FAQs

Physical Therapy

Fitness

• Personal Training

  How do I sign up for Personal Training?

  Please contact reception to arrange to come in for your consultation.

  We will ask for your email address so we can send you confirmation of your appointment and also a pre-training questionnaire for you to complete prior to your consultation.

  Give some thought to how many sessions you want to sign up for. When you come in for your consultation you can discuss this with your trainer and we can schedule in your sessions to ensure you get the time slot you want.

  What should I wear for Personal Training?

  Please wear comfortable clothes that allow you to move, and trainers. A t-shirt and leggings, yoga pants or jersey tracksuit bottoms are ideal.

  Please also ensure that any jewelery is kept at a minimum and that you have not eaten a heavy meal for two hours prior to exercising.

  Do I need to bring anything for Personal Training?

  Bring yourself!

  We will provide any equipment such as weights, resistance bands and so on. We also have mats, towels and water, although feel free to bring your own.

  What can I expect in my first PT session?

  You will be asked to complete a client enrolment form and we will discuss your goals. If you are a beginner, your first session may involve more talking than usual, but you will be moving and learning very quickly. Please be aware that Pilates is a “hands on” method. This does not mean massage or manhandling, instead, touch is used to guide, correct and enable you to exercise effectively.

  Can I exercise if I am pregnant?

  If you have been exercising regularly, there is no reason why you should not continue to do so during pregnancy. However we do ask for you to get the go ahead from your doctor before starting a new exercise programme. Whilst being pregnant does not preclude exercise, the safety of you and your baby should always be at the forefront of our minds.

  If you get the go-ahead from your doctor, we will tailor and adapt exercises for you depending on where you are in your pregnancy and how much exercise you have done recently. You might also like to consider joining our pilates courses as these are ideal for expecting mums.

  I am training for a running event - do I need cross train?

  The short answer is YES! Running comes with a health warning…prevent injury, don’t wait for one.

  Running is a great tool for getting fitter, but like any individual sport/activity it uses specific muscles to do the task; the glutes, hamstrings, calfs and quads - the 'performance muscles’. Specific strengthening and flexibility exercises of these muscles is essential to injury prevention and to improve running performance.

  Posture and stability of the body comes from the muscles of the pelvis torso and upper body. These muscles are called upon when running to create stability to the body (core stability). Weak core stabilisers will leave the body open to the possibility of injury. Therefore, it is very important to keep these stabilisers strong to allow for the performing muscles to do their job properly.

  Don’t become an injury statistic - prevention is better than the cure. Have yourself and your running technique assessed to understand what you should be doing to perform better and stay injury free.

  How many personal training sessions should I have per week?

  This question is dependant on a variety of factors: your goals, budget, current fitness levels and time scale to which you wish to achieve your goals by. There are a number of different routes that you can use from paying for one session at a time to booking in blocks of 6. Within your first session your personal trainer will be able to establish your training goals and help you on your way achieving them.

Sport and Health Testing

• VO2 Testing

  V02 Max Testing

  VO2 max, or maximal oxygen uptake, is one factor that can determine an athlete's capacity to perform sustained exercise and is linked to aerobic endurance. VO2 max refers to the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can utilize during intense or maximal exercise. It is measured as "milliliters of oxygen used in one minute per kilogram of body weight." 

   

  This measurement is generally considered the best indicator of an athlete's cardiovascular fitness and aerobic endurance. Theoretically, the more oxygen you can use during high level exercise, the more ATP (energy) you can produce. This is often the case with elite endurance athletes who typically have very high VO2 max values. 

  How Is VO2 Max Measured?

  Measuring an accurate VO2 max requires an all-out effort (usually on a treadmill or bicycle) performed under a strict protocol in a sports performance lab. These protocols involve specific increases in the speed and intensity of the exercise and collection and measurement of the volume and oxygen concentration of inhaled and exhaled air. This determines how much oxygen the athlete is using. 

   

  An athlete's oxygen consumption rises in a linear relationship with exercise intensity -- up to a point. There is a specific point at which oxygen consumption plateaus even if the exercise intensity increases. This plateau marks the V02 Max. It's a painful point in VO2 max testing where the athlete moves from aerobic metabolism to anaerobic metabolism (See the article: Energy Pathways for Exercise). From here, it's not long before muscle fatigue forces the athlete to stop exercising. The test usually takes between 10 and 15 minutes and requires an athlete to be completely rested and motivated to endure the pain long enough to find the true VO2 max. 

   

  Vo2 max also can be estimated. There are a variety of protocols used to estimate VO2 max, one is called the Bruce Treadmill Test, but none are as accurate as direct testing. 

  Can You Change Your VO2 Max?

  Research shows that although VO2 max has a genetic component it can also be increased through training. The two methods for increasing VO2 max include increases in both training volume and intensity. Research also indicates that the less fit an individual is, the more they can increase their VO2 max through training. In fact, novice exercisers have been able to increase VO2 max by 20 percent through proper training. Fit athletes have a harder time increasing their VO2 max, most likely because they are already so near their genetic potential. 

  Definition: VO2 max

  VO2 max is the maximal oxygen uptake or the maximum volume of oxygen that can be utilized in one minute during maximal or exhaustive exercise. It is measured as milliliters of oxygen used in one minute per kilogram of body weight

  VO2 max or maximal oxygen uptake is one factor that can determine an athlete’s capacity to perform sustained exercise and is linked to aerobic endurance. It is generally considered the best indicator of cardiorespiratory endurance and aerobic fitness.

  Elite endurance athletes typically have a high VO2 max. And some studies indicate that it is largely due to genetics, although training has been shown to increase VO2 max up to 20 percent. A major goal of most endurance training programs is to increase this number.

  Why should an athlete do a blood lactate threshold test?

  A blood lactate threshold test will determine the heart rate at which the athlete's blood lactate markedly accumulates. By knowing the heart rate at which their blood lactate threshold occurs, the athlete can either train slightly below, at, or slightly above their blood lactate threshold depending on the intensity of their workout. The blood lactate threshold, like VO2 max and heart rate, is another value the athlete can use to determine their fitness level and develop training programs.

  Why should I use fitness testing?

  Fitness testing allows for a measurement of where your current fitness levels are.It is useful in helping to set realistic goals, as there is no point in setting a goal which is either to easy or you are never going to complete. It also helps to measure how much your fitness has improved between two points.

Weight Management

Biomechanics and Orthotics

• Gait Analysis

  What is a biomechanical assessment?

  We have developed our assessment to include what we would deem to be the absolute necessary.  This involves taking exercise and injury history, video analysis, pressure testing and postural and flexibility appraisal.

  If I have a gait analysis will I definitely need orthotics?

  Firstly it needs to be understood what the problem is so that the physio can start to assertain a solution. Even if the feet are unstable it may be a result of instabilities elsewhere e.g. the hip or spine. Therefore orthotics are not always required after a gait assessment, as sometimes other instabilities need to be addressed prior to contiplating the need for orthotics.