Personal Trainer & Sports Therapist
Dip FTST
I started out as a PT and sports therapist way back in 1999 when I was only 18. At the time I was really struggling with aneroxia and I qualified to help others avoid that path and to positively use my passion for exercise to help them achieve their goals. Juggling the two wasn’t always easy, but I had an awesome support network that enabled me to become one of the top PTS in Manchester.
I will never forget my first client, she had just recovered from a broken leg and had also had paracardiatis and a collapsed lung a few months before. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end!
I loved my job and the highlight of my early career was winning ‘The Biggest Loser’ in a competition run by ‘Woman’s Own’ and the equivalent of today’s ‘This Morning’. My client went onto helping others do the same thing and was the poster lady for the campaign the following year. The buzz I got from seeing her achieve her goal, still hasn’t changed and that’s why I am still so passionate about my job.
In those early days as much as I loved one to one training, I really enjoyed taking aqua fit and other group exercise classes. Especially in aqua I got to work with the older community, we had an absolute blast and people who thought they would never get fit again did and thrived.
“ I really developed my passion for group training as well as one to one, qualifying to teach group studio cycling, body combat, body pump and step!“
Me completing the Olympic distance at the London Triathlon – my first time covering this distance at this event in my own and not as part of a team. I was 3rd in my age group.
My awesome Body Conditioning class at David Lloyd.
In the following few years I was headhunted by my old manager to set up the PT arm of a new club she ran in Shepperton. Always one up for a challenge my husband and I relocated and moved back to Essex, where I commuted to and from Surrey 5 times a week.
Whilst there my sport therapy knowledge was put to the test and I will never forget the day that my client managed to stand up and sit without her sticks, something the doctors said she would never do. Moments like this made my job so special and still do.
Passion for Group Training
Due to the amount of travel the role meant I ended up handing over the reins to another PT and relocated to a gym closer to where I was in Essex. Whilst there I really developed my passion for group training as well as one to one, qualifying to teach group studio cycling, body combat, body pump and step! It’s amazing how group training can really bring a community together.
However during this period of time, due to difficulties in my marriage and the stress of self employed life I slowly found myself drowning in an environment that was so image focused. For my own mental health I made the choice to step away from it for a time, to get my own health back on track.
During the next few years I worked with young people with emotional and behavioural problems, splitting my time between working in London and with my own company. I was in charge of numerous projects from training up mentors, to teaching performing arts, sports and leisure and taking self esteem courses. Throughout this my passion for physical and mental health never waived, it was just used in a different area.
In the midst of all of this though, although I was still kicking it at the gym and having regular sessions with an awesome PT Cathy, who helped me become a better trainer, my marriage was falling apart and so was my eating and drinking. I spiralled into an unhealthy cycle of over training, eating less and increasing my alcohol intake, waking up most mornings with a hangover.
Finally things came to a head and to escape the abuse I was facing daily, I moved from Essex to Norfolk , moving in with one of my friends to start life afresh and finally divorce my husband. Overnight I lost my house, my job, living near my family and friends, access to a gym I knew and an area I grew up in. At this point not only did my fitness go to pot, I gained weight and became an unhappy version of myself as I tried to work things through.
“This was my return to the PT world and trust me I was so nervous.”
My Wedding Day. I was extremely poorly with anorexia at this point with an 18 inch waist.
London Marathon 2016. My fastest marathon time ever by over an hour in 3 hours and 47 minutes.
Thankfully I built up a group of friends that helped me do that and step by step I began to find me again. A huge key in that was joining a local gym and beginning to work with a different PT Bukky. She was amazing and helped me work out how to exercise effectively, whilst commuting back and forth to Kings Lynn, where I worked as an instructor based teacher at a special needs school. I was in-charge of PE for all children ranging from 3-19 and worked closely with physios to help those who were wheel chair bound etc.. to become more active. I also had my own class, who had severe behavioural issues and kept me on my toes.
During this time I like several other staff began to be bullied by the head, which once again robbed me of my confidence and left me vulnerable and low. I felt that I had lost control of everything again, the strength I had begun to build up started to vanish and without Bukky’s encouragement and unwaiving support, going above and beyond, not only training me in the gym but attending meetings with me and the union. She helped me to get perspective and rekindled the early passion I had as a PT to help people mind body and soul. It’s thanks to her that I not only took the step of applying to be a PT at Virgin Active, a club I was a member of, but also ran the London marathon in 2012 as part of my healing process, proving to me that I could do anything I wanted too!
This was my return to the PT world and trust me I was so nervous. I was aware that I didn’t look like I used too, but I was fully aware now that training isn’t always easy and the my role was far more than just a trainer, it was to be a coach and someone who works with someone mind, body and soul to enable them to reach their goals. I ended up taking her job over as she was pregnant and taking time off for maternity leave.
I remember the first few months, the fear that I was going to fail, the realisation that I would only earn money if I had clients – the joys of a zero hours contract! I felt like I was on the back foot and remember being sick with nerves several times especially when it came to taking group exercise classes again, I wasn’t used to being the one at the front.
I Just Needed to be Me!
However early doors I was determined to become the club and then the regions top PT! I realised that being me was all I needed to be as people respect that. None of us have it all together and I certainly didn’t, but I wanted people to know that they could achieve anything they wanted too. I knew for that to come across I had to challenge myself too and keep pushing the boundaries, as if I didn’t how could I be an example to others?
My first ever triathlon in 2013. It wasn’t pretty!
I wasn’t gonna be beaten!
In the first few months of my role a number of things happened, one of them was meeting my partner in crime and Best friend Sarah. Early doors I remember a conversation where I told her I was worried I was going to fail, her response was change your expectation! Change that and you will succeed. It’s amazing how one conversation can be the catalyst for change! I went from being at the bottom of the PT pile to being at the top and guess what the only thing that had changed was my perspective and self belief, not my qualifications or anything else!
Secondly one of my clients booked me in for my very first triathlon, which trust me was eventful ! I borrowed a bike I had never ridden, bought a cheap wetsuit, a costume and some tri shorts. On the day I lost where my bike was, struggled to get out of the wetsuit and nearly went head over heels on the run route, but despite that I loved it. In the following few years, I got my own bike, my own decent wetsuit etc.. and began to pursue the dream of making it onto the GB age group team! Last year 2019, I managed that and in that moment all the blood, sweat, tears and injuries were worth it!!
“Over the past few years, I have not only got me back, physically and mentally but I have taken several CPD courses to increase my expertise.”
Alongside of this I also set myself the mission of a sub 4 hour marathon, which trust me when your previous best time was 4:36 and then 5 hours it was no mean feat!! However thanks to some awesome running buddies, constant support from my bestie and lots of hard-work in 2016 I ran London in 3:47 and have run several others under and around the 4 hour mark.
Over the past few years, I have not only got me back, physically and mentally but I have taken several CPD courses to increase my expertise. The latest of these being my GP referral qualification and currently pre and post natal.
Finally my biggest leap of faith so far in my job as a PT, was taking a jump from working at David Lloyd and going self employed to work at Phoenix gym. For me I had hit a ceiling where I was, I had achieved my goals and wanted to be able to further develop my skills as a PT and Sports Therapist in a different environment. I also wanted the freedom to offer my clients more flexible packages and open my services up to more people to help them achieve their goals.
As a PT and person I believe you really can do anything you set your mind too. It’s not always going to be easy and the road will have its twists, turns and upside downs, but you can do it!
The moment when all the hard work paid off. It was at this event – the Brighton Triathlon – that I qualified for the GB Age Group Team.