From elite athletes to every day life - real results

Testimonials

Paudie Cifford

I started my fitness journey with Chris. He was a pleasure to work with, very professional and leaves no stone unturned.

I play football for Kerry and Fossa. I went to Chris firstly to get faster and stronger, but I realised how poorly I was moving. That was the great skill of Chris, that he was able to do these tests and see that I was only moving about 40% of what I can be.

We worked on tracking, seeing how I was moving and kind of hunched over when I had the ball. I was probably taking from my vision because I probably had my head down. So we did a lot of corrective exercises, a lot of mobility. In any gym exercise I was doing, I would have been very quad dominant. Chris made sure that whatever technique I was doing, that I was making sure that I was firing the glutes as well. That probably unlocks another 10 or 20% when it comes to speed, which I did feel in the coming months. I was able to sprint better, run better, lift weights with better technique. It helped me in all aspects really of my game and my training.

Any S&C can give a gym programme, tell you to do it, tell you if you're doing an exercise wrong or right, but they won't actually look for the root of the problem, and that's what Chris does and that's what he did with me. I got moving better and everything just pushed on from there.

The most important thing for any person or any player is to start at the root of the problem and improve movement, mobility, and then everything else will come easier. Anyone that's struggling with injuries or feels they're not moving as well as they should be, should definitely be looking to go to Chris.

Tara O’Connor

I can feel myself holding myself in a totally different way. It's really, it's phenomenal.

I ended up linking with Chris back in June of 2023. What made me make contact with him was - I had, in the previous couple of years, had two children, so I was postnatal and I was looking to get back into exercise and fitness. I had lost a lot of confidence in my body. And also, my body was different after birthing two children.

So I wanted to maybe treat myself to something like personal training to create a solid foundation. When I went to Chris, he did a lot of assessments on me, which was really interesting. I had never been to personal training before, so this was all very new. I remember he had said that we're going to start with Pilates, and it's going to go on for about six weeks. I had wanted to go in and get going on weights and getting that kind of input into my body and strength training.

I remember being like, what? What do you mean six weeks of Pilates? I wanted that fast input, and he helped to slow me down and help me realise that actually - Pilates really grew my body awareness, which allowed me then to do the strength training exercises in a much safer way.

I understand the rationale now. He was right. Of course he was. I mean, he's a professional. So I started with Pilates, and then he brought me into the gym work program, which was fascinating because I had never ventured over to that part of the gym - it really intimidated me, the weights section. I would have felt very uncomfortable being over there, whereas now I can go into that part of the gym and know how to use most of the weights in a safe and confident way.

Once I built up my strength, I had said to him that I would love to create a sustainable program that I could maintain outside of the personal training - especially consistent jogging or running. It was something I used to do when I was younger. We did a lot of training around that goal and focused strengthening around it and I've been able to then maintain it.

I suppose the reason that it's so appealing to me is - it's not that I want to, for now anyway, go and do a marathon or even go and do a half marathon. I want to be able to quickly get out my door, get a bit of cardio in and come back and start my day. I found that really useful to be able to make exercise fit into my life.

I've maintained my Pilates practice, which again is very enjoyable and I can see the difference when I don't do it for a while. I can feel actually the shift in my body. I had found I was turning in a lot in my upper body. And so when I come back and I'm disciplined about using my Pilates, I can feel myself holding myself in a totally different way. It's really, it's phenomenal.

Pat O’Connor

Most of the things we're doing now, I never saw myself doing those again - like squats, deadlifts. The most amazing thing is - never at any time was I injured during that process.

I've been training with Chris for three and a half years. We work together twice a week. I told him that my mobility had gone. I think he probably saw that anyway.

The first thing Chris did was he did a test. He was quite astounded at how bad my mobility was in relation to where it should have been at that stage of my life. The first few months were really difficult and the exercises were very basic, but we started doing Pilates. Gradually we seemed to get there.

Now I really feel the benefits. My work isn't physically demanding, but when I came to Chris I found it extremely difficult. It involves doing surveys and they require a wide range of movement and management of my energy levels. They are the two things really that have improved.

Most of the things we're doing now, I never saw myself doing those again - like squats, deadlifts. The most amazing thing is - never at any time was I injured during that process. The improvements are very gradual, it happens over time and you don't realise yourself until maybe you do something six months down the road that you had done before and you realise all of a sudden how much easier it was to do that particular thing.

I used to play a bit of golf back around 10 years ago and I found it increasingly difficult to do it because my flexibility wasn't there. My energy levels weren't there and I wasn't enjoying it that much anymore. Over the last couple of months I've actually joined the Ross Golf Club. I'm just in the process of starting back again. I'm looking forward to it and not doing it with any trepidation.

I know that I can be, with a little bit of practice and a little bit of dedication, at the level that I was maybe 10-12 years ago.