Nikki is a workhorse. She is a mom of young kids, works full-time and isn’t afraid to set audacious fitness goals. Nikki reached out a few months back when she was frustrated by nagging back pain and a lack of progress in her fitness despite working very hard, very consistently.
She went through a variety of assessments and learned where her mobility limitations and strength discrepancies held her back and then developed a plan to work on them. Perhaps more important than any new exercise or mobility drill, Nikki also learned a new way to conceptualize training and recovery, which has been paramount in the amazing progress she’s seen so far.
Nikki shared:
“I had hurt my back a few years ago and had not fully recovered. I had been struggling with back pain intermittently for almost 2 years and had stopped progressing in my fitness goals. I felt like I was spinning my wheels, so to speak. I was interested in working with a coach because I hoped to improve my back pain and strength progression and change my approach to health and wellness. As someone who played competitive sport, I was always taught that more was better, and the more work you do, the better you will become.
My training approach was built on high volume, working hard, with little time for recovery or even awareness of what my body needed. Even after leaving competitive sport, this was the mindset I brought to my fitness. In my time at Queen Street, I’ve realized that doing more is not always better. It can cause more setbacks than actively focusing on recovery and listening to your body's needs. Taking a day off or adjusting training based on the recovery your body requires can do more for health and wellness than getting in a few extra hours of training in a week. You can trust that I am speaking from experience. Since working with my coach, I’ve eliminated that nagging back pain, I have a more balanced approach to health and wellness and a healthier relationship with exercise.
Some of the things I value about working with a coach are the positivity and knowledge they bring to each session, the holistic approach to personal health and wellness, and having support in shifting my mindset- in terms of my attitude towards training and fitting it into my life, and not adjusting my life to fit my training. I also really appreciated the level of personal accountability created by working with a coach regularly, not only for things inside the gym but around SDS (sleep, diet, and stress), goal setting and progressing along the way.”
Practicing, living, and learning more about load vs capacity, the pain rules, and the hierarchy of needs, Nikki’s new approach to training morphed into a path toward success and feeling great instead of setbacks and pain. She was given frameworks to make sense of her pain and lack of progress in ways that offered an alternative plan to move forward. Not only is Nikki’s back pain gone, but she now understands why and when it shows up. She has a set of things to check in on in her back pocket if that pain shows up down the road.