All my life I considered myself to be reasonably fit and strong. I had an active childhood, was fairly sporty at school; started my working life as a nurse; had an active lifestyle while raising kids and did lots of walking through my 40s and early 50s. I had numerous attempts to get serious about exercise but despite trying, I never found a gym or fitness class that worked for me.
I took up cycling in 2018 and cycled the West Coast Wilderness Trail, Alps to Ocean, and the Devon Coast to Coast. I felt stronger and fitter than I had in years.
But then in August that year I fell off my bike. Four months later, I still had severe pain in my hip and shoulder and then I developed lower back pain. Physio sessions followed and I made some progress but I knew I had to do more. With more than a little trepidation, I signed up for personal training at the Ara gym. My plan was to have a few sessions with a personal trainer, develop some good technique, and then continue working out at home. It hasn’t quite worked out like that!
I have been training with Gabriel since January 2019 and I’m hooked. To begin with, I was a bit shocked by my limitations, but in a very short time my shoulder and hip pain had disappeared, my flexibility had increased, and my back was much better.
I’m getting stronger each week and my body is working again. The biggest surprise of all is how much fun I’m having and how much I look forward to each session. My only goal is to be as fit and strong as I can be for the rest of my life, and Gabriel is working with me to achieve that. My programme is all about functional movement and it’s making a huge difference to everyday activities.