Powerlifter who survived horror smash opens gym

A former international powerlifter is set to open his first gym in Derby – ten years after being impaled on a fence in a horrific car accident.

Anthony Spalding spent a week in an induced coma in 2010 after a head-on collision left him fighting for his life. When the car he was travelling in flipped over, he landed on a fence post which narrowly missed his vital organs. The then 19-year old was air-lifted to the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham to receive urgent treatment, but when he came round, he found that he couldn’t see and was left temporarily paralysed.

Spalding, who was a promising powerlifter at the time, eventually regained his sight and remarkably made a full recovery, although his mental health suffered as he struggled to recover his strength.

However, he managed to return to competing just 18 months after the event, and says exercise helped him on his road to recovery.

Now, Spalding has set up his own business – Spalding Strength and Fitness – as a way of sharing his love of exercise with others.

The new gym is based at Unit 13 Gosforth Road, just off Ascot Drive in Derby.

Spalding said: “My family and I like to joke about the accident. Every year we have ‘Happy Impalement Day’. But seriously, I was very lucky to survive.

“I was with my friend, Dave Eaton, who was the driver of the car. We were on a country road, just about to go round a bend, when a car travelling in the opposite direction ran us off the road.

“Dave’s car somersaulted in the air a few times before landing in a field. Dave was absolutely fine; he managed to get out of the car by climbing through the window.

“I thought that I was fine, too, until I tried to get out of the car and realised that I couldn’t move. I looked fine and initially couldn’t see any broken bones or damage.

“But I soon realised that I was skewered to the car seat by a fence post, which had gone through my left arm, into my body via my rib cage – which was completely smashed – and out the other side.

“What I didn’t realise until later, though, was that the post was stopping me from bleeding to death.”

Spalding eventually moved to Derby in 2015 to work at DW Fitness on Pride Park, and decided earlier this month to start his own gym.

He added: “Spalding Strength has been a real labour of love.

“I have received excellent backing and support from the Prince’s Trust charity, who helped me to put together a business plan.

“I’ve spent most of 2020 getting the gym ready; setting up equipment, laying the floor tiles and cleaning the place.

“I have already started doing one-on-one sessions with clients I had on my books but I’m now taking bookings for group training sessions. It’s an exciting time.”