As one of the funniest and kindest members at Body By Brando, North Sydney, Jamie Zhao provides laughs every morning with her one-liners. 

Balancing her life as a Financial Performance Analyst and her passions for rock climbing and swimming, she has managed to be a consistent regular at our 5:30 am classes. “The community here is just really supportive and I just enjoy my workout with the 5:30 am crew, they all weapons and all the trainers (including from the other locations) are really friendly so it’s real pleasure to come here in the mornings and spend the time with you guys.”

Like most, Jamie had tried several different gyms and was anxious about joining BBB – “not being able to do a lot of the workouts and adapt to new techniques quickly because I felt Crossfit was highly competitive and I was not sure I would be able to keep up with everyone. But after the initial PT session and group classes, I felt more comfortable training at the gym.”

Jamie’s consistency showed after she made quick progress and achieved some big milestones. “I was not able to do a single handstand push-up when I joined Body by Brando, but after receiving the right technique from Brady, Tim and Cat, I was able to do 7 in one go after 8 weeks since I joined Body by Brando.

However, just like in life, there will always be unaccounted for setbacks. Having dislocated her elbow from rock climbing, Jamie was still able to join classes and build back her confidence. “The Body by Brando team here is really supportive and friendly, they gave me an excellent program to work on after my recent injury, it went so well and I’m able to pick up most of the things I used to do before my injury.”

Jamie’s next goal is to “fully recover from my injury so I can get back to where I left off and I want to stay pain-free for as long as I live.” As one of BBB’s core philosophies, pain-free movement is something that we believe everyday athletes need to adopt. Quality of movement will translate to living a better and fuller life. 

“I would say a big thank you to you guys, Body by Brando team for looking after me throughout the whole process and helping me maintain my mental health while dealing with my injury. Always correcting my technique and providing a great program so I can consistently develop my skills and strength.”