aps Coaching

🥺”I don’t recognise myself anymore." 🤦

Missing out on family walks.

Spending Saturday afternoon doing rehab exercises while friends are out cycling.

Suddenly going from the “active one” to the “one with the dodgy knee”.

When you’ve lived your life being active and you take pride in that part of your identity; it sucks for it to feel like it’s fading away.

It’s deflating, exhausting and you end up asking – “is this the way my life is now?”

If this is you… you’re not alone.

It’s a super common question for many of the people that walk into our gym. 🙋

And it’s not that you haven’t tried to sort things out. Usually by this point you feel like you’ve tried almost everything.

For the active person, effort is rarely the problem, but what you’re putting the effort into can be:

❌ The routine you used to do, might be too intense right now.

❌ The rehab exercises you started with, might be too easy right now.

❌ The routine that John, or the girl from work, or the reddit forum suggested, might not be a good fit for you right now.

Once you’ve tried enough things without a result you can end up confused, frustrated and out of confidence.

So, now what?

Sometimes you need to wipe the slate clean and start fresh.

A new start point and your own personal path to follow back to the person you’d recognise again.

If you’d like help finding you’re way back to yourself, comment “Start” below and I’ll gladly reach out to you.

I’d love to chat. 😊

Enjoyed a bit of R&R with a swim and sauna Thames Lido after penciling in the diary with a mate while back, outdoor pool in this heat was a blessing!

Nice to have a bit of downtime, anyone else got some localish favourite spots for taking some timeout?

Here's how Kym got her summer back after a knee injury

The physio had helped... but it still hurt and I didn't trust my knee

That's where Kym was when she started working with me at our private gym in sonning eye.

She'd done exactly what you'd hope someone would

Seen the physio a few times, done the early rehab and to be fair, it had helped.

The pain was definitely better, but a couple of months had passed and progress had slowed up,

Walking down stairs still made her think twice, twisting felt risky and there was that lingering sense it might “give way”

Not to mention the impact on mood and headspace…
“months of not being able to do anything active was really getting to me.”

With an adventurous summer trip coming up

hoping to hike, climb, try windsurfing… and most important keep up with her son!

She was really worried her knee wasn’t going to handle it,
she still didn't really trust it
and she felt stuck, either miss out or risk hurting it again…
pretty miserable or anxiety inducing options.

That's the awkward stage people get stuck in.

You're not really injured anymore, but you're not ready either and you don’t know where to turn

So we didn't spend months trying to make her knee feel "pain free."

We started helping it become strong and ready again.

Gradually. Starting at a level that felt manageable and asking a bit more of it week by week.

Three weeks later she messaged me:
"I'm walking downstairs normally... after two months of physio and rest!"

A few months after that...

She was sending me messages about the family adventures.

Confident hiking. Felt good climbing and gave windsurfing a whirl
Even did an 11-hour via ferrata!

The bit I love most is somewhere along the way…

She stopped thinking about her knee and just trusted it again without even realising.

That's usually the moment people realise they're actually back.

Anyone else hoping this year is the one where they stop thinking about a pain or injury holding them back?

The physio's helped... but I don't really know what I'm supposed to do now."

I reckon I hear some version of that almost every week in our private gym, round the corner from Sonning Bridge.

The pain’s definitely a bit better.
they’re doing more,
maybe even back playing… kind of.

But the knee… or the shoulder… or the back still gets aggy.

Doesn’t feel solid

And they just don’t really trust it yet, still worried they’re knee might buckle or shoulder give out

That's usually the point when someone can start feeling a bit lost...

when it's better... but it's stopped getting better.

because nobody really shows you how to go from "less pain"... to
"I don't even think about it anymore."

So it feels like the right call to just keep being careful.

Stick with the same rehab exercises.
Maybe try Pilates.
Book in some more physio sessions
Or just climb... run... play... and hope for the best

See if another few weeks somehow does the trick.

But more often than not a few weeks drift into months,

And you end up stuck in that awkward, pretty miserable, middle ground where you're not injured anymore...

..but you're never fully back either.

And definitely not trusting it enough to properly go for it.

That's the gap I love helping people bridge after physio.

Not from pain to pain-free.
But from "It’s better..."
to "I don't even think about it anymore."

Anyone else had experience in that awkward middle ground? What helped you move forward?

Last Chance for a Free Intro Session. Get back to being your confident self! 😊

Offer ends tonight. Comment "Yes" for details.

‘I Felt I was becoming the “Dad with the bad knee”’🩼

When I first met Adam, he was constantly second-guessing himself.

Could he join family and friends for fun weekend activities? Or would one "funny step" hurt his knee and ruin the whole day? 🤔

Like when they were at Legoland and he spent most of the day sitting down.

Something needed to change.

To Adam’s credit, he didn’t give up. He reached out to us for help, and we got straight to work.

🟢 A full movement assessment to find his ideal starting point.

