Sports Specific Sessions

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I work with a variety of sporty people to help them improve their sporting performance, prevent injury or help them get back to their sport following injury or illness.

I work with runners, cyclist, swimmers, triathletes, climbers, cross-fitters, OCR racers and those regularly attending the gym or fitness classes. 

My own background is in competitive multi-sport and performance squad coaching and I thrive with regular exercise and training. So I completely understand how frustrating (and challenging) it is to not be able to do the sport or activities that you love to do. Getting you back to doing your sport, or keeping you doing it, is upper most in my mind when working with you. I know the challenges of maintaining a training program while dealing with injuries or illness, and I also appreciate the balance to be had of knowing when to back down and when to keep going. I can guide you through this and often work with other sports coaches, osteos, physios etc to fully support you. I enjoy working with people at all levels of their sport, from those completely new or novice to those at a performance level.

What we do in each session depends very much on what your sport is, to what level you participate in it and whether you are returning from injury, wanting to prevent injury or if you are looking to improve your performance.

To give you an idea of how I work, here are some examples of people that I have worked with recently:

• A triathlete who had been dealing with ongoing calf and foot pain. Plantar Fasciitis had been an issue in the past and it still lingered from time to time, despite doing exercises that had previously helped. Any increases in run pace or interval training flared it up. We looked at his mechanics when not running, when running and when running at pace. From here we developed a programme of supplementary exercises to address his lower leg mobility and we included balance work. We also used turbo training sessions to focus on pelvis stability and hip action. We also monitored his run training (he did not stop running) distance and intensity so we could integrate the changes into his run action. After 5 sessions (over 3 months) he was pain free and able to train again at pace in his run sessions.
• Cross-fitter who had herniated a disc and was in final stages of treatment from an osteo. Was keen to get back to some kind of fitness but very fearful of the movements and felt that cross fit would not be an option for him. We had 6 sessions together which started with very gentle Pilates based movement with his pelvis, spine and hips. We then gradually introduced basic ‘cross-fit’ type movements (squats, press ups, supported hangs), then as confidence built we introduced load (resistance and weights) and more dynamic movement. He went back to cross fit taking things easier than he had been doing, but knowing how to gradually build back and also knowing when to back off.
• Runner with ITB issues. We looked at running form and added in some quick focus points when going up hill and towards the end of runs when fatigue set in. We then worked on stability of her pelvis, mobility around the hips and the balance of strength in the front and back of her body so that the IT band could release its tension (since it no longer needed to be the main stabiliser of her right leg when she was running). She had a wee programme of exercises to do this which took about 10-15 minutes every other day and we progressed and tweaked it every time came in to see me (initially every couple of weeks then, once a month, over about 6 months).