THE "Strong not Skinny" craze has dominated the world of Instagram and finally silenced the pressure put upon girls to become a size zero.

Rebecca Salisbury has become an inspiration, or rather a #fitspiration, to dozens of girls in the Furness peninsula after she decided to share the fitness and dietary methods she used to turn her own life around.

Full-time BAE employee  Mrs Salisbury, 29, of North Row, Barrow, now offers 10-week blasts of her "Strong Girl Revolution", promising that if women are willing to make positive and healthy changes and stick with them, she will deliver results.

Mrs Salisbury's first 10-week course, taking place in the run-up the Christmas, has been so popular it sold out, with 30 girls in total able to bag a place. It is called the "Little Black Dress Challenge" and involves three High Intensity Bootcamps sessions three times each week along with a nutritional plan and advice. 

She said: "I don’t claim to know it all, far from it, and I’m learning and growing every day. I do, however, know what works for me and can adapt that principle to help other women achieve their goals."

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) - What is it?

-A fast paced cardiovascular workout alternated with short rests.

-Participants do short, sharp bursts of anaerobic exercise, followed by less-intensive recovery periods.

-Most HIIT workouts last between 20-40 minutes and allow participants to get a high fitness level from shorter sessions.

The great thing about Mrs Salisbury's regime is that she is able to lead by example. Having gone through dozens of unhealthy fad diets herself, Mrs Salisbury was eventually able to embrace a whole new outlook on life, changing her whole routine and relationship with food. She lost two stone and overcame her own mental health issues by implementing a healthier lifestyle. Her original goal was to enter a fitness bikini competition, "UK Ultimate Physiques", and she succeeded, winning third place on her first attempt. She said: "I am a firm believer in the healthy body, healthy mind principle. Throughout my competition preparation I was lucky enough to meet a number of people I admire and look up to, including my idol, bikini model Heather Schofield. I’ve also been lucky enough to learn a lot from Premiership football team coaches and world-renowned personal trainers."

Mrs Salisbury is full of praise for the hard work her clients have been putting in and in return vows to tailor their work-outs and nutrition as closely as she can with their needs. 

She said: "We tweak as we go because body types and the way we respond to diet and exercise is individual. In my opinion, a generic plan just isn’t an option. This is about balance, realistic goals, a long term solution and the idea that a little bit of what you fancy does you good! These juicing diets and carb-cutting fads are just not healthy."

Mrs Salisbury's classes reflect a positive global shift away from the "heroin-chic" emaciated model look  that was so popular in the late nineties and early noughties. The ideal  is often seen as a woman who has a clean diet and goes to the gym regularly, resulting in a muscular, athletic figure. Instagram bloggers have become the new role models for women, posting about paleo cuisine or 6am gym sessions.

Mrs Salisbury is eager to promote a healthy lifestyle but wants to stress that there is no pressure for her girls to have a six-pack. Her bootcamps and nutritional plans are about overall happiness and being comfortable in your own skin. She said: "The ladies are feeling the benefits in terms of physically seeing positive changes in their physique but also feeling energy levels sky rocket, sleeping better, mood balance…One lady got in touch to tell me the symptoms of menopause she’d been suffering with for a while have improved greatly, which is fantastic to hear."

A recent statement from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence said that women going through the menopause should not be left to suffer in silence. Along with medicinal treatments they listed a change in diet and exercise regime as one of the best treatments for severe symptoms.

Mrs Salisbury is now taking bookings for her new year bootcamps to kick start fitness for 2016. Her plans include one-to-one sessions, a personalised clean-eating guide, a support plan and, of course, the high-intensity workouts three times each week. Her "Monday Motivation" is a weekly newsletter for her followers, with inspiration for the week, whether it be recipes, motivation mantras or simply encouragement and tales of her own long journey.