Congratulations to our Member of the Month!
May!
May’s Story
May has been an amazingly dedicated member of Leap since Sep 2019. She’s an absolute star in attending weekly Pilates one-on-one sessions and DIY sessions to keep her body strong!
‘Leap helped me overcome a lot of my pain from previous injuries and surgeries. It’s given me an understanding of my body, and is keeping me strong and mobile.’
‘My name is May, and I’ve been a career nurse before retiring several years ago. Being a nurse is really very hard on your body, so I’ve had many aches and pains and injuries because of it. About 5 years ago, I’d had a shoulder surgery, and then 3 years ago I had a major back surgery – I was in excruciating pain from the waist down, in a wheelchair and had to learn to walk again.
I had the horrible realisation of what it felt like to be immobile and unable to move around normally.
I attended some Pilates one-on-one lessons since my back operation with a different studio, but was looking for someone more knowledgable, as the instructor I had at the time didn’t know the answers when I asked questions about my body. I wanted someone who could give me more varied instruction and incentive to continue exercising.
When I came to Leap Health and Wellbeing a couple of years ago, I had no core and no core awareness.
My knee had started playing up too, and I was on track for a knee replacement. I wanted to avoid the surgeon’s table for as long as possible, especially considering how long it took to recover from my other surgeries.
I wanted to stay strong and improve my balance, especially as I was growing older.
I started doing Pilates one-on-one with the Leap instructors, who gave me a variety of different exercises on the Reformer machine. I was challenged and not bored, or feeling stagnant in my workout.
When I asked questions about the exercises, or about my body, the explanations that the Leap instructors gave were much more enlightening. I’m more of a theory type of person in that I want to understand exactly what I’m doing and why, and my teachers at Leap really help with that.
I do two one-on-one sessions a week plus DIY sessions, which works best for my style of learning, and now have an awareness and understanding of what my core is. Not to mention that it’s also a lot stronger!
My knee has improved a lot! I don’t avoid the stairs in my apartment anymore, and I can even walk and jog down the ramps at the carpark in the shopping centre.
My balance is much better than before, and I don’t have to worry as much about injuring myself doing daily activities.
I can even do planks and push ups on the Pilates Reformer, which is something I never thought I’d be able to do before.’
