We aim to raise awareness for the importance of exercise for all Australians, especially those living with or managing a chronic condition or health issue. We hope this campaign inspires people to be more active by sharing inspiring stories of everyday peoples Motivation to Move.

Trish shares with us her exercise journey…

How did you come to work with an Accredited Exercise Physiologist?

I have a health plan with the Doctor and an annual visit with the nurse and she suggested that I might like to try  ‘Move to Live’ – an Accredited Exercise Physiology clinic.

What condition or health issue do you work with your Accredited Exercise Physiologist to manage?

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), osteoarthritis and general well-being.

Accredited Exercise Physiologist’s Meredith Woolsey adds that Trish has recently been diagnosed with bowel cancer and is being booked in for surgery in the coming weeks.

Have you always been active or were you prescribed exercise as part of your treatment management? If not, what were your initial thoughts, did you want to exercise?

I HATE exercise. But I don’t hate coming here to exercise! I spent 33 years behind a desk and was a sole parent so I had very little time to exercise in my life.

I knew I should exercise, and actually, the nurse suggesting for me to come here was a way of getting me motivated.

I like the conditions here: that it is a small class, that most of the people are my age and that they all have their own varying disabilities and I fit in. I think that is the big thing…I fit in.

How did you feel when you started to exercise, what differences did you start to notice for both your physical and mental health?

I have a little dog which I walk every day. It started to feel easier to do that walk every day without having to stop to breathe. It also wasn’t as much of a chore to get up and walk her as I am more motivated to move now.

I think it generally makes you feel happier too. I’m not an unhappy person … but I don’t know that I would have been able to take the news (newly diagnosed bowel cancer) I have just received as well as I have if I wasn’t coming out to my exercise class and I was just sitting at home. I think it would have gotten on top of me a bit … so I think it has also helped in that way.

You don’t realise how many areas exercise helps in…it doesn’t just help you move better. Exercise helps in many different aspects of your life, I don’t think people realise that.