She’s Gotta Try

The Only Number That Defines You Is the One on the Back of Your Shirt

Whenever I launch the Peerless Pack, I get asked the same questions. What results can you guarantee? Will I lose X amount of kilos? Fit into a size 10? Score tries each game? My answer is always the same: these things are never guaranteed. Never, ever guaranteed.

In this episode I get honest about why. As a teenager in the 90s, I grew up believing my worth was measured by being the smallest number possible. Into my late 20s and early 30s I tried everything: low carb, low fat, skipping meals, fat burners, 5am workouts, and telling myself I didn't like cake, chocolate or pudding. That was the biggest lie I ever told myself. I was in a disordered eating pattern under the guise of discipline, and I share how that cycle of restricting, overeating in secret and guilt kept me stuck.

I also talk about what changed. Rugby showed me that one size does not fit all. Strength training helped me build a body that will last beyond my playing years. Getting qualified in nutrition helped me cut through the nonsense. But the biggest shift was my mindset: accepting that I may never have visible abs or be the fastest player on the pitch, and being absolutely fine with that.

Rugby is unpredictable. Life is unpredictable. You can't control the way the ball bounces, but you can control your reaction to it. So stop thinking about the numbers and start focusing on the feeling. Knowing you've given your all. Knowing you could do it all again next week.

The Peerless Pack starts on Monday 2 November and it's the last one of 2026. If you want to head into the colder, darker months with a plan and a process to keep you feeling good, the time is now.

Email: nutrition@laurapeerless.co.uk Instagram: @laurapeerlesscoaching

This one is a bit of a battle cry. When I started coaching I thought I had to be a fat loss coach, because that's what everyone else was doing. It took a few attempts to find where I actually belonged, and it turns out it's with you: the women in their late 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s who are still pulling on their boots every week.

In this episode I talk about why I worried that adding an age bracket to an already niche business was a bridge too far, and why the opposite has turned out to be true. I share my own story of coming off hormonal contraception in my early 30s and wondering whether my perimenopause started earlier than I realised. I talk about the training programme I paid for that expected me to train twice a week, lift three times, sprint and play, and left me wondering where the rest of my life was supposed to fit. I also talk about what it's meant to step back from NC1 this season and play for the love of it.

If you've ever woken up on a Monday after a full game, sore for days, trying to get the kids to school and yourself to work while making sure you're eating properly, this episode is for you.

The next phase of the Peerless Pack starts on 2nd November. You get six weeks of gym training through my app, simple nutrition and habit guidance, and a WhatsApp community full of proper rugby spirit. There are a couple of early bird spaces left at £79 instead of £99. DM me PACK on Instagram at @laurapeerlesscoaching or email nutrition@laurapeerless.co.uk.

This week I’m joined by sports psychologist Tiggy Teare as we explore the mental side of performance, resilience, and personal growth. Drawing from experience working with PWR winners Saracens, Tiggy breaks down actionable strategies to overcome fear, manage performance anxiety, and reframe failure. Whether you're an athlete navigating injury, tackling self-doubt, or aiming for consistent progress through controllable goals, this episode offers practical mental tips to elevate your game on and off the field.

In this quick episode, I'm talking about what to do when you're nailing the basics, getting your strength and rugby training in, working on your mindset, but you still feel like you're getting nowhere.

Whether you're perimenopausal like me, struggle with confidence, or find that work and life always seem to get in the way, it can feel like you're doing enough without seeing any progress. So I'm sharing four questions to ask yourself to help steer you in the right direction:

Have you tried it for long enough?

Have you actually been doing what you said you'd do, or are you kidding yourself?

Are you focusing your efforts in the right place?

Are you giving yourself the best possible chance of success, with the right environment and the right people around you?

I also share my own history of chasing quick fixes, the sofa habit that was quietly sabotaging my business, and why I believe every woman has the ability to be the best rugby player she can possibly be.

This is the last call for the October Peerless Pack. Doors won't open again until early November, and that will be the last intake before Christmas. If this episode has got you thinking, drop me a message and let's see if we're a good fit.

