To begin, I'll start with my personal back ground which to be honest; is very basic!
I was born on the first of September 1995 in Toowoomba, Queensland. If you're not sure where that is, it's about an hour and a half west of Brisbane on the Great Dividing Range. I grew up in Toowoomba with my Mum, Dad, older brother and older sister. I went to three schools throughout my tweleve years of school education Toowoomba Prep, Fairholme College and The Glennie School.
On top of school, I did gymnastics at Allstar Gymnastics. Now, when I say I did gymnastics..... I mean I DID gymnastics, every day..... sometimes twice a day.....
I started Gymnastics when I was six years old because I was very small for my age and my parents couldn't contain the mountains of energy I seemed to always have! At the age of ten, I was invited by some of the coaches there to train in a 'squad' team, now to a ten year old all I thought this meant was that I could do more gymnastics but in reality, this meant hours of hard work and many many sore muscles (which wasn't a bad thing by the way!!). At this stage, I was training tweleve hours a week with training camps and compeitions regularly being held in Brisbane and other places! By the age of tweleve i was training eitheen hours a week and by the age of fourteen I was hitting the two sessions a day and training approximatly twenty two hours a week (at least).
Many people struggel to comprehend how ANY athlete manages school, training and a social life all at the same time and to be realistic, many other girls at a younger age were training more hours than me so I had it easy in terms of time to study! My coaches, parents, siblings and friends are the main reason i found Gymnastics and all its heart ache to be so enjoyable and keep going back in there for more.
Hand's down, in a non biased way I will tell you right now Competitive Gymnastics is and continues to be the hardest, most frustrating, most painful, most time consuming, AMAZING and REWARDING sport there is out there. You really don't realise just how far you have come or even half the lessons you have learnt throughout your career until you finish and that is the beauty of the sport.
From a young age, you learn the meaning of discpline, deditcation, determination, time managment, perservereance and come to the realisation that you only get out of life what you put into it. You learn how to control your fears, how to find your limits and exceed them and how to control your emotions in the hardest of times. The number one value i got out of gymnastics is trust. You have to learn to TRUST your coaches, TRUST your team mates, TRUST your family and most of all TRUST yourself and this is usually the hardest value to conqure.
Now, I know it may seem like a grueling sport but i am only mentioning what i have learnt from the sport. I have not even deleved into how many great team trips i had away, how many funny moments we had at training, how many medals we got to win, how many goals we were able to turn into realities and how many friends I made along my journey. In short Gymnastics is the reason I am where i am today, no doubt in my mind gymnastics has helped me clarify who i am and who i want to become and will ALWAYS influence my future decissions.
What's next?
I decided to take a year off in between finishing school and University to train an compete as a gymnast for one last year! I was fortunate to be granted with a sponsorship from Aesthetica apparell which were able to ensure my training apparel bills were next to nothing!
I qualified for National championships (Queensland team), however was hit with an injury to my achilles meaning I could not complete the final round. Though i was devisated, i learnt so much about being able to be brave and happy for the other girls on my team! As mentioned earlier, I was also able realise just how much gymnastics has taught me and how irrelevent medals really are when it all comes down to it.
Throughout this year (2013), I undertook my certificate 3,4 and fitness business diploma through the MAX college for fitness proffessionals. This opened my eyes into just how much nutrition, postitive mindset and exercise can effect our lives in a positive way!
This is when I decided to enroll in the Exercise science degree of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). I am currently there and hope to transfer into Nutrition and or Physiotherapy depending how my interests at the end of this year. I am planning on doing my PhD and my Masters in my chosen feild also.
I am currently Personal Training clients at Anytime Fitness Brisbane CBD and run boot camps, outdoor personal training sessions and other classes in Brisbane, Toowoomba and thre Gold coast (backed by popular demand and bookings).
I currently live each and everyday with positivity and motivation to wake up with purpose and go to sleep with satisfaction. This however, is a hard task for me some days as it is for all of you I am sure.
I have been diagnosed by many different doctors with Anxiety and stress disorder which makes it difficult on nine days out of ten. I find it hard to sleep, relax, prioritise and focus and at times, I simply struggle to be logical! If any of you reading this have ever struggled with these kinds of hardships whether it be due to trust issues, pressure from school or university, body image or any life factor that may make you anxious- I am sure you know how I feel!
All I can advise to you if you ever feel over whelmed by these feelings, is to find someone you can trust whether it be a family member, friend or partner; and just talk it through. Have a cry if need be, have a hug with somone who can understand youd, make a plan of action and move on sister!
Healthy exercise and nutrition habits are also great ways to relax, de stress and help you sleep at the end of the day.
In a nutshell, there have been many times throughout my adolesent years that have become harder than they have had to be due to my anxiety and stress levels, however I am learning now from one of the most influencial people in my life that i AM in fact in control of these feelings and with patients and practice, I will be able to control the effect they have on me and others around me.
I would like to finish this section off by saying that anxiety, body image stress, boy issues, friend troubles and social media are all things we as young women can not and will not avoid in this day and age.
We can however, beat it!
I 100% trust myself in saying that, just as quickly as the appealing look of being 'skinny' hit the magazines and media to young girls, so will FIT and HEALTHY. All I need from YOU is to jump on this band wagon and help spread health, nutrition, natural beauty and positivity to every single person you meet or see. By doing this, you will feel better yourself and within no time- your worries will be GONE!
That is all about me for now, but keep yourself up to date on my page, instagram, blog and facebook for news, infomation and tips and I hope to hear or see you all soon! Don't forget you can reach me via email at:
annieflamsteed@icloud.com or through the online questionaire on this webpage!
Annie x x