"To Live is a Special Gift, to Live in Fullness is Pure Joy"

Working with Terrie Sanders

I have worked in the human performance industry for the past 21yrs in both Corporate and Community Health and Fitness.Throughout this time I have observed clients who were committed to gaining a strong, fit and healthy body. Each person went into their new lifestyle and exercise regime with their best level of enthusiasm and commitment. Some achieved results, others dropped out, and yet others just didn't attain the results that were expected and were disappointed.

Generally it was considered in this industry that the people who were not obtaining results were 'non-compliant' and that the 'drop-outs' were disinterested. However, my experience of getting to know these people led me to believe that there was something more going on that was blocking them from securing the results that were considered achievable and/or detering them from wanting to exercise.

One of the common comments was how 'uncomfortable' exercise and in some cases even general movement was for them. This was often considered part of the course for someone who was unfit and/or considered overweight, or training at an elite level and pushing themselves to perform. Yet from my observation there was something more to the story.

Gaining insight about the state of my tissue health, as well as how to recuperate this through nutrition and movement, has given my body the opportunity to regain energy, strength and mobility and join in with life once again.

Imagine trying to build a house with frail bricks and mortar. Or to put up a tent with guy ropes that weren’t strong enough to hold the stresses about to be placed on them. Or the tent fabric not being checked for tears or mould to ensure that it will not rot or weaken once called upon to do its job.

The human body has muscles, ligaments, tendons, organs, blood - all part of a complex web of biochemistry - working to maintain a living balance for you. Healthy Human Performance coaches you so that you can maximise your body’s capabilities to be healthy, strong, stable and have stamina.

Terrie Sanders targets her coaching for those people who do not have a clinical diagnosis of a degenerative condition - yet know that their body is operating less than optimally.

Some of Terrie’s story….

IT WAS 1996, and I had been working for 10yrs in the health industry as an Exercise Scientist in Corporate Health. This year I was also in the height of my training for the Atlanta Paralympics.

I had been riding – and loved riding - a bike since I was able to walk so racing a tandem bike on the track and road came relatively easy to me.

It was at this time that I noticed some odd occurrences that I discounted as serious yet was keeping an eye on as I wasn’t offered any medical diagnosis to account for them apart from them being ‘atypical’.

For starters, my left leg started to ‘jump’ and ‘miss a beat’ during our bike training sessions. One of the techniques a cyclist practices is a smooth pedalling action and I found for the first time that in the middle of a pedal stroke my left leg would ‘jerk’ all of a sudden and put me out of the pedalling action. Not all the time but I noticed it happening.

Secondly, we were training in the climate chambers to acclimatise for our racing in Atlanta and I noticed that during and after this particular training I was feeling very unwell, and from my observation, I was disproportionately unwell compared to how other people were handling the sessions.

I was also instructing exercise to music classes and noticed that in stretching I could no longer get a full stretch down my left leg. My physiotherapist was helpful yet cautionary that this was a sign of some tissue (nerve inflammation) problem and that I had better pull back from training. I tried mediating training, stretching, changing my exercise routine, made sure I was hydrating well, got more rest and sleep - with no positive improvement.

The other anomaly I had noticed was that although I tried with all the knowledge I had and could draw on at the time, my body fat % was just not going down. For cycling I wanted to drop this extra amount of fat - that had decided to remain regardless of what I did - so that I was lighter on the bike as well as more supple.

At this time I was also on hay fever medication, hormonal therapy, anti-inflammatories and painkillers for different symptoms. Parallel to these physical symptoms I noticed that fatigue was more often and longer than previous and the colour of my face was pale more than usual. My concentration and patience at work was lessening and I spent more time in bed resting than I did socialising.

In 1997 I took a few months off after the 1996 Games. Once back on the road and track preparing for the 2000 Games - an accident during a road training session left me with some broken bones to heal. This required strong pain killers and surgery. Although not a pleasant situation, I thought my state of fitness would bring me back from this quickly and strongly. This was not to be. I found that my health deteriorated dramatically including muscles starting to tear at the smallest actions like stepping up onto a stool; my fatigue levels increased; my tolerance to heat and cold was less; my energy for a basic living day was noticeably reduced.

Looking back these were signs that I had moved my biochemistry out of balance and had initiated the six sub-clinical defects in a way unique to myself and as a result - without knowing which nutrients I needed and other factors that had lead to the tissue degeneration - it just continued to worsen.

I did notice that some nutritional supplements seemed to help, but I never found an answer that turned my situation around nor did I feel comfortable with what seemed a random guess at the food and supplements it was that I needed to take. I had always had the belief that supplementation was unnecessary if I ate a diet in line with the National Heart Foundation Guidelines.

This is some of the background that led me to venture to enquire further than my current training and knowledge and started me on this path of enquiry with regards tissue degeneration and bioenergetics of exercise and nutrition. It turns out that it was lucky I was exercising for some of this time, and at other times it was to my detriment. I was also lucky that I had followed my own commonsense through some difficult times which served me well.

My physical return to health results were gained through a deeper understanding of the philosophy and therefore actions that the Free Radical Therapy program pointed to - which I personally undertook. I then followed up my growing professional interest in Free Radical Therapy and involved myself in training and study to now make this available to my clients.