Meet Becky
Personal trainer, cancer fitness specialist, frequent passport-user
My fitness journey started horribly. School PE was so not my thing, and I assumed this meant that I was “not sporty” and that exercise could never be for me. As I approached 30, I decided that this probably needed to change. With time and money being an issue, I reluctantly dug out some trainers and signed up for a free “learn to run” course. By the end of it, I still didn’t like running, but now thought that it was because I wasn’t strong enough to be good at it, so I joined a gym.
It wasn’t then a magical epiphany of never looking back. There were still times when I thought, “why am I doing this?!” and, “I don’t belong here” and, “nobody will know if you don’t go this week”. But I also noticed it getting easier. The numbers I was lifting slowly ticked upwards. And that’s when I realised I was hooked.
Lifting also helped when I was diagnosed with a Desmoid tumour a little over a year later. Being stronger and fitter helped my recovery from surgery, and gave me another goal to return to.
What I’ve noticed since starting is that women are under-served by those who have no concept of what it’s like to truly believe that physical activity is not their domain, and younger cancer patients are still predominantly told to sit down and wait it out… then not told it’s ok to stand up again and rediscover life when treatment ends. I’m here to change both of those things, for you and with you.
Another important element of supporting myself has been and continues to be writing and advocacy work – I’ve often been described as resilient, and a good communicator, so I share my story in order to help be the survival guide I was looking for when going through my most challenging times. I largely do this via my blog here, and am soon going to be running a subscription service via Substack. If you’d like to discuss a face-to-face speaking engagement, I’d also be happy to consider your pitch, so get in touch to find out more!
Qualifications
- Level 3 Personal Trainer
- Level 4 Cancer Exercise & Rehabilitation
- First Aid trained
