Forget ideas like “quad dominance” for a second. You need really strong quads if you’re putting a lot of force through the knees. That muscle mass is like a protective, powerful nutrient bag keeping the metabolism and healing high in the joint. Stronger quads has never hurt anyone I’ve work with.

The question is, why is all the force hitting the knees and not transmitting through from the core/pelvis to the feet? The answer is joint orientation. If you organise your joints differently when you move, you’ll spread the load through more of your body. Building stronger feet, ankles, calves, hamstrings, inner thighs and glutes helps — but trying to fire those muscles will just inhibit your natural movement.

You need to orient your bones in a way that naturally loads them, in your training. Rib + pelvic position; distribution of weight on the feet — all major factors. We’ve helped a bunch of clients with multiple knee surgeries and injuries turn into springy kangaroos, who no longer experience pain or loss of function that they previously thought was caused structural wear and tear.

The lower back can feel like a complicated puzzle — especially when you’ve been suffering for a few months… or years. Many physio + surgical appreoaches tend to overly focus on the discs — the structural and biomechanical aspects — while failing to educate you on the lifestyle factors that are so important.

Lower backs often flare when the adrenals are over-worked (they’re right underneath the muscle), or when the gut isn’t functioning well which interferes with the diaphragmatic breathing that creates spinal stability. Though you obviously feel pain in the muscles or joints, research shows that the biggest low back pain predictor was career dissatisfaction.

Yes — I’m talking about the job you overly caffeinate just to get through. The repressed emotions the caffeine saves you from. And the drop in sleep quality that follows (that you’re so used to you think it’s normal)… or the reliance on intermittent fasting and hard training to feel good. Or the fact you haven’t slowed down (really slowed down) for years.

The neck and shoulders simply can’t relax into a strong, open position if the things they’re stacked on top of are also strong and open. So the first thing we look at here is… breathing.

Your body will always choose the easiest position to facilitate breathing and an open airway, because oxygen = life. If you’re breathing light, slow, deep and diaphragmatically, then you’ll also have great range of motion in the ribcage and thoracic spine, which is the base your neck sits upon.

When the ribcage and primary breathing muscles are working beautifully, the muscles of the upper back and shoulder blades will naturally switch on as they should and the pecs/collarbones will broaden. This shifts the load away from the upper traps and un-rounds the shoulders, supporting the neck and facilitating your unique best posture (we’re all skeletally a little different).

Also, removing inflammatory or mucous-inducing foods that might make you stuffy will help you breathe nasally, which will release neck tension by improving the alignment of your head, tongue and jaw.

Ongoing Elbow or Wrist issues?

These can be among the most annoying, long-term issues. By addressing surrounding joints and managing load carefully, we can reverse the tendonitis or wrist impingement interfering with your work, training or teaching. If the surrounding joints (shoulders, hands) are working well — with strong, supple tissues — then the elbows and wrists will be relieved of some of their burden. If you’ve been gripping repetitively or overloading the same positions too often, without enough novelty, you might have caused yourself some golfers/tennis elbow or a wrist injury. Variety is your friend. This could mean introducing some soft tissue work to move some inflammation, or introducing different hand positions in your training to give those tendons and joints a break, while continuing to build strength. We’ll run you through all of it in detail, including the do’s and don’ts of elbow tendon + wrist joint rehab that has worked for climbers, gymnasts, labourers — if you’re hard on their elbows, wrists and hands — or you wish you could be… we’ve got you covered with specific routines and training strategies.

These can be among the most annoying, long-term issues. By addressing surrounding joints and managing load carefully, we can reverse the tendonitis or wrist impingement interfering with your work, training or teaching. If the surrounding joints (shoulders, hands) are working well — with strong, supple tissues — then the elbows and wrists will be relieved of some of their burden.

If you’ve been gripping repetitively or overloading the same positions too often, without enough novelty, you might have caused yourself some golfers/tennis elbow or a wrist injury. Variety is your friend. This could mean introducing some soft tissue work to move some inflammation, or introducing different hand positions in your training to give those tendons and joints a break, while continuing to build strength.

We’ll run you through all of it in detail, including the do’s and don’ts of elbow tendon + wrist joint rehab that has worked for climbers, gymnasts, labourers — if you’re hard on their elbows, wrists and hands — or you wish you could be… we’ve got you covered with specific routines and training strategies.