“Fit Mum Over 40” Andrea Simulis is living life at full strength. Fighting her way back from a helicopter crash that left her with a shattered tibia, the social media fitness influencer and body recomposition and nutrition coach is stronger than her six pack abs and ripped biceps. From the highs of each progression, to the lows of every setback, whether she’s building muscle or building back to health, Simulis’s strength has no limits.
TM5: When did you start taking lifting seriously?
AS: About seven years ago, I just never saw the muscle definition I wanted in my body. I wanted to look like a fit pro without being one. So I'm like, well how do I do that? I did a 60 day challenge. It was a body fat loss challenge. In the eight weeks I lost eight pounds of body fat and I saw the muscle I had built over a decade—but, I was like, wow, this isn't that much muscle. I realized you really need to put on muscle if you want to look toned all the time so that's when I started taking lifting more seriously.
That’s also when you started your Instagram account, to share the muscle building journey with others. But more recently, you’ve shared your recovery and return to the gym after surviving a helicopter crash on a holiday tour. Can you tell us about the accident?
We were descending down to land and then we turned in a complete 360 and then we started turning faster—all of a sudden it was like a spinning top. It happened really fast, where you’re slowly anticipating landing, but now you're spinning out of control…that's kind of how the crash happened.
When they finally shut the rudder off, they ripped open the doors, and my husband got out but I couldn’t. That’s when I looked down at my leg and it was shattered. So you're just in shock. I didn't even realize my spleen was lacerated.
After multiple surgeries and almost a month before you were able to return home, you started rehabbing your leg. How did you motivate yourself to go back to the gym?
It's a lot to motivate after trauma and want to get healthy and get better. So I think it’s always being appreciative because people don't come back from helicopter crashes. I know I had these horrific things in the hospital, all these complications, but it could have been that I'm not here for my kids, that I don't see them grow up. Having that in the back of your mind, that no matter what happens I'm still alive, I can see this as an opportunity to excel beyond my limitations.
You had to wear a fixator— an external metal frame on your lower leg to stabilize the bone in place— for several months. How did wearing the medical device affect your personal life?
It's horrifying, the idea of wearing a giant thing on your leg, but I thought, you know what, I don’t have any choice. I'm going to do it, and I can thrive doing it. A lot of people never even went out to eat dinner and stuff. I'm like, you know what? I'm going to go out with my husband and I'm going to dress up. I’m not going to stop my life because I have this horrific fixator on my leg.
How did the fixator become a key part of your recovery story?
The one positive thing [from the accident] is that I was able to share with others on social media to help them stay positive and come out of their own struggles because I didn't really realize that a lot of people with fixators, they don't try.
They don't try to rehab, they’re very down, very depressed. So, okay, we can encourage each other. A lot of people reached out to me saying you helped me get through my hard times because you kept sharing on social media. To me, that was super touching because it is hard to share.
What I promised to do on my social media page, is bring the real to Instagram, not just some fake thing. So, this is my real life, this is what I'm struggling with, this is how I can help others the best, by sharing this journey.
Did you ever struggle with living up to your previous social media image and content?
One thing in life is to not put all your eggs in one basket.
A lot of people, especially influencers or fitness influencers, their whole life revolves around exercise and how they look. For me, you can take away the fitness, you can take away my looks— now I have this horrible scar—but I still know who I am.
I have staple, foundational things beyond looks, beyond movement, that keep me grounded and you cannot lose sight of that on social media. I coach people online and they're very self conscious about their body or want to look like this person on social media but that's not real. That can be taken away from you so quickly. This is your real life—don't get it mixed up with a fake world of trying to be perfect.
It’s been several months since you’ve had the fixator off so you’ve been back in the pool. You swam competitively growing up and continued to swim to complement your strength training. How are you incorporating swimming into your routine now?
I’m swimming two to three times a week now. I noticed the incredible difference in the kicking. At first, the kicking would be tiring or I'd feel that one leg would kick less strong. But after consistently doing it with the kick board, with fins especially because it's more quad work with fins, I was very encouraged. Now when I swim, I actually feel more normal. I can kick really hard and sprint again.
What are you working on next for your recovery?
I'm working on speed. When you're injured and you're on a walker with one leg really slow and now in the pool there are no boundaries—I can go as fast as I want.
How do you see this phase of your life and what have you learned from your journey so far?
Coming back stronger. And the fine print is really coming back mentally stronger. I really won't ever be physically stronger, but I'll be mentally stronger and it really is a stepping stone to the next things that happen in my life. Being able to handle what life throws at you, the swings and punches of life—mental strength is going to be more important than physical strength. You can have everything taken away but your mental strength cannot be taken away from you.
