Woman broke both ankles in gym mistake and shares video as a warning

A woman has issued a warning to anyone who uses the gym after fracturing both of her ankles when a squat went wrong Kia Kidd was attempting to lift 120kg, a weight she had successfully managed before, when the accident happened.

Wince-inducing footage shows Kia's ankles folding underneath her at the bottom of her squat as she attempts to throw the bar away from her. The 34-year-old says she should have been lifting with safety on either side of her and a spotter, but says the bar got caught on her weight-lifting belt, which made it harder to throw off.

The single mum-of-three, who works as a beautician, was tekn to hospital by the friend she had gone to the gym with. Doctors told her she had two hairline fractures and she had to spend around seven weeks wearing a boot on each foot and on crutches.

• Louvre's shockingly 'obvious' password that sparked £77million jewel heist
• Fake Maddie McCann Julia Wandelt's real life from mortified parents to boyfriend and job

She has made a full recovery since the accident in May last year and shared the horrifying clip last week on TikTok. She says she was not 'ego-lifting' as she had done the lift many times before without issue but admits it was 'over-cocky' to do it without a spotter and shared the clip as a warning to others.

Although she was fearful to start squatting again, has returned to the gym with a coach and is hoping to compete in her first power lifting competition early next year. Kia, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, said: "I got a little bit over-cocky and decided to do quite a heavy one but without any safety either side of me and I did it while my friend was fiddling about in the back and I didn't ask her to spot me.

"As I was coming up I realised that I couldn't lift it and so I went back down again and shouted for her to come help me and then sillily I let go of it because I thought I could just jump out from under it. "But as the bar was on the way down, I think it had 120kg on it, it caught on my weight-lifting belt.

"It was sticking out because of the way I was sat at the bottom of the lift and the lifting belt and the 120kg bounced me down onto the floor and my ankles both flipped outwards. I got flown back. I could tell straight away that I had done something really bad because they were throbbing and they were aching.

"The gym manager had to fireman lift me out of the gym and into my friend's car who then took me to A&E. I'd done the weight before and I'd been fine with it. It was egotistical in the way that I didn't ask for a spot and I didn't have any safety because in my mind I thought that it was fine, I'd done it before.

"It was a freak thing that my belt was sticking out to the degree that it was. I'd warn people to have a spotter and use the safety on the rack."

Kia said at the hospital she was told she had hypermobility, a condition where you have flexible joints, and this prevented the fractures from being far worse. She had been going to the gym for around two years when her friend suggested she take part in a novice power-lifting competition.

While Kia waited for her hairline fractures to heal, she would often visit the gym just to watch friends. Kia said: "I had a couple of friends die in the space of a year and so I thought, I'll go. It's a healthy outlet.

"I'm a single mum so it was something to do that wasn't the kids. I realised soon after I started going that I was a lot stronger than I thought I would be and I really liked chasing the bigger numbers.

"It was a really difficult thing to not be able to go [to the gym] and I think for me it was especially because I felt like I'd started making really really good progress. I was back as soon as my boots came off but I wasn't doing anything with my legs. I was in there doing upper body.

"For me especially the gym is like a community and it was a big loss not being able to go and see everybody that I'd been seeing every day for two years. Every squat filled me with fear. I was absolutely terrified right up until recently even when I started doing bigger numbers again.

"I've been really proud of the fact that I've managed to get back in there. I started from scratch again and I've surpassed where I was when I had my accident. I'm really proud of myself for sticking with it and getting back to it and overcoming the fear I had around it."