August 28, 2007
I have worked with Nigel for six months, since March 2007. I will be leaving London at the end of this month, to return to my work in the USA, and my training sessions with Nigel will end then as well. This is a perfect moment for me to describe Nigel’s teaching and to reflect on how far he has brought me in six months.
Nigel is an inspired trainer. He has a sure knowledge of movement dynamics and muscle systems. He focuses intensely on his clients during their sessions, taking account of the big picture of the client’s movements and analyzing parts of the movement in detail. In a way that is completely non-judgmental he’ll assess what the client can do, and he’ll reassess over time. He’s quick to perceive what needs correction, and he corrects on the spot, with precision and with clear explanations. He’s generous with his praise and sensitive with his corrections, but he is also unfailingly objective and honest, so that you can always know when you are doing something right and when you are on the wrong track with a movement. He’s amazingly creative on the floor, combining familiar exercises with new ones, or simple movements with more complex ones, so that the client can chart his or her own progress over time. He makes the progress interesting: not just more reps of this or heavier weights of that, but ever new combinations of machines, free weights, and core and balancing exercises, so that the client has a constant sense of discovery and even surprise. He’s inventive on the spot: if a machine or piece of equipment isn’t available at one moment, he’ll improvise and create a more challenging alternative.
Nigel is both passionate and disciplined about training. This means that he will challenge you as far as you are willing to go, but he will never forget the basics of good training, which for him are core stability and strength. He’s got uncanny instincts about how to push and inspire a client and help one overcome lack of confidence or fear of something new. He also helps the client to think through the movement and to perform it with awareness. He’s deeply intelligent and analytical, and he’ll explain and demonstrate the elements and purpose of a movement so that you can put that knowledge to work as you learn how to do it. He has many years of experience in weight training, body building, martial arts, boxing, and dance, and he pulls all this expertise together to craft an integrated and exciting training program for each client.
So what did I learn and achieve over six months? I started out at one day per week, and made such noticeable progress that I increased to two sessions per week for the last two months of my stay. When I began I had almost no experience of training with weights and machines, and I was not particularly strong. But things that I could not even conceive of doing before, much less do, are now basic routines for me. These include: press-ups and pull-ups using the swiss ball to balance lower or upper body; using the balance ball for squats with increasingly heavy weights; and standing on the balance ball for rowing exercises as well as hamstring exercises. All of the strength I’ve developed over the last six months has made a massive difference in my capacity for other exercise, notably running. I’m certain that Nigel’s emphasis on core strength and stability has increased my endurance for longer and harder runs. Finally, training with Nigel has given me a completely new kind of self-confidence in my physical ability and strength. I would not have continued the sessions if I had not found myself making so much progress, and I attribute the improvement to Nigel’s skillful teaching.
To sum up: Nigel is intelligent, creative, and intuitive about training; he has vast expertise and experience; and he’s focused, disciplined, and generous. I was very lucky to have him as a personal trainer.
Rita – Pennsylvania, USA