Find me on Instagram at @laurapeerlesscoaching or email nutrition@laurapeerless.co.uk

I took the money and ran. Fifteen years in commercial banking, a redundancy payout, and the push I needed to finally do something with the two qualifications I'd been sitting on. This week I'm telling the story I've been keeping in the bank for a few weeks: why I built my business around fat loss coaching because it felt safe, not because it was me, the real reason I wore a scrum cap for years that had nothing to do with injury, and what hitting my 2000th Instagram post taught me about the difference between the person who started this and the one posting now.

If any of this sounds like your own story, the Peerless Pack starts this Sunday, 4th October, contact me via @laurapeerlesscoaching on instagram to get in before doors close.

I took a week off social media and came back to a very strange week in women's sport. I share my take on the Sydney Sweeney ad debate, a HYROX moment that made me weirdly grateful for grassroots rugby mud, and why I think the Red Roses drawing with Canada might be no bad thing.

Then I get honest. The last few weeks have been hard. I've lost a bit of my mojo, I probably won't be playing competitive rugby this season, and my HRT hasn't fully kicked in yet. So I walk you through exactly what I do when life starts lifing: my Tight 5 Method. Five pillars that keep you stable, like the tight five in a scrum, even when you're only moving forward by inches.

In this episode I cover plants and protein (the only nutrition rule you need on a bad week), daily movement that has nothing to do with the gym or rugby training, how I get my fluids in when I can't stand tap water, why I use a 6 to 8 hour sleep range, and my three mindset rules: imperfect action, never miss twice, and unconditional permission with the F*ck Yes test.

The next phase of the Peerless Pack starts on 4th October and runs for six weeks. If you play grassroots rugby, whether you're six months in or fifteen seasons deep, and you want to keep playing the game you love for as long as you can, DM me PACK on Instagram @laurapeerlesscoaching or email nutrition@laurapeerless.co.uk.

Feel the fear and do it anyway. That's been my mantra since I first left my job as a banker to start my own business, and it's the whole reason I'm sitting down to record this one today, adrenaline and all.

This week I'm talking about fear — the kind that talks you out of a heavy squat session, the kind that stops a 46 year old touch rugby player from ever trying contact, and the kind I felt hanging off a bouldering wall on bank holiday Monday, absolutely certain I couldn't do the next hold.

I get into why I nearly skipped leg day, the message from a follower asking if she was too old to switch from touch to contact, my own story of nearly never playing rugby at all, and why doing one scary thing always seems to lead you looking for the next one.

If you're sat on the fence about something right now, whether that's your first contact session, your first competition, or just showing up when you don't feel ready, this one's for you.

Come find me on Instagram @laurapeerlesscoaching or drop me an email at nutrition@laurapeerless.co.uk if this lands with you and you want a nudge in the right direction.

This week I'm talking about something that comes up every single time a new player is about to step over the white line for the first time: how do you actually fuel for a full game of rugby when you've never played one before?

I've just come off a call with one of my clients who is playing her first ever game of contact rugby this Sunday, and it reminded me how much this catches people out. You might have been a runner, a CrossFitter, a hyrox girl, you might have done years of strength training. None of that quite prepares you for what 80 minutes of rugby actually demands.

I talk through why it's not as simple as a big bowl of pasta the night before, how I build my plants and protein pillar into game week, the 72 hour carb build up, what "eating like a hobbit" actually means on match day, and what to do in that first hour after the final whistle so Monday morning doesn't wreck you.

I also let you into a little secret about what my own pre-match fuelling used to look like in my twenties. It was not this.

If you want the full pre-game fuelling checklist, the link is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X7fbSma-bmgGelpWMhu-0SanONEk7XAu/view?usp=drivesdk

And if you like the sound of finding a community of grassroots players who get it, the next intake for the Peerless Pack opens on the 5th of October. The waitlist opens the week of the 21st of September, so come and find me on Instagram @laurapeerlesscoaching or drop me an email at nutrition@laurapeerless.co.uk.

For months I put it down to burnout. Running my own business, two jobs, rugby, life. of course I was tired. But the brain fog, the low mood, the fatigue that wouldn't lift kept nagging at me, so I went back to my own menopause training and realised I was ticking every box for perimenopause. I'm 43. My periods are still regular. I didn't expect to be here yet.

