Taking Health And Function For Granted And Learning From It

1995 and cancer introduced itself to me, well, to my left knee actually.

Football team, swimming team, volley ball team, track and field team, mountain biking with England’s best. I was active. Sports were my life. The RAF was my dream. Until my carcinogenic encounter.

When you go from being that active to being immobilized, having part of your skeleton removed and replaced with titanium it has a knock on effect. Sports are off the menu as was the RAF. Or so I was told.

Stubborn is often a word used to describe me and thankfully the right one. I didn’t know any other way of life other than a strong and active one. Rehabilitation was tough but it was the spark that lead to where I am today. I went from being in a wheel chair to kickboxing in five years.

Learning to walk again is an interesting task: you are presented with realisations that we take for granted as healthy individuals.

Strength is the single most important aspect to our daily lives, without it we are prisoners in our own bodies unable to perform the most mundane of tasks, putting socks on for example. Socks proved a landmark for me; I said to myself that when I could put my socks on standing up I would know I was winning! Did I mention I can walk on my hands, lift 200kg off the floor and ride motorbikes off road in my spare time?

I can do those things now because of what I learnt when rehabilitating my leg. I studied every aspect of every exercise programme available, I read the medical journals on exercise science, I tried the ideas, the methods. For years.

So much advice left me in pain and unable to walk due to the sheer volume of work they involved. I decided there had to be way that was effective and time efficient with less risk of injury. There is. It sadly is the absolute hardest way out there and requires the most dedication, consistency and will power of all of them. On the up side, it takes the least time.

The principles I now know to work are applied to each and every one of my clients and now to the online workout plan; 8 Week Workout Challenge which is available to everyone with an internet connect and a desire to change.

If you want to be more capable and more confident: Epsom Personal Trainer: Richard Ham Williams can help.