Of life and fitness

Elisabetta has been living in Bahrain for the past six years with husband and son. She had been in the Gulf for 23 years. An Italian by birth, she was a travel enthusiast. This led her to her first job as an international tour leader specialising in China and the Middle East. This allowed her to explore many places and countries.

Having experienced so many cultures, she developed a passion for languages. Then she went to Cairo to study Arabic. There Elisabetta met her English husband and followed him to live in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

While living in Jeddah, she learned about travel photography with the help of her husband, who is a Creative Director. She produced a portfolio of her work that had been published in Emirates in-flight magazine and various coffee table books of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. She also became an Advanced PADI Scuba diver in Jeddah.

Later she lived and worked in many cities in the GCC like Dubai, Riyadh and Muscat. Elisabetta always possessed an adventurous spirit. She did white water rafting in the Zambezi River, climbed in Mount Kilimanjaro, saw Eritrea and travelled to Yemen and Cuba.

After her son joined the family picture, she pursued ways to learn more things and ended up learning the art of soap and candle making, which started a small cottage business.

Meanwhile, cancer struck her twice; first with thyroid cancer. Then years later she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fitness became an important element in her life, which helped her overcome her disease. Elisabetta never gave up fighting despite her hardships. Her therapy only ended two years ago.

Fitness, exercise and life

Her struggle to fight her disease never stopped Elisabetta to keep exercising and at the age of 52 she got her Black Belt in Karate Goju Ryu, she also has a Red Belt in Taekwando and practices Kung Fu. 

“While recuperating from breast cancer, my family and I moved back to the UK. I was yearning to pick up my martial arts training, which I had started in Riyadh before afflicting with cancer. Then I found a local Karate Goju Ryu academy.  With determination, between major breast surgeries and toxic therapies I forged a path to my Black Belt.”

When Elisabetta and her husband moved to Bahrain, she found no Goju Ryu to keep practising and she ended up pursuing a career in Zumba instructing. “I bumped into a woman, who encouraged me to join it. Now at the age of 56, I have become a Zumba Fitness instructor.” 

She now teaches Zumba fitness to Zumba Kids, Zumba Kids Junior and holds a Zumba licence plate along with a City & Guilds accredited nutrition specialisation, which allows to be a nutritionist coach.

“Being young and healthy is not difficult, finding the courage and the motivation to overcome your tiredness is difficult. You need to have a strong mind to carry on. My goal is to teach to all older women, who are often embarrassed to go to a gym because they think they are too old,” Elisabetta elaborated.

She still practises martial arts and yoga in her spare time and uses elements of both disciplines in her Zumba classes during stretching and warm up session. Elisabetta is also busy with a project to teach self-defence to all young women. She has plans to open an effective street defence technique courses for youth.

“In future I would like to work with an Oncologist to work out a fitness and nutrition programme for cancer survivors,” she revealed.

According to her, success is an attitude. “This attitude is consistency, as fitness at any level can only be achieved through dedication. You need to be determined to be healthy,” she noted, adding that one should make exercise as an essential part in one’s life.