Nine years ago, personal trainer and Biggest Loser star Michelle Bridges, walked away from an ambassadorship with an international activewear brand because they only went up to size 14. Then she set out to achieve her goal of creating a more inclusive line.
“I had a lot of people saying, ‘you’re leaving that company, which is international and global, to do a line at Big W?’, Bridges told The Latch. “And I said ‘yes, that’s exactly what I want to do. Because not only do I want to make it affordable, I want to go up into the plus sizes.’”
She continued “I just couldn’t put my hand on my heart and feel like I was speaking my truth anymore. So that’s when I very humbly and graciously stepped away and pitched the idea to Big W and I said ‘one of my deal breakers is I want to go up to size 26’. No one was doing it back then, eight, nine years ago. No one was doing plus size training wear, no one.”
Bridges’ pitch to Big W was successful and has now been going strong since 2011 with women of all sizes expressing their thanks to the fitness guru.
“It’s wonderful,” says Bridges. “I have women writing to me all the time saying ‘thank you!’. [They say] ‘I’m excited to go to the gym or excited to go for my walk in my cute training outfit. Thank you for looking after all of us!’. There are other companies that are now doing it too, but we were the first.”
However, it’s not only adults who can benefit from Bridges’ stylish and affordable line of activewear, with the re-introduction of the Mini Me line.
The range enables mothers and daughters to wear matching outfits as they take care of their wellbeing, which Bridges hopes will foster better conversations around the importance of exercise and good health.
“I want to help inspire a healthy mindset, not just about weight loss, but more just about general health and how good it is for your head,” explains Bridges. “We all know the benefits of exercising physically, and how good that makes you feel and all about mental health. Having kids train or exercise or just going for a walk with their mum or dad and creating those habits together, it’s all about connection and family and bringing people together and creating healthy habits.”
Given the challenges of 2020 which saw many people lose sight of their fitness goals, The Latch asks Bridges if the time might be ripe for a reboot of The Biggest Loser.
“That would be fun, I would love to go back and do Biggest Loser, Bridges enthuses. “I honestly do not know what it would look like. But it would be fun to bring that back, 100%. I had such a great experience on that show. I did it for nine years. And it was a big part of my life.”
While we likely won’t be seeing the weight-loss competition series on our screens in 2021, we can look forward to Bridges’ presence on Channel 9’s Celebrity Apprentice which will begin airing later in the year.
Asked what she learned from the experience of participating in the business-focused reality series, Bridges reveals, “What I learned on that show, and my friends and family all laugh their heads off at me when I say this, but I actually learned on that show that I am pretty savvy!”
It might seem a strange revelation for an accomplished fitness trainer, media personality, author, mother and designer to arrive at after so many years of success, but Bridges is refreshingly down to earth about her achievements.
“I was surprised at how many things I could juggle at once and not drop a ball and catch a few balls for other people too,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong, I still made some stuff ups, but I came away from that experience thinking ‘I can do this, I’m fairly capable!’ I had to give myself a pat on the back. I don’t do that very often, but that’s what I got out of the experience.”
The fitness trainer also had nothing but praise for her Apprentice castmates, including fashion designer Camilla Franks, singer Anthony Callea, The Block’s Shayna Blaze and Married at First Sight star Martha Kalifatidis.
“We had a great group of people. And everybody just you know, dug in. For me, it was a positive experience working with everybody,” she says.
“I made some really nice friendships on that show. Really nice friendships. And I’m continuing to keep those friendships going. So it was a really fun experience. But my god, it was exhausting. Exhilarating and exhausting.”
As for what other ventures the entrepreneur might take on in the future, the possibilities are endless but she won’t be making a podcast.
“I’ve thought about it, but I wonder if I kind of missed the boat? I don’t like saying that because I like to be on the first boat but I feel like it’s so many out there. Would I just be cluttering the market?” she says.
“It’s something I’ve considered. I’ve had a fairly big life, and I’ve learned a lot of stuff. It’d be interesting, but that’s as far as I’ve got — just thinking about it.”
MB Active and the Mini Me range is available at all Big W stores.