I didn’t know it at first, but I’ve actually been in strength training my whole life!
As you will know by now, I’m a keen fitness enthusiast, with one my primary aims is being to create an environment to strengthen my muscle development to help support my Cerebral Palsy.
I’ve trained consistently in a gym for nearly a decade now but I can actually trace my starting point 30 years ago in a basement physio room of a general hospital here in the UK.
Then, like now, there was much to learn about flexibility and movement. Whilst the greater emphasis in my younger days was to ensure the right support was there as my body grew throughout my youth, there was much focus on stretching, exercise, balance, strength building and finding ways to adapt.
I remember the long journey, often very early mornings, having exercises to practice and made aware of the importance of daily work to help shape my progress and how much it would benefit me in later life. Something that was extremely challenging to maintain and comprehend at the time but I think I understood it growing up.
As I reflect on those days, during cerebral palsy awareness month, I can only look back with a gratitude to those that helped at that hospital, a team there to slowly guide a practice in me that made me understand that although limitations were thrown at me early on (and remain), giving me options and something to work on certainly provided me with a platform to try and adapt, through working on flexibility, exercises and trying to different tools to support daily life…it’s a search and practice I still continue to this day.
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