Penicuik personal trainer raises money for charity with push-up challenge

A personal trainer has gathered friends, family and clients together to raise money for charity for the second year running.

Ali Paterson organised a sponsored push-ups fundraiser for MacMillan Cancer Support and raised £188, a year after raising funds for Diabetes UK by cycling a combined 3,000 miles. This summer, the group of local fundraisers completed 8,020 push-ups to raise money.

Ali revealed that this year’s charity challenge was tougher than she expected.

She said: "It started on July 1, running until the end of that month. There were 11 people including myself that took part.

Ali Patterson (front right) with some of those who took part in the charity challenge.

"I think it was harder than people thought it would be. I’m an active person but doing the same thing day in day out was quite monotonous and there were days when it was hard.

"I thought it would be a breeze but it was more challenging than I thought. But overall it was a good challenge to do.

"There wasn’t really a set amount of sit-ups we targeted. Everybody just did it around their lives.

"The challenge had popped up on my Facebook feed and a lot of people know someone who has had cancer so we felt it was a good charity challenge to do.

Ali Patterson runs Invincible Health and Wellness Ltd in Penicuik.

"It’s a very well known charity so it seemed a good one to go for. We didn’t raise a huge amount but everybody chipped in and every little helps.

Ali, who runs Invincible Health and Wellness Ltd alongside being a part-time nurse, added: “This is the second year running. In July 2021 we did it for Diabetes UK by doing a group cycle challenge. A lot of them kept it up afterwards so it was a very positive experience. It was quite fun, so we decided to do it again.

"So we did a similar thing this year. It’s to combine the group coming together and helping charity.

"I had not long put my business together and this was one of the first things we did. During lockdown I started getting more into fitness so I thought why don’t I do it as a business?

"I’m currently trying to get myself out there and I plan to grow the business into a community-based resource to help people with long-term health conditions.

"With my nursing background, I think it’s something I can do.”