Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Better Yourself: The Hawke’s Bay couple trying to help people live healthy lives

Linda Hall
By Linda Hall
LDR reporter - Hawke's Bay·Hawkes Bay Today·
15 Mar, 2024 06:15 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Better Yourself is owned and run by Bridget Hicks and Pierce Ward.

Better Yourself is owned and run by Bridget Hicks and Pierce Ward.

Yoyo diets, workouts, gyms, jogging.

Most of us have been on the treadmill at some point in our life, looking for a quick fix to fit into an outfit or worse, trying to fix that feeling of helplessness when we look in the mirror.

It’s hard going it alone. Many of us quickly fall back into old habits and quite frankly, it can be depressing.

There is no easy fix. However, a Hawke’s Bay couple are on a mission to help people live a healthy and fit life.

Better Yourself is owned and run by Bridget Hicks and Pierce Ward.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Bridget says “unfortunately our world is bombarded with quick fixes, fads and extreme approaches to get results fast with zero regard to health or keeping results long term”.

“That’s our point of difference. We ensure our clients have a sustainable and balanced approach to get results and maintain them long-term, prioritising their health.

“We create custom workout plans and nutrition plans for every individual. Each plan is personalised to the client’s needs, preferences and goals.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“For example, workout plans can be designed for at-home or in-gym, set to their achievable amount of days and duration they can realistically commit to, their goals and abilities.”

Before and after photos of one of Better Yourself's clients.
Before and after photos of one of Better Yourself's clients.

Better Yourself designs nutrition plans to cater to all dietary needs such as dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan.

“The meals are easy-to-prep and budget friendly and cater to your likes, dislikes, allergies, preferred amount of meals per day, individual caloric and macro requirements, goals and meal flexibility.

“We do our best to stay accessible and affordable so our plans are delivered via our easy-to-use app from only $40 per month.”

Clients from around New Zealand follow their custom plans and Bridget says it’s great to see people improve their lifestyle and prioritise their health and fitness.

“However, because we are based in Hawke’s Bay, we want to make a big impact on our community so we have ventured into corporate wellness.

“We are looking after a large local company with regular boot camps. Their staff have access to custom plans via our app. They love it so much they all show up at 5am, three days a week.”

Better Yourself’s latest project is pretty exciting.

“We want to help someone in Hawke’s Bay who needs a massive lifestyle change to save their health. So we are offering an Ultimate Lifestyle Transformation.

“Applications are open and the winner will receive more than $6000 worth of help to transform their health and body.”

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Better Yourself will provide workout and nutrition plans, personal training sessions and more.

Other local businesses have come on board with Flex Fitness Hastings providing the winner with a 12-week gym membership and Evolt Body Scans, a private cooking lesson with Kieran, owner, chef and nutrition coach of The Shredded Kitchen and Raiseys Supplements will be supplying supplements to help start the winner’s journey!

Bridget says it’s a massive giveaway and has the potential to change someone’s life.

“We want to document the winner’s journey and share it to inspire others to make healthy lifestyle changes. Seeing someone else do it can be very inspirational and motivating.”

Before and after photos of a Better Yourself client.
Before and after photos of a Better Yourself client.

Bridget qualified as a personal trainer in 2009, and achieved further qualifications in sports nutrition, pre and postnatal exercise and nutrition.

Pierce gained his qualifications in personal training about the same time, in his home country Canada.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They joined forces in 2021.

Bridget says the biggest mistake people make when it comes to health and fitness is choosing a diet approach that is not sustainable.

“Heavily restricted diets are not sustainable for long-term results. People fall off the wagon when it gets too hard and they realise eating in that way makes them feel miserable and it’s not worth it.”

The couple have always been sporty and fit.

“We have had a passion for health and fitness for as long as we can remember. Pierce and I started training in gyms at high school and have never stopped. We clicked so well when we met because of our shared passion and values in health.

“We knew when we started our business it could be a slow start. The industry is very saturated but our passion for helping others improve their well-being is what motivates us and things have fallen into place nicely.”

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Asked how they stay motivated to eat well and stay fit, Bridget said motivation did not play a part in whether they eat well and stay fit.

“Motivation is something that gets you started but habits are what keep you going and our daily habits reflect a healthy lifestyle.

“We exercise because we enjoy it and how it makes us feel and because we value our health. We eat well simply because of long-term habits.

“We would feel physically and mentally rubbish if we were to eat a poor diet long term. I think understanding the effects on your health and longevity from living an unhealthy lifestyle helps keep us accountable too - once you are educated on the matter, it’s much harder to turn a blind eye.”

But that’s not to say they don’t treat themselves.

“We absolutely do. We live a balanced lifestyle and understand it’s about what you do most of the time and not about what you do some of the time. So most of the time we eat clean and sometimes we have treats.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“We don’t restrict ourselves to the point of being unhappy. We all get cravings and we will satisfy them when we do. It’s all things in moderation in our eyes. There are no ‘bad foods’, just bad portions.”

To find out more or be in to win the Ultimate Lifestyle Transformation go to www.betteryourself.co.nz

  • Linda Hall is a Hastings-based assistant editor for Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 30 years of experience in newsrooms. She writes regularly on arts and entertainment, lifestyle and hospitality, and pens a column.


Save
    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

'Buried alive': Eels likely died due to council contractors not following code of practice

Hawkes Bay Today

'Cruel irony': Prison gets air conditioning while hospital down the road waits

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

She went to 1000 funerals by the age of 18 – now it's inspired a solo stage show


Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

'Buried alive': Eels likely died due to council contractors not following code of practice
Hawkes Bay Today

'Buried alive': Eels likely died due to council contractors not following code of practice

'We are in the process of developing a standard operating procedure.'

15 Aug 12:16 AM
'Cruel irony': Prison gets air conditioning while hospital down the road waits
Hawkes Bay Today

'Cruel irony': Prison gets air conditioning while hospital down the road waits

14 Aug 09:26 PM
Premium
Premium
She went to 1000 funerals by the age of 18 – now it's inspired a solo stage show
Hawkes Bay Today

She went to 1000 funerals by the age of 18 – now it's inspired a solo stage show

14 Aug 06:00 PM


Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet
Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

10 Aug 09:12 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP