\n Before launching the business, Laura spent 10 years working in banking after studying law at university.\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite enjoying a successful career, she said she could not shake the feeling that she wanted to pursue her passion for fitness.\n<\/p>\n
\n Laura said: “I was in this really comfortable job, brilliant company, great hours. But I just thought, if I don’t try and do this, I’m going to regret it.\n<\/p>\n
\n “When I had Leo [her son], I just thought: it’s now or never. I kept thinking, if he had a dream, what would I tell him? I’d tell him to go for it. So I thought, why am I not going for it?”\n<\/p>\n
\n Women trying out Rise’s fitness classes. (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n
\n Laura said her decision was made easier by the encouragement of her family, particularly her three sisters.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: “They’ve been so amazing. Honestly, they’ve been my biggest cheerleaders.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Growing up alongside her sisters also inspired her decision to make Rise a women’s fitness community.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I know how good it feels to be part of that sisterhood, and that’s what I wanted to create for other people as well,” she added.\n<\/p>\n
\n Laura said she has always been passionate about fitness but found there was limited guidance available for women during and after pregnancy about effective exercise.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: “I wanted to create somewhere women could come to get tailored, effective workouts designed for them, no matter what stage they were at, and honestly just somewhere fun and social too.\n<\/p>\n
\n “This is my opportunity to use my passion and knowledge of fitness to help people and, honestly, that’s what drives me.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The Cumbrian Wildlife Trust – where Rise is located (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n
\n Since opening, Laura said the response has been positive, with members praising not only the workouts but also the sense of community that has developed.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: “I’ve had a couple of girls tell me it’s really helped their mental health. When you hear stuff like that, it’s brilliant.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It feels like we’re getting a bit of a community going.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Alongside regular fitness classes and specialist mum-and-baby sessions, Laura plans to introduce outdoor activities, wellness events and music-themed fitness weeks.\n<\/p>\n
\n She added: “I really mean it when I say we are welcoming and open to everyone. I want every woman to feel that they could come to Rise and know they’ll be supported.”\n<\/p>\n
\n You can follow Rise on Instagram @rise.carlisle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laura Pledger officially launched Rise in April this year, providing indoor and outdoor group fitness classes for women.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[64,63,538,137],"class_list":["post-853553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fitness","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}