In this episode I'm telling you exactly what happened when I finally went to my doctor and burst into tears in front of her, what oestrogen actually does in the body (spoiler: pretty much everything), the full list of symptoms nobody warns you about, and why I've decided to start HRT alongside everything else I'm already doing to look after myself.

If you're in your late 30s or 40s and playing rugby, or you're the older head in a changing room full of younger players who've never had this conversation with anyone, this one's for you. Let's stop pretending this doesn't happen to us.

This week I'm talking about what happens when you're putting the work in but the results just aren't showing up yet, because this week one of my clients hit exactly that wall.

She'd had a brilliant few weeks away, come back to her normal routine, and three weeks back in she was ready to throw the whole plan out because she wasn't seeing what she expected. I'll be honest, my first reaction wasn't my finest coaching moment. But it got me thinking about what I'd actually say to any client, or to you, if you're in that same spot right now.

In this episode I'm sharing the four things I'd tell you instead: why fixating on the end goal will wear you down, why consistency beats perfection every single time, why slowing down gets you further than a quick fix, and the one question you need to ask yourself before you chase any goal at all.

It's a bit of tough love this week

This week I'm talking you through the easiest way I know to manage your calorie intake and structure your plate without ever opening a tracking app. Life has been full on for me lately, decorating, hormones, the usual chaos, and it reminded me how quickly nutrition slips down the priority list when things get busy. So I've broken down exactly how I want you thinking about your plate: protein first, plants and fibre for half your plate, a smart carb source, and fats done properly. I'll give you the practical tools I use with my own clients, from palm sized servings to the one measuring cup trick that saves me weighing pasta every single day. Whether you're trying to lose weight, build muscle, or just want to stop overthinking food, this episode gives you a structure for life, not just for dieting.

Mentioned in this episode: my free guide to managing your plate without tracking, and the Peerless Pack, open for applications now with the next phase starting 31st August.

DM me on Instagram @laurapeerlesscoaching or email nutrition@laurapeerless.co.uk for more information on either.

This week on She’s Gotta Try, I break down what it actually takes to build muscle for rugby, using a real question from inside the Peerless Pack. I cover the three things you need for hypertrophy: training stimulus, protein, and fuel, and translate the science into something you can actually do around a normal life. Plus, the Peerless Pack intake opens on 17th August ahead of a new six week programme starting 31st August.

This week’s episode is the flip side of last week’s conversation about structuring your training week. This time it’s all about the eating around it. A Peerless Pack member asked me about meal timing for optimal performance and recovery, so I break down the basics of how your body actually uses fuel, the difference between aerobic and anaerobic energy systems, and why that matters for what and when you eat. I talk through the difference between fuelling a morning gym session and fuelling evening rugby training, share my own trial and error from this week including the big meal that went badly wrong, and cover what to do when you know you’ve missed your carbs during the day. As always, the message is simple: know your own body, test what works, and don’t let food rules take the fun out of playing.

I’m also offering five free check ins this week if you want a second pair of eyes on how you’re fuelling around training, to book yours the link is here - https://calendly.com/nutrition-laurapeerless/30min

New to rugby or coming from another sport and trying to work out how to train like a rugby player? This week I’m answering the three questions I keep getting asked by new Peerless Pack members: how many rest days you actually need, whether back-to-back training days are okay, and whether you can weight train on the same day as rugby. I walk through my own pre-season week as a real example, plus how to adapt all of it to your own life instead of copying someone else’s plan.

We won our league. We’re going up to NC1 after 14 years in NC2. And now the real work starts.

In this episode I go deep on Operation NC1 Ready, my 70 day countdown to Seaford Scarlets’ first NC1 fixture, and why I’m applying the exact same Tight 5 Method I coach my players with to my own preseason. I talk through what an optimal week looks like for me versus a baseline week, why fixed targets set you up to fail, and how building in a Plan A and a Plan B is the difference between all or nothing thinking and actually staying consistent. I also get honest about training through perimenopause symptoms, juggling two jobs and a growing business, and why this plan has to flex around real life instead of the other way around.

If you’ve ever felt like you don’t know what “enough” looks like for you, this one’s for you.

