In my younger years I wasn't sporty or competitive. I would class myself as an indolent adolescent who would only break a sweat on the dancefloor.

 

I'm not your usual Personal Trainer.

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My introduction to ‘exercise’ rather than ‘activity’ was initiated by need. From the ages of 25-40 I endured chronic back pain with sciatica from spinal nerve compression. The only way I could manage my pain was through exercise which led to the unexpected career choice of PT. Eventually a vertebral disc squelched enough to make surgery a viable option which removed the sciatica and much of my back pain. Although I can still expect a recurrence at least once a year, it rarely slows me down anymore.

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Retraining as a Personal Trainer was as much about helping myself.

 

Unfortunately, health issues are seldom solitary and in my fifties I've been left with early onset osteoarthritis in the other knee which, for so many years, had to compensate for the sciatic pain. This, plus the many hormonal changes experienced in late middle age has turned my tried and tested fitness routines upside down. It makes me wonder if I would actually exercise if I didn't have to. 

 

Do I like exercise or do I hate pain?

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I have an aversion to guides/gurus/therapists/instructors whose lived experience steers their focus because no-one needs a life coach with a disastrous back story, right? It’s fair to say, though, that I have a unique insight into what drives people to attempt routine change and why it very often doesn't work. Clients may see me as a relentless powerhouse but I'm not a natural exerciser and I understand the barriers that prevent others from taking the leap into fitness; even as a form of long-term preventative medicine.

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Pilates is the stalwart in this story. Throughout back pain, arthritis and hormonal hullaballoo, there has always been a place for this low impact, mindful, challenging, co-ordination fuelled modality. I'm grateful every day that I took the time to study physical activity and the effect it has on wellbeing.

 

I love helping people uncover their motivations.

 

My clients very much reflect my journey. Many are considering how their body has fared through work, life and family obligations. Some are paying the penance for previous poor health choices and others, like me, have had health hurdles cast upon them. Long-term health change can be impacted by family, work, self-confidence, childhood experience and untold other circumstances but we all have the same goal: look to our future and focus on our health.

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Are you ready to focus on you?

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