Hannah bower was a division 1 gymnast and is now a fitness model and professional trainer. And just like all the ones with a megawatt smile, she too has a great story.
Being one of the most famous Instagram models, Hannah exploited how everything about social media is perfect, how it idolizes perfection and everything you see on there sows the seeds of insecurities.
In an era when users showcased their editing, lighting, makeup, and cropping skills to make their uploads stand out (and that too for a good reason), Hannah Bower was one of the first to introduce the phrase:
“The beauty you compare yourself to online isn’t real!”
Gymnastics
The story of Hannah Bower begins as an enthusiastic little kid with exceptional mobility that made gymnastics her passion.
She was the top contender on the school team until she was allowed to compete at the state level and all-round titles. She started her gymnastics training when she was 8 and went up to compete against the top gymnasts in major titles.
She won the all-around title 3 times in a row and lost her top place at the podium by merely .025 points despite her ankles injuries.
Bower earned herself a spot at the University of Nebraska where she competed on the gymnasts’ team. Having lived it all just good enough, from titles and spotlights to enrollment in a university, she missed a catch and shattered all hopes for her gymnastics career as she dislocated both her elbows this time.
I thought I knew my purpose as a sophomore at the University of Nebraska, where I competed on the gymnastics team. But during a practice meet in the fall of 2010, I suffered a career-ending injury. During my bar routine, I missed my catch and fell. Instead of landing on my feet or stomach, my arms took the brunt of the force. I dislocated both elbows, and surgeons used tendons from my knee to reconstruct them.
Nemesis
Bower suffered her first major injury in high school when she managed to break both her ankles simultaneously during a regular training exercise.
The recovery was a long and painful one as she just managed to get back at the title shot. She was out from the training for the all-around title (the one she had to defend for the third time) but managed to get back at her feet and leaping a week before it.
Despite the lack of training and practice, she dramatically lost by 0.025 points, which is an equally plausible position to be at.
After making it on the gymnastics team at the University of Nebraska, she met the end of her career while being a sophomore. It didn’t go much farther because of the missing of a catch, she ended up landing on her hands and dislocated her elbows.
The damage was so severe that surgeons had to use the tendons from her knees to reconstruct the ones in the elbows. Shattered by the remarks from the doctors about how pursuing her career in gymnastics meant more and more damage, Bower nosedived in despair.
Catching back on her history of disordered eating, only much more severe this time, she started putting big numbers in weight as the elbows were recovering.
Battling the growing depression and anxiety because of losing the one thing she’d known all her life took a greater toll on her, as it would for anyone. Despite her guilty exercises, she put on 40 pounds in a year! The obsessive eating habits as a coping mechanism can get you far.
Trying to find her purpose again in life, Bower pursued to complete her semester and returned to Colorado soon after. A couple of years later, when the elbows had healed perfectly well but the wounds that came with the injury were still there, she got in a car accident.
While driving back from a night of partying with friends, she was the sober one and so the designated driver. Her phone took her attention away from the wheel for a short while and the next thing she knows, she had missed a turn and threw down the car from the road.
It crash-landed in a ravine nearby after rolling over several times, but surprisingly everyone was safe. The recurring tragedies over a short period had battered her hope as it would do to anyone, but being the fighter that she is, she learned to see a better part in life after the car crash.
The night is the darkest before the dawn they say, this was it for Bower.
Finding Her Purpose Again
Surviving the crash got her thinking about her purpose in life, how it was still lingering about her. On the strong recommendations from friends and family, she started therapy. And unlike her previous therapies, Bower was able to go deep inside her to unravel the traumas that she has been through.
What came out was not at all what she had been expecting out of therapy. Bower started seeing a therapist because of her disorderly eating and exercise habits but found them only to be symptoms and not the problems.
To move forward, she had to let go of her past but that only comes after a confrontation with it, and that journey is neither easy nor quick.
