A client training with a resistance band

Client story · John

His back didn't hurt. He just couldn't trust it.

Ex-military, very active, with a disc problem in his past. Weeks after we started, he walked 100 km. Then we fixed what was really going on.

Read John's story

Before

Ex-military, very active. A bulging disc in his past, and a back that stiffened on long walks, flights and desk days.

The approach

A stability routine he learned by heart, walking technique, and small, precise work to wake up his glutes.

Six weeks on

100 km in two days. Stiffness down from 7/10 to 3/10. 20 hours of travel with no stiff back.

Before

Active all his life.

John has been active all his life. Military, parachuting, heavy loads, lots of HIIT.

In 2023 his back gave way and pain ran down his right leg. A scan showed a bulging disc. It settled, and it never came back.

But his back never really left the background. Long walks, long flights, long days at a desk. All of them left him stiff. He got up every hour to stay ahead of it.

"It's that fear it's going to let me down."

John

"Two people can do the same exercise and feel it in completely different places."

Felisa, his coach

What I found

Good technique. Wrong muscles.

From the outside, his technique looked good. So I asked him where he felt each exercise. His answer changed everything.

His right side was doing too much.
The lower part of his glutes wasn't switching on.
So his hip and lower back were carrying the load.

What we changed

Six simple shifts.

No overhaul. Small, precise changes that taught his body to move the right way, at his desk, on a walk and on a plane.

Stability first

A routine he learned by heart, so he could train anywhere.

Walking technique

Pushing through the ball of the foot, using the glutes.

Waking up the glutes

Small, precise exercises until the right muscles did the work.

Sitting and standing

Simple posture fixes he uses at his desk and in airport queues.

Hip mobility

So his lower back stops doing his hips' job.

Food and walking

A simple plate structure, no calorie counting, short walks after meals.

Timeline

Five weeks, step by step.

Late August
Stability routine and walking technique.
6 September
Finished 100 km, 57 km then 43 km, in heat and hills. Back fine.
18 September
Back stiffness down from 7/10 to about 4/10.
1 October
Heavy day of garden work, only a 3/10 ache the next morning. 20 hours of travel, no stiff back.
6 October
Less volume, more definition.

The full story