More than just exercise prescription!

​Exercise Physiology – More than just exercise prescription:
 
As exercise physiologists we often get asked many different questions about our profession both from clients, members of the public and even our family and friends. I can't tell you how many times I have been asked by my family "What exactly is an Exercise Physiologist?". Other than a long and confusing title, I like to explain that an EP is someone who uses exercise prescription to improve an individual's health, wellbeing and function. Like specialised personal training. That's the short version, the elevator pitch. With Exercise Right Week coming up this month, what better time to dive a little deeper and discuss what makes us as EPs different from other health professionals like PTs and physios, and what you can expect from seeing an EP at Simply Stronger. 

Getting to know you
We take the time to get to know our clients, we want to know what makes them tick. By getting to know the ins and outs of our clients we can better understand the things they like about exercise, and the things they don't. We can figure out what impacts their ability to exercise both in a positive and negative way and then use this information to build a more personalised and achievable exercise plan. Sometimes our clients will have blocks they don't even realize that is limiting their activity. By obtaining as much information in the initial assessment as we can, we then tailor their plan to suite all of their needs. 
 
Extensive exercise knowledge
Something that differentiates us from other health professionals is our extensive knowledge around exercise. Within our studies and training we focus deeply on how exercise can be prescribed , but also how it can be modified and changed to suite everyone’s needs. This means that any exercise can be changed to better fit the individual that walks in the door. At Simply Stronger you will often here us say "everything is modifiable" and it's true. We constantly tweak and adapt exercises to subtly or sometimes not so subtly change the goal and subsequent outcome of the exercise. This while used every day in face to face sessions, has also proven to be enormously beneficial when developing home exercise programs, travel programs and gym programs with various equipment.

The key to success
When you receive an exercise plan from us, it will involve all the specific details of your individualised exercise prescription. Explaining what exercises to complete, when and how, I think we can all agree is vital. However, the key to your success is understanding why. Why this exercise, why this prescription, what will this exercise do for you and your health?
We provide you with this education because when you have the context of why, you are so much more likely to complete your program. Without the why it has no context and no meaning, so why would you do it.

As exercise physiologists we also focus on a more holistic approach to our treatment and services. By doing this, we ensure that we understand what drives our clients to complete their exercises, while also having a true awareness of the challenges they face when it comes to completing exercise. We work together with our clients to develop goals that feel achievable and realistic to you, our clients. 

As one of our clients recently stated “It’s the small and achievable goals that become habits”. Over the years this client has been attending Simply Stronger, she has found our consistent messaging and education has empowered her to both see and understand her progress. 

We hope this gives you a little more insight to what an EP is and what we do for our clients. We would love it if you shared this with your friends because let's be honest, most people don't know who we are either.