Many people began the New Year by resolving to exercise more often.
But embarking on trips to the gym is a greater challenge to Moray’s Lucy Lintott than it is to most others.
Miss Lintott was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2013, aged just 19, and is increasingly reliant on her wheelchair.
Yet the Garmouth resident, now 22, has defied the limitations of the degenerative illness by notching up some impressive achievements since beginning exercise sessions this month.
She is hoping that, by building up her leg muscles, she will be able to get about under her own power more often.
Speaking after a trip to Elgin’s Moray Leisure Centre yesterday, Miss Lintott said she also hoped her efforts would inspire others to test themselves.
She added: “It has been going well, although, sometimes afterwards, I feel so tired that I’ll be in bed by 9pm.
“I’ve been using the exercise bikes and doing weightlifting with my legs, and arm exercises.
“This has been getting me up in the mornings, it’s boosted my morale a lot and proved I have fight left in me.
“I use my wheelchair a lot these days, but I’m hoping that, after going to the gym for a while, I will be able to walk a bit more. That’s a big incentive.”
Miss Lintott’s dad, Robert, is deep training ahead of climbing Machu Picchu – a South American mountain which is almost 8,000ft above sea level – to raise money for MND Scotland.
And it is the pair’s competitive spirit that has driven Miss Lintott to surpass even her own expectations at the gym.
She said: “We have been using the exercise bikes together, but he was on the difficulty level of 18 while I was just at 10. That drove me to reach that level too, and when I did it for 30 minutes this week I felt so happy.
“That’s what is good about or relationship, we both motivate each other.”
Last year, Miss Lintott achieved her goal of raising £100,000 for MND Scotland.
The tally now stands at more than £117,000, but she is still accepting donations to help fight the disease, at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Lucy-Lintott1.
