Personal training
Thirty minutes, two to four times a week, for the next thirty years.
One to one personal training in Kingston upon Thames, built for people in the second half of their lives who would like to stay strong, mobile and independent, and who have no interest whatsoever in a gym that shouts at them.
The four pillars
What we work on, and why each one earns its place
These are not four options to pick from. They hold each other up, and a programme missing one of them leaves a gap you will find later.
Strength
Strength in muscles and bones. From your forties onward you lose muscle unless you give your body a reason to keep it, and bone density follows the same rule. This is the pillar that decides whether you can carry the shopping up two flights, get off the floor without thinking about it, and pick up a grandchild without a second thought. It is also the one that responds fastest. Most people feel a difference within a few weeks.
Cardio
Cardio-vascular fitness. Not running marathons, unless you want to. The aim is a heart and a set of lungs that make hills, stairs and long days feel unremarkable. There is a lot of good evidence that this is one of the strongest predictors of how well the next thirty years go, and it does not take much time to build if the work is the right kind.
Mobility
Mobility, the ability to use a good range of movement. This is the pillar most people arrive having already lost some of, usually without noticing, because it goes slowly and you adapt around it. Reaching overhead, turning to look behind you when reversing, getting down to the floor and back up. Range is not something you either have or do not have. It is trained, and it comes back.
Balance
Balance. Literally, not falling over. It sounds like the least serious of the four and it is quietly the most consequential, because a fall is how a great many otherwise healthy lives change direction. Balance is trainable at any age, it improves quickly, and it costs almost nothing to work on. It slots into the other three rather than needing its own session.
The process
How it goes, start to finish
We talk first
We will chat about what you want to achieve, how much time you honestly have, and where you want to train: outside, at home with or without equipment, or in your gym. This conversation is free and there is nothing to sign at the end of it. If I do not think I am the right person to help, I will say so.
I design something that fits your life
I will put together a personalised workout of between ten and thirty minutes, built around the four pillars and around the time you actually have. Not the time you wish you had. A programme you will not do is worth nothing.
I teach you the form
We train one to one and I teach you good form, movement by movement, until you can feel for yourself when something is right and when it is not. This is the part that takes the longest and it is the part that matters most, because it is what makes the rest of it safe to do alone.
You train yourself
We carry on until you feel you do not need me there. That is the goal, not a side effect of it. My aim is to teach you how to train yourself and not to become dependent on having a personal trainer.
I stay available
I am then there for further support: if you want to take things further, if you hit a plateau, and we all do, if you struggle to come back after an illness, or simply to talk through progressions. Some people book once a month. Some people I do not hear from for a year. Both are fine.
Where we train
Wherever you will actually go
The best place to train is the one you will still be going to in March. For most people that is not a gym twenty minutes away.
- Outdoors
- Parks and open space around Kingston, using bars, benches and the ground. No membership, no waiting for equipment, and it is free.
- At home
- With equipment or with none at all. A great deal can be done with your own bodyweight, a doorway and a bit of floor.
- In your gym
- If you are already paying for a gym, we can train there and make the membership earn its keep.
The time it takes
Thirty minutes is enough, and ten minutes is not nothing
Thankfully it is possible to make meaningful progress in all four pillars using thirty minute workouts, two to four times a week. That is the honest number, not a marketing one. Most people can find it.
For hectic weeks we can also put together ten minute workouts that slot into a lunch break or the gap before the school run. They are not a compromise version of training, they are a different tool. A ten minute session you actually do beats a forty five minute session you skip, and it keeps the habit alive until the week calms down.
Our sessions together run for an hour. The workout inside that hour is never longer than thirty minutes, because the rest of the time is teaching, and the teaching is the part you keep.
What it costs
The short version
- Initial consultation
- Free
- Getting started workout
- £60
- Follow up workout
- £50
The initial consultation is free and there is no obligation attached to it. See the full pricing, including online follow ups
Tell me what you would like to be able to do
We will talk it through, work out whether I can help, and go from there. It costs nothing to find out.