My exercise programs

My exercise programs are designed to be performed at home with simple bits of equipment and the things that most people have around the house. However if you are a regular gym goer or intend to be, I can design exercises programs for the home gym or for the more complex equipment you find at a fitness centre. My programs incorporate more than resistance exercises and stretching. I have exercises that reduce unnecessary tension and that improve movement efficiency and dynamic alignment. These exercises feel good to perform and help you to move with more control, coordination, ease and power, and with less pain. These exercises focus on the movements patterns that underlie functional and sporting activities. Imagery and movement exploration are important components to these exercises.    

If you are interested in building muscle, tendon, ligament and bone strength I have a range of functional resistance exercises that not only build bulk, but improve coordination, power and control, and reduce pain. These resistance exercises progressively build in complexity, speed and resistance so they are safe and achievable. They also grow to mimic the specific sports, home and work activities you want to return too, and work extremely well in combination with my movement efficiency and dynamic alignment exercises.

How you breath has a big impact on pain and performance. I can help you find more efficient ways to breath, which in turn leads to better and less painful  ways of moving. I have exercises that help you become more aware of how you use all the muscles that impact on breathing, including the pelvic floor, abdomen, diaphragm, back, ribs, shoulders and neck. My exercises teach you how to use these breathing muscles more effectively, efficiently and with greater ease.  

I also teach Therapeutic Neuroscience Education (education about the pain system to reduce fear of movement and pain system sensitivity). This pain education in combination with the right movement has been shown to reduce long term persistent pain and to help people move freely again. If you know and understand your pain and know which movements are safe to perform regardless of pain, you can begin to move again. For people in persistent pain, finding exercises that do not flare their pain is a major challenge. I can help you find simple, easy and safe movements that allow you to move areas that have been kept stiff and guarded. From these safe starting movements we then work together to progressively increase the size, intensity, resistance, speed and complexity of your exercises until you find you are reaching your long term goals.

For those people who find any increase in movement too painful, graded motor imagery exercises are our starting point. Graded motor imagery are brain activities that challenge the parts of the brain that are involved in creating movement without having to physically move those highly sensitive areas are perfect for you. These exercises start with left and right discrimination, then move onto graded movement imagery, fine sensory discrimination and finally mirror work. Once you develop your graded motor imagery skills you will once again be able to move areas kept hostage by pain.