I’ve been working with clients as a Personal Trainer for over 14 years now and like most trainers who first start out, all I wanted to do was all the fun fitness exercises and methods. I always knew that diet was an important part of the training equation, but I thought that if I worked my clients hard as I did everything would just fall into place and come together. I thought my seriously intense training programs would be enough on their own to over ride any nutrition deficits they may have. While at times I was able to have a lot of fun with some clients, and there were definitely some who did achieve great results, I felt I was failing many others for my ignorance to the real issues. I was not helping them to see where their focus needed to be which had nothing to do with fitness. Sure, I wanted them to eat well. But my knowledge in helping them was flawed as I was basing everything on the calories in versus calories out equation. I felt well as long as they trained hard we could burn enough calories to counter their poor food choices. I assumed that training alone would be enough. I was wrong.

Knee pain is a very common issue people face that affects their training and daily living. Apart from back pain, it would be the most common problem we see each week in our training studio affecting people of all ages. The most popular article on our website (VMO strength) and second most popular video on YouTube is also about knee pain, which proves just how many people are looking for a solution to what is an ongoing problem. And while in most cases we are able to make a massive impact on how these people move and show them strategies to reduce their pain, identify the cause of their injury, and be able to successfully correct their problem. There are some people where the problem is so severe, or been there for so long, that we must find ways to manage their pain and prevent any further aggravation of their injury. This is more common in the older adult who has been told they need a knee replacement or has severe osteoarthritis that impacts their daily movement. In this article, I am going to share with you some simple methods and strategies we successfully use with people in this situation.

Being in great physical shape is never easy and it is not smooth sailing as many people think. It takes hard work, consistency and discipline to achieve great results and be able to stay there for a long time. And even when you do all of these things, sometimes life throws you a curve ball and really messes things up. I should know as I cannot tell you how many serious injuries I have suffered in recent times that have completely derailed my strength, my fitness, my ambitions and of course my health. To get myself back to good functioning capacity I needed to spend a lot of time with boring, tedious exercises and methods for the "fun stuff" I was used to was just not realistic. And it is at these times you can lose the plot, lose all motivation and feel your world caving in around you. I am lucky for I am around so many people with worse problems than me, and I get to work with them and help guide them through these problems and see just what it is possible if you stick to the plan. And it is in these people I get my motivation when things are getting tough. This article I am going to share with you some of these stories so you too can feel inspired.