Stijn’s Inspiring Calisthenics Journey: Overcoming Sleep Disorders and Neurological Challenges – Complete Guide for 2025
📖 Read Time: 10 Minutes | 🎯 Difficulty: All Levels | 💪 Focus: Resilience & Adaptive Training
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📋 What You’ll Learn
- Stijn’s Background: 54-year-old artist battling severe sleep disorders
- The Challenge: Light sensitivity condition causing 3-4 hours sleep per night
- The Discovery: Finding inspiration through shared experiences with TMA
- 4 Key Benefits: Convenience, training freedom, consistency, amazing results
- New Challenge: Facing Parsonage-Turner Syndrome with unwavering determination
- Stijn’s Wisdom: “There’s always time. Don’t rush. You just have to make time.”
This is the story of Stijn – The Movement Athlete
Stijn is a 54-year-old artist, writer, and nature-lover who never backed down from any challenge and never let any adverse conditions pull him down. Even in the most adverse situations, he managed to look at the silver lining and continue to push through for the better.
When he was younger, he always wanted to move. His body is designed for movement, and he brought that characteristic up to this point in time. However, his life has been dominated by a challenging sleep condition that would test his determination every single day.
At one point, he was only sleeping three to four hours max every night, leaving him exhausted every single day. Upon checking with a specialist, they discovered he has a unique condition where his body reacts significantly to the lack of light, making quality sleep nearly impossible.
🎯 Stijn’s Core Struggle
“When I had some energy, I did some yoga, some exercises, some running, but nothing consistent, because I was too exhausted. But, I wanted to, so bad! My body is designed to move.”
Despite his exhaustion from chronic sleep deprivation, Stijn’s desire to move and stay active never diminished. He needed a training solution that would work with his unpredictable energy levels rather than against them.
His goal was to find training that would accommodate his condition while helping him maintain the movement his body craved.
Here’s how Stijn found hope and strength through The Movement Athlete community and adaptive training.
“I was unable to train properly because of my horrendous sleeping pattern”
Stijn had a lot of challenges in his life, but one recurring pattern throughout was that he was unable to get a good night’s sleep for most of his recent years. This created a cascade of problems that affected every aspect of his health and fitness journey.
Upon checking with a sleep center, they discovered that he had a condition where his body reacts extremely to light, or better, lack of light. Sleep specialists tried their best to help him but to no avail.
❌ Chronic exhaustion from sleep disorder
Sleeping only 3-4 hours per night left Stijn exhausted every single day. His unique light sensitivity condition made quality sleep nearly impossible, despite working with sleep specialists.
This chronic exhaustion made it impossible to maintain any consistent training routine, despite his body’s natural desire for movement.
Stijn needed a training approach that could adapt to his unpredictable energy levels.
❌ Inability to maintain consistent exercise
“When I had some energy, I did some yoga, some exercises, some running, but nothing consistent, because I was too exhausted.”
Despite his strong desire to move, Stijn could only exercise sporadically when his energy allowed. This inconsistency prevented him from making meaningful progress toward his fitness goals.
He needed a solution that could work with his limitations, not against them.
But Stijn’s situation didn’t deter him from moving and finding a way to improve his body’s capabilities. He searched for what could help him improve his body and movement and got immediately drawn by a particular website that aligned with his goals.
Luckily, he stumbled upon The Movement Athlete, and he got addicted to movement even with his challenging energy levels. He was determined to take care of his body even with his condition.
✅ Why The Movement Athlete Inspired Stijn
“The stories were inspiring: people who had bad injuries, struggles in life, disappointments, and pain and were sometimes also a bit older, like me.”
Stijn found the Movement Athlete’s stories very relatable, which motivated him to pursue the app. Like other individuals, he fought against hardships and continued to strive for a better life.
Many people in their late 50’s are overwhelmed with working out because of time’s effects on their bodies. But Movement Athletes, including Stijn, know that it is part of the challenge.
Because of these shared experiences, Stijn took the plunge and committed to The Movement Athlete.
Even with his condition, even if he was tired, he was determined, and working out never became a difficult decision for him. He could either be stagnant and exhausted or move with a different energizing feeling.
The result? A training program that finally provided hope, structure, and results despite his challenging health conditions.
