IT WASN’T JUST A PHASE
In a nutshell
My relationship with health and fitness comes in two parts and didn’t even start until my 30s! At 31 I was unfit and ready to make a permanent change. I joined a gym, but I hated it. With no idea what to do, I copied all the other women by getting on the treadmill. I was miserable, 4 times a week for 3 weeks!
A young PT spotted my misery and told me to do an exercise I enjoy. I had no idea what that was, so he looked me over and took me straight to the free weights. I was intimidated. There were never women in this area, just big men who grunted loudly! He passed me a couple of dumbbells and within moments, my attitude towards my fitness was forever changed. Weightlifting became my passion. I loved going to the gym and over the years I became very strong. When I was pregnant with my son I adapted my training and I continued lifting well into my third trimester. Then my son was born and I stopped. I stopped so hard that in 2 years I went up 3 dress sizes and my mental health was in the toilet.
Towards the end of 2019 I was the largest I had ever been and decided to get back on track for good, again. I changed my eating habits and gradually found the confidence to go back to the gym. That confidence was swiftly knocked when I discovered just how much strength I had lost, but told myself I wasn’t starting from zero as I still had the knowledge from before. It didn’t take long for muscle memory to kick in and for me to start getting stronger. Plus, in the years since I started, more women than ever were lifting weights, which was and remains so inspiring!
With a few foot surgery setbacks and lifelong knee issues, my gym time for much of 2023 was staggered, but I’m back at it and now work around the aches and pains. I still love to lift weights, and while I dream of being as strong as I once was, I’m at peace with the fact that I’m in a different stage of life now. I’ll keep working to be as strong as I can be with the body I have now.
My health and fitness inspiration
This might sound strange, but sumo wrestlers are hugely inspiring to me, especially a wrestler named ‘Ura’, who used to be a gymnast! The inspiration certainly doesn’t come from the sumo diet, but rather their strength and flexibility. Sumo wrestlers are proof that larger bodies are capable of incredible strength, balance and moving in dynamic ways most people wouldn’t think feasible. For me, they are a symbol that hard work and dedication makes anything possible.
Fitness equipment I can’t live without
I couldn’t live without free weights. I really didn’t enjoy exercising until I discovered those, they were absolute fitness gamer-changer for me.
The health and fitness tip you live by
This is a new one but it has made a huge difference to me. I follow an amazing woman on Instagram, @zulfiyeah. She isn’t a fitness influencer, she’s a regular mum sharing her fitness journey and she is SO real.
In one video she said, “It took me a year to get one pull up. It took me a month to get two.”
I am often so focused on what I can’t do yet, that I forget about how far I have come. Her words gave me both the reality check I needed and the reminder to keep at it, because we’re doing this to benefit our whole lives, not just for summer.
Current health and fitness goal
I have strength, flexibility and endurance goals I’m working towards.
- For strength, managing a pull-up (and then hopefully some more!).
- For flexibility, managing a sumo-worthy mata-wari AKA saddle split.
- For endurance, 100 shiko (slow leg raise into a squat); sumo wrestlers do hundreds of these in training every day!
Biggest challenge
I’ve had issues with my knees since birth due to my mad hypermobility. Finding the right balance of exercises, types of exercises being limited (especially in the cardio dept) and knowing to stop mid-set the moment it feels bad, remains a frustrating challenge, even after all these years. My knees are reliably unreliable!
Favourite health snack
Cherry tomatoes! I genuinely get cranky if I go a day without eating any.
Favourite exercise
Barbell clean and press. It’s dynamic, it works a tonne of muscles and most importantly, my focus is pulled entirely to the exercise, which in turn quiets my noisy ADHD brain and brings me some peace.
One interesting thing about you
You mean apart from being a huge fan of sumo wrestling?!
Follow Nat’s journey
Instagram @deadnatchan