pilates Evolution. A beautiful space. So peaceful.