✅ Holistic training that works with your body
“I love that the focus of the training is on flexibility, strength, and endurance and not just on building muscles or looking good at the beach.”
Stijn fell in love with the app because of its holistic approach. Unlike other apps that only focus on building muscle and aesthetics, The Movement Athlete focuses primarily on improving your movement through increasing your strength, flexibility, mobility, and endurance.
You can determine a healthy body, not through the looks but through the quality of movement it can produce. This was exactly aligned with Stijn’s goals.
💪 Stijn’s incredible transformation
“My biggest fear before getting the app is that I couldn’t keep up.”
Stijn didn’t push through instantly. He was first apprehensive about the difficulty of the exercises in the app. But when he tried the app, he immediately got hooked by the app’s progressive, adaptive, and personalized training.
With Stijn’s condition, he couldn’t always give his 100% being tired most of the time. But he didn’t need to over-exhaust his body since the app could adapt to his energy levels every training session.
For the first time, Stijn found training that worked with his challenging health conditions.
The 4 Main Benefits Stijn Gained from The Movement Athlete
Convenient workout
“An app is handy! I can work out when I want, and I can do it all by myself. I love that!”
As a calisthenics app, one obvious advantage is convenient workout anywhere, any time. The Movement Athlete app covers everything Stijn needs: from the program, to the equipment (if even required), to the schedules.
Stijn just needs to move with the app, making it perfect for someone with unpredictable energy levels.
Training freedom
“I love choosing my own workout.”
Strict programs often lead to overfatigue and put tons of pressure on an athlete. While consistency is essential for growth, The Movement Athlete app allows Stijn to choose his own workout goals.
The app gives freedom for enjoyment while maintaining the overall structure for Stijn to make progress throughout his training.
Consistent training
“I was looking forward to it every day. I had to restrain myself sometimes.”
To maintain progress, consistency is the key. That’s why Stijn is making improvements. He’s consistently training through the app.
Thanks to the app, Stijn was able to stick to exercise even against his challenging condition.
Amazing results
“Amazing! More flexible, stronger, leaner, better movement!”
As a result of his consistent workout, Stijn’s body adapted accordingly. Not only did he become stronger and leaner, his flexibility and mobility improved, which transferred to better everyday movement.
The higher movement quality is a testament to better health conditions.
🎯 Stijn’s Wisdom and New Challenge
Stijn enjoyed training with The Movement Athlete app. He conquered a barrier with his sleeping condition that kept his stability and health intact. Now he was enjoying these benefits of training with the app:
- ✅ Convenient Workout anywhere, anytime, even with no equipment
- ✅ Training freedom of changing goals and plans
- ✅ Consistent training despite health challenges
- ✅ Massive health boosts: Gaining strength, mobility, flexibility, and a better physique
Stijn made tons of progress in a short amount of time while enjoying the journey. Unfortunately, life re-challenged him when symptoms of a rare neurological condition (Parsonage-Turner Syndrome) started showing.
His muscles instantly became sore and weak due to the new condition, and he had to stop with his regular workout. But Stijn is unfazed and ready to face this new test life has brought upon him.
💡 Stijn’s Essential Advice
“There’s always time. Don’t rush. You just have to make time.” – Stijn
“If fate has its eyes on me and wants to test me one more time, all I wanna say is: BRING IT ON!!”
Stijn knows that fitness is a life-long journey. It is not just an 8-week plan that you just have to finish. The changes don’t happen overnight, nor in weeks or months. It takes time, and you need to make time to achieve your fitness goals.
With The Movement Athlete, Stijn got to train to prepare him for the long-run without any pressure. Despite his unfortunate situation, he’s ready to carry on and not let anything stop him from living his life to the fullest.
Like Stijn, are you ready to take a stand against the challenges you face?
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💪 Real Success Story
“Despite sleeping only 3-4 hours per night due to my condition, I found hope through The Movement Athlete. The stories of others facing challenges inspired me, and the adaptive training worked with my unpredictable energy levels. Even when life tested me with another condition, I’m ready to say ‘BRING IT ON!'”
— Stijn, 54-year-old Artist & Movement Athlete
Overcoming health challenges • Adaptive training • Inspiring resilience