Distinct Physiotherapy meets Flatbush Crossfit

sports physiotherapy radlett
09
Mar 2020

Everyone that knows me (including my patients) knows how much I love exercise. I love keeping fit and eating well. It’s my way of keeping focused on me, my goals and the goals of my businesses. What do you do to manage the demands of your life? 

The start of 2020 has seen me visit New York City on two occasions for personal reasons but through everything I recognised the need to hold the commitment to my exercise regime. Fortunately for me, one of my cousins trains at Flatbush CrossFit and when I told him that I was flying out to the States he had no problem with signing me up to train! It’s always so good to find people that you have common ground with and it’s even sweeter when it’s family!

Now, for any of you that belong to some kind of exercise community you will understand the unwritten code of community spirit, enthusiasm and love that just reverberates around the walls of the gym. If nothing else the place is welcoming and everyone shares one vision – fitness, regardless of what the ultimate goal is. I love it. I am in love with that purpose and even though I don’t know the priority scale that fitness is to others, I don’t really care-they are there and that’s enough for me. Their presence says – ‘I am making a commitment!’. I almost compare it to a smokers corner! You might not know anyone in the corner but they will all say ‘hi’ and ask you how you are! 

At my first visit I was trained by Abe. I signed my waiver and got involved! I have to say it was a Sunday morning and some of us were tired from the events of the day before. Abe’s style of training was fitting for the day. He established our warm-up by working on the functional movements that cross fit encompasses; lunges, squats, deadlifts and over time he progressed our weights fine-tuning our technique over the course of the session. I really enjoyed this style of training, it was progressive. Abe often demonstrated the skills himself and we know that visual feedback can be a real key to us as individuals as we try to execute the movements. Some of us really struggle to move properly – it can feel like our body resists us.  

My second visit saw me trained by the Head Coach and Owner of FlatBush Crossfit, Orrie. Orrie is buzzing with enthusiasm. I trained with him on the Friday and the Sunday of my trip. He quickly establishes that I can lift relatively heavy weights and he has a way about him that means he’s pushing me without actually pushing me… Do you know what I mean? The Friday session was a strength session. It was slower, slightly more controlled and as I was struggling with jetlag it was perfect. However the Sunday session was a High Intensity Interval Training session and boy oh boy! did Orrie work us. His style of training is very assertive and he actively provides alternatives for people who are struggling with the set routine. He knows exactly what he wants the men in the session to lift and what he wants the women in the session to lift. For me, this demonstrated an understanding of our body differences and clinically I feel that this is a great way to safeguard your fitness community. We are training together but giving each person a weight to work towards means that we continue to meet the demands of our bodies. 

Whenever I’m training it’s almost impossible not to have my physiotherapy hat on. I really enjoy watching how the personal trainers interact with me and the other people on the gym floor. I’m also really interested in the way that trainers safeguard our bodies. It’s hugely important to me to be able to train into my older years! Preservation of the human body is so important and whilst we understand the benefits of a rush of endorphins in our system following exercise, we must also ensure that we are using the right techniques and strategies for our training in order to prevent injury and protect our joints and muscles. I think that FlatBush CrossFit understands that and the functional warm-up shows me that, but I did think that they needed to incorporate more stretching at the end of the session. The cool down can be as important, if not more important than the warm-up itself and for some people like me who enjoy training on back to back days, the cool down is mandatory.  

If I was a resident in New York City, I would definitely join Flatbush CrossFit as my full-time Exercise hub. It’s intimate and you can really get to know the trainers and the people that you are training with. I think there are many benefits to these points in themselves.

For now I’m back on UK soil and utilising The Gym and Tonic club in Radlett and The Gym Group, as my points for training. I’m looking forward to digging deep for the upcoming month as I celebrate my birthday in April. Will you join me in digging deep for spring? 

Why not follow me on Instagram at Distinct Physio where I will be posting some of my workouts and my lifting sessions. I look forward to seeing you there.

Alternatively if you are injured or quite simply need a sports massage why not get yourself booked in now:

Online booking is available

Https://distinct –physiotherapy.selectandbook.com