Former Winter Olympian Steph Prem spent her early 20s chasing the adrenaline rush, competing on snow slopes across the globe.
But after a horrific accident at the 2010 World Cup finals left Steph unable to compete anymore, she needed to reconsider her career path.
Watch the trailer for Mamamia's podcast, Lady Startup. Post continues below.
Steph sat down with Mia Freedman on Mamamia's podcast, Lady Startup, to discuss the accident that changed her life forever, her career change and the business she now runs.
"I'm very comfortable reliving it [the accident]. It's part of my story and I understand that. It's been a huge driver for what I now do," Steph told Mia Freedman.
"Without that accident, I would not be where I am now. And I'm a much happier person now, I believe, than I was as an athlete."
The accident
In 2010, Steph Prem competed at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in snowboard cross. Having not performed as well as she wanted at the Olympics, Steph was determined to go for gold at the World Cup finals in Italy.
"I went to the Olympics and about six weeks after is the World Cup finals. I didn't get the result I really wanted at the Olympics, so I went into the World Cup finals pretty injured and battered from the Games, mentally and physically. To the point where my coach said, 'maybe you shouldn't be competing,'" she told Mia Freedman.
The courses at the World Cup finals were much more difficult that season.
"There was this treacherous jump at the finish line and my coach, a lot of my colleagues and other female racers had said, 'don't do the jump if you don't feel comfortable.' And I had seen three of the top girls and guys that I admire most do a hip, blow a leg, dislocate a shoulder and another had been taken off the course with no answer as to what had happened.
"So everyone was quite psyched out by this last jump," she said.
It was the last run of the day though so Steph decided to bite the bullet and jump. But she realised too late that she hadn't accounted for the big dint in the course that had been caused by racers not hitting their jump.
"I came up six to seven metres short of my transition, landed on the flat to what my physiotherapist would explain was like falling out of a first-floor building to concrete," Steph shared.
"I fractured my spine in three places, broke five ribs, dislocated my hip, did severe damage to my pelvis, tore my hamstring, blew my shoulder and had severe spinal whiplash. The entire left-hand side took the impact."
Listen to the whole Lady Startup interview with Mia Freedman and Steph Prem. Post continues below.
Starting Studio PP
After the accident, Steph spent five years in rehab. It was there she was introduced to the one form of exercise that didn't give her pain - clinical pilates.
"It killed me [not being able to compete]. But it was the only thing I could do that didn't give me pain," she explained.
"I had tried everything else. I found it because I went back to strength and conditioning, I went back to trying to sit on a bike and I couldn't do anything impact-driven."
After experiencing for herself first-hand just how incredible pilates is as a form of fitness, especially for anyone injured, Steph launched her own business, Studio PP.
Studio PP is a health and fitness destination that combines the methods of pilates and functional fitness, with the desire to help her clients move and feel better long-term.
The three studios based out of Melbourne's Portsea, South Yarra and Collins St offer Reformer Pilates, Boxing, Barre Beats, PP HIIT, Spin Core, Dance Cardio, Stretch and Restore Yoga and Personal Training.
And it was her training in top of the art facilities during her sporting career that inspired the studios.
"As a 25-year-old startup opening a 300 square metre pilates and wellness space, I'd come off the back of sport and all I'd known was incredible spaces like the Institute of Sport," Steph explained.
"So for me, I was mirroring what I wanted to offer the public and the everyday person. I wanted them to have access to the kind of thing I had access to. I wanted it to be affordable and inviting, but not intimidating."
You can find out more about Steph Prem on her Instagram and website. You can also check out Studio PP here.
Feature image: Instagram/@stephieprem