My Story

Back in 2006 I was a broke personal trainer who’d just arrived back in the UK after 7 months travelling in Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. I wanted to build a large client base so I could clear the debt I’d racked up and save enough to buy a flat and get married.  I got a job in a personal training company in Bristol after having to borrow a friends suit for the interview.

Building a client base was slow initially.  I spent the first month putting leaflets through doors and training only a handful of clients.  I made just £150.  The second month things picked up and I made £1500.  In month three I earned £3000.  Things were looking up for a while.

My average client was aged between 40 and 60 and had various aches and pains from years of juggling work and family commitments.  These aches and pains restricted what they could do and limited their results, causing them to leave and me to earn less.

I also started to suffer from various aches and pains due to years of sport and gym work.  I believed hours of stretching, painful massage and ultimately surgery were my only options.  It made me question whether this was a viable career choice long term.

By chance I came across an advert for a joint mobility seminar that claimed to help people overcome their aches and pains through improving joint health.  Sceptically I booked my place and spent a weekend in a dingy gym, in a crumby part of London having my mind blown.

The techniques took my joints through ranges I never new they had.  They instantly made them feel looser and stronger, like they’d been sprayed with WD40.  It baffled me that even though I’d been a trainer for 5 years and possessed the gold standard qualification, I had no idea these techniques existed.  I left feeling rejuvenated both in body and mind and with a clear plan.

I planned to start teaching the techniques to clients the next day to see if they made their joints feel as loose and as strong as mine.  They did.  Running through the techniques made their joints feel looser and stronger, to the point where they were able to perform exercises that had previously made them worse with no issues.  These techniques helped them achieve better results, causing them not to leave and me to earn more.

Running through the drills daily with clients helped me overcome my aches and pains within a month.  I got my mojo back and believed this was a viable career choice long term.  That was until the break.

Things were going great.  It was now 2012, I was married, had a two year old son, and was one of the busiest personal trainers around, averaging over forty, 1-2-1 sessions per week.  I specialised in helping people overcome their aches and pains while getting fitter and more flexible.  Then my body fell apart.

I started Brazilian Jujitsu as a hobby.  During the first month my big toe got caught between 2 mats and bent back the wrong way.  It went purple.  I didn’t go to hospital, I just took a week off until the swelling went down and it returned to its regular colour.  Over the following 2 years my body fell apart.

The pain in my right knee, the left side of my back and neck became chronic.  Cycling to work was agony.  Picking up my son was agony.  Driving was agony.  Some of the joint mobility exercises helped, as did some of the physiotherapy, chiropractic treatment, massage, foam rolling and stretching.  But only in the short term.  The pain always came back.  It was relentless.

It got so bad I started cancelling clients so I could go home and lie on the sofa to get some relief.  Not ideal when you’re self employed.  I thought the pain would never go away, but it did.

After attending a course on biomechanics I realised my body had become extremely right side dominant in an attempt to protect my damaged right big toe.  As soon as I started working on correcting the imbalance, with a combination of joint mobility techniques and balance drills the pain disappeared in a few days.  I could finally cycle to work, pick up my son and drive without discomfort.

While I still experience the odd ache and pain every now and again, I’m ninety nine percent pain free and in better shape aged 46 than aged 26.

I now understand that while sometimes surgery is the only option, the majority of our pain comes from a combination of tight, restricted joints and muscles and imbalances between our left and right sides.  This can be significantly reduced, and even overcome by regularly performing a combination of joint mobility techniques and balance drills.  I’m proof.  So are the clients I’ve helped, some of which have been working with me since 2006.

My goal now is to help people overcome the tight, restricted joints and muscles that've been holding them back while getting fit and flexible, so they can keep doing all the things they love, as well as the things they’ve yet to experience far into the future, via my online program.