Rewind back to 14 year old me, hated sports, hated P.E and wouldn't even run for the bus. I was unfit, but never massively overweight or unhealthy. I had a hard time in high school for many reasons, I wasn't exactly a social butterfly but I had an amazing set of friends that I'm so grateful for looking back.
I never really thought about fitness or the gym much until being around 17-18 when I went to college. I struggled really badly with disordered eating and would binge a lot. Then beat myself up and feel guilty about it, I walked everywhere which helped but I knew something had to change. I was so sick of obsessed over calories and fat, so I joined the gym near me. It was just a swimming baths with a small gym, so nothing fancy but it was nice and friendly. At first I would literally stick to cardio (treadmill, cross trainer etc.) but then sometimes I would do a few reps on the weight machines. Not really in any order or anything, I was only young and had no clue what I was doing.
When I was 18 I got pregnant with my daughter, I gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl at the age of 19. This is when I put on a lot of weight, but also became really conscious of what I was eating as my baby was eating it too. The battle to lose my baby weight began, I went back to the same gym and did the same thing. Cardio, little swim, sauna and home. Didn't really change my eating much, but again I did walk everywhere so the weight soon dropped off.
Fast forward a fair few years to being 24-25 roughly, I joined Pure Gym with my friend. I was driving by this point and it was accessible. I would drop my daughter at school and then I would drive there, meet my friend and do the 9:30am classes. We stuck to this routine for some time. We would do classes 3 times a week, sometimes I would go on my own for some. My favorite class was always Body Pump, this is where I think I really fell in love with weight training. Problem was I only knew what I was doing in the class with an instructor. Pure Gym always felt too big, the free weights seemed like the 'mens' section to me and I would never venture over there. So I stuck to body pump, still not seeing much progression. I lost weight but I still wanted more.
I remember doing a class when I was about 26 with a female trainer at Pure Gym, I watched her from the back of the class and she looked so confident and happy. She always had a smile on her face and you could tell she really enjoyed her job. I remember thinking to myself 'I want that', I wanted to do what she did. Typical me, I held myself back and never thought I would be capable of it.
Fast forward to being 27, pregnant with my second child. I had an emergency C-section so wasn't really able to exercise much. I used to use YouTube for fitness videos to do in my living room. Charlotte Crosby's DVD was a firm favorite. When my son was 6 months old I'd had enough. The Gym Group had opened up near me a while back, I jumped on my phone and joined Friday evening. Saturday morning I booked a class and went for it.
I walked in that gym that morning absolutely terrified, this was the end of January 2019. Anxiety through the roof, I almost walked out and never looked back. But I didn't, I did the class and felt so much better. I dragged my friend to join with me, and we started doing all the 6am classes Monday-Friday. We got friendly with all the instructors and really felt comfortable there. There was a nice feeling at this gym, like we mattered, something we never got from Pure Gym.
One morning I got chatting to one of the Personal Trainers and he offered me a free PT taster session. I thought fuck it, why not. So I met him 6am the next morning, he took me through an upper body session. I hated him, but I absolutely loved it as well. We got chatting and he asked me what I do for a living. At this point I'd done my Fitness Instructor Level 2, but with being pregnant and having my son I'd pushed it to one side and forgotten about it. I was keen to start my Level 3 but needed that push. He told me he would have a chat with the manager and get me some experience here. I brushed it off and never thought it would happen.
Then one morning after a class, the manager approached me and offered me some work experience. I went out of that gym absolutely smiling like a lunatic, I was so excited. Shit, this might actually be happening. I did a few weeks work experience, did some shifts, taught classes and got used to the gym environment. Loved it, every second. Even the cleaning, I didn't care, I was working in a friggin gym, ME!
I pushed on throughout these weeks, smashed my paperwork, worked my fucking arse off, did my assessment and qualified as a Personal Trainer by June. From joining in January, to starting as a fully qualified FT/PT by the 1st July. Absolute madness. Now I'm here, 8 months into this job. I've made some amazing friends for life, my confidence is through the roof, and I'm so excited about what is to come this year. Just shows what you can achieve when you put your mind to it. Last year was a whirlwind. I always think back to that instructor at Pure Gym, I wanted to be like her and now I'm here. Teaching classes with sometimes 20+ people in, and not giving a care in the world.
I owe massive credit to the Gym Group Oldham staff for their encouragement and help. Without them I wouldn't be here now. You know who you are if your reading this ❤
When it comes to my own training, I've learnt so much. I finally see my body changing and I've finally fallen in love with my body. I'm amazed by what it can achieve and I've shown I can push myself to my absolute limits. I've lost my weight, and now its time to build some muscle. I know what works for me and my body, but also for my clients. I am loving helping people who were in the same position I was. Helping them to see what they can achieve. When they need that push or motivation I'm there. My clients amaze me everyday, I'm so lucky to be where I am now. It's hard at times, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
'If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you'
Looking back, I never would of posted pictures like this. I hated looking at my own body never mind letting someone else see it! Now I'm proud of who I am and my body, I'm proud of everything its achieved and what its going to achieve.
If you managed to read all of that to the end, well done! 😅
Pop me a message in the comments if you have any questions!
I'm always happy to help!
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