"That was the foundation, my rock that I could rely on." Michelle Bridges shares the reason she got into fitness.

Image: Getty.

She’s a beacon of positivity and confidence, and it’s these traits that have earned her fame and a multi-million dollar fitness empire.

But things haven’t always been so upbeat for Michelle Bridges.

In fact, the reason she embraced fitness and sport in the first place was because she was desperately unhappy at school. Speaking with the Sydney Morning Herald, the 12 Week Body Transformation founder recalls being bullied throughout her time at a Nelson Bay high school.

“My school bags would get trashed, my things would get ripped up, and my uniform would get ripped. I’d end up hanging out in the library at lunchtime … my mum had to go up to the school and try to work it out,” the now 44-year-old says.

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Fortunately, Bridges — who is expecting her first child with partner Steve ‘Commando’ Willis — was able to find some respite in the form of sport.

“I really probably pushed back into my sport, because that was the foundation, my rock that I could rely on. I was in every team under the sun. We even had a beach-to-bush school exchange, and I was in every team including the boys’ soccer team,” she says. (Post continues after gallery.)

Although she enjoyed playing sport, it was the discipline involved in physical activity that really captivated and distracted her. “[I] fell in love with the discipline of the training, and the commitment of the training, and I realised that was shaping me,” she says.

Clearly, this effect was long-lasting. These days, Bridges is one of the most well-known fitness gurus in the country, with a popular training program, Big W active wear line several cookbooks to her name. She’s also returned to her role as a coach for the latest season of The Biggest Loser.

Evidently, Bridges had an entrepreneurial mind from an early age — she made her “first business pitch” at just 14 years of age.

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The self-described “B student” spoke to her school mistress and offered to run fitnesses classes for those students who spent their sporting sessions in the classroom because she felt she could give them something they were missing out on.

“I had to get my mixtape, my leg-warmers, my leotard that went on the outside of the tights and up the crack, and I had to work out what we were going to do,” she recalled.

The young Bridges developed a circuit training class which was apparently a hit with some of her 'clients'. "[They] thought I was the best fitness instructor ever," she says.

Bolstered by the positive reception, she was then employed as a fitness class teacher at a local squash court. The rest is ab-crunching history.

Ultimately, being a fitness instructor helped Bridges overcome her school yard taunters and value her talents. "It gave me the confidence to think, 'I'm stronger than that'. That was my outlet, and I was getting a good response from adults," she says.

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Bridges says being bullied also shaped her inclusive approach to fitness coaching, because she doesn't want people to feel like 'outsiders'.

"Which is why I sometimes feel quite 'eurgh!' when it's written in the media that I'm 'shaming' people because they're not fit or they're overweight. I think, 'Clearly you have no idea about what I am or what I do'," she tells the Herald.

This was the case even when she was in the midst of her high school troubles.

"Sometimes I'd tuck someone under my wing who I'd see was copping shit and sometimes, because of that, I would cop more shit. I'd always be bringing someone home from school for dinner. And I like that about myself," she says.

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It just goes to prove being a decent human being will get you further in life than being a bully.

There's a great lesson to be learned here: when life gives you sour lemons, turn them into very lucrative (and healthy) lemonade.

Have you ever been bullied? What helped you overcome it?