written for Julia Rowland-Taylor

I’ve been training at my gym for coming up for ten years now, and during that time I have seen a lot of Personal Trainers and Instructors come and go. Joolz is someone I knew I wanted to keep in touch with when she left, and watching her successfully set up her own training space across town has been an extremely satisfying evolution of her own exercise journey.

When I consider what I have been taught over nearly a decade, there are times when the mechanics and details stop mattering, and it is more important that my shortcomings and mental health issues get more focus. Joolz is a firm friend now and a genuinely astute and centred human being, from whom I have learnt so much from that has nothing at all to do with exercise.

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Training Strength

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their body                 is a subtle temple
smooth stone           intricately carved
strength without the waist        of time
stature which can never         be mine

has provided                an unexpected
bonus                         perceived effort 
that would not                 ever register 
on either of   your heart rate monitors

a woman         in the mirrors opposite
is a flicker    your extinguished flame
no-one else’s pace       can challenge
which should never         be a contest

except you ache         with possibility
perhaps  one day  in time  it could be
I might be the one     who transforms
if this loss inside   could be replaced

I must not wear youth  as a memorial
here is where      her example swings
freedom this fresh pace      maintains
one day    all this     can still be yours

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Poem copyright S. Reeson © 2026

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Prohibition on Use of Work in AI.

For avoidance of doubt, the Author reserves the rights to this publication. No part of this publication can be utilised or reproduced for the purposes of assisting artificial intelligence technologies. © 2026

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