Only people who live with disabilities can truly know just how difficult it is to overcome obstacles in life and achieve what they want to achieve.
Joe Bird is 28 years old and was born with cerebral palsy, but he's never allowed that to be an excuse for himself not living the life he wants to live.
He had impaired motor function in all four limbs, specifically his legs, meaning he couldn't walk and has spent his life in a wheelchair.
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"It takes me longer to perform certain activities but I never wanted it to become a barrier to living the life that I choose for myself. I never wanted to be defined by my disability," he said.
And he didn't let that happen. From a young age Joe was as outgoing as possible and had an active social life. He was also lucky enough to have a supportive group of family and friends to help him through the difficult times. Something he's extremely grateful for.
A regular DJ, Joe tried to live as normal a life as possible but still needed help being moved around when on the decks or even just getting in and out of cars.
However, his life changed one day when he was DJing at a festival where personal trainer Vince Azzopardi was in the crowd.
"I was amazed by his spirit and ability to live life to the full regardless of his cerebral palsy. It was inspirational for me," Vince said.
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A few years went by but when Vince moved back to England, he found out Joe lived nearby in Burton-on-Trent and got in touch to see if he fancied some personal training in the gym.
"When Vince first offered to start training me, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try something new, not realising the positive impact it would have on me," Joe said.
Vince added: "I asked if he wanted to train with me on the basis that all the training would be free and everything we do would be to try and give him an even better quality of life and independence."
It started with Joe simply holding a 1kg ball and passing it to Vince before moving on to throwing - a movement and ability many of us would simply take for granted in the gym.
Joe moved on to holding dumbells and then working with cables and within weeks his progression was blowing everyone in the gym away. Such was his progress, he even managed to break a resistance band during an exercise.
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Joe's physical capabilities were improving week on week and so Vince decided to take his training to the next level.
During a session, Vince asked Joe to do body weight dips using his electric wheelchair as the station.
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Vince said: "Due to Joe's CP, this was difficult. Due to it being Joe, it didn't remain difficult. I watched Joe force his body to do something his disability told him he couldn't.
"After an hour of him struggling, grunting and pushing himself, he did it. Joe did 10 dips in succession, bringing his body and legs up from the chair."
Six months down the line and Joe had come an extremely long way. However, the one thing Vince still had to do every day was carry Joe from his chair to the exercise equipment.
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With his personal trainer moving to Dubai permanently on April 15th this year, Joe and Vince decided to set a new target. An unprecedented target. Something Joe had never done before.
Before Vince moved, Joe was going to begin moving himself from his chair to the machines.
"He would have to begin doing everything by himself soon anyway as I would no longer be there for him, so we decided to give it a go while I stood guard in case he needed help," Vince said.
Joe's first ever transfer from wheelchair to machine was filmed by Vince and shows just how far the training has brought him - something every gym-goer takes for granted was a huge moment in Joe and Vince's life.
Quite clearly the training with Vince has had a huge impact on Joe's life, improving his mobility and fitness as well as inspiring others in their own lives.
As one of his close friends, Amarit, puts it, Joe's 'blissful ignorance' is the greatest thing about his journey as he has no idea what impact he's having on people.
She said: "The first time I saw the video of him moving unassisted, I actually cried. It brought back all the memories of seeing Joe at festivals or in clubs having to rely on help from others. To see him now is overwhelming."
Vince told us the only thing he'll really miss when he moves to Dubai are his sessions with Joe and that each and every day he's inspired by what Joe achieves in the gym.
Joe said: "Training with Vince has had a massive impact on my overall mobility and fitness. It has improved my quality of life. We started sharing my progress in the hope it might inspire and motivate people to go and achieve their goals and to prove that YOU are your only limitation.
"I didn't see what I was doing as anything out of the ordinary, I was just training to better myself like everyone else in the gym. I'm blown away by the amount of support.
"I'm of the mindset that all of us are lucky to be here, we may as well make the most of it."
You can achieve anything if you want it enough... ask Joe.
Words By George Pavlou
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