Text: MELLISSA BUSHBY. Photographer: Belinda ERASMUS Marizelle, or Maz as she is better known to friends and family, wasn’t always the picture of health she is now. At the tender age of 15, she had a brain tumour removed. “I was on treatment for it until the age of 20,” she says. “In my final year at varsity, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which was actually a relief, because I had been battling with some very strange symptoms and constant pain,” she explains. After finishing her matric year, Maz attended a Gap Academy, which gives you a year to do a variety of short courses, helping you to find your future path. “This is where I found my calling,” she says. “I absolutely adored my health, wellness and fitness course, which led me to study kinesiology, a field of health in which you learn how to assist the body in healing itself by using muscle testing to find imbalances.” Maz soon discovered she had a keen interest in sports, fitness and nutrition, and how these factors influence our bodies to perform better. “I went on to do a degree in sports science with the hope of becoming a fitness coach or personal trainer at the end of it. However, when that was completed, I eisty With her bubbly attitude, ready smile and beautifully toned figure, Marizelle Grobler is the very essence of health and vitality. Get it catches up with her and husband, JP. managed to get good enough grades to further my degree with an honours in biokinetics, and that was where my passion for helping people with rehab through exercise modalities and chronic disease management grew.” She completed her internship year at a practice in Ballito, which she loved, with its laid-back vibe and health- and fitness-conscious outlook. “I fell in love with the town, and continued working there as a biokineticist at a beautiful gym in Zimbali Estate. I absolutely Fab, fit & loved my lifestyle there, and I lived and breathed work 24/7.” This mindset unfortunately led to burnout just before the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdown hit. “I was really in the thick of my all-or-nothing approach at work, struggling to find balance, overexercising and under-eating, and about 10kg heavier than I am now. My body just had enough, I suppose, and I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome. It forced me to completely change the way I eat and how I exercise, and I started researching selfcare and finding balance in all areas of my life. I always say, as crazy as it sounds, that lockdown was my saving grace, because in hindsight, although I loved my job, I really had no balance whatsoever.” Maz met her husband, JP, in 2015 at the gym where they both trained, but at the time she had no interest in a relationship. “I had set myself very high goals,” she says, “and I just didn’t need complications or distractions as a student. I laugh at this now. He was a rugby player - fit, handsome and seemed to really have his life in order, and there was no real reason to keep declining. Then, after a year of this guy 06 Get It Lowveld <strong>March</strong> 20<strong>22</strong>
Marizelle Grobler