Jan aka Mittens, has been at my side through a lot of my competitions, and she has always handled me as a coach so extremely well, it’s hard to find people who listen to the athlete and also have someone encourage them to dig deep to find their true potential. After many comps I’ve now got a friend in Jan, we have trained many times and had many laughs on the adventure we call life. Her passion for health and sport is inspiring no matter what she has faced herself. Having someone know what it takes to be the best, find out how great you can be in health and fitness, well it’s motivating to say the least! Jan is someone who listens, is loyal, and you can trust from day 1, super important elements in a coach.

Jan is truly an inspiration and a motivator; she doesn’t let age be a barrier to your ability or goals.  Working with Jan you not only learn the correct techniques to power lifting and training, but also how to prepare your body.  As we all start getting older we find we have more “niggles” and these can often be a physical as well as a mental hurdle.  I would often get pain through the back and across the front of my knee – this led to me cutting down my leg exercises as I was worried I would aggravate the injury and it would interfere with my sport of dragon boating.  Jan taught me how to do activations (which are completely different to stretching) before exercises, which essentially is waking up your muscles ready for training.  Since doing these activations the pain through my knee has ceased – the activations have allowed me to increase my leg training thus strengthening my glutes, hamstrings and lower back which were indirectly the cause of my knee pain.  Using Jan’s techniques you are also lifting correctly avoiding any potential for injury which is very important when you start lifting heavier weights.  I have since increased my weights massively since working with Jan.

Whilst all this sounds very serious, working with Jan is heaps of fun.  She is able to make a personal connection with each of her clients and importantly she listens.  You will often hear laughter coming from her corner which is a testament at how she puts her clients at ease in an often confronting environment if you are not used to a gym.

I would suggest you pop down to Dolphins Fitness and watch Jan train – she definitely practices what she preaches and is a shining example of what you can achieve when you have the right preparation, techniques and motivation.