I had a proper hiatus last week. Three weeks of posting three times a day, onboarding new one to one clients and a Peerless Pack intake finally caught up with me, so instead of forcing out a podcast I wasn't proud of, I gave myself 48 hours off and came back with a head full of new content ideas, most of them straight from my own clients.

This week two of them had sevens tour on the calendar, and it got me thinking about how we actually navigate the chaotic, brilliant weekends that come with playing rugby. So in this episode I'm sharing my tour survival kit. Spoiler, it's not about packing fruit or hitting your protein targets. It's about permission, guilt, and how you get yourself back to routine once it's over.

I also drop a small teaser for next week's episode, where I'll be talking about my own journey into NC1 as a 43 year old prop. Stay tuned for that

It's launch week for the Peerless Pack — the last one before September — and I'm knee deep in it. So this week I'm talking about the thing my mate said to me that's stuck in my head all week: what you forget to do in July gets remembered in September.

I've taken on two new 1:1 clients this week, both women in their 40s finding their way in rugby, and like clockwork, they've turned up thinking they need to train six days a week, eat off a meal plan, say no to every social event and needed a cupboard full of supplements to get results. So today I'm unpicking all of that — what people think it takes, versus what actually works when you're a rugby player with a job, a life, and hormones that occasionally stage a coup.

Inside this episode: the 10-second boot reel that outperformed everything else I’ve ever made (and what that tells us), the 80/20 approach to food that actually sticks, why I will never write you a meal plan, sleep vs supplements, and the Kaizen mindset that's getting me preseason-ready one interval at a time.

The Peerless Pack opens for its last intake before September on Monday 6th July. If you've been humming and hawwing this is the one to stop humming and hawing about. DM me on Instagram @laurapeerlesscoaching or email nutrition@laurapeerless.co.uk to get in before the doors close.

In this episode, I sit down with Holly Montabelli (known on Instagram as "The Rugby Midwife") to tackle a critical, yet often ignored, topic in our sporting community: pelvic health.

Holly opens up about their personal journey as a lifelong rugby player and midwife who experienced a prolapsed cervix and pelvic floor dysfunction while training. Together, we bust common strength-training misconceptions, discuss the immense physical demands placed on rugby forwards, and share the exact breathing and rehabilitation techniques needed to restore core stability.

We also dive into the cultural and structural challenges facing women's clubs today—from the normalization of urinary incontinence to the glaring lack of basic infrastructure, like sanitary bins in changing rooms. Tune in to discover how to identify key warning signs, seek the right professional care, and implement proactive team education to break down barriers and keep female athletes in the sport they love.

Find Holly on instagram @therugbymidwife

This week I’m taking a step back to answer a question that came up in my business mentoring group: what do I want to be known for? The result is a properly honest rundown of what sits behind the Peerless Pack and my coaching, from my childhood at the rugby club to why a no bullshit, common sense approach to nutrition and training matters more than ever in a world of conflicting advice and AI generated noise. I talk community over competition, fun over grind, and why keeping women in the game for as long as possible is the whole point. Like the sound of this, come join the Peerless Pack. Early bird sign up for the Peerless Pack opens 22nd June - contact me @laurapeerlesscoaching or nutrition@laurapeerless.co.uk for more info.

This week I'm back on my own and we're getting into something that's been on my mind after a very normal, very human weekend involving three consecutive days of drinking. Did it ruin my life? No. Did I still get the job done on Monday? Yes. And yet somewhere out there, a man with millions of podcast listeners is telling the world that two glasses of wine ruined his life for three days. So let's talk about that. Because when people with massive platforms conflate imperfection with disaster, it quietly reinforces the idea that you have to be perfect to be healthy. And that is not only wrong, it is genuinely harmful. In this episode I get into the WHO definition of health (physical, mental, and social well-being), why I think about it as a Venn diagram, and why chasing optimisation in one area often tanks the others. I also talk about the version of myself that spent too long trying to look like the right kind of fitness coach, and why I would rather be messy and relatable than aspirational and unattainable. Featuring: Friday balcony beers, a County Cup final at Twickenham, a birthday weekend for someone deeply missed, and the England Women's Rugby team still half-cut at their post-World Cup interviews. This one is for anyone who has ever felt like they ruined everything because they had a normal weekend.