My fitness journey: 2020-2023

I hung up my gloves. Then, something changed...

I had to stop kickboxing in 2020 and it had nothing to do with the pandemic. That story’s here.

To summarise: After months of intense pain, numbing in my extremities, and stiffness in my legs, several X-rays displayed a curve of the spine that would halt my hobby:
"No jumping, twisting, spinal loads, or impact sports. Not now or ever again."

That ruled out kickboxing, a sport that had kept me mentally and physically healthy for years. I hung up my gloves.

Fast forward to 2023 [don’t you love it when we can fast forward to the happy ending!] and I was getting stronger training isolated muscles.

No squats, deadlifts, or anything resembling those allowed, but I could train all the muscles individually! Slow, time-consuming, yes. But not less effective than compound lifts.

I’m not at my happy ending though… I was afraid of most things I loved, I knew I wasn’t even supposed to run or jog. Then in early 2023, I met a fitness coach who understands the body and injuries on top of their expertise in weight loss:

“How long ago was that diagnosis? 2 years? You’ve built up loads of strength since then, our bodies heal in 6-month cycles, cells regenerate every 3 months. So get on the treadmill and start slow. REAL slow, like so slow it’s almost walking,” said Cat Smiley.

Ok. It’s not that I was desperate to run again but I was ready for any variation on my usual exercise! I went slow for a couple of minutes, got frustrated, went faster…

“You did how many kilometres in 5 minutes? That’s too fast, slow it down, but don’t stop.”

I’d been looking for an online coach who could do everything with me and found Cat Smiley. I would have loved to be available to do her retreat but luckily I could do 12 weeks of 30-minute sessions, much of which I did walking and talking as though Cat and I were on the trail together.

This professional trainer in Canada coached me back to healthy jogging, with a scoliosis diagnosis, and most importantly — replaced the faith I’d lost in my own abilities.

This next section is my opinion, not hers:

Doctors are conservative. Those in orthopaedics are also the most misogynistic in the industry. Looking at the delicate flower of a woman like me [lols internally] they will always err on the side of caution for fear of future injuries.

But our bodies are stronger than we think, and with proper training (and a little less fear-mongering) we can realise our potential:

• Women have special mobility and stability that men don’t, according to Alexander Orthopaedic Associates.

• Male babies are statistically at a 10% greater risk than females. We don’t know why, says Joy Lawn of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

• “If you look across all the different types of infections, women have a more robust immune response,” says Kathryn Sandberg of Georgetown University. “If there’s a really bad infection, they survive better. If it’s about the duration of the infection, women will respond faster.”

And I AM stronger than I thought.

I’m doing all sorts of movements I could never have imagined in 2020 when 2 different doctors gave me a strict, life-long prohibition on everything I enjoyed. My fitness coach not only helped me lose weight, Cat Smiley showed me how I can trust my body to heal stronger too.

Disclaimer before I sign off: I’m not encouraging you to ignore doctor’s orders.

Heal first, then test the waters, with professional supervision. But don’t let anyone tell you “never again.”