About Desley Baars · personal trainer Amsterdam
I don’t ask anyone to do what I haven’t done myself
I know what it feels like to stop trusting your body. For two years I lived with a severe back injury myself. That path brought me to where I am now: personal trainer and strength coach for people with long-term pain and injuries in Amsterdam.
Two years of going round in circles
Things would go well for a few weeks or months, and then it came back: that intense pain. My back locked up completely. Sometimes I couldn’t even put my socks on. And there we went again: stepping back from training, more rest, lots of lying down. And more and more fear.
I got tired of therapy. Always trying something new, always hoping again, always disappointed again. Several professionals and thousands of euros later, I started to believe I’d have to live with this for the rest of my life.
One question that changed everything
On my last attempt I didn’t get advice or a protocol, but a question: what do you think your body is trying to tell you?
For the first time I saw the rest of my life. Always pushing on, even in stressful periods. Never shifting down a gear, even when my body asked for it. My bucket was full, and my back let me know.
By training, learning to read my body’s signals and changing my behaviour, I recovered completely. The biggest lesson: my body wasn’t broken. My brain was trying to protect me.
From weight loss to the real question
More than six years ago I registered my business. By day I worked for the Royal Dutch Navy, in the evenings I taught my first group classes. Then came 1-on-1 personal training: losing weight, getting stronger. There were results, for sure. Satisfaction, less so.
Slowly I realised that losing weight or getting stronger is rarely the real goal. They’re symptoms. The real question is: why does someone want this, and what has been holding them back for years? Since then I work with people who are stuck in pain. People who have tried everything and are afraid to move.
I don’t sell treatments. I sell autonomy.
Practice what you preach
Strength training four times a week, Brazilian jiu-jitsu two or three times for a clear head. Sleep as a priority and food that gives me energy, following the 90/10 rule. Not perfect, but consistent.
And I still feel it in my back sometimes after a week with too little sleep and too much going on. The difference with before: I don’t panic anymore. I listen and adjust. Exactly what I teach my clients.
Education
- The Performance Method (TPM)
- Milo Performance & Education
- Menno Henselmans PT Course
I’m a specialist in strength, movement and behaviour, not a doctor. If medical examination is needed, I’ll tell you honestly and refer you.
Do you recognise yourself in my story?
Then you know it can be different. Let’s meet and find out what your body is trying to tell you.