Body breaking down – Start strength training

"I decided to go because, well, basically I was falling apart. I was told that I will have to quit netball very soon... I can now easily garden, my happy place is my garden...  I dug up the sleepers, I dragged them across the garden, replanted them where I wanted, and I couldn't have done that. It surprised me. I pushed myself a little bit, and I woke up the next morning, fine, and accomplished and happy. So my advice... If you have a body breaking down - Start strength training."

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I've been going to Spice Fitness now for about six months.

I decided to go because, well, basically I was falling apart. I was told that I will have to quit netball very soon. I'm still a club player, and I still love my netball, but I was actually taking painkillers to get on the court. I was taking painkillers after I got off the court, and that's That's not how I want it to look the rest of my life.

I'm an educator. I look after children from two and a half, three years old, and there's a lot of bending down, a lot of getting up off the floor, a lot of A lot of physicalness. And once you reach a certain age, shall we say, it can get tiring, it does get weary. And I wanted to be the best educator I could. And lots of things just stacked up.

All the stars aligned. I was diagnosed with bilateral advanced osteoarthritis in both means. My netball career was coming to an end, and my career at netball, my career at work was getting hard. So my best friend said, Come along with me. Come and meet Sheree.

She will work wonders. And I went, Okay, let's have a go. I was a bit concerned because I I've been to gyms, I've been to physios, I've been to sports physiologists, and I was concerned with not doing the exercises right, making sure I wasn't hurting I went to Sheree.

The thing that I was so impressed was she said, Let's do a little bit of a workout. Let's see what you can do. Let's see what we can help you with. Let's see what I can strengthen, to continue on with work, to continue on with what you love, your gardening, your netball, your grandkids.

So I did a one-on-one. And she spoke about arthritis. She spoke about all the muscles around surrounding things, and it really made sense. And she explained about muscle groups and putting the tongue on the roof of your mouth and to protect your neck muscles.

She spoke about safety all along, and that got me very interested. So went I went on to my first class. I particularly wanted to go to classes because like all of us, we need accountability. And if I'm going to go with a group, like netball.

Remember if you have a Body breaking down - Start Strength training.

I feel like I'm letting the team down if I don't go. I went with expectations of, I don't know, like a gym, all these gym bunnies, their Lycra, and they were lovely ladies. It's so supportive. It really is so... Everybody looks after each other.

Everybody encourages each other. I'm not backwards in coming forward, so I'm quite happy to chat to everybody, and But the first class, I was hooked. I felt challenged. I felt safe.

I felt like my muscles were We're being worked and being challenged, but without being… At no time did I ever feel pressured into doing better, faster, higher, greater, anything like that.

I started going twice a week with my Pipp and with a lot of encouragement and help. I asked all sorts of dumb questions, and Shere was wonderful. She answered them all, and she demonstrated, and she encouraged.

I can now... I've dropped 15 kilos. Muscle mass weighs more. I don't care about the weight. It's what I can do. It's the functions I can perform. It's the playing duck-duck goose with my two and a half-year-olds and being able to jump up and run after them. I haven't been able to do that for years.

I can easily garden My happy place is my garden. I suffer from anxiety and depression, so when I go out in the garden, it's my happy place. And it was really getting me down because I couldn't get out there for long.

And now I'm out there for hours. I'm replanting. I'm planting more. I'm picking, I'm bottling, I'm preserving. Probably here, the dehydrator, I'm dehydrating. And I find that it's the feeling of accomplishment after I've done these things.

I've done so much. I've gained so much. I've got so much more abilities to do things because of the way Sheree's taking the entire body and working everything to be functional rather than to be Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It's really helped With work, obviously, it's helped with the gardening. I have two grandchildren, and I'm very proud of Nana. I've been playing trains with my grandson, and get down on the floor. I can rum around with him.

His favourite game at the moment is splat. We get pillows out, and he just falls down on them and goes, Splat. I can actually do that. I haven't been able to do that at all with him and his two. Sheree's just been, as I said, each class is different.

You never get bored. There's always something you should learn. I find myself challenging myself. And the ladies around are just fantastic, and they're really supportive. I really, really enjoy going. I love the class activities. I love being part of a group. I love being encouraged I love being... It's not like going to a gym where everybody's in their own world.

Everybody's got their headphones on, and they don't... You're there with a group, but you're not there with a group.

My poor husband The other day, I wanted to shift a garden. It doesn't get enough sun, so I wasn't going to wait for him. So I dug up the sleepers, I dragged them across the garden, replanted them where I wanted, and And I couldn't have done that. It surprised me. I pushed myself a little bit, and I woke up the next morning, fine, and accomplished and happy.

Sheree is easy to talk to, very easy to talk to. And she encourages everybody to be their best.

So I recommend Fitness, particularly for ladies past menopause.