A year ago when I attended my first Stabilis bootcamp I didn’t anticipate what huge changes were ahead for me. I was unfit, overweight, lacked confidence and was a little bit unhappy. From the outset Andy set about welcoming me to the group and ensured I was working to the best of my ability. It wasn’t long before a group of us decided to enter a 12k obstacle run. That run was another turning point for me. I cried about 500m into the event as I was frustrated and didn’t think I could do it.

Andy didn’t leave my side for the whole distance and showed enormous patience in the face of my frustration, telling me I could do it and encouraging me to keep going when I wanted to stop. Since then I have run a 10k event, which Andy helped a group of us train for with running sessions at 5:45am (that’s dedication), completed another mud run and have signed up for the Colchester half marathon. As I went to my first bootcamp a year ago, I would never have thought those things possible.

The other big changes are that through training with Andy I have lost 2 stone in weight and dropped 3 dress sizes. It must be the training as little else has changed; I still enjoy a glass of wine and eat what I want but have taken on board the nutritional advice Andy gave and have adapted in many areas. Like a lot of people I have a busy life, I’m a single Mum, working full time and studying part time, but I choose to prioritise my health so I make the time to train, even if it means a 6am 1:1 personal training with Andy at the gym. I have also found my confidence again, am back to being happy and feel I can achieve anything I set my mind to. I used to approach exercise as something I couldn’t do and the words “I can’t do that” used to come out of my mouth frequently when shown exercises, now it’s always “I can do that and what event are we doing next?” However, the best part is that I took it to the next level and fully qualified as a Personal Trainer! I now practice my newfound passion.

I’m so pleased I stepped outside my comfort zone as I retrained and am now a fully qualified personal trainer

Gwenan