She had undealt traumas from the childhood of sexual abuse, the injuries, and then the life-threatening crash, all of which she fought bravely through and came out on top as a more composed person than before. Bower found her purpose in her body again but not as a gymnast this time but fitness.
What started as cycling to work and running to burn calories became more of a therapeutic time for her during the day. It is when the workout becomes an addiction that it truly starts to show results.
She completed her degree in Exercise Science from the Colorado State University the year after the crash and saw a start to her presence on Instagram. The year 2014 was not over for Bower until she earned herself a personal training certification and on her way to inspire hundreds of thousands of people online.
She has 825k followers on her Instagram page as of today through her emphasis on transparency.
Inspiration
What is to love about hannahbower2 on Instagram is not the colorful pictures with the best flexes and the exotic poses, but the posts that define them and the natural photo along with it.
As talked about earlier, you can find tons of inspiration over social media but you will also find food for insecurities, and that is exactly what Bower doesn’t want to perpetuate as she’s been there herself.
“I didn’t want to perpetuate that for myself or anyone else, so I kept it real: I posted pictures of myself bloated and not bloated, posed and not posed, flexed and relaxed. I shared my journey openly and honestly, and I saw how much people appreciate the truth.”
Besides appreciating the positive remarks she gets, she also does her best in keeping up the motivation and inspiration for her struggling followers. Posting pictures of when she was 40 pounds heavier and speaking openly about it helps her in defining how hard work pays off.
The fit physique and tempting figure is not a result of an overnight magic pill but has been the hard work for over eight years. she helps her followers in understanding that losing weight, burning calories, and leaning out doesn’t happen in a month, just like putting on weight didn’t happen that quick either.
That it is a process that requires patience and devotion. Hannah always implies how important it is to know yourself before anything else. Exercise and working out bring you close to your body as you nourish it but you need to love what you have and let go of what has been.
Delayed gratitude is the key to a happier life she says, it is more like taking care of your future-self rather than you past or present. She shares her story everywhere she goes with the viewers and her fans, saying that she is a mother, a wife, and a fitness enthusiast.
She has been doing a solid on YouTube by uploading detailed videos of her workouts with guiding voiceover and posture correction tips. Going through her pregnancy, she even made workout routines for pregnant women who want to find something to divert the dilating energy of the hormones to.
The start of her YouTube channel was with a highly interactive video in which she explains all the struggles of her life and answers a few questions she got on Instagram.
Conclusion
The thing to love the most about Hannah Bower is how much she simplifies exercising. For those of us who have been looking at working out as a punishment to the body only for weight loss, understanding something so simply really does give the initial push into making a lifestyle out of it.
Coming out so strong after crashing, literally, and figuratively, Bower sets an example and inspiration for all those that are in the dark places of insecurities and identity-crisis. She is a huge advocate of natural food items as she says nothing that she can’t pronounce is going into her body.
She has a website dedicated to fitness training where she has detailed and guided workout plans other than her free versions of it on YouTube. She’s has partnered with Reebok, has appeared on the front page of magazines, and has a net worth of $1million-$5million, all that she built after the crash!
Commonly Asked Questions…
How Much Is Hannah Bower Worth?
Hannah Bower is estimated to be worth anywhere between $1 million to $5 million in 2019. Her annual salary is unknown yet but her main source of income is from social media.
Instagram being her sole reason for success as a star, she has her own website of providing fitness programs and a thriving YouTube channel as well.
How Much Does Hannah Bower Weigh?
Hannah Bower weighed 115 pounds at the age of 16 in 2007. The recent loss or gain in her wait is not accounted for.
How Old Is Hannah Bower?
Hannah Bower was born on 1 January 1990, which makes 30 years old in the year 2020.
What Is Hannah Bower’s Zodiac Sign?
Hannah Bower is a Capricorn, to which she attributes some of her success and motivation of resilience from.
Featured Image credit: Hannah Bower Instagram Page