March 26, 2021
Why are Regency’s personal trainers amongst the best in the business? – Interview
The way we all exercise has changed. Staying fit and healthy has never been so important. Who better to advise, guide and support us than Regency’s Lead Fitness Consultant?
As part of the Regency for Expats Fitness Benefit, you will get
access to our team of professional personal trainers who will get to know you, and
your goals and aspirations, to tailor a fully personalised training program.
Ed Paget is an osteopath, writer, presenter, and creator of both the Scoliosis
Correction Protocol and the Back Pain Correction Protocol.
Over
the last 15 years working with private clients, he has developed a system of
unique assessments and treatments that aim to unravel the complex web of
compensations that we all have to reveal the underlying cause of illness or
injury. This unique approach hasn’t gone unnoticed and Ed was recruited to work
with the Canadian National Speed Skating team and was invited to the Sochi
Olympics as part of team Canada’s medical contingent. He is currently a
consultant to the Calgary Sport Institute and has been asked to share his Fascia stretching protocol orF.A.S.T class with both the National Alpine ski team and
Biathlon team.
Whether
it’s an in person or online session, Ed is always looking for the root cause of
the pain or dysfunction because, if it is not addressed, the symptoms will
invariably reappear. He looks for quality of movement in your body, which can
be as large as how you move your arms over your head or as small as the rise
and fall of your chest during breathing. He believes that to move is to be
healthy but understands that movement will manifest in different ways in
different people. He wants to help people be the best they can be, given their
unique lifestyle and experiences. To find the root cause of your problems using
this encompassing approach he may look at your diet (food intolerances etc.),
your movement habits, the stress load in your life, your family history, the
quality of your sleep and your mind set. He enjoys working with people who are
ready to make a change. People who are not afraid to ask tough questions about
what they were doing to get them into their current state and who are prepared
to embrace new ways of thinking in order to be truly healthy.
Online
he can tailor training programs to help people reach any fitness goal. He
provides expert coaching, accountability and injury management to all his
clients.
Ed
has two degrees, one in Exercise and Sports Science the other in Osteopathy.
Additional Training:
✔ Applied Functional Science through the Gray Institute.
✔ A Diploma in Biodynamic Cranio Sacral Therapy.
✔ Somatic Exercise Coach
✔ MovNat Instructor
✔ P-DTR Practitioner
✔ Wahls Certified Health Practitioner
Q – How important is maintaining fitness
in 2021, especially after the events of the last 12 months?
A – The world has changed. No longer can we take advantage of a quick
group training or a yoga class at the local gym on our way home from work. We now have to look elsewhere to maintain or
improve our fitness.
However, what I’ve noticed is that a lot of
people just don’t have the skills or the knowledge to adapt and do work outs at
home. During the first part of 2020 a
lot of people just stayed at home, thinking that everything will return to
normal ‘next month’. This meant that
their waistlines grew and their fitness deteriorated. One year on we’ve seen things haven’t
returned to normal and people are noticing the increased mental, emotional and
physical stress. The benefits of
exercise, whether it be jogging, walking or lifting weights are many. Exercise has been shown to decrease stress
levels, decrease chances of serious illness and increase metabolism which helps
us loose weight.
In short, exercise is a great way to reverse the effects of 2020 and start to
thrive in 2021.
Q – How would you assess the needs of a
new Regency client?
A – Firstly, I want to know the motivation
behind someone requesting a program from me. What is their goal, what is their
motivation? I then ask about the time a person has in their lives to
train.
What I’m looking for here is a match between their goal and their lifestyle.
For example, if someone wants to run a marathon but only has 30mins 2 x a week
to train their goal and lifestyle aren’t compatible.
Once I’ve established the goal and whether
or not they have the time to reach it I’ll look at any previous injuries. This
is important as the best predictor of an injury is usually a previous injury.
So, if someone has had a hamstring strain in the past, I’ll factor that in to
their training and make sure that the program is not too heavy on hamstrings in
the initial phases. I also want to know if there are any health concerns with
exercise, for example asthmas, high blood pressure etc. Having certain
conditions doesn’t mean a person can’t exercise, but it might mean we have to
modify some of the exercises to suit that individual.
Lastly, I want to know where they can exercise and what equipment they have
access to. Again, I’m making sure that their goals are possible. If a person
wants to become a great rock climber, they will need access to a climbing gym
or wall, if they don’t have access, we will have to get creative with the
program but really there is no substitute for the real thing. The same goes for
running, if a person wants to run a marathon they will have to have running as
part of their program. There are exercises that can help with strength,
endurance and flexibility but ultimately a person who wants to run marathon
will have to run.
Once I’ve established the goal, the time parameters, if there are any injuries
and how the person can work out, I’ll start to build the program for them.
Q - How do you track a client’s
progress?
