Over the last few months I've been training hard and studying hard, working towards my dream of becoming a health coach. I can now celebrate the fact that I am a fully qualified Personal Trainer! I can't wait to start working with all of you wanting to achieve your health and fitness goals, while maintaining balance in all aspects of life.
When I started dancing, I had no idea that it would one day lead me towards a love of the gym... and when I started training at Anytime Fitness, I had no idea that it would one day lead me towards personal training, and becoming qualified to help people achieve their own definition of HEALTH.
For me, health has come to mean balance -
balance between hard work vs hard play
balance between structure and routine vs the ability to do things spontaneously, for fun
balance between eating and moving for nutrition and fitness vs eating and moving for pleasure
Exploring your own values and discovering what balance looks like for you is so rewarding, and I want to help EVERYONE do the same...
For a long time during recovery I was obsessed with maximising muscle growth and minimising fat gain. I completely ignored the fact that fat was always going to be an essential component of regaining my health. Aside from the physiological reasons why our bodies need fat (and why my unique body may need more fat than the girl next to me), gaining fat and learning to accept it has been an integral part of my mental and emotional journey in recovery.
To begin with, I used strength training as a crutch to help me feel safe. It made me feel safe because I could tell myself I was doing everything possible to maximise muscle growrth and minimise fat gain. During the first lockdown in 2020, I started lifting weights. I would do heavy leg sessions three times a week, and a two hour cycle three times a week, all on top of my online dance training. When I started training at Rambert, I was pushing through 2 hour-long sessions before full days of dance training.
I hadn't found the ability to listen to my body or give it the chance to recover. I was punishing myself for not looking the way I wanted to look, and trying to ensure I would be seen the way I felt I needed to be seen. Since I've stopped dancing, I've discovered how my body really wants to move...
Strength training makes me feel powerful - it's no longer a crutch that I rely on to feel worthy.
Strength training has helped teach me that bodies change, and that change is ok. I am no more or less of a person for how heavy I lift or how much muscle or fat I gain.
Strength training has also relieved my hip and back pain, improved my flexibility, and gives me the time to escape into my own world for a couple of hours each day.
The gym is by no means a necessary part of recovering from an ED but, used correctly, it can have a hugely positive impact on emotional, physical and mental recovery.
If you enjoy movement, pay attention to it and invest in that enjoyment.
If you don't, what gives you joy and purpose?
Be curious and take the time to find your thing.
If you want support in that journey, let me know!
I'd be honoured to be a part of it
Lots of love and big hugs,
Rachel xxx