My Story

It is important first of all to say that I have not always looked the way I do and fitness has not always been a part of my life. I would love to say that I was great at sports at school and took part in competitions growing up. But the truth is when I was younger I struggled with exercise and would do anything to get out of PE at school. Even in my teens I had little or no interest in fitness. I had no idea that by the age of 35 I would be stronger and fitter than I have even been.

I never understood why I was not as good as everybody else when it came to sports at school. But by the age of 18 just as I started university I began having terrible pain in my right hip. I was diagnosed with displaced hips and my right hip had begun to wear away, which was causing the pain. The news in one way made sense, it explained why I had always had trouble with my legs, but it was also a shock to find out I was different and had a problem that would essentially effect me for the rest of my life. I struggled through my first year at university taking medication to numb the pain and get me through each day. I had a full osteotomy of my right hip at the end of my first year at university. I didn't have arthritis yet, but the cartilage was beginning to wear away. It was hoped that by breaking and realigning my hip so it was like a normal hip, this would delay the onset of arthritis. After a year on crutches and learning to walk again, I very quickly experienced pain in my hip again. So my 3 years at university were somewhat of a challenge mentally and physically.

The next 7 years suffering from arthritis were the hardest years of my life. I was on strong medication everyday just to enable me to walk. Without it I would barely have been able to walk down the street. The little things that most people take for granted were all I wanted to be able to do. Simple things like going shopping or a night out with friends would fill me with dread. I would never tell anyone how bad the pain was, I would limp around and struggle through each day with a smile on my face pretending everything was fine. I became really good at hiding how much pain I was in, I guess I wanted to make the best of things and try and stay positive, even though some days I would cry myself to sleep wishing for a normal life. I did go to the gym during this time, nowhere near as religiously as I do now and I would limp from machine to machine with no real idea what I was doing. I just wanted to keep the muscle around my hip joint as strong as possible to try and minimise the pain, but most activities were very challenging and painful, so my motivation was really low.

Finally when I was 27 I had a hip replacement. The pain had become so bad at this point I honestly could not take it anymore. I had no quality of life, I was just going through the motions everyday, dosing myself up on painkillers just to get through, trying to avoid any activities that I knew I would struggle with. For a woman in her twenties I felt like I was losing some of my best years. I would have regular appointments with the surgeon, but up until this point they did not want to go for a hip replacement as I was so young. Basically the younger I had it done obviously the younger I would be when it needed doing again, so they wanted to delay it for as long as possible. But my x-ray now showed that the cartilage had completely worn away and I was basically walking around with bone on bone. There was now no choice but to replace the hip. I was so happy at this point, I felt like finally I could see the end of the pain I had felt for the last 7 years. The hip replacement was fine compared to the osteotomy I had when I was 18. The recovery was also much quicker, it was about 3 months rather than a year. I was back in the gym after 6 weeks, I was still using a crutch but I was there doing everything I could to get better. I will say at this point that I didn't really know what I was doing in the gym. I would use a few cardio machines and resistance machines to build up the strength in my hip. My knowledge was very limited, but my determination to gain my strength back after my op meant that I started to use the gym more frequently. I was amazed at how quickly I recovered and there was no pain. It had gone, just like that I could walk up the stairs without having to hold on to the rails, I was walking without a noticeable limp, I could walk for a length of time without being in intense pain. The freedom that I felt was amazing, I just wanted to do more and more at the gym.

So the next couple of years past exercising 3 times a week, but I soon realised I wasn't out of the woods yet. My hip was fabulous, still no pain or problems with my hip. But I began to feel terrible pain in my feet. I had a similar bone problem in my feet to that of my hips. Walking became painful and again it began to affect my gym workouts, this was during my sessions but more in the hours following my workout. I would wake up in the morning in such pain and with feet so stiff I could hardly walk. I now visited a foot specialist and found out that I would need yet another operation to have any sort of relief from this pain. If I didn't go this route I would just have to make the best of it. I knew I could not go through more years of pain again, so I was put on the waiting list for a full foot osteotomy, whereby they would have to break the bones in my feet and realign them, cut the tendons and fuse my big toes. But so that I could still walk I had to have an operation on one foot, then once recovered the other foot. So the next two years were taken up with operations, leg casts, walking boots and learning to walk on a new foot. After each operation my foot had literally no strength in it at all and would swell up the size of a balloon, to the point where I could barely wear shoes, I was so thankful for slippers! I used my positive mental attitude to get me through, but I will be honest and say it was not easy. I went through some very low points during this time. I felt like I was never going to just be a normal young woman, that I would never be able to achieve the things I wanted to. It was during this time that I promised myself when I recovered I would do all the things I hadn't been able to do. I would sit and dream of travelling the world and climbing mountains and jumping out of a plane, which to someone who could barely walk to the end of the street was unimaginable.

So even though I had two very hard years, I got through it with a positive attitude, focusing on the end result and a lot of support from my friends and family. As soon I was walking again and starting to feel better, I decided it was now or never and I booked a round the world ticket. In April 2012 I left England for a year, I traveled to Singapore, Kuala Lumpar, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. I lived and worked in Australia for 8 months, I met some of the most amazing people and I checked off so many things from my bucket list. I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, went on numerous hikes in Australia. In New Zealand I went caving, went on a 7 hour return hike up a volcano and a 4 hour return hike up a Glacier. Oh and yes I jumped out of a plane, number 1 on my bucket list ticked off!!!! Maybe these are things that most people would take for granted and are part of the whole traveling experience, but for me each one was an unbelievable achievement. I had a whole new lease of life, I finally felt fitter than I had in a long time. Even while I was living in Melbourne I joined a gym and I would go a few times a week, already fitness was finding it's way back into my life.

I guess it was once I returned in April 2013 that I got myself back to the gym and wanted to really start building my fitness back up. So for the past 3 years I have worked very hard and progressed more than I thought would ever be possible. It very quickly became more than just exercising, it was a way of life. I was getting fitter and stronger and mentally feeling more positive about my life. The more I pushed my body I realised how much I could actually do, this motivated me to want to keep pushing myself and see how far I could go. I became surprised at what my body was allowing me to do given everything it had been through. Even with a ceramic hip and feet full of metal, it wasn't stopping me from pushing myself to the limit. It was a natural progression I suppose to want to become a personal trainer, the more I trained and became passionate about fitness the more I wanted to learn. I decided I wanted to use this passion and enthusiasm to help and motivate others.

Fitness has changed my life more than I could ever have imagined. Honestly if you had told me 10 years ago that at 35 I would be training every day and in the best shape of my life I would never have believed it. Fitness is my life and I truly believe that anyone can do it, all you need is hard work, determination and a positive attitude. I became a personal trainer because I truly want to inspire people to be the best that they can be and overcome any obstacles that they find in their way. We are all different and have different strengths, weaknesses and abilities. There are things that my body won't allow me physically to do, so I just adapt and push my body as far as it will allow me. This is why I believe it is not a "one size fits all" approach when it comes to fitness. It is about understanding you as an individual and how your body works and what works for you. I want to inspire people to believe in themselves and achieve their goals. I honestly believe if I can do it then anyone can, the only thing stopping you is you. Be the best that you can be, push yourself to your limit, achieve your goals and believe in yourself. It is not just about exercising, it is about changing your life. A healthy, fit, strong body and positive mindset will filter out into everything you do in your life.

We only have one life and we need to live it to the fullest, don't take anything for granted, take care of your body. If you believe you can then you will.