Thurs 11th sept 2025

There are many people who don’t go to gyms because they have an injury, and that can be understandable because nobody helps them in most places.

Ours is different and you know it and it can make all the difference.

A problem with your shoulder? Then you need to get to the root of the problem and eventually strengthen it. Of course it will take some time but it’s a thousand times better than just sitting in the house and hoping total rest will magically fix it.

A more active recovery is always going to heal you a lot quicker.

If you have a bad knee for example, you have to find out exactly where. 100% of the time that knee joint will be getting weaker if you don’t start strengthening the muscles, ligaments and tendons around it.

Initially any injury will require rest, especially in the first 48-72 hours when ice is usually an excellent idea, but after that a more targeted and progressive approach will help dramatically.

If the muscle you have hurt is weak, you will not be able to stabilise it, a weak muscle will never stabilise  I have to repeat especially in the knee, shoulder, ankle and hip.

You see some tiny dumbbells in the gym in the newly created rack in the second room. They are there for a reason. To initiate a recovery no mater what the injury and to start the healing process, to pump fresh blood into the affected area which will be amazing for recovery, and eventually turn the recovery stage into the performance stage.

Add onto the fact that the best treatment for injury is prevention, when we bring out a new programme, prevention is massive part of the equation, as well as performance so be sure you are executing a well rounded programme every time you come into the gym.

Tues 9th Sept

We all need to be tested, and we all need to be less comfortable at times.

My journey of using the bike for the gym had another test today with the heavy rain, but once you decide you have made a commitment, then it’s easy not to back out of it, and it hardens my resolve, especially when I imagine people betting on me to fail and give in to the car or lifts.

Being on a bike makes me hungry again, takes me back to the days when life was much more of a grind, and when there were plenty of rainy cold days when I could be out all day in.

Making ourselves too comfortable doesn’t do us any good and makes us soft, and less resilient to potential challenges in life which surely will come at some stage or another.

Lofty exciting goals are great, but the process isn’t always glamorous to get there, is often riddled with doubt “shall we continue”, “shouldn’t we take it easy now”, “why out all the effort in, my friends don’t do it”, but great things and great health is only achieved through some struggle and some discomfort, and when we get through that apparent pain, we come out the other side MUCH better for it in ALL ways.

Great health does take some discomfort, it means you showing up sometimes when you don’t even want to, and it takes you realising that exercise will be the spark that can literally change your mood, change your state of mind and create a resilience in you perhaps you never thought you had.