Greg Fearon of ProjectFit (projectfitharrow.co.uk) and I have built up a relatively close working relationship over the last 18 months or so. I actually can’t remember how we connected but Greg’s business is based in Harrow, which is my childhood home – town. I always feel so much synergy with my Harrow crew! Greg and I love well – seasoned food, fitness and wellbeing (of course!) but we also love House ‘n’ Garage music (which clearly reminds us of our younger days).

When I connected with Greg, we decided to have an active meeting. He invited me to climb with him. I’ve only climbed a handful of times (one of which was actually in Hong Kong) and I really wasn’t sure if I could climb and chat. Anyway, we did just that – in fact, we bouldered at Arch Climbing Wall, www.archclimbingwall.com, recorded a podcast that I still haven’t launched yet (Sorry Greg) and discussed some really important common values that we both share for our patients/clients. Ultimately, these values include sleep, rest and recovery time, adequate nutrition and the need to understand each person’s mindset and circumstances. I, myself have learned that the fitness journey is all encompassing and if you fail to understand just one component of that, you will inevitably stumble and regress along your transformation journey, almost, never to return!

Greg calls his clients “Tigers”. I love the sincerity in the name but we all know that Tigers are fierce and a force to be reckoned with. Spiritually, the meaning for tiger is said to be ‘willpower’, ‘courage’ and ‘personal strength’.  

Fast forward 18 months and Greg and I continue to talk about the same important values that (i) enable you to train at your best consistently (ii) help you to recover from injury. 

Greg and I talk about working on sustainable change and the importance of looking after ‘all of you’ if you want to succeed with your fitness journey. Check him out on Facebook – there is a constant theme to his posts and you will be able to relate. 

As we ease out of lockdown, Greg (also known as ‘Greggles’ to his Tigers) asked me to talk to his VIP ProjectFit members who have struggled with a few niggling injuries, even before lockdown. Of course we did this meeting virtually, using zoom. It was such an insightful conference call. I think that the more the members realized how open I was to receive their questions, the more they wanted to ask. It was beautiful to see Greg’s Tigers opening up to discussing their injury and the management of their injuries through training. A major facet that was and still is (for some) impacting on their transformation journey. 

It always amazes me that people will train so insistently despite being in agony! I guess as a Physiotherapist, my logical brain struggles with that concept. My emotional, gymnast brain, totally gets it. Here is the goal – now go get it! Even when I have worked with other gym members I would constantly draw on the negative impact training whilst injured would have on the recovery component of the transformation process. The ongoing pain and inflammation in the system, the increase in sensitivity to the nervous system as it constantly screams in pain – you can only ignore that for so long. The brain is so clever really – somehow your need to get fitter and even more skinny is greater than the pain you are feeling (or so you tell yourself!). 

As the conference call drew to a close, I started to draw on trends of the injuries that were occurring. Some of the clients were able to say exactly how they had injured themselves, others were unsure but could tell me what functional activities aggravated their symptoms. Interestingly, when I asked the clients to perform certain activities/movements I became increasingly aware of compensation movement strategies that they were using and my clinical experience tells me that if someone is showing you a compensatory movement with a simple task, it is inevitable that they will exploit this movement pattern when they are overloaded or even fatigued. I found myself also challenging the clients to consider the contributions new working environments and work – stations might be having on their bodies. 

A massive shout out to Greggles and his Tigers for inviting me along to speak with them. I hope that the value I have added helps you with your upcoming training commitments and the transformation journey itself. 

If you are a Personal Trainer and you would like to find out more about how I might be able to assist you with the retention of your clients, why not contact me directly: leanne@distinctphysiotherapy.com

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