Our Success Stories

Cathie Brydon

My name’s Cathie Bryden, and I was born in 1963. I am a recently retired NHS consultant anesthetist.

One day there was a leaflet left under my car windscreen wipers and I just picked it up and threw it in the car and I later looked at it. I thought, that’s quite a good idea, because I would try and work out on my own and I would do that in fits and starts.

So I came down here for a taster visit, and everybody was just so friendly, so nice. I decided to give it a go and here I am six years later

I think DMC has made me more confident, more positive and obviously a bit stronger and fitter. It keeps me consistent. Often it’s quite easy in the winter to hibernate a bit, this motivates me to workout regularly during the week.

Dave is such a good coach. He’s even tackled other issues like particularly when I was thinking about retiring, he was very supportive of it and that’s helped me make some personal decisions as well as the physical fitness aspect of coming here.

I think I’m definitely a lot stronger, particularly on my upper body because I didn’t have any real strength in my upper body. I’ve not lost a huge amount of weight, but as Davie says that’s probably because I didn’t have a lot of weight to lose. I’ve always been this kind of weight and size but it’s more the fitness gains, the strength gains. And I think particularly as you age I kind of feel that there’s a big difference between other 60-year olds like myself to be able to go and do things. Physical things like skiing, climbing, and sailing. Whereas other 60s may be a bit more sedentary. You really do see a difference.

I think working in health care I really noticed that you’ve got to keep active and kind of push yourself if you’re going to age well.

What keeps me coming back is the consistency of it. If I wasn’t coming here every week, I’d find it really easy to make excuses not to workout at home, whether that’s do cardio workouts or strength training and things. So by coming here, it keeps me consistent, keeps me motivated. There’s always a good bit of chat as well. So it’s a nice, friendly atmosphere to work out with.

Davie’s great. He’s always got lots of chat. All the coaches are fantastic, but I think Davie’s really experienced. He can work around injuries when they occur. I had a problem with my shoulder at one point and I was seeing a physio and Davie was able to rehabilitate that.

I also have a problem with my hip, which is still a bit stiff sometimes. But again he spotted that there was a problem. And then referred me, I went and saw the physio with that as well. So he’s really a good all-round coach. He’s tuned in to what you need and what you’re capable of and can build on that.

If you’re thinking of working on your fitness then I say, come along! Give it a try and give it three months or something to see if it fits.

I managed to persuade my husband to come. It took me a long time to persuade him but now he comes and works out with Pablo as well. If you’re thinking about it, just do it. People say, “oh but it’s quite expensive”, but actually it’s money well spent in terms of your own wellbeing and health and longevity.

Our Success Stories

Cathie Brydon

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