Until my body hit its breaking point.
In May 2024, a series of injuries meant I lost the use of both hands and both feet over the course of about three weeks. Where I had once avoided slowing down, I had to allow my life to come to a stop while I grappled with my new limitations.
I learned that I’m hypermobile, which means I need to make sure to do extra work to strengthen and stabilize my joints when doing complex movements. I also learned how to breathe, how to do nothing, and how to live with uncertainty about what my body might be capable of in the future.
Through some brilliant physical therapists, a somatic practitioner who taught me how to visualize and pay attention to my body in new ways, and a lot of community support, I have slowly rebuilt my strength. Now I build strength on a foundation of deep relationship with my body. This intimate knowledge of what it means to move at a sustainable pace is one of the core values I bring to my personal training practice.
About Avery
I have always loved moving – from martial arts in middle school, to rock climbing in college, to aerials and partner acrobatics in my twenties. I was also increasingly in pain from joint injuries: shoulder, wrist, sternum, ankle… I couldn’t figure out why I seemed to injure myself much more often than the people around me.
Beginning trauma therapy and exploring my gender identity helped: I realized how often I was not present in my body and began developing tools to listen to my body. But I still couldn’t bring myself to tone down the amount of physical activity I was doing in order to let my body catch up.
I believe…
Our body’s capacity is cyclical. Sometimes, you’re in a great rhythm and feel like you can see yourself getting stronger every time you lift weights. Other times, it feels like you tweak something every time you move. We’ll pay attention to where you are in that cycle and adjust accordingly.
We’re stronger when we treat our bodies as collaborators rather than a hurdle to be overcome. It can be hard to pay attention to what is actually happening in your body versus what you wish was happening. Curiosity and experimentation are the goal: noticing what it feels like in your body when we modify a particular movement in a particular way, or noticing how your body’s capacity today is different than it was a week ago.
Sustainability requires an incremental approach. We’ll move at a pace that allows you to develop expertise in each exercise, and slowly evolve workouts in order to allow you to progress without pushing past your body’s limits.