My story with sports began when I was 15 years old. Ironically, I didn’t like sports lessons at school before. But already in primary school, I took part in various olympiads, which required a lot of workloads, and to balance it, I started running.

Over time, it became too uniform, and I started training with my trainer in Roja. He taught me everything I know about strength training, and I still use that knowledge today. Thanks to him, I had a great love for trainings, and it became my absolute priority along with studying. While others went to celebrate life and had fun, I went to the gym every day after school.

Trainings for me became a kind of therapy. In high school, I struggled with bulimia. Partly the reason for my illness was my complexes, partly the fact that my classroom had a very toxic environment, and I heard all sorts of comments about my appearance. During breaks I often went to the toilet to vomit the lunch I had eaten an hour before, and then cried until the next lesson began. It was my secret that not even my parents knew.

After a while, I could no longer withstand the pressure of it all – to live with eating disorder, high workload, high standards of self, the need to always be perfect. I realized I had to tell someone everything that happened to me at that time.

The trainer became my confidant. I counted hours every day at school until I could finally drive from school in Talsi to train in Roja.

The gym was and is my safe place. Both the conversations with the trainer, who always gave me good advice, and the training itself made me feel good and it urged a desire to go to training every day, no matter how tired I am.

Over time, I progressed not only physically, but also mentally – I began to become more self-confident and gradually got rid of bulimia.

I am infinitely grateful to my trainer for support and the knowledge I have gained to this day. Alongside my fight with bulimia, my dad became very ill, which was a big blow to me personally because he was always  a great support like a cliff to me. For more than a year, in addition to studying and the olympiads I took intensive care for my father – physiotherapy, bed care, cooking, because due to illness his independence was practically 0. With serious work (which also included trainings to help my father regain muscle strength) and discipline gradually dad regained his previous state of health.

When I graduated high school, I had to move to Riga so that I could fulfil my dream of becoming a doctor. When I joined RSU, I was worried that due to intensive studies there would be no time for training, and I was nervous about workouts in a new gym. I was looking for the closest gym to my apartment and I found MyFitness Bolero. At first, I felt awkward because I was so used to Roja’s gym and people there.

But after a few months, I started to get into the new environment and even started to meet new people who also train regularly. I am surprised about myself, because I am very shy outside the academic environment, but I feel free in the gym.

As I said, medical studies are very time-consuming, and it is important for me to get the highest marks because I want to be an excellent doctor and not mediocre. Accordingly, quite often I do not have time to sleep at night, but I must study instead, but no matter how much I have to study, I never skip workouts. Physical activities help me feel good and focus on the study material. I remember the period during the session when I qualified for the anatomy olympiad. Anatomy is my favourite subject, so it was very important for me to get 10. On the day of the olympiad, I went to the gym for training in the morning to calm down and feel more energetic, even though I hadn’t slept. After the workout, as usual, I felt strong, powerful, and confident. I safely entered the room where the olympiad took place, confidently answered questions, proved my knowledge, and gained mark 10.

This is a good example of how training helps me with the workload and why training together with studies is an absolute priority.

Studying is very difficult and more than once I have doubts whether I am able to be a doctor, but trainings give me not only a balance for studies, but also the confidence that I am strong and powerful and that I will achieve all my goals.

All in all, I can say that workouts have changed my life. I don’t even want to imagine what it would be like if I hadn’t started training.

No matter what period of life, workout has always helped – when I struggled with bulimia, when my father was seriously ill, when the workload at university seems insurmountable.

This is the seventh year since I have been training regularly, and I can really say that I have experienced serious growth not only physically but also mentally because of my workouts. When training, I feel an indescribable passion to pursue self-set goals. After training, my mind is clear and sharp so that I can achieve my academic goals.