Kyle's return to the Gym a welcome inspiration for all

Kyle Kiely's life was turned upside down in July 2017 after an accident involving his quad-bike and a 4WD that ultimately left him paraplegic.But that hasn't stopped the now 22-year-old in his quest to reclaim his fitness and he has shrugged off the limitations of the wheelchair, on top of recent surgery, to continue his inspiring return to his local gym.Kyle returned to Dynamic Fitness on Hare St a year after the original accident but was limited to what he could do and the equipment he could use.His left arm was calcified at 90 degrees, a complication of the 2017 incident.Since then, he has had surgery to expand the range of motion in his arm and now you can find him punching through some solid upper body workouts at least three times a week with best mate Jordan Price and Dynamic Fitness manager Chris Fowler.It's been a long journey to get to this point, however."I was in a coma for a month after the accident, and then there was the six months spent in hospital," Kyle said. "And about a year ago I had my arm operated on because it was fused."It was a challenge to get to bed, getting in the car and driving, things like that."I would have had no movement in my arm whatsoever. But now I have enough range of motion to do what I need to do."With a more compliant limb to work with, Kyle has been a man on a mission since he returned six weeks ago, and he has been loving every minute of his time back in the gym post-surgery."I've never been as motivated in my life," he said."I've just been focusing on getting stronger, healthier and bigger."I like to keep myself pretty busy as well and my mind has to be focusing on something or it just wanders off. This has all helped mentally as well."It's been a long road, but a good one."Alongside Kyle is lifelong friend Jordan Price, who has been in Kyle's corner ever since the accident and through-out his journey to get back into his exercise."His development has been crazy," he said."Probably the first day he came in, I realised just how committed he was."When his arm was calcified as well, he couldn't do much for himself but now he wakes up fiending for the Gym."Dynamic Fitness manager Chris has been assisting Kyle with his program, and says it has been inspiring to see Kyle's progress both physically and mentally."We've gone from someone who couldn't see a lot of positivity in their life to now planning for further and further down the track, which is just absolutely fantastic," Chris said."Kyle wasn't able to exercise for a long time so he lost a lot of muscle memory. Now, it's all starting to come back — and he just keeps progressing."Within the first week (after surgery) Kyle was on the phone."Since he's had that operation it's been life-changing for him. We tried to do things with Kyle before, but we were very limited with his arm.”Reclaiming his independence and strength topped the list of goals for the returning Kyle to achieve, and Chris says he's been nothing but inspired by his progress."He doesn't have any control over his legs but one of the things he can do is build his upper body up," he said."For Kyle, the biggest thing for him was he wanted to work on being able to lift himself out of his chair. He said if he needed to, he wanted to know he could drag himself out (of the chair) and help someone if he had to. That's a brilliant way of looking at it."It’s been an incredible turnaround for Kyle, and his return has put a smile on the faces of his fellow gym-goers, as well as the wider community.Chris, Kyle and Jordan are now working on improving ease of access into the gym and introducing enhanced disability parking on Hare St outside the building.