NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Athletics

Athletics: Amanda Bisk's world turned upside down when she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue

news.com.au
1 Aug, 2020 12:19 AM8 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Amanda Bisk while competing in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India. Photo / Getty Images

Amanda Bisk while competing in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India. Photo / Getty Images

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Amanda Bisk was on top of the world.

The professional pole vaulter had returned from representing Australia at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India with her eyes immediately set on the London Olympics.

She had started the first block of training towards her hopes of becoming an Olympic athlete, but her dream came to a sudden end after a shock diagnosis left her unable to train, forcing the then 25-year-old to quit the sport.

"I was sleeping 12 hours a night, waking up puffy and exhausted then slowly I'd start feeling this anxiety about going to training and as an athlete, that was the worst feeling," Bisk told news.com.au.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"That was when I knew something was wrong and eventually, after nine months of feeling like this I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue."

Despite quitting her dream sport and not doing any form of training for the next few years, Bisk challenged her body in another way which ultimately changed her life forever.

The 34-year-old said it was one of the most toughest experiences of her life, but revealed how she persevered to become one of Australia's most successful yoga and pilates instructors.

"I was really tired and I found I couldn't push in any of the training sessions and this was so weird for me," she said about her chronic fatigue. "I am usually that person full of energy saying, 'Let's do this'," she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

At the time, Ms Bisk worked closely with the Australian Institute of Sport's doctor and her coach to deload training sessions by half.

But after six months and endless visits to specialists she was still struggling.

She went from training up to eight hours a day which included heavy gym sessions and pole vaulting practise, to nothing for the next few years.

"I remember the moment, a concrete moment, where I had a box of antidepressants I was prescribed and I knew if I took them I'd go on a journey masking how I really felt, or I would make one of hardest decisions I've ever had to make and take break from sport."

Discover more

Athletics

NZ's fastest woman: How a mental breakthrough cleared path for Tokyo

05 Aug 03:00 AM

She did the latter not realising it would mark the beginning of her retirement as a professional pole vaulter.

"I was so emotional but I realised it was my body telling me to stop," she said.

"I couldn't even go to the track when my friends were competing. I was so upset. It was such an emotional time in my life and from there I made it my mission to heal myself because no one could give me that journey."

BITTER SWEET DIAGNOSIS

The following years left Ms Bisk emotionally distraught as she came to accept her condition.

"That for me as an athlete was so hard, because you are wired to never give up and push through," she said.

"But I needed to stop training and remove myself from the pressure I was putting on my body and mind and it took me about five months to understand that."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Amanda Bisk (@amandabisk)

Depending on her weekly training targets, Ms Bisk's routine involved two pole vault sessions, gymnastics and strength training between six and eight hours a day.

"When I retired I felt like I lost my identity – to have it all taken away was such a shock but when I look back now it was a blessing in disguise."

After 10 years, Ms Bisk went on to become a successful yoga instructor, having also recently developed a popular fitness app called, Fresh Body Fit Mind.

"I am still able to be active, but if I continued I would have burned myself to the ground and been sick longer, so it kind of saved me.

"I am a yoga teacher, I am PT, an exercise physiologist, I am doing all these fun amazing exercise-related things I don't think would have been possible had I gone down another path."

Ms Bisk took a few free yoga classes before discovering ways to use the exercise to manage her condition.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I find yoga helps me build a connection between my mind and body and that being gentle with myself was okay – and that was the turning point for me," she said.

"I balanced it with eating better, and really looking after myself by seeing a chiropractor and physio, and that's what I believe really helped me.

"So many people to this day ask what I did to 'fix' my chronic fatigue, and for anyone who battles it, they will tell you there's no one answer.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Amanda Bisk (@amandabisk)

"I researched more about food and what I was eating, and how it affected my body and mind."

In 2014 Ms Bisk switched to a vegetarian diet while researching ways to manage her chronic fatigue.

"When I was unwell it was a big priority for me to understand about foods and that's also what changed everything for me – I now see each meal as a chance to heal my body and feed it healthy and nourishing food."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She said while everyone is not the same, she felt an instant change to her body and sleeping patterns the moment she ditched meat and started to eat plant-based foods.

"I felt a lot lighter – not necessarily weight loss – but my system felt a lot more cleaner and I felt good."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Amanda Bisk (@amandabisk)

The 34-year-old's training regimen now consists of a variety of exercises from practising her much-loved yoga, to using her Vitruvian Form weights machine and doing two HIT sessions a week.

However, she does this all while listening to her body whenever it needs a break.

"I try and do stretching and yoga everyday – it's a really important factor in balancing out training."

Ms Bisk said that while her diagnosis rocked her world at the time, 10 years on she feels in the best shape of her life – physically and mentally.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I might not be as strong or quick as when I was an athlete, but my body feels sound and balanced.

"In the end, balance is most important thing and I feel great."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Athletics

Athletics

Hobbs breaks Oceania record once again, goes sub 11 seconds

24 Jun 07:14 PM
Athletics

Olympic champ's father acquitted of abusing son

16 Jun 06:53 PM
Athletics

Walsh produces season-best throw to secure victory in Rome

07 Jun 02:11 AM

Kaibosh gets a clean-energy boost in the fight against food waste

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Athletics

Hobbs breaks Oceania record once again, goes sub 11 seconds

Hobbs breaks Oceania record once again, goes sub 11 seconds

24 Jun 07:14 PM

The Kiwi athlete broke the NZ and Oceania 100m record with a time of 10.94 seconds.

Olympic champ's father acquitted of abusing son

Olympic champ's father acquitted of abusing son

16 Jun 06:53 PM
Walsh produces season-best throw to secure victory in Rome

Walsh produces season-best throw to secure victory in Rome

07 Jun 02:11 AM
Former surf lifesaving world champ banned in doping case

Former surf lifesaving world champ banned in doping case

23 May 02:49 AM
Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style
sponsored

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP