“My name is Ger O’Leary, I am a part time office work and full time Mam. I am 49 years of age. I played basketball for over 20 years at all different levels. In the past 6 years I have had pain in my back. I had physiotherapist, chiropractors, MRIs, you name it I have had it done to try and sort out my back. I lived every day in pain. It was always there and it just depended on what I did that day how bad the pain was but like everything else you learn to live and deal with it.
When I walked I would lean to the left to take the pressure off my back, going up and down the stairs I had to hold on to something. I was such a pretty sight when I walked. Getting up out of the seat or couch was an ordeal, sometimes I would have to roll onto the floor before I could stand up.
I spoke to Kev at the end of December (2013) last year after a particularly bad few months of not being very mobile and in a lot of pain. I said I wanted to try to lose some weight as this might help my back but that I could not do any exercise because of my back.
In January Kev started working with me. We would go for a walk and then come back and do some light exercise. After a week or two he introduced kettlebells, 8kg which I could not lift. He also had me walking up and down the stairs. Week three he asked me to take the stairs two steps at a time, I tried but could not do it due to the pain in my back. Kev persevered and slowly but surely my back started to get stronger and I was able to do more exercises.
I was asked to play in a basketball tournament in May and I jokingly said, if I can run in May (2014) I will play. In May of this year having not played for 18 years, I played 4 games in the Dublin Masters Basketball tournament and had no pain in my back at all.
Working with Kev has helped me so much. Not only do I wake up everyday pain free but I am a lot fitter and healthier than I have been for a long time. Kev’s method of training is very personal, he pushes you but only as hard as he knows you can go. Having started out not able to lift 8kg I am now at a PB of 70kg (3 reps)
I would recommend Kev as a trainer as I really feel he has each person’s best interest at heart and he does workouts to suit each person’s ability and goals. He takes time to explain why he is doing each exercise and what you will gain from it. He is very passionate about his work and it shows in the results he has to date with people.”