Ups and downs...

When I was in my early 20's I wasn't particularly active and ended up being a little overweight. Over time I got down to a healthier weight for my size, but then life all went a bit wrong....

The stress of a very sudden bereavement a few years ago sent my weight plummeting from 11 stone to 8 stone 12 pounds in just 6 weeks. I can remember my next door neighbour saying they didn't recognise me. Stress can do a lot of damage.

When I first started exercising it was a means of escape, something to take my mind off things. But I didn't know what I was doing and just threw myself into it. Initially I got carried away with it - at one point I was doing up to 9 very heavy HIIT classes a week (3 back to back on one evening a week). I seemed to have so much energy but I shudder when I think about this now. I would burn off all the calories I was eating, and more besides, had vitamin and mineral deficiencies and couldn't put any weight back on.

I got up one day and all of my energy had disappeared, I felt weak and ill. I tried to push through it but pushed too hard and bulged a disc in my back that left me in agony. It took months to get over and I struggled to work. It was a pretty low point in life....

While I was recovering I started to look into improving how I could train and this lead me to thinking about doing a gym instructor course, just to improve my own knowledge initially. But this started me on a whole new path, one I never imagined I would be on....

Fast forward a few years to today - I'm now back to a healthy 11 stone, have my own Personal Training business, instruct classes for Puregym and Dudley MPS and work on community activity projects with Bromsgrove Council and have the knowledge and experience to help other people. Life is so much better!

I've been overweight and underweight and I've made lots of mistakes in the past, but believe me, I've learnt from them and know all the pitfalls and signs to look out for. Training in the right way, with a healthy balanced diet is key to making the progress you need and I have the experience to help you do just that!