With weights wrapped around her ankles, Jefferson City native Julia Lehman sat on a wooden box and lifted herself to the left then back to the right, taking steps along the way. Music with heavy beats from the American Top 40 list bounced off the walls in the West YMCA, and Lehman sang along when not inhaling and exhaling in accordance with her movements. Her eyes focused on the next step, and she grunted while in deep concentration.
Lehman never spoke the words, "I can't," but instead said, "I'll try." Her personal trainer, Donna Prenger, said Lehman's no-whining attitude makes her a "trainer's dream."
Their 9:30 a.m. Wednesday session consisted of arm exercises - bicep curls, pull ups and bouncing a weighted 8-pound ball as high as she could. Lehman's upper-body training has resulted in arm definition, and men, flexing their own muscles, take notice.
"She gets a lot of comments from the guys - as far as her biceps," Prenger said, laughing with Lehman. Laughter is a constant in their work outs.
What's more evident than her physical strength, though, is Lehman's spirit. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at two years old, Lehman has led a life overcoming boundaries, always keeping her dream alive to become a functional walker. Reaching that goal, she said, would mean more freedom.
"I've been in a wheelchair for 17 years, I always try to look at the best in life. Never the negative," she said. "I always say that I have a disability but that doesn't stop me. I take the "dis' out of "disabled' and say, "I am abled.'"
Cerebral palsy affects the brain and nervous system functions, which can affect movement, learning, hearing, seeing and thinking, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Lehman was diagnosed with spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy that causes stiff or tight muscles in the legs, according to the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The cold during winter months make Lehman's leg muscles tighter than normal, she said.
The feedback Lehman receives from other gym-goers, Prenger said, gives her an "emotional boost." After four years of training together, Prenger continues to set physical limits for Lehman, which she continues to break through. Once lifting 5- to 7-pound dumbells, now Lehman grasps 12.5 dumbells.
"Julia likes the challenge and she really thrives being in a facility where she is among able-bodied people," Prenger said. "And, she likes being able to do what she can do and have people comment. We always tease her about how beasty she is - and she is - with upper-body strength. She's remarkable."
Lehman, 25, started training about 10 years ago when she was a freshman at Helias Catholic High School. She trained for six years at the Capital Region Medical Center Healthplex, where Prenger, a family friend, would drop her off after school and then bring her home. After retiring from the state, Prenger went to work for the YMCA, eventually becoming a personal trainer, and Lehman followed along.
"I've just gotten stronger each day," Lehman said. "I normally do three days a week. It pushed me to get stronger, and I pushed myself to get stronger, too. You've got to want to get better. They're just there to help you, but it's all on you."
At 18 months old, Lehman underwent tendon release surgery to alleviate the tightness in her legs.
"That didn't help," she said. "If that would've helped I would be up and walking and be living a whole different life. But, you know, these are the cards I've been dealt so I have to look at the positive, not always the negative."
She eventually attended the Special Learning Center, and over the years, Lehman traveled to Columbus, Mississippi, to receive specialized therapy. As a toddler, Lehman was attached to a harness while placed in a tank with gentle waves flowing underneath her. She was placed on a table and lathered in oil as therapists moved her around to stimulate movement. At the time, her left side was nearly non-functioning.
"Within the first three weeks of that therapy, I was able to reach for a see and say," Lehman said. "I had always used my right side to hold me up, so I was forced to use my left hand."
At the Center for Innerchange in Denver, Colorado, Lehman listened to Mozart, which awakened the left and right parts of her brain.
Now, Lehman lives independently along with her dog. She's volunteered at the Special Learning Center in the past, working as "crowd patrol," she said. Currently, she volunteers at Helias and works part-time at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources shredding paper. There, her strength is necessary to lift boxes.
Every other day, Lehman said, she will use parallel bars in her garage in hopes of becoming a functional walker.
"I've always known never to give up - never."