Tyler was no stranger to fitness when he joined Queen Street. With many years of physical training under his belt, he knew how to move well and how to push himself. A few months into group classes he was feeling increasingly limited by previous injuries and mobility limitations, they were starting to drain the enjoyment out of training. He decided to try a new approach and work with a coach one-on-one to see how things could change. Read on to hear from Tyler about his experience.

What was limiting you from getting everything you wanted out of group training? What kinds of things were you working around or avoiding?

I struggled with being unable to live up to my own expectations. I expected myself to be able to do every rep of every exercise, perfectly, without modification, at the levels I had done when in peak physical condition.

Seems absolutely ridiculous when I actually read it, but it was true. I came into training with a chronic neck injury and significant mobility limitations in my upper back and instability in my low back which also affected my hips. I hadn’t been able to do a back squat with any sort of bar, let alone a weighted one, in over 4 years. Burpee pull-ups and wall ball shots generated so much discomfort and nerve pain that it would take several days of avoiding any stressors before it would calm back down. For every good workout I had in class, I felt like I was only doing half of the prescribed work. As an athlete and a competitor, it was torture. I had no concept of pacing either, my previous experiences in training had been pedal down, all the time, or you’re not meeting the standard. It felt like I was failing even though I was showing up almost every day to train.

What did it look like to start the process of working with a coach on those specific limitations?

Meeting with my coaches, first Emma and then Cal, was a very humbling experience. Not only could I tell that they both cared deeply about helping me meet my goals, but they had a plan to do it. They listened, assessed, and discussed everything with me to make sure we were on the same page. It built so much trust between us. The assessment process was very comprehensive, and it was clear from the tests where my limitations were. Then we talked about it — how were we going to define success? Even though the plan was to focus on my neck and upper back mobility, we set an aspirational goal of addressing the lower body issues too. Once we began to see significant progress with the neck, we talked about introducing more lower body and skill development to use that momentum. 

What about the process was different from things you have done in the past?

The personalization and the education were exceptional. We adjusted each session and each week’s training plan based on what we thought my capacity was. Sometimes we cut back the programming, and other times added more to it based on how my body felt. The entire time I felt like it was tailored to the results of the previous week; there was absolutely nothing cookie-cutter about it. It also incorporated some of the activity I wanted to do on my own, like extra mobility work or a baseline fitness test I had done previously. Every single session I was learning something new. Load vs Capacity, the Pain Rules, and the mechanics of each exercise we were doing really helped me understand how it all fit together. Cal even took the time to show me how all the programming for the year’s classes was structured, so I could understand the overall progression from week to week. 

How did it go?

It far exceeded any of the expectations I had. We were able to address the chronic pain in my neck and bring it down to a manageable level, improve my overall mobility and flexibility — both in my upper back and lower body — and improve some of my olympic lifts. My weekly training volume increased significantly, and I feel so much more confident with different movements in class. Looking back to the very first goal setting sessions with Emma and Cal, we made progress in every single area, even the aspirational ones. I’m so grateful to have worked with such exceptional coaches and become part of the Queen Street Fitness community. You may walk in the door to improve your health and fitness, but you’ll stay for the incredibly motivated, inspiring group of people you’ll meet.