A – I use a specific training app which
allows my clients to enter in their information after every workout. This
information is then available to me so that I can follow their progress week to
week.
Q – Why is a Regency for Expats training
program better than all the other programs out there?
A – All the Regency professional trainers
have backgrounds in injury management as well as personal training. This means
it is easy for them to build a program if someone is injured that not only
helps them reach their goals but also rehabilitates their injury at the same
time.
Q – How beneficial is it having a
personal trainer guide you and why?
A – A trainer provides education,
motivation, planning and expertise when it comes to working out. With the
advent of YouTube and Instagram some people feel as though they can just follow
the latest trend by themselves. While
this might work for some, the vast majority of us need a little more input than
that. Having someone tailor the exercises to you will help you avoid injury,
have peace of mind that you are doing the right thing for your body and provide
you with the all-important accountability that you may need when things get
tough.
Q – What is the one thing you see the
most when people undertake a program designed by you?
A – People have many different reactions to
training. Some say how much stronger they feel, others mention how they are
more motivated in different areas of their lives but generally I see a
continuity between exercise and diet. After a few weeks of exercising properly
most people want to know what they should be eating to keep feeling health.
Diet and exercise go hand in hand, whether the goal is weight loss or weight
gain!
So, generally after a person starts to work out, I see them look at other
aspects of their lifestyle and ask how they can improve that as well, healthy
habit seem to snow ball.
Q – If you could give your top three
tips, what would they be?
A – When planning exercise, be reasonable
on what you can do.
There’s a reason most new year’s resolutions fail; they simply aren’t
realistic. It’s good to challenge yourself but also acknowledge what you are
most likely to do. For example, if you look at your day and think the only way,
I can exercise for an hour is if I get up at 5am, and then on the first morning
realize that you are never going to do it, then maybe set yourself a goal of
30mins exercise and give yourself 30mins extra in bed. Interestingly if you
want to do an hour of exercise you can split that into two, thirty-minute
sessions and still get the same benefits. So 30mins in the morning and 30mins
in the evening still counts as an hour!
Set your environment up for success.
When I was in Canada, I saw countless basements filled with exercise equipment
that no one ever used. Why is that? Well, no one goes into the basements. My
advice is when you are starting an exercise routine put any equipment you might
need (yoga mat, weights etc.) in a place that gives you no option but to notice
them. For some people this will be in the bedroom. If you want to do yoga every
morning you can’t ignore a yoga mat bedside your bed, but you can ignore one in
your basement.
Check your ego.
If you used to work out in the past, it’s easy to think that your body hasn’t
changed since you last put on the leggings or donned the head band but it
doesn’t. Just as our body adapts to
doing exercise it also adapts to not doing exercise, it’s called deconditioning. It’s important to acknowledge this to avoid
injury when you first start a new work out regime in a deconditioned state. The
reasons for this are obvious but the main one for me is this: If you are
injured you are less likely to workout, which will cause further deconditioning
which is demotivating and leads to a vicious circle of inactivity which becomes
harder and harder to break.
So, take it easy, ramp up slowly and soon
you’ll be back to your old lycra, headband wearing self.
Q – Bespoke training programs, how are
these better than standard ‘one size fits all’ ones you can find online?
A – Everyone is different. Sure, there are
group classes that seem to work for everyone but when you look closely, you’ll
see that many people get injured or loose motivation in those classes. This is
because they are trying to do exercises that might not be right for them, at a
pace that also might not be right for them. Bespoke training allows the trainer
to delve into a client’s unique fitness goals, lifestyle and experience to
create something that works for that person. But also adapt it when necessary
as the weeks go by. I’ve been training people for over 20 years and rarely have
I seen someone have a ‘normal’ month. There’s always a work crisis, a family
problem, a child who is sick etc., so a program needs to be adaptable and a
bespoke program is the only way to ensure that.
Q – People have spent a lot of time in
lockdown causing injuries and bad posture, what advice would you give them?
A – Move more. As a species we evolved our
long legs and arms to be able to climb, walk, run and carry things. On the flip
side our brains also evolved to allow us to think about how to save energy. So,
we have the paradox in our biology. Our body is designed to move and actually
needs movement to stay healthy whereas our brain is constantly thinking of ways
that we can make things easier and trying to stop us from using our stored
energy. However, nature has built in a special back door for us that comes in the
form of chemicals that are released when we exercise. These are called
endorphins, and make us feel good after exercise, which will make us do more of
it.
We can use exercise counteract the injuries, poor posture and COVID waist lines
with exercise and feel good doing it. All we have to do is have the right
motivation to do it and a personal training will provide that.
Q – Do you offer nutrition advice?
A – I touch on nutrition in my consultation
but generally refer to the specially trained nutritionists at Regency as they
are the experts in this area.
To learn more about the Regency for Expats Fitness Benefits and our health insurance policies, click here.