Caoimhe Bamber, Digme Fitness Founder: A Day In The Life

Caoimhe Bamber is co-founder of Digme Fitness – named after a beach in Kona, Hawaii which is the start line for the famous Ironman World Championship. Geoff, Digme’s CEO and Caoimhe’s husband, has twice completed this incredible event, so to them, Digme is hugely significant. Their aim with Digme Fitness is to help people set their sights high and achieve more than they ever expected, so they feel exhilarated and in the best shape of their life. Their equipment and instructors are brilliant and lots of us in the Yellow Kite team are big fans of their classes!

Caoimhe says: I love getting up early! I’ll either pop down to Digme Richmond for a 6.30am spin, head to the park for a run, or sit down and enjoy a quiet coffee while I catch up on work. Geoff and I have two little boys (Alex is 4 and Ben is 1) who tend to wake at about 8am, so I love feeling like I’ve got a headstart on my day before then. I live and work in Richmond so my commute is a 5-minute walk. Prior to setting up Digme, I worked as a lawyer in the City, so I really appreciate the benefits of the short commute. Geoff and I both get up early, workout/work, get the boys up and ready, drop them at nursery, and get to the office by 9am. I work three days a week and spend the other days with the boys. Inevitably, there’s work to do on those days but I fit it in early/late in the day.

Geoff and I are lifelong fitness fans. I’ve run lots of marathons and ultra-marathons and have raced Ironman. Geoff skied for GB as a Junior and then switched his focus to Ironman. He has raced numerous Ironman events, including the prestigious Ironman World Championship race. It’s probably not a surprise that Geoff and I met at the gym – we did the same spin and run class every week! It’s wonderful we have ended up working in fitness, which is our passion. We didn’t do anything special to get into this line of work – we just had the courage to follow our passion and the belief that we could make it work! Most things are possible if you want them enough. The best advice I’ve recieved is that things tend to take longer and cost more money than you expect. In law I worked with lots of nice, happy people, but there were a few miserable ones who hated their work. Now I love everything about my job and I work with a terrific team – happy, fitness-loving, motivated people. Good vibes are contagious.

I’m not really a role model kind of person. I’ve found various people during my life inspirational – in my life as a lawyer, a partner called Roger I always admired and looked up to; and in my last role, my boss Carolann I respected enormously. In the sporting world, I really respect and take inspiration from Chrissie Wellington (Ironman World Champion), Craig (Crowie) Alexander (also Ironman World Champion) and Haile Gebrselassie

I need breakfast – I just don’t function without coffee and food first thing in the morning. After that, I’m easy. I’ll typically have a salad or sushi for lunch but I am the least fussy person when it comes to food and I don’t tend to snack. I finish work just before 6pm so I can pick up the little guys from nursery. We spend a lot of time exploring Richmond Park and Kew Gardens – as well as the usual kids’ hang outs such as soft play! We’re so lucky to have so many amazing green spaces on our doorstep. I work out every day – often fitting it in early in the morning or late at night. I run (sometimes with the boys in a double running stroller) and spin, mainly. Since having the boys, I’ve been racing shorter distances (half-marathons and marathons, Ironman 70.3) – because I just don’t have the same huge chunks of time to devote to endurance events. I’ll get back to that stuff when the boys are older. Geoff and I love cooking but again, don’t have the time we used to have to indulge in this. We make lots of quick and healthy recipes though, and the boys love baking and that’s always great fun!

I always wanted to be a lawyer and I ticked that box. I did have a dream about being an Olympic gymnast – but that was never going to happen!

My top three online sources of inspiration are: 

I love Strava for tracking my workouts and it integrates with Digme which is a bonus!

I like using Twitter for following my personal interests and interacting with the Digme community. I know it’s a bit old-school these days but I find it more organic than Instagram!

I really like following Chrissie Wellington – she’s an amazing talent and has just got so much to give.