aps Coaching, Unit 5, Mill Farm, Sonning Eye, Reading (2026)

28/05/2026

Nice to have the pooch down the gym this week to motivate and inspire working out in this heat 😅

27/05/2026

Ever feel like you’ve spent the last few years bouncing from one ni**le or injury to the next?

First it was the knee.
Now it’s the shoulder.
Maybe the back gets aggy so it doesn’t feel left out 😅

The frustrating bit is none of them are usually bad enough to stop you…

But they ARE enough to:
limit how you move,
chip away at confidence,
and slowly erode that trust in your body.

and instead of moving freely and properly enjoying your sport
you’re constantly managing something.

Or back on the treatment table again.
Stretching random bits hoping it helps.
Doing the band rehab exercises.

Things gradually improve and you start getting back into things…

Feeling cautious…

But also kind of seeing what you can get away with… when you climb, or play tennis or turn up to jits…

until the next flare up appears.

From working with all sorts of sporty grown ups over the years,
I get the sense loads of people end up stuck in this frustrating grey area of

“I can still do stuff…
…but something never quite feels right.”

And quietly put up with it, for far too long…

genuinely curious how many people relate to this.

22/05/2026

Is your training and exercise ageing you more than it's helping you? 🤔👇

None of us enjoy the side effects of getting older:

💥 More ni**les, aches, and stubborn injuries.
📉 Frustrating dips in our strength and performance.
⏳ Recovery times that seem to stretch out for days.

But what if it doesn't have to be as bad as it seems?

And what if our efforts, training and exercise are actually making it worse? 🤦

21/05/2026

It's not just my training that has changed as I've got older. 🧓

But how I celebrate! 🥳

Yesterday I had great fun turning 39, but instead of the parties or workout challenges of the past, it was about cuddles, walks and eating banana melty sticks with this one.

Same objective as ever - have a fun birthday. ✅
Same outcome as normal - had a great birthday. ✅

Just a different strategy. 😂

18/05/2026

“I feel like I’m falling apart… but that’s all part of getting older I guess”. 🧓

I hate this phrase. 😡

“I refuse to get old”.

I’m not much of a fan of this one either.

Don’t get me wrong, ageing can be as irritating as it is inevitable.

There are the obvious downsides that hold us back from the active lives we want:

💥 The Physical Toll: Aches, pains and ni**les.

📉 The Performance Drop: A loss of strength, speed, stamina and suppleness.

⌛ Longer Recovery Times: a body that just doesn’t respond to exercise and activity like it used to.

Heavy gym sessions or intense classes now take 3 days to recover from.

Playing your favourite sport is hit and miss because of your knees… shoulder… ah, this week it’s your back. 🩼

Now you face a dilemma – push on and accept the pain that comes with it or leave the active stuff to the younger crowd and take up your place on the sidelines.

These are the 2 choices I see people box themselves into. Push against it or give into it. ⚖️

That’s the reason I don’t like the phrases above. They’re a bit too black and white. One is too accepting and one is too stubborn.

I don’t think you need a different goal (although you are certainly welcome to one). You don’t even need to accept a different outcome (unless you’re expecting to start a career as an elite athlete).

But what you do need is…
… a DIFFERENT APPROACH. 🤔

Things do change as you age. Not only physically, but your life changes. How much time you have, your priorities, your preferences, everything. 🔁

Leaning into these changes and adjusting accordingly is, I have found (through doing a lot of the opposite!), the best method for staying healthy, competent and active in the long term. 🏆

So, tell me in the comments 👇

1️⃣ Are you still trying to exercise and train like you did in your 20’s?

2️⃣ Are you accepting defeat to Father time?

3️⃣ Or have you found the middle ground?

15/05/2026

Anyone else have a place that gives them a quiet smile and sense of calm, even just for a moment?

‘old father oak’ is one of those places for me, nearly every time walk by

Sometimes I deliberately walk that way just to go past it.

In a busy world, on a busy week
I appreciate, and try to notice little moments like that more and more

Maybe it’s the treebeard vibes
Maybe it’s being outside
Maybe it’s the sense of age and steadiness to it.

Or maybe it’s just a bit of a quirky sculpture that makes me pause for 10 seconds instead of rushing onto the next thing 🙃

14/05/2026

Honestly… I think most sporty grown ups don’t need more training pressure

If your goals are to keep playing well AND feel physically good…

You probably don’t need a harder plan with loads of sessions trying to do everything all at once.

Most of the time sporty adults get way more from one that fits real life

Something stripped back
Adaptable
Still doable in the busy patches

And that doesn’t turn into another source of pressure or make you feel bad for skipping it on the tired days!

Because most of us never survive the BIG plan anyways 😅

That shift in thinking can be far more impactful than the “perfect” programme when it comes to staying strong and healthy…

with less ni**les and fewer injuries…
and able to properly go for it, enjoying your sport long term.

