1. Before you started working together, where were you at?
I had just finished 8 months of treatment for breast cancer; surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy and needed to regain fitness. Prior to this I led an active lifestyle including a lot of cycling and a little bit of running, however I had lost any structure to my fitness after all the treatment. I also wanted to follow advice to begin weight training to help combat some of the side effects of medically induced menopause, an area in which I was a complete novice.
2. What originally made you reach out to Charlie?
I needed structure and accountability. I needed someone to help me create a realistic plan to regain my fitness and introduce me to working with weights, and I wanted to feel comfortable that the trainer I decided to go with had excellent knowledge about physiology and trust that I would be able led to train safely given my medical history.
3. What did the process actually involve for you?
We started with two sessions a week; one focused on running technique and fitness, the other focussed on learning the basics of functional weight lifting. Given that I was receiving a lot of lifestyle advice from my medical team, Charlie was able to focus our work on the programming and fitness side of things in a structured, incremental and focussed way.
4. How did you find the process itself?
The consistency built into Charlie’s program really helped to keep the incremental training goal-oriented but realistic. The way Charlie structures the program meant I could see improvements quite quickly whilst avoiding injury.
5. What stood out most about my approach?
Charlie spends a valuable amount of time getting to understand your baseline. By fully understanding your existing fitness, capabilities and existing physiological challenges, he can build a training program and coaching that is fully tailored to get results for you.
6. What changed as a result of the work?
In the April I was finishing 4 months of intense chemotherapy….by the October I ran a 16 mile trail running event thanks to the training plan and coaching that Charlie developed for me. That says it all really!!
7. Did you achieve what you originally came for?
Yes, ran a 16 mile trail run, in a time that I was happy with, and without injury. Even prior to my cancer treatment, I would not have achieved this on my own! It was thanks to Charlie’s focus and detailed programming that this was a success.
8. If someone was considering working with me, what would you tell them?
I enjoy training sessions with Charlie as he has such deep and extensive knowledge of sport science, has read every book written about training, nutrition and physiology, so you don’t have to! He threads these bits of info throughout the training sessions and you see this knowledge coming through in how he develops his tailored plans and mitigates injuries.
