Have you got it all figured out?
You’d think by the time we get to our 30’s and 40’s that we’d have this old exercise thing down. We’d have figured out what to do at the gym and know the kinds of sports we enjoy.
Right?
Wrong.
Many of my clients still don’t have a clue what works for them and what doesn’t.
Helen’s Story
When Helen came to me, she realised she’d been squatting wrong for the past 20 years. In fact, she struggled to remember how to exercise at all. Helen has one of those brains that just switches off when she comes through the door.
“Tell me what to do,” she says.
It’s her way of coping with a high-powered job in the council where she spends all day making decisions and telling others what to do. She doesn’t want to think when she comes into the studio space, she just wants to move and switch off, not surprising then that she can’t remember what to do every time she turns up. It’s her safety valve. Her time out.
She swims and runs but knows the importance of lifting weights and performing functional exercises to keep her bones strong and healthy as she gets older. For Helen, it’s more important than ever as arthritis runs in her family and she’s practicing prevention rather than cure.
When she first came to me last year this is what she said:
“I know I’m not as fit as I used to be, my core is a joke, and I don’t understand how to co-ordinate my body. I’m an absolute wimp at having to lift anything heavy.”
You might be surprised to hear then, that last week she moved a sideboard down a flight of stairs in her flat because she didn’t have time to wait for some friends to help her. She’s gone from being at a loss of knowing where to start to being a strong, committed member of our small group training team and is reaping the rewards.
Gemma’s Story
Gemma works for the NHS so as you can imagine she has a stressful, challenging job in the best of times, let alone the worst of times. She came to me as the first lockdown lifted. She was desperate. How do I know this? Because to Gemma going into a gym was her worst nightmare.
The first time I saw Gemma she was presenting herself as quite small, nervously fidgeting with her hands, not fully engaging with eye contact, looking around, trying to assess the situation and what she’d let herself in for.
She openly admits she had no motivation; her movements were slow, and she had suffered a series of repeat injuries during lockdown when she tried running. Some of her friends already trained with me and they persuaded her to come to the studio because she wanted to learn how to use weights properly.
The first thing we worked on was her confidence and teaching her how to lift just 3 or 4 kilos because she’d never done it. She started off back-squatting 10 kilos and now she squats 65 kilos.
She turns up twice a week without fail and at first her friends couldn’t believe her dedication. They doubted she’d stick to it. But not only does she enjoy her sessions, but she has withdrawal symptoms when she goes away on holiday.
One of her friends is dynamite on the monkey bars. Gemma had seen him on one of my Reels on Instagram. The next time she came into the studio she said: “I want to do that.”
Challenge accepted.
Two months later she was swinging on the monkey bars and now there’s no stopping her.
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Although they started at different times, these two amazing ladies now train together in one of my small group training teams. They look up to each other and keep each other motivated. The bond they have formed over the months is inspirational and there’s no stopping them on their journey to a healthier life, both physically and mentally.
If you’d like to join them and start your own journey book in for a chat by clicking here.