🟢 Workouts designed specifically to get him off the “Legoland Bench” and back playing with his family again.

🟢 Movement snacks and exercises to de-sensitise things when the inevitable early flare ups happened.

Hard work? You bet.

Setbacks? Absolutely.

But with persistence, effort and a flexible plan, Adam got to a place where:

“I can usually do everything I want, unless you’re asking me to run a marathon! And most importantly I can do everything my wife and kids want to do too!”

I’m incredibly proud of his progress and love hearing about all the adventures he gets up to with his family. 😊

Are you becoming known as “the person with the dodgy … (insert body part here)”?

If so, I’d love to help. 🙋‍♂️

We’re still offering Free 75-minute Intro Sessions – and we currently have just 3 left.

👇 Comment “Me” below and I will send you all the details.

⌛ Offer Ends Midnight Sunday (05.07.26).

🚨3 Free Intro Sessions left! 🚨

Ditch the pain & get back to the active life you love. Comment "ME" for the info! 😊

Hello Active people of Berkshire! 👋

We’re continuing our celebration of 15 years of aps Coaching and helping people overcome pain and injury to get back to a life they love! 🎉

My main focus right now?

Helping busy, active grown-ups shake off the restrictions of long-term pain and get them back to participating fully and confidently in family life, hobbies, and fun times!

It’s so common as we get older to gain responsibilities, grow a family, build a career and get beaten up in the process:

🛑 A back that won’t let you mow the grass without complaining.
🛑 A knee that forbids you from playing football with your kids.
🛑 A shoulder that no longer allows a game of tennis to socialise and decompress.

On top of that:
⌛ You’re short on time.
😤 You’re frustrated because nothing has worked so far.
🤷 You’re confused about what’s actually causing the pain.
😵‍💫 You just don’t know where to get started.

If any of that sounds familiar… I would love to help!

To continue our 15-year celebration, I’m offering 5 FREE 75-minute Intro Sessions.

These aren’t “fluffy” taster sessions or sales pitches. Together we’ll

1️⃣ Take a proper look at what’s going on with some assessments (nothing scary, promise!).

2️⃣ Find your start point and uncover some quick wins to get your momentum back.

3️⃣ Build a game plan to help you make gradual progress toward the active life you want.

What’s the catch?

There isn’t one. I’m looking to do something for the community.

If it’s helpful, we’d love a review or for you to tell a friend. (And if you decide you want to keep working together, we can chat about how that works—but zero pressure).

Interested? 👇

Comment “ME” on this post and I’ll send you the details directly (keep an eye out for a message from Matt 👀).

PS. We’ve only got space for 5 of these in our diary.

PPS. We’re closing this giveaway on Sunday July 5th — so don’t wait! ⏰

For years Chris had been stuck with a frustrating shoulder pain that kept coming back.

Whether he rested it, iced it, did the shoulder rehab exercises the physio gave him or saw a chiro

It was the same old story…
It all helped a bit,
for a while,

but climbing a bit harder or getting out on the water for a weekend would set it off again…

and he'd be right back where he started.

The frustrating bit wasn't really the pain.

It was never quite trusting his shoulder
Losing confidence to fully go for it,
Always wondering if this was the session that would set it off again

He reached out after chatting to me at the climbing wall

After talking it all through in our initial session, we decided to try a different approach

Instead of constantly trying to settle the shoulder down...

We focused on pushing his shoulder harder than before,
Gradually asking more of it over the next 16 weeks

Fast forward a few months…

And he was climbing harder and back paddling white water
with no flare ups
Trusting his shoulder again

📍 The photo he sent me was on a pretty full on trip to the Alps he booked a few months later!

Trust is the bit I think gets overlooked.

Because you aren't looking for a perfect text book biomechanics shoulder.

You're looking for confidence to get out there and do the things you love without always having ‘this might hurt it’ lingering somewhere in the back of your mind right?

You know that pain or ni**le that keeps coming back or never fully goes away?

The shoulder that settles down… then gets grumpy again.

Or the knee that's "mostly fine"... until after a longer hike or a run

The right-sided back pain that behaves itself for a few weeks… then reminds you it's still there after lifting something or hitting the gym a bit harder.

You wouldn't really say you're injured.
And you don't exactly need to stop.

But you're kind of stuck, constantly managing it,

With a little less faith in your body each time and a few more things you don't do anymore.

And honestly, I think that's one of the most frustrating places you can end up.

Because you're still doing the stuff you love, still living life,

Just not quite how you want to
and after a while, it’s easy to start telling yourself:

"Maybe I'm just getting older."

"Maybe this is just how things are now."

And that’s a totally normal headspace, and there's probably even a bit of truth in it

The good news, in my experience most lingering ni**les aren't actually asking you to stop or quit.

They’re a nudge that something needs to change, to start doing things a little differently…

Is there an ongoing or repeat ni**le that keeps getting in the way for you?