Читать книгу Solitary Fitness - You Don't Need a Fancy Gym or Expensive Gear to be as Fit as Me - Charles Bronson - Страница 7

My name is Alan Rayment. I am from Crowle in North Lincolnshire. I am a bilateral amputee and a wheelchair user. I suffered from leg ulcers on both legs for ten years, and then contracted the deadly bug MRSA and had to have my left amputated. What a terrible shock it was to me as I was a long-distance truck driver at the time. Was my career over? I wasn’t sure. I spent three months in hospital and in total had ten operations and lost nearly two stone in weight. I left hospital in December that year and that’s when the hard work started.

I learned to walk with a prosthetic left limb and everything seemed to be going great. Just after summer I had learned to stand and walk with crutches. It was an amazing feeling to be walking again, my right leg was taking a lot of pressure at the time and the ulcer was getting worse. I was experiencing tremendous pain in my left leg but I battled through. I got a new job as a Transport Manager at the firm I use to drive for and working took my mind off the pain.

I had to stop learning to walk as my left leg was giving me so much pain; I was taking so many painkillers that at times I was not really with it. I was admitted to hospital and told only hours later that my leg ulcer had MRSA. I was devastated: the ulcer was so bad and painful, I was in excruciating pain and I knew what laid ahead for me. I wasn’t looking forward to it.

I had my right leg amputated below my knee and everything went extremely well. I was discharged from hospital after only two weeks, but this time I was in a wheelchair. My main aim was to walk again no matter what it took. The leg was healing well and I was back at work, but then another shock came in December when I had a car accident. My car left the road and slid into a drain and sank. I had to break the window to get out. I swam to the side of the drain and waited for assistance. The fire and ambulance crew came to the rescue. It was a cold freezing December evening and I couldn’t believe my luck. I shouldn’t be here today. My right stump had been injured in the accident and it didn’t look too good as my wound had opened up.

The following year I spent working, hoping my leg would heal below my knee, but it didn’t look good. I spent a full year with dressings on my leg, and the pain had crept back in. All I wanted to do was get measured up for another prosthetic limb and get walking again, but it wasn’t to be. I visited a surgeon and asked him to amputate my leg above my knee; I knew I still had a chance to walk again, although I was told it was going to be extremely hard as I would have no knee joints. I had the operation and my leg healed within 28 days. I was excited that I was going to be measured up for my right leg, and things were looking up.

I had put on a lot of weight and I felt really uncomfortable with myself. I knew I had to be strong and fit if I wanted to give walking my all, and I had to lose some of the excess pounds. I was nearly two stone overweight so there was a lot of work to do.

I asked myself a few questions. Should I go to a gym? Will it cost me a fortune? Would people stare at me? I concluded that I needed a programme I could follow in my own home. I bought a book, Solitary Fitness, by Charles Bronson. I had read about Charlie and I knew how fit and strong he was, and I wanted to be strong like him. Charlie has achieved so much and I knew just how serious he was about fitness.

118 Push ups in sixty seconds!

1790 Sit ups in 1 hour!

This is amazing!

I started to read and it was incredible – just what I needed. The book was easy to follow I started the exercises in my own home on the kitchen floor. There was nobody to stare at me and it was free. I followed the book step by step just as Charlie said. I did the exercises every day, sometimes twice a day.

After only a few weeks I was getting strong and I had even managed to lose some of the weight I had gained since being in my wheelchair. The book was like my bible. I swear by it – it helped me through some extremely tough times.

I learned to walk during two years at physio, but I found it very difficult as I was experiencing a lot of pain in my groin and on the ends of my stumps. I had a long chat with my physio assistant and she told me that, although I was doing really well, if I wanted to go long distances I would still have to use my wheelchair. This made me question why I was putting so much effort into walking if I would still have to use my chair. My prosthetic limbs were very heavy and uncomfortable to wear; they seemed to hold me back and at times get in the way.

I made the decision to spend time in my wheelchair and get on with life. I had missed out on so much, and there was so much I wanted to do, and I was going to do the lot. I said that every year I would take on a different challenge to raise money for charity. My first challenge was a sky dive to raise money for Cancer Research. I learned to DJ and raised lots of money for different charities.

In 2004, I was given the ultimate challenge. I was asked to take part in the London Marathon with my best friend. I rose to the challenge and in April 2004 I completed the London Marathon in my day chair, not a race chair, just my simple everyday chair. My hands were blistered like never before, what kept me going was we had raised thousands of pounds for different charities: Sense (deaf and blind people) Cancer Research, Lindsey Lodge Hospice and St Oswald’s Church in Crowle.

In June 2004, I was one of 150 people selected to carry the Olympic torch in London on its way to the Olympic Games in Athens. The Olympic Torch was in London for the first time since 1948. ‘Pass the flame, unite the world’ was the theme of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The Olympic Games touches millions of people, irrespective of age, gender, race or religion. They represent the greatest sporting spectacle in the world and for thousands of Olympians the games are the highlight of their sporting career, the culmination of years of training and the fulfilment of their childhood dreams. To be part of the Olympic torch relay was amazing, one day I will treasure for the rest of my life.

I enjoyed taking part in the marathon so much that in September 2004 I completed the Great North Run, and I raised money for Get Kids Going, a charity that helps disabled children.

Then I set myself the biggest challenge of all for the year 2005. I was to hand-cycle 500km over Vietnam and Cambodia. You can read the story of that trip below.

As you can tell from my story, I have turned my life around. Having a disability makes me no different from anyone else. I have a very active life and keeping fit is a massive part of it. I have achieved so much over the last few years; it’s taken a lot of hard work, but I have enjoyed every minute of it. I find it very relaxing working out. It seems to de-stress me a great deal, and after everything I am looking after myself.

My work out with my medicine ball

I do a lot of my workout with a medicine ball. There is so much you can do with them, they are great.

I do the following, but am always sure to warm up and stretch first.

Press-ups, Sit-ups, Crunches, Plank, Throws, Back raise, Squats, Side raise

Being a wheelchair user, I find it so hard to keep my weight down, you have to exercise and eat well. You will soon see a difference when you start training and eating well. You will be full of energy, and you will want to train every day. Believe me, it’s an amazing feeling getting fit, you never know one day you may be lining up to compete in the London Marathon or Great North Run. I have gone from strength to strength since taking up training and I now train five days a week. I have never felt so strong and healthy.

Solitary Fitness has helped me gain confidence and better health, and the workouts have increased my stamina and mobility. I have achieved so much since picking up Solitary Fitness. It is an incredible read. Charlie has helped me so much the last few years; he has given me the confidence to attempt challenges. The advice and encouragement he has given me is brilliant; I can’t wait one day to have a workout with Charlie in my kitchen. www.alanrayment.co.uk