For me, being fit and healthy is the foundation of being confident in life. I’ve taught various group fitness classes at Les Mills gym for more than 30 years, including aerobics, resistance training, core conditioning and more recently, yoga. I’m also a personal trainer, and love being involved in leading and motivating people to make changes in their lives.
The classes I teach and the clients I work with always make me feel energised. I can be completely exhausted, then I step on the stage to teach and it’s like ‘wow, let’s do this!’
With the personal training, often people start because they want to lose weight, but it moves into something far greater. It can be like a kind of counselling, with a lot of time spent encouraging and looking at deeper underlying issues like ‘why am I not motivated?’ and ‘why am I overweight in the first place?’ I see a real change in my clients over the years, and I see them have dips as well; which could be linked to problems at work or family issues causing a lack of drive. They know what to do but they need me to help them refocus, and that’s all part of my job, to work with the ebbs and flows of life.
A world shattered
I remember watching something on television once about a parent who had lost a child, and saying to my two sons Juke and Jordy, “That would be the worst thing that could ever happen to someone.” I never thought for a moment that one day, I would be that parent, struggling with the desperate sadness, devastation and hurt, and the massive hole that just never fills after a young person dies.
Juke’s illness was horrendous; it was 11 months of a 16-year-old boy being tortured. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Burkitt lymphoma, and from start to finish, everything went wrong. His bowel perforated, he got infections, he was bedridden for months, there were tubes galore, it just got worse and worse. Our world fell apart.
Throughout it all I tried to keep up with work, as I had made the decision it would give me some extra energy to keep going. I would run down from Starship Hospital to teach a class, or work with my early morning clients at 5.30am, often after being up all night with Juke. It was like I was in a bubble.
When Juke passed away it was a matter of ‘how do I keep going with life?’ For me, I had to go straight back to work, I needed to have a purpose, but it was like everything now felt foreign. With friends, I didn’t know how I was expected to be; was I allowed to ever laugh? If I cried or talked about it too much was everyone going to get sick of me?
When someone dies you can often look back at all the positive things that have happened in their life. But there is no positive when a young person dies, there’s just nothingness. Half my future has gone. It’s the worst thing anybody can experience.
For a while I was running around like a mouse on a wheel, filling every gap you could imagine with ways to manage my sadness. I would bake so much and give it all away, rush around the house cleaning, it didn’t matter what it was as long as I was busy. I was always going so fast, there was no balance and I was getting out of control.
Holistic health
I eventually did a leadership course, and while most people were there for business reasons, I went because my life was spiralling. It taught me a lot about why I had become that person since my son died, and I learned I needed to step back and slow down. From there I started looking at yoga and I now teach a class at Les Mills called Body Balance.
My whole personal training and group teaching style has changed. I used to be in ‘rip shit and bust mode’ where it was all about going hard, and now I’m more into the flexibility, focus and meditative side of exercise.
It has been so positive, people in my classes have told me they can tell I love it. I think the experience with Juke has given me a broadness of understanding of life, and an understanding of hardships and tragedies. I know how hard it is for people who have suffered a loss, and I feel I can help them through that. We just can’t allow adversity to pull us down to the point where we don’t get up. We have to keep going.
Over the next few years I want to delve deeper into the holistic side of things; I’m focusing on longevity, not just the here and now. It’s not just being fit; health is our future, and our coping mechanism for life.
Prue’s tips
Find something fun.
It’s important to find an exercise you enjoy doing. Get an exercise buddy or join a group, seek out like-minded people who have the same purpose – that way you can encourage each other. Incorporate exercise into socialising; instead of meeting a friend for a coffee, meet up for a walk.
Make exercise a routine
Block out appointments for yourself for exercise, and treat it just as importantly as you would a work meeting or business commitment. When you get back to work you’ll feel more energised, focused and productive. Do something every day – it doesn’t have to be intensive; even if it’s a simple stroll in the park, you’ll still benefit from the fresh air and endorphins.
Look honestly at what you are eating and drinking
Too much alcohol, coffee or sugar all impact on our energy and motivation, and it only takes simple changes to feel better. Stick to the perimeter of the supermarket and forget about packaged food. I like to put sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and chopped almonds on an oven tray, and dry roast them for about 15 minutes at 180°C. I sprinkle the mixture on salads, toss them in stir fries or have it on hand as a snack. It’s natural, tasty, has a great texture and fills the gap when you’re tempted to reach for lollies.
As told to Sara Bunny
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