No Excuses
Jeff King CPTN, CNIB Sighted Guide trained
Trainer takes on CP
By Scott Radley
The Hamilton Spectator - January 16, 2006
The two men standing by the exercise equipment couldn't look more different. One's tall, obviously athletic and wearing a tank top that shows off a pair of arms that are just a couple pumps away from being dangerously over-inflated.
The other walks with a limp, can't fully straighten his right arm and moves noticeably slower. But the one giving the demonstration takes his time and clearly explains the proper way to hoist the weight for maximum benefit and to avoid getting hurt.
As he does, the other watches intently, asks a couple questions, then ambles into position. And when he grabs the handles and does it right, causing those heavily muscled arms to strain, he gets an approving nod from his unlikely looking personal trainer.
"I'm not the typical mould who goes into this profession," Jeff King says with a smile. No, he's not. And generally it'd be poor form to point out the 32-year-old's disability. But he doesn't mind because only by looking closely, can you get some idea of all the work he's put into making it less and less a factor in his life.
He's proud of that. Born with cerebral palsy that affects the right side of his body, he spent the early years of his life with an arm and leg he describes as essentially useless. His hand was weak and involuntarily clenched into a fist. His leg caused him to limp badly.
"I was the typical 98-pound weakling," he says.
"I was skinny as a kid. Plus, add in the disability thing." Going to school with all the normal kids -- normal is his word -- he didn't participate in many sports. But when he cracked both his kneecaps as a 12-year-old and had to rehab after surgery, the doctor sent him to the gym.
"It was pure hell," he says. He hated it so much that once he finished he never entered another gym until years later when some high school friends started lifting weights. Most of the exercises he did were modified from standard lifts. Because he knew of no book on weightlifting for people like him, he made it up as he went along, gearing his exercises to equipment that was accommodating to his needs.
Suddenly motivated, he began seeing some results. Determined to work both sides of his body evenly he began getting more strength in his right side, his hand becoming more flexible and more useful. Eventually, he became so confident he signed up for the school wrestling team.
"Of course I got battered around pretty good in that," he says. "But I'm still here." And his regimen continued to produce results.
His flexibility improved. His strength improved. His co-ordination improved. He got into karate and earned a black belt in Akido. He started arm-wrestling and eventually won a world championship in the disabled division and a provincial championship in the open event.
Then, while at Mohawk College to become a certified trainer a couple years ago, he realized he'd found his calling. Since starting at Phoenix Fitness in West Hamilton over the summer, he's been carving out a career for himself as the only certified personal trainer with CP he's aware of.
He's constantly working on finding new exercises that can work for him, and by extension, people with one side that's weaker than another. He flips truck tires, lifts sandbags, hoists other awkward heavy objects and anything else he thinks might work.
Many of his ideas come from watching the World's Strongest Man competitions on TV. He's even entered a couple of strongman competitions.
"That freaks people out," he grins.
But it's worked. After all these years of hard work, he can now lift nearly the same amount of weight with both arms. While still weaker and noticeably different from the left, his right hand is now useful for carrying things, holding a can while using a can opener, buttoning his shirt and tying a knot. It's all stuff that sounds small, but to someone who wasn't able to do it before, this kind of normalcy and independence is huge. Thoroughly satisfying, too. And he believes achievable for others like him.
"I wish you could see a picture of me before I started," he says. "There's still a difference from side to side but you wouldn't believe it."
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