FREESTYLE FOR LIFESTYLE - FOOD & FITNESS

Freestyle for Lifestyle is a Gym in Douglas, Cork. We provide a lifestyle plan for your long term gain. Book an appointment or online class.

I grew up in a family of International and Olympic athletes. In our house the two things that were required were training and food. My Dad was an International coach in rowing for Great Britain and Mum was a restaurateur. As a result my two passions in life are Fitness and Food.

In 2003 I suffered a life threatening injury to my leg whilst training. As a result I was left immobile, medicated and in hospital for three months. After hospital I started my rehabilitation but because of the type of injury the traditional methods were not working. I looked at other methods such Osteopathy, Physiotherapy, Chiropractic, Acupuncture and Chiropody to compliment my treatment.

The two things that spurred me on was that a Physiotherapist told me I would never run again and a Doctor that advised me to get a new career as I would have to give up Personal Training.

My goal was to regain mobility in my knee and manage the pain in my foot. Because my rehabilitation was not working I set about creating a system of exercises to improve and compliment my overall wellbeing. Experimenting with elastic Thera-Bands I developed exercises for each muscle group. I soon found that I had gained strength, mobility, flexibility and managed pain relief. It also help with weight loss. This is the Total Stretch and Tone™ system ( Functional Fitness TST™).

I have huge experience training people of all ages and abilities. I have been involved in fitness and training since my late teens and participated in many sports over my lifetime including Rugby, Tennis, Gaelic footbal, Golf, Surfing, Muay Thai Kickboxing, among many others, and still continue to participate in Adventure Racing, Triathlon and Cycling.

I have a keen interest in coaching hockey and have coached from underage to adult level at club level, and am still involved coaching at U18s Munster boys. Special interest in Rehabilitation including sports related injury, to pre and post surgical recovery, where Freestyle fills in many of the gaps that have been missed.

I am the newest member of the Freestyle for Lifestyle team. Despite lacking in experience in the field of functional fitness, I have spent three months studying and practicing the Total Stretch and Tone training system. I have a keen interest in sports and have played both GAA and soccer since a young age, being involved with various development squads throughout my time playing. I hold certificates from Setanta College in both conditioning and youth atheltic development. Additionally, I am a strong advocat of health and wellbeing. I firmly believe in the saying ‘your health is your wealth’. Following my three months of shadowing and learning from the other members of the team, I believe I am a great hybrid of both their knowledge and their expertise.

I am currently a third year student in UCC studying Sports Studies and Physical Education. This course has provided me with infinite knowledge particularly in the areas of exercise psychology and physiology, anatomy, health and wellness/well-being and movement analysis to name but a few. This knowledge is something I deem important to bring to the Freestyle for Lifestyle gym.

Furthermore, I have a huge passion for sport and exercise (particularly basketball and Gaelic football) as well as working with people. In my experience of coaching,  being a motivator for people is something I’ve found hugely rewarding. Seeing people take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing and reaping the rewards is extremely satisfying and this is what I aim to support while being a coach at Freestyle for Lifestyle.

I am a practising Physical Therapist and I have a background in physical activity. I qualified with a BSc in Applied Health Science and BSc in Health and Leisure in which I gained tremendous knowledge of the body and how it works and was able to blend this with the practical application of exercise and fitness.

As a physical therapist I work with people suffering from back and neck pain, joint and muscular pain, and sports injuries and use exercise to help people achieve pain free movement. I am also a qualified instructor in Pre and Post Natal Exercise in which I help pregnant and post pregnancy women through their exercise journey.

I have a keen interest in exercise and helping people reach their goals is a passion of mine. I believe exercise is the best medicine and guiding people through their journey for a healthier, happier lifestyle is a very rewarding job for me.

As an athlete, this is not something that I would’ve engaged in before but it was very enjoyable and surprisingly difficult at times, I really felt my muscles working and being engaged. John was a great instructor and it was great to see somebody so enthusiastic!

I really enjoyed how different it was to the typical types of exercise classes I was used to, really enjoyed the last week and how it related to everyday lives.