By Alyce CollinsĀ Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā 

 

THIS NURSE trains in the gym for TWO HOURS a day despite countless hours spent on a busy ward and says men are often surprised when they find out she can lift more than them.

Paige knew that she wanted to have a positive impact on other people’s lives, which led her to become a nurse. MDWfeatures / Paige Mills

Emergency nurse, Paige Mills (24) from Melbourne, Australia regularly sharesher fitness regime with her 230K Instagram followers asshe works out six days a week, on top of working 40 hours with patients.

Paige doesn’t own a television and she credits not watching hours of television for her working out so often. MDWfeatures / Paige Mills

Paige has worked as a registered nurse for three years sincegraduating, also working with patients in rehabilitation which has fulfilledher goal of having an impact on other peoplesā€™ lives.

Although she is incredibly busy at work, Paige thrives offthe chaos and feels that the constant busyness is what keeps her mind and bodystimulated.

Paige enjoys the chaos of working in a hospital as it keeps her on her toes. MDWfeatures / Paige Mills

 

Paige first found her love for fitness when she finished hernursing degree which made her feel inactive, making her want to burn off energyin the gym. Now, Paige works out for five or six days a week, for two hourseach day.

 

Her dedicated fitness regime is all thanks to Paige notowning a TV aerial at home which means she has plenty more time to work outbecause she doesnā€™t watch any television.

Paige shows off her impressive physique to her hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers. MDWfeatures / Paige Mills

Through nursing, Paige has learnt to appreciate her fitnessas she deals with patients who may never even walk again. Even during longperiods of consecutive night shifts Paige manages to maintain her fitnessregime as she can squat 155kg and deadlift 152kg.Ā 

 

ā€œAt first I wanted to get a degree for the self-actualisationof doing it, but I decided I wanted to do something where I could have animpact on peopleā€™s lives instead,ā€ said Paige.

Fitness has been a key part of Paige’s life for the last three years. MDWfeatures / Paige Mills

ā€œIā€™ve also tried out hospitality, driving trucks, being adancer and a builderā€™s labourer, but then I found nursing and I also do somefitness modelling now too.

 

ā€œI studied to be a nurse for three years at university whileI also worked as a carer in a nursing home, but Iā€™ve now been a registerednurse for three years since.

Patients often comment on Paige’s muscular build as she tends to them in hospital. MDWfeatures / Paige Mills

ā€œI love the chaos of it ā€“ being on my feet and doing amillion things at once keeps my body and mind stimulated.

 

ā€œHaving gone from very physically demanding jobs before tothen studying and working as a nurse made me feel very sedentary, so I feltlike I needed to burn off some energy. Thatā€™s when I first found fitness andjoined a gym.

Meeting patients who may never walk again or who have been crippled by illness is what motivates Paige not to take her own health for granted. MDWfeatures / Paige Mills

ā€œNow I will work out for two hours a day, five or six days aweek. It can be hard to keep up with my routine sometimes when Iā€™mtransitioning from day shifts to night shifts and when Iā€™m sleep deprived.

 

ā€œIn nursing we arenā€™t allowed to manually lift patients, sothe strength isnā€™t as handy as you may think, but back injuries are supercommon among nurses. I think powerlifting has taught me the correct liftingtechniques, so hopefully Iā€™ll never have a work-related back injury.

After finishing her degree, Paige didn’t want to just go to work and do nothing else, so she became interested in fitness. MDWfeatures / Paige Mills

ā€œI hear people say they donā€™t have the time to go to the gym,yet they watch two to three hours of television a day. Whereas I donā€™t have atelevision aerial at home, so I guess thereā€™s time for anything you love if youmake it a priority, and training comes first for me of course.ā€

 

Paige spoke about how she makes sure her diet fuels her busyschedule and ensuring she can recover properly.

Paige doesn’t own a television which encourages her to get out and head to teh gym. MDWfeatures / Paige Mills

Patients will often comment on Paigeā€™s muscly physique andmen are frequently surprised to find out that she can lift more than they can.

 

ā€œBefore I started lifting, I wasnā€™t able to distinguishbetween a woman with muscle and a woman carrying excess fat. But now I veryoften get patients commenting on my muscles,ā€ said Paige.

 

Paige wants to motivate others to work out as she shows how she manages her time. MDWfeatures / Paige Mills

ā€œThe reaction I get from men is often saying ā€˜wow, you canlift more than meā€™. But I think people who have known me forever arenā€™tsurprised that I ended up being somewhat of a public figure because Iā€™ve neverbeen afraid of the limelight. Iā€™m a pretty open person.

 

ā€œI eat so much ā€“ I try to eat a lot of protein andcarbohydrates to fuel my workouts. If I donā€™t eat enough, I wonā€™t perform wellin training, which makes me feel frustrated. I usually eat around 2000 to 3000calories a day.

 

ā€œNursing has taught me not to take any physical abilities forgranted. I donā€™t think people realise that there are people my age who are instroke wards or in nursing homes and theyā€™ll never walk or talk again.

 

Paige is also a keen motorcyclist. MDWfeatures / Paige Mills

ā€œYou should exercise to celebrate your capacity to do so, andlove your body for what it can do, not for how it looks.ā€

 

You can follow Paigeā€™s fitness regime by checking out herInstagram, @bikerbiddie.