The more sporty adults I work with who are still keen, still psyched, and still want some energy left for the rest of life too…

the more I feel I’m on the right track with this.

The best results usually aren’t the people doing the most!

So these days, here’s the important stuff I lean more and more towards:

1) 2 full rest days most weeks

2) Eating enough (probably more than most sporty adults think)

3) 1–2 genuinely good strength sessions most weeks (with energy left in the tank)

4) Choosing exercises based on movements over muscles (most of the time)

5) Single leg work, twisting, weight shifts and lateral movement

6) Less exercises… more attention and intent

7) have a few weeks, hell, even a month off now and then (i very much doubt you will fall apart or suddenly be rubbish when you come back)

I don’t really have a fancy name for this stuff.

And honestly, I probably miss out on some “optimal” gains because of it.

But I’m completely fine with that.

Because I genuinely believe a stripped back, zoned in plan you can actually stick with is what helps people stay strong, with less ni**les or injuries and enjoying their sport now…

and I'd put money on next year too.

Hit like if this resonates, would genuinely love to hear other people’s experiences with finding that balance.

12/05/2026

I think a lot of sporty grown ups are quietly exhausted by fitness culture...

The constant feeling that you should be doing more.
More sessions.
More intensity.
More discipline.
More optimisation.

But honestly…
I think most of us never survive the plan.

Not because we’re lazy.

But because so many plans quietly ask normal adults to live like semi-professional athletes.

Which is great if your life revolves around training.

Not so great if you’re trying to balance work, family, climbing, friends, energy levels and all the other stuff life throws at you.

The older I get, the less interested I am in “4 x a week” plans or “get strong in 6 weeks”.

Not because I don’t care about performance.

I love feeling strong.
I love climbing well.
I love confidently going for it without second guessing my body.

But I also like having some energy left for the rest of life.

And, if I’m honest, I quite like having some lazy time in the week too 😅

I don’t want training to become another thing hanging over me.
Or worse…
another ni**le that creeps into everyday life and never really clears up.

Destroying myself to ‘stay athletic’ wasn’t really the goal.

I think a lot of sporty adults out there just want to:
👉 play well
👉 feel physically good most of the time
👉 stay capable and confident in their body
👉 and keep enjoying their sport for years

Feel free to hit like if you're also a sporty adult figuring out how to stay capable for life (surely I'm not the only one 🙃)

08/05/2026

Am I getting in my own way? 🤔

Not being able to be the person we want ... sucks.

And we shouldn't have to accept an erosion of the person we'd like to be.

But being overly stubborn can cause it's own problems. 😡

Even if you're the "active one" it's perfectly normal to be injured or in pain from time to time.

Sometimes giving yourself that breathing space is as valuable as all the rehab and persevering.

What do you think?

07/05/2026

😖‘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. 🤦

To his credit, he never gave up and he reached out to us for some help.

After plenty of chatting, getting to know him and some basic movement assessments we found a place to start.

👉 We created the first objective - to be able to perform foundation exercises without bothering the knee. Things such as squats and back lunges.

👉 Next, we looked at movements in different directions and doing things on one leg.

👉 Then it was on to more complicated movements and things at speed.

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!”

Adam has been fantastic at embracing the challenges and tackling things, even when they made him nervous.

I’m really proud of where he’s got to and love hearing about all the things he gets up to with his family. 💪

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

If so, I’d love to help.

Please feel free to start a chat in the comments or pop the word “SUPPORT” below and I’ll reach out to you. 🙂

05/05/2026

🥺"This is NOT who I want to be." 🥺

🚶 Missing out on the family walk.

🩼 Spending Saturday afternoon doing rehab exercises while your friends are playing padel.

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

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

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

If this is you… you’re not alone.

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

But in our experience, you don’t have to just settle for “this is how it is now”.

It can be changed.

It’s not easy. Especially when an injury or pain has persevered for a long time. So how do we do it?

1️⃣ A crucial first step is to break things down into chunks.

2️⃣ Then you need a strategy for chaining these smaller goals together.

Getting back to a person you identify with can seem insurmountable, but finding a start point and making even the smallest bit of progress can be an incredible catalyst. 🔥

I have a client who used to run triathlons, desperate to get back to it, but couldn’t get around without a stick and a lot of pain.

At first we had to put thoughts of running to the side and focus on something smaller.

🍽️ Enter the DISHWASHER and the STAIRS. 🪜

I will never forget the look on her face when she told me she had loaded the dishwasher without pain or walked up the stairs without support.

From there we kept trying to string them together. Not smoothly, not without hiccups and roadblocks, but bit by bit we made progress. And now she’s … back to cycling, back to swimming and back to RUNNING! 🏃‍♀️

Mapping out and achieving small objectives is a powerful way to prove to yourself that this isn't your life forever. You can get back to being the person you want to be.

What would you LOVE to be doing if only your injury or pain would let you?

aps Coaching

28/05/2026

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21/05/2026

18/05/2026

15/05/2026

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