The Disability Bodybuilding Show

Into adulthood, I have developed a long term acceptance of the certain barriers I have to face day in day out. To the extent of having long term planning in place to ensure I’m aware of as many circumstances I may face down the line that I may need either help or assistance with. Now, this isn’t to say that I’ve given up totally or I haven’t become frustrated that I can’t do something, but it’s ta...

It’s challenging enough to subconsciously work through things differently with CP, add in the numerous observations at school that confirmed the obvious that yes it’s different, no I can’t do it the ‘conventional way’, but eventually I have been able to see the positive elements that have been created that through living with cerebral palsy, which goes far beyond the barriers…. It’s shaped my whol...

I didn’t know it at first, but I’ve actually been in strength training my whole life! As you will know by now, I’m a keen fitness enthusiast, with one my primary aims is being to create an environment to strengthen my muscle development to help support my Cerebral Palsy. I’ve trained consistently in a gym for nearly a decade now but I can actually trace my starting point 30 years ago in a physio r...

Social media is playing a huge part in delivering accessible information regarding training . Both in terms of how things can be done and achieved and celebrating and sharing ideas. I’ve tried to be like a sponge with information – particularly with training practice and theory. This goes for nutrition and with trial and error with equipment use. One of the major breakthroughs & successes I’ve had...

I’m always excited to find something new to try especially when there is an apparent (particularly on my part) requirement to have to adapt to make it work. This is a fresh post as I got the chance to try some “battle ropes” for the first time at my gym this week. I’ve decided to document this straight away as I want to use it as a marker and challenge to go through each stage of the adaptive proc...

Whether I liked or not I stood out. The biggest sign of my cerebral palsy was most obvious in my hand and that initiated often unwanted conversations about it growing up & at school. Being asked questions about its origin, its look, its feel – were hard to process – I didn’t know how different it felt, I didn’t (and still don’t!) have a comparison… It produced a yearning to just fit in, hide it, n...

Evolving Accessible Fitness... The conversation continues! There are many factors that ignite the fire within me to keep the conservation going with accessibility and fitness. I think with each event, location, gym, workout, equipment, set & even rep I’m often thinking about how things can be adapted and changed. The more that is shared, the more we can learn from each other. That’s how we lift ea...

It’s provided me with... Energy Confidence Strength – both physically & mentally Belief A passion Knowledge And a position to question – are we doing enough, what more can be done & how can I be better than yesterday? And also…To not be afraid to fail I want to just say thank you and a promise to not only be forever grateful for all of this but to give back. To help more people on this journey – t...

There has been an acceptance from myself that have to do things differently from many people. It’s a mental attitude picked up from an early age that I had to find alternative routes with things, so doing that in the gym wasn’t alien to me. That being said, it was notion having to find my own way from the very start. I didn’t know in my early years that what I was doing was far from “the norm” – i...

There have been many reasons why I wanted to get into fitness over the years. I remember my own journey starting just after Christmas 2013, so rather than scoff at “New Year” posts, I love seeing and engaging with the positivity from the drive that people have. I believe it’s takes courage to not only want to improve something, but to actually publicly state it, goes a long way to finding a way fo...

There are so many objectives ahead in 2022, more family activities, plans to get bigger physically, career development, sharing more stories, get more sleep, it could be literally endless. The issue I’ve realised at the turn of the year reflections is that I can’t cram it into 31 days.

I’ll look back at 2021 finishing with even more gratitude for what I have.

My favourite go-to training programme for some time has been the variety offered from Fortitude Training by Dr Scott Stevenson. As we enter the winter of 2021, I finished the first phase of a progressive blast lasting six weeks culminating in my current 14 day “intensive cruise”. Where the time is spent on a deload allowing my body to recover from the previous six week phase. There have been vario...

3-5x more energy required for people with cerebral palsy. That’s an astonishing piece information I received a few years ago, only pointed out to me from someone who had the same muscle structure as me. No wonder I felt tired! It was often lost on me that the tiredness I felt, the guilt, the annoyance, the frustration, All emotions playing out surrounding general performance, particularly with spo...

To have a chance to improve To move To ponder To experiment To change To be free To build strength To challenge myself To be ok not to ok sometimes To have space To be still To create To explore To question To build To thrive I’m grateful...

I like the term “improvements season” – the transition from a pre-contest to post (physical) fitness contest or ‘off season’ is not always as straight forward as I think it will be sometimes… To elaborate, so much time and energy around the gym is allotted to the season ending finale with often a single focus on that last bodybuilding show, whilst perhaps being beneficial for that event, it brings...

A start of a different set of occasional podcasts covering life as a “Daddy with a Disability!” It’s wonderful but there were some questions as I prepared for Fatherhood around my #cerebralpalsy. Tackling potential challenges with being a Daddy with a Disability much like other hurdles in life! Discussion One: How will I hold them? Starting a family was something I had looked forward to for a sign...

We have big goals and dreams. Some will be in touching distance, others maybe so far away that they barely seem reachable....for now. I try to work and improve on my thinking a little more every year when attempting new goals - from my gym work, my career and wider changes. It’s always a learning process.

#Disability #bodybuilding: Growing Opportunities in 2022” From Exeter to Motherwell, Birmingham in the UK to Florida in the USA! Reviewing the huge number of events with a mixed disability category coming up in 2022... Also on disabilitybodybuilding.com

My two little girls have, at various times asked me in that direct, curious way they would with anything that fascinates them “Daddy, what’s it like having one smaller hand?”....

There a number of factors that often make up our “why” Why do I want to do bodybuilding? To prove something to myself? For Current me? For Past me? Or Future me?

I’ve often referred to contest prep as stretching an elastic band, experimenting how far it can be pulled without snapping. Extending it a little, holding it steady, maybe relaxing the tension now and again - but always being in control of energy around it. It’s been a good way to explain how I feel during a prep season!

It was the very end of the World Chanpionships in 2018 and the emotion came at me like a wave, I wasn’t expecting to be sat in the foyer in the Birmingham Repertory Theatre that day tearful. Tearful because the journey was over. I’d done a number of bodybuilding shows that year, to prove to myself I could get better, to help the exposure of the disability class and learn much from the events thems...

It can get better I know, there so much growth in this space to push and achieve, It’s been too long to turn many issues around on numerous occasions... HOWEVER! There is a movement, a number of people and organisations that are spearheading some fantastic opportunities for the disabled community and/or continue to break barriers on a wider scale which reach society further and provide support to...

I’ve been privileged to do a number of shows over the last few years and each present it’s own challenges. I want to try new exercises often, with that brings some barriers to navigate to make them effective and the need to study my approach to some pieces of equipment. There is a balance I feel between being in a place where everyone has the same availability of equipment in the gym but also havi...