Optimise Health & Fitness

- 2021 -
This year has both flown, and dragged; contained both laughter and tears; and inspired excitement and exhaustion. I’ve never been as greatly challenged, nor emotionally fulfilled, than ever before.
I know I’ve been a bit MIA on Facebook this year. The pressure of social media proved too much for me, so I made the decision to intentionally quit in stages - first the Facebook Live videos, then the page, then finally altogether deleting Facebook off my phone. This, honestly, has been the best decision for my health this year.
Now to the thanks, Thank you to everyone who has engaged with me on social media this year - you’ve stuck with me, chatted with me, supported me, and kept me sane through ongoing lockdowns and restrictions. Thank you to everyone who attended the gym this year, in any capacity, as I know the style significantly changed due to external challenges, resulting in points where I struggled to be as present for you as I normally like to. Considering this, I love and appreciate your support, commitment, and dedication to your health and fitness, and to OHF. Thanks to my friends and family, who listened to my stresses, and manipulated their social lives around my schedules this year while on placement and at university; your ongoing love and support is tremendously appreciated and I wish to reflect the same love and care.
Despite the rather lengthy end of year post, I have some further announcements.
2021: the end of an era. 2022: new things.
After six long years, I’ve finally completed my university studies. Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way; friends, mentors, tutors, and students. I’ve grown so much over this time, and you have truly shaped who I am as a person. So I’m so excited to announce the pay off of my hard work, which is a 12 month teaching contract starting in January 2022, to which I am extremely grateful and honoured for this opportunity, and cannot wait to begin. However, this has resulted in the decision to close Optimise Health and Fitness. The past 7+ years have been THE best. Hundreds of amazing people. Many amazing memories. I cannot express in words how much you all mean to me, and just how much of a privilege it has been to work with each of you. So this isn’t goodbye; I’m just moving on to new things. We’ll still see each other, so just don’t be a stranger when we bump into each other 🧡
Love and Unicorns,
Maddie 🦄

Merry Christmas dear friends 🎄🧡🎄
We've had a lovely, low-key day, and now wrapping up with our annual Movie On The Front Wall with friends.
Wishing you all every happiness and Christmas-Wish-come-true in the coming new year 🧡🎄🧡

Throwback to one of our first City-Bay groups, back when we were still Optimise Personal Training!

Congrats to all the OPT legends who completed the City to Bay today! It’s a long run but you all did so well! We had PB’s and better-than-expected results everywhere! Keep moving, stretching and foam rolling - it’ll be a gentle bootcamp tomorrow!

It's Christmas, and nearing the end of 2021, so I've got a question for all you whom I've worked with over the years:
What's your favourite Optimise memory/memories? It could be a workout, an activity, a social event, or a challenge. I'd love to hear from everyone - even those I haven't spoken to in a long time! Let's reminisce a little! It's Christmas after all!

Meet Ducky.
Ducky was a Very Good Doggo in her first session at the gym last night. She ran lots of shuttle runs, did lots of get ups, and received copious amounts of pats. Welcome to the OHF family Ducky!

OHF Halloween Social Night: Amazing friends, costumes, food, fun 🎃

Setbacks... or as I like to call them, speed bumps! 🌈

I've had a few little speed bumps lately, and it's been challenging getting through them, but in my particular circumstance, they were just temporary delays.

Six weeks ago, I had a little car accident. I left the handbrake down, and in the confusion and panic, it knocked me over, and ran over my leg. Walking was uncomfortable. One knee wouldn't bend, and the other hip wouldn't bend properly for several weeks, so I was a bit of a sight. Add to that the poor sleep, because I had to lie in weird positions to avoid touching the ouches, and I was in NO position to be exercising or hardly even moving. The one day out of about 3 weeks that I clocked more than 3000 steps saw my shin balloon and swell up for days.

So what could I do to stay sane, and not let this little speed bump disrupt my wellbeing? I could meditate, and I could practice gratitude.

I meditated daily, and really focussed on simple thoughts:

1. I may not be able to walk well, but nothing's broken - I'm so lucky.
2. Nobody else got hurt
3. Nothing got too badly damaged (in fact, we get a cool new letterbox out of it!)
4. I'm really looking forward to being able to walk, move, and run again when I can.

I don't know about you, but I tend to forget how good I've got it. Simple things like moving in the way I want to - how amazing is that? The support network of friends, family, and gym members I've got - how cool are they?

My speed bump was temporary - I'm back to normal movement now, except for running, but reflecting on my self and my experience helped to see that I could get back on track.

Your setbacks may be more or less temporary than mine. If you had a bad week, its ok. You can move forward positively, and make choices that you're happy with starting from now. If you're struggling with an injury, it's ok. Sit and think about what you can do right now, and do your best with it. The injury should heal - what will you do once you're ready?

Setbacks aren't dead-end roads, they're just speed bumps. You'll get over them, I'm sure of it ☀

Hey! I just wanted to interrupt your scrolling and say this:

You are valid, and you are important.

I had a lovely, yet challenging conversation with a client this morning about life and ways of living.

You don't have to meet someone else's expectations to feel valid in your own life. You also don't have to fit the mould that everyone else seems to be shaped by, in order to live your life well.

Make choices every day that leads you down a path that inspires you and fulfils you.

I don't think we tell each other often enough how awesome each of us are, so I'll say it again:

You are valid, important, and awesome.

Love and wishes for more sunny days,
Maddie ❤

Life has been hectic - how are you all?

Picture from a snippet of time I carved out for myself last week 😍🌊

Meditation and yoga at sunrise 🌅
Bush walk all day 🌿
Camp fire at night 🔥

A working trip that felt like a getaway ☀

When taking time for oneself, a dawn walk in Sturt Gorge is 👌💯
Movement + Me Time + Pretty Places = the start of a good day

Where do you go for "Me Time" to refresh and reset you?

(this obviously wasn't this morning - too wet today! 😂)