WHAT'S MY STORY?
Want to know a little bit about how I came to become a personal trainer? Well to start, I didn't get into the fitness industry on the typical route of spending years in sports, and then deciding I wanted to coach instead of play.
I've always been interested in health - having spent many years as journalist often writing about health and diet, having been involved in health intervention work in my employed past, and having covered stress management within my degree.
However, the tipping point came several years ago, when I became a funeral celebrant. I saw that in the North West of England, where I am based, many people spend substantial years in very poor health before their time comes - way too soon. I didn't want to be a statistic and wanted to give myself a fighting chance of a long life with a good healthspan - so I got fit! I also lost nearly 3 stone, and I've maintained it.
Making fitness a part of my regular routine I grew to love it, especially as I was able to do more and more amazing things. Being fit helps improve day-to-day life, but it also helps you achieve dreams or see the world more. In July 2021, I hiked Ben Nevis with ease – a grand achievement for a woman in her mid-age!
Thanks to my fitness levels and generally healthy lifestyle, prioritising sleep as well as nutrition, I also think this helped me navigate peri-menopause better. And, this means that fitness training during peri-menopause and menopause is an area I am very committed to in terms of helping others, down to my experience here.
MY HEALTH SCARE WITH OSTEOPENIA
Still, I was for years mainly focusing on cardio training, because that's what I believed "getting fit" meant. I did have great cardiovascular fitness - and loved that I could walk big hills and mountains without feeling too out of breath or in groaning joint pain.
Then getting to my menopausal years, I decided to investigate HRT. As well, due to bone health history in my family, I also got a DEXA scan (which helps assess bone mineral density). To my dismay, I found that I had osteopenia - the precursor to osteoporosis (basically, the inbetween stage of normal bone density and osteoporosis).
I was flabberghasted. I thought for all those years, at least some of the exercise I had been doing was "weight bearing". How could I be at this stage of bone density loss? I knew I had to do something - which meant properly looking into the right kinds of exercise to try and limit the progression of this disease - which has very serious implications.
I realised I had not really been doing any of the things that would really help. Although everyone needs cardiovascular fitness, and it should absolutely be fitted into a fitness plan (don't listen to anyone who tells you "walking is enough") - it was strength and resistance training that I really needed to help stave off the bone loss.
So began my journey into strength training. And because I love soaking up knowledge and finding out all there is to know about something (impossible goal, haha), I decided to actually begin a personal training qualification (which was with FitAsylum - whom I highly recommend).
BECOMING QUALIFIED AS A PERSONAL TRAINER
I loved doing my personal training course, and gained the Level 3 Personal Training qualification (with Level 2 Fitness Instructing combined), which is accredited by ActiveiQ, and I haven't looked back.
I knew upon completing my course that I wanted to educate and encourage others to make the postitive changes that will help them improve their lives and get them fitter. I soon joined the team at The PT Factory in Denton, where I was self-employed as a personal trainer. I had a fantastic 16 months there, training my clients, but I have now moved to a gym that is much closer to my own home - Wood's Gym in Hyde.
It is an amazing, friendly and thriving private gym, where clients can feel comfortable to train in.
I've also since gone on to get additional qualifications. The first is Exercise Referral - which allows me to specifically work with clients with certain health conditions like diabetes type 2, high cholesterol, asthma, cardiovascular disease (at controlled levels), obesity, hypertension, depression, arthritis and - yes - osteoporosis (to note, if you have any of these conditions and are looking for a PT, please do check they are qualified to help you by holding Exercise Referral, also known as GP Exercise Referral).
The second is Level 4 in Physical Activity for the Management of Low Back Pain. This qualifies me to work specifically with low back pain clients (under given circumstances and GP clearance) to help them reduce the severity of their low back pain experience or even remove it completely.
So - in a nutshell, that's my story! And I absolutely love personal training, as I am truly passionate about helping people get fit and well.
Book a FREE consultation!
Interested in getting a personal training programme where the training is truly personal? You are welcome to book a free consultation with me, I'm a personal trainer in Manchester. You can contact me via WHATSAPP or EMAIL to book, or give me a call on 07793537352.