Our health and well-being is one of the most amazing gifts that humanity has been blessed with. Many of us have the ability to breath, move and provide for ourselves and those around us. It would be difficult to imagine life, not being able to walk up a flight of stairs, run to catch at bus or taxi (depending on where one lives), lift a heavy object off the ground or even leap in the air to the highest ability. We go to the gym on a weekly basis, perform our favorite routines and exercises, never thinking about what life might be like if we got injured in some way, how would we adapt? Would we have the mental, emotional and even spiritual faculties to not only endure what has happened to us, but also adapt to the circumstances? My name is Brandon Ryan, and for the past five years, I have been an online health coach, with certifications in personal training and nutrition.
My niche or scope of practice, focused directly on the adaptive community, primarily those with varying degrees of cerebral palsy. Though I do also work with abled bodied clients as well. Why did I choose to work this specific population of clients? Because I myself have cerebral palsy. Being born with cerebral palsy, might parents fought to get me to gain the weight needed to survive and grow, in the name of shattering the narrative that doctors laid before them. Which wasn’t good or inspiring to say the least. They told my parents that I’d never be able to do anything for myself and be dependent on others for care the entirety of my life. That’s a very stark reality to set before anyone. Yet my parents made the choice to fight, which required more mental and emotional resolve than anything else.
Mental and emotional resolve to endure the handful of surgeries that I went through as a child. My mom always told me about how she would run to the bathroom to vomit, while my first operation took place. Which was on my spine. Other surgeries were on the lower half of my body. My dad would have to lift me from my wheel-chair to the bed, and from the bed to my wheelchair and from my wheel chair to the toilet and back. He would also drive me to and from physical therapy. Physical therapy as a kid was very daunting at times, as it would be for any child recovering from any operation. Going through these chapters of my life, though they were challenging on all human levels, it burned into my mind that my dad was one of my biggest supporters.
He is one of the many reasons I am what I am today. At a young age, encouraging me to be strong, through weight training, various calisthenics and martial arts. It’s not as though my adaptable spirit and mindset formed from nothing. No, the Lord saw fit to provide me parents that could help shape who I am today. I’ve always burned with passion for fitness and helping others become the best they possibly could be. To me, it didn’t matter if a person was in a wheel chair or not, used crutches or not, had range of motion or not. I would find something that they could do. After all, the moto for me growing up was “if there’s a will, there’s a way.”
The idea of becoming a personal trainer, always lurked in the back of my mind. People would sway me from the reality of doing so, some would say that the money wasn’t good or that it would flat out be too hard.
Yet when given the chance to work with someone with cerebral palsy or otherwise in any compacity. When all was said and done. Everything seemed right in the cosmos, it seemed as though a shade of my purpose was being fulfilled and the person that was set in my path even felt the same. When the idea of obtaining a certification kept surfacing, it was very apparent that it was now or never. There were a wide range of certifications from various institutions, a lot of them were out of budget. Yet when the International Sports Science binged on my horizons, they weren’t just affordable but they fit the context of my life. It allowed me to study slowly and at my own pace. Though I’m pretty sure that all my questions and concerns annoyed my advisor to no end. Now, as a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach, I have been able to let my passion for mental and physical health be put to use. And while I’m well aware that there is much room to grow, I do honestly believe that I am the best person for this path. That isn’t to say that other trainers, coaches or what have you don’t do a good enough job. They do. I’m only implying that more often than not, it takes one that is or is in a similar position.
There’re days when things are slow, or it seems as though that I suck at my job. And yet, as cliché as it may be. If I can help one person, each day I done very well and have succeed in the mission set before me. With everything inside me, I hold the belief that every person with cerebral palsy and other adaptive needs are worthy of health. That they have what it takes inside them to reach their desired goals, be that physically, mentally or vocationally. From the very beginning, it has been a goal to show clients that their body is the machine, that if they can open their eyes to their environment that can many times accomplish a very effective workout simply by using what they have around them. Once again, I’m not implying that a gym is not needed, it can be. The deeper point that I am trying to make, is that sometimes or rather frequently in my personal experience. The gym can be either hard to get to, due to transportation issues. On the other hand going to a gym can be a very daunting and ever scary experience.
For some it can be the reality of having countless people looking at you as you enter the gym. Or it could be the possibility of doing something wrong and having people laugh, it happens. Or it could be the reality of not connecting with a trainer and or feeling like a burden. And so to mitigate these realties very often I’ve had clients start with themselves, their bodies and the environments around them. Then if and when they are comfortable, they are more than willing to try their hand at being in a normal gym. For the vast majority of the clients that I have worked with though, they have been more than content with environmental workouts/calisthenics. And strength training through the pathway of dumbbells and resistance bands. Trust me, I know it’s simple stupid and not the “sexiest” of approaches, but that isn’t necessarily what the adaptive community needs in my professional and humble opinion. Many times in physical therapy as a kid, it was the simplest of things that accomplished the mission.
brandonleeryan 