The Personal Stuff! (or the boring stuff) Part 2

Ok, I'm ready to finish this story!  Coffee is at hand!

Fast forward 4 years and i'm single again.  I mentioned earlier that as kids we used to ice skate all the time and I missed it!  So I decided to take up Adult Figure Skating!!  I was loving it and learning all sorts of new tricks.  One day I was practising over and over again my spin.......you know, the one legged kind where your body is parallel to the ground.  I was getting good and I guess I got too cocky and tried it again.........not a good idea!

You guessed it!  I broke my leg in the most Canadian way possible.........ice skating!  And this was no simple break but a spiral fracture in 3 places.  Basically I was f***ed!  Surgery and 8 months off work before I could walk properly again.....and that was with a limp :-(

The doctors were concerned with how easily I broke my leg, so I had a bone scan and at the early age of 34 I had the beginnings of Osteoporosis! All those years of no weight bearing exercises  and the lack of dairy, because I was allergic to it, caught up with me.

I remember the day I walked into a gym on crutches to get started on building up my bone density.  I swear all the girls at the front counter just stared at me as I came hobbling through the door.  I can honestly say they didn't know what to do with me!  I explained the situation and although I couldn't do any lower body work, I was determined to start with the upper half.  I think I gained close to 40 lbs while my bones mended and I did not like that.  I had to cut the waist bands off all my jeans just so I could have something to wear......lol

I started getting stronger, the weight was slowly coming off, the crutches made way for a cane and finally I threw away the cane!  I still was not aloud to lift weights with my leg yet but the treadmill became my best friend as I was able to watch myself in the mirror as I walked on it and slowly the limp went away.  5 minutes on the treadmill turned to 10, then 15, then no hands to steady myself and before I knew it i was running for 1 hour!  But my love of Weight Training was born!

Sure, over the years since then, my weight has fluctuated but I always know how to get back on track.  I've hired trainers to push me further, took up Kick Boxing (have my Purple Belt!) and Boxing and have done the Grouse Grind a few times just to prove something to myself.

I moved to Ireland in 2006 to work at the Dental Hospital in Trinity College, Dublin and started at the University gym within days of settling into my new job.  I took up Kick Boxing again, working towards my Black Belt and only got as far as my Purple because I refused to spar.......hey, no one was going to wreck these teeth!!!!!

I think it was the wonderful guys at Trinity gym that got me on the thought process of becoming a Personal Trainer.  I worked closely with Mark and he got me in the best shape of my life!  Lifting heavy to sculpt my body almost got me to enter a fitness competition.........and then I had to move back home.

The stress of it all,  not having a regular routine, a job or even a place to live helped to put the weight back on!  Damn, damn damn...........back to square one.  A place to live came first, then the job and then back to the gym.  It was at this time, with the help of two Personal Trainers, that became friends, that I knew what I wanted to do.  But how?

One year later and laid off my new job, I decided now was the time and I went back to school!  It sucks being the oldest in the class with all these testosterone boys around me.  I got ridiculed by some of them but made friends with others when they saw that I could lift with the "big boys" and I knew what I was doing.  Finished top of my class!

Years of hard work and the willingness to change my body from a barely functioning one to one that is strong and healthy and will take me with grace into my old age has paid off!  I am now the manager of a local gym.

Do I have what it takes to help people?  I say yes!  I know what it is like to feel intimidated walking into a gym for the first time.......remember those crutches?  I know how to treat injuries by going slow and building up!  It takes time and can not be rushed.  I know how to council people on their nutrition and diet as I have been eating "Clean" (before it became a fad) for 20 years due to severe food allergies.

Let me help you!  Are you up for a challenge?

Robyn

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