Spotlight on Rob O’Byrne
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It left him facing a future he never could have imagined. But rather than letting his injury define him, he used it as fuel to create something remarkable – a fitness gym geared towards people with disabilities, proving that determination, resilience, and ambition can break down any barrier. The entrepreneur’s name for his enterprise, ‘What’s Your Excuse Fitness ” says a lot about his personality! “As I’m a wheelchair user myself I thought if I’m able to do it, you should be able to do it too,” he laughed. “There is no excuse.”
Ireland’s first adaptive and inclusive personal trainer, the 37-year-old set up his fitness studio in Dublin 24 almost ten years ago and gets great satisfaction from helping others to achieve their own personal goals. Rob told Spoke Out “The fitness studio includes wheelchair-friendly exercise systems such as the cable machine, free weights, barbell Olympic weights, a weight bench, electric plinth, skiger, adaptable rowing maching and TRX suspension training”
“I create personal training programmes for disabled people and the general public so that they can get the proper one-on-one attention that is required. Whether it’s for post hospital rehabilitation, weight loss, strength, muscle gain programmes, mobility and flexibility, sports conditioning or building confidence, they can be done in a relaxing and private space.”
He emphasised that it doesn’t matter if you’re in Dublin or Donegal, as he also provides online programmes and supports. “There are no more excuses not to get the right programme and make a better life for yourself”.
Making a good life for himself was always a priority for Rob and although his accident was a ‘very difficult thing to go through’ and he was “inconsolable” when he realised he would never walk again, it never stopped him from wanting to succeed and get on with his life. “I was due to go into sixth year at the time and I thought I am going to have to get back to school. It was during the Celtic Tiger and I had been mad to leave school as quick as possible to get out and make money. My mother said after my accident was the first time she heard me talking about school and wanting to be there!”
After over nine months in the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) Rob did indeed go back to school and sat the Leaving Certificate in five subjects, obtaining honours in them all. He decided to further his education and went to Inchicore College of Further Education to study a PLC FETEC Level 5 Business Management Course. Following a year there he went to the Institute of Technology Tallaght where he spent four years studying for an Honours Degree in Business Management.
However he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do after he graduated. But then fate intervened. Rob went to a talk at the NRH. He said: “The talk was on tendon transfer. I was really interested in this idea, and I became the first person in Ireland to receive a tendon transfer whereby I underwent an operation that removed one of the three muscles in my biceps which was then moved into the area where my working triceps once was.”
After more months of rehabilitation following the operation, he returned to the gym only to realise that many personal trainers struggled to understand rehabilitation work for people with disabilities. And so, his next journey began and he qualified as a gym instructor, personal trainer and TRX instructor and set up his fitness business. “My own experience opened my eyes to the different ways people in wheelchairs, with brain injuries, stroke injuries and the blind can exercise. It inspired me to try find a way to get the word out there.“I have developed an inclusive programme for schools now which shows that a person who is different to them can still do the same type of thing as them.
“Tonight I am going to a training session with an U/13 GAA team. I am still trying to grow my business and am in talks with other groups about helping them. I am always looking for new clients, so that I am not stuck in the one lane. I started off working with people with spinal cord injuries now I work with people who have had strokes, have multiple sclerosis or other conditions. I listen to clients and hear what their needs are.“I always had an outlook in life that there is nothing you can do about your past, there is only your future you can shape. Today is gone, tomorrow is ahead of you.”
“My advice to people is that if you are looking to get into a certain industry that you don’t accept the word no. If you think you can do it, then find the way to do it. If barriers are there, ask for help.“I did a 12-week online disability entrepreneur course in TU Dublin disabilities which was very helpful. I am constantly educating myself.”
Rob is very appreciative of IWA’s Personal Assistance Service which gives him the independence to live the life he wants to lead.
“You can never have enough goals. My mindset is to keep going. No matter what happens life goes on, I suppose life is just a little bit harder when you have a disability but as my late granny use to say ‘God only puts weight on your shoulders that you can carry’. Although if he puts any more weight on my shoulders I’ll be having a tough talk with him!!”
You can get in touch with Rob by email on whatsyourexcusefitness1@gmail.com or by phone on 086 359 1317
If you are a person with a disability looking for support to become an independent jobseeker, contact IWA about our Ability Programme.