Otis Goredema: Transforming yourself & Transforming others Zimbabwean Voices

For episode 10 I had the privilege of having a great conversation with leading Zimbabwe health & fitness coach Otis Goredema. With over 25 years of experience in the bodybuilding industry, Otis has trained Zimbabweans of all shapes and sizes and has used his platform to bring transformation to the lives of the people he touches.

In our conversation some of the key takeaways include:


Rebuilding your body
Empowering others through fitness
Being an ally for representation in women's bodybuilding

My favorite excerpt from our conversation

"Basically, I had finished school and I was dropping my baby sister at Gateway and I was coming back home. After having dropped her I was at an intersection where I was stationary and I got hit in the back literally by a bus and that bus forced me into oncoming traffic and in the oncoming traffic there was a truck. Remember, I'm repeating what I was told and if I remember correctly, I probably was in my pijama shorts, with my driver's license left at home, just wanting to go visit my sister come back and go to bed.

I broke all my ribs, I broke my hands, I cracked one bone in my leg, and then, of course, I had lacerations from the windscreen of the car. I spent some time in the ICU on ventilator machines and this is coming from a guy who was physically strong at that age, I had a nice body from bodybuilding, I looked good and suddenly I'm confined to bed where I can't even feed myself.

I actually managed to make the front page of the Herald news. Because they took a picture of the accident, which I still have saved somewhere. It was a miracle that a person was hit by a truck and survived. For me to survive. I give all glory and thanks to God.

I went through rehabilitation. In my head, I think an epiphany came and I said, the day I get better. I'm gonna make sure I have a strong body and I'm going to make sure that I make other people physically stronger.

Now, I can tell you with appreciation now that one of the best things that ever happened to me was the car accident because I realised from then that if there's anything for lack of a better term to use that the devil can get you with is vanity. My body was gone, My face without spot or blemish was now full of scars and then I realised there's a lot more to life than the physical. So by the time you met me, I was that person who believed it's not about what you become, it's about who you become.  You can become a giver, you can become a generous person... So personal training and training people is just me trying to express and change people into who they should become confident with themselves and do that without vanity. So to me, it's not really about the bodybuilding it's about, changing humans"

Be Inspired!