My Story

My name is Samantha Braaksma and I have been a certified fitness trainer since October 2019.  I was born in Edmonton, AB, and raised in Red Deer, AB. I have a huge passion for working out and I love how much confidence I build for myself physically and mentally.

In 2013, I was training for cross country running and dislocated my knee. I took a break for a week and went back into training and it happened again. Due to this, I dropped out of all sports that year. I had x-rays, MRIs, and ultrasounds done, but they could not figure out what was causing this problem, resulting in not being able to do any sports in high school. In 2015, I saw a specialist and he saw the initial MRI from 2013,  knew exactly what the problem was, resulting in my first surgery in March 2016.

During the 2 years prior to my surgery, I had a year and a half of physiotherapy and sports massages allowing me to walk without having my knee dislocating. Those 2 years were very hard, I hit rock bottom and got depressed. I started watching TV all day, my grades went down and I started overeating leading to becoming overweight. I was put in the hospital for severe depression and suicide attempts. 

After my 1st surgery, my knee was still having problems and my other knee was acting up. I had to get surgery on the same knee again in June 2019 and I finally got my last surgery in July of 2020

During all these years of struggles, I had to learn how to pick myself back up. I have read many books on self-development, self-confidence, and how to get myself back into shape to feel more confident. I got my personal training certification so I was able to train myself, I had to start eating better and take better care of myself. It was not easy and I have failed many times, but I  picked myself back up. 

During that process, I know how hard it is to pull yourself back up from a rock bottom stage of life. I have learned so much over the years and I am ready to help others transform their lives so they can become the better version of themselves, and help them turn their dreams into goals, and make a plan for those goals.