When Mayor Jim Watson recognized 15 residents with the Order of Ottawa at city hall last month, among those honoured was 51-year-old Peter Morel, founder and co-owner of one of Ottawa’s first adaptive fitness studios.
Morel received the award for his work with disabled citizens in the health and fitness industry.
What separates Morel from other physical trainers within the business is that he, too, has a disability.
Morel was born with spina bifida, a birth defect caused by the incomplete closing of the spinal column before birth. This developmental disorder often manifests itself through leg weakness and partial paralysis. For Morel, he says his paralysis is mostly from the knees down, which allows him to stand and walk despite spending most of his time in his wheel chair.
Though now recognized for successes as a trainer and business owner, Morel says it wasn’t until 1998 that he decided the fitness industry was his career path.
“It came out of primarily being disillusioned with where I was at the time, working in the night club industry and not wanting to be in that industry at the age of 45,” he says.
From there, Morel went on to take his first of five training certification courses before he and business partner Mike Hayden opened their own gym, Top Shape Fitness Studio, in 2001. The gym is located on Parkdale Avenue, west of Centretown.
Morel says it was a move aimed at finding a niche within the fitness industry.
“Being in a wheel chair, I noticed that in order to workout in a commercial facility I had to modify my program, the equipment or both,” he says. “So I thought, ‘hey there’s got to be an awful lot of people just like me out there that find it challenging to workout in a commercial facility. Why not attend to those people in the industry?’”
They decided to focus their gym on adaptive fitness. Adaptive fitness programs are designed for people with any impairment that prevents them from walking into a commercial gym and working out on their own.
Despite the focus on adaptive fitness, the studio – with leadership from Hayden – also runs a preparation program to help candidates pass the mandatory physical activity-readiness evaluation required to become a member of the police or firefighter academy.
This wide range of knowledge both Hayden and Morel use everyday is what Hayden says led him to nominate Morel for the Order of Ottawa this past September.
“He does a lot for the community,” Hayden says. “A lot of people don’t realize how hard and technical it is and how much you have to know about things like biomechanics, biochemistry and physical movement to actually work with the different populations.”
Watson, a member of the selection committee, says that given Morel’s inspirational history in business and athletics, he was pleased the committee selected him for the order.
“He is the type of person whose passion and work ethic make him a great ambassador to our city,” Watson says.
“I was thrilled to see the rest of the selection committee felt he was as worthy a recipient of the Order of Ottawa as I did.”
Morel says he plans to grow adaptive fitness programs into more commercial facilities making it accessible for everyone. But for now his focus is clear.
“Stay fit, keep happy and overall try to help as many people as I can.”