Exercise: Go mad with Maddy

Maddy Warren is 36 years old and has been on home dialysis for 21 years: five years on peritoneal dialysis (PD) and the rest doing nocturnal haemodialysis (HD). Find out more: https://www.kidneycareuk.org/exercise/ “I dialyse 6-7 hours, five nights a week. I run my own consultancy business and in ‘normal’ life have a very busy schedule working long hours with a lot of travel. I’m also a competition level formation skydiver, so being at peak fitness is critical for me to maintain my lifestyle. Two years ago I ran the London Marathon and started working intensively with my lovely Personal Trainer, Jamie. Since then I have been training in the gym three times a week, plus weekly Pilates and Zumba classes. Pushing my fitness hard means I feel the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been despite so many years dialysing, I consider exercise in whatever form to be a critical part of physically and mentally managing your kidney disease, whether you’re just getting started or are already used to exercising regularly. I’ve rebuilt my fitness from scratch multiple times after major surgeries, health crises and a disastrous failed transplant attempt - there have been times I could barely walk up a flight of stairs so I know it is absolutely possible to come back from rock bottom with a positive mindset and setting small achievable daily/weekly goals. Adapting exercise to suit your own circumstances and being kind to yourself is critical, doing anything is better than doing nothing."