“My journey towards helping others is just beginning, but
I am extremely excited about being given all the relevant knowledge and skills
by Future Fit Training that could change someone’s life or way of living for
the better
” Mike Newman
We are very excited to announce that Mike Newman has almost completed his training with us to become a personal trainer.
Since surviving a severe motocross accident in 2019, Mike has been overcoming obstacles with increasing his mobility, to drive him towards recovery both physically and mentally. He has been inspired to use his knowledge of fitness and experience of his own recovery process to help others reach their fitness goals despite challenges to their mobility:
“I hope to share with them the knowledge I have learnt during my recovery and give them hope and motivation, to get them where they want to be. As well as helping able-bodied people achieve their fitness goals.”
Read on to learn more about Mike’s incredible determination of spirit, and how he has been training with us to achieve his career goals.
Mike’s Future Career and Working with Future Fit Training
Mike has had a love of fitness ever since he was young, actively participating in team sports like rugby and football, as well as resistance training and callisthenics.
In 2019, after a day riding motorbikes with friends, he hit a mudrock coming round a corner on his bike which “sent me up a slope that shot me out over a sheer drop, I flew 20ft through the air before crashing to the floor rolling multiple times.” After being rushed to John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford and receiving a CT scan, the doctors revealed that Mike had received an L3 burst fracture to the spine amongst other serious injuries.
“The surgeon, after 6 and a half hours of surgery removing bone fragments from inside my body and installing metal rods in my back to support my spine, said with the extent of my injuries and how bad the nerve damage was that I would never walk again. I simply replied
challenge accepted.”
This resilience and determination toward recovery has seen Mike addressing the challenges he now faces with movement recovery and physiotherapy head-on. Putting in the hours at the gym and keeping himself motivated has been a driving factor to be the best version of himself possible, injury or not: “It was challenging, to say the least, I had some very dark days, but I treated it the way I would with any goal … head-on!”
Mike has been in physiotherapy for 2/3 hours a day, 5 days a week. Likening the recovery process to a ‘marathon’ rather than a ‘sprint’, Mike has made amazing progress with strengthening his leg muscles and has even been able to use a Zimmer frame and crutches for a short length of time after being told walking would be ‘impossible’.
Mike has recently taken his first steps, achieving a huge milestone in his recovery process: “
This was monumental for me and my recovery both physically and mentally… Proof of how strong the mind is and what you can achieve if you put your heart and soul into your goals.”
While in recovery in Salisbury Odstock Spinal rehab centre, Mike was able to meet with people who had experienced accidents like his; people who, unfortunately, had lost their motivation and given up on regaining mobility. It was here that he realised what he wanted to do to help people like himself regain their motivation and reach their recovery goals:
“I wanted to help people in this situation and to help them recover, give them hope, and make them the best version of them they can be. With my love, passion, and knowledge in fitness, I felt obligated to do whatever I could to help”
He has subsequently helped one of the friends he made at the centre regain his motivation and self-belief. Once they had left the rehab centre, “he sent me a video and he was walking! His message read “Thank you for giving me hope and for helping me get here”. That for me was worth more than anything money can buy”
Since then, Mike has begun his training with us to turn his passion and fitness knowledge into a meaningful career, helping both able-bodied and people recovering from injuries reach their fitness goals, giving them “hope and motivation”. Excitingly, since beginning his training, Mike has been able to adapt what he is learning on his course to his recovery journey:
“I have found everything I have learnt exceptionally useful both for my training, and for my recovery. Using the information I learnt on the course I managed to trick one of my leg muscles into firing after being paralysed for over a year!”
Mike will soon be starting Level 2 Mental Health and Wellbeing CPD and Exercise Referral, to progress on to Level 4, specialising in lower back pain.