My Services
PERSONAL FITNESS TRAINING
WEIGHT MANAGEMENT AND NUTRITIONAL ADVICE
FITNESS BOOTCAMPS IN READING
SPORTS INJURY REHABILITATION USING MAT®
SPORTS MASSAGE THERAPY
V.I.P INNER ZONE FREE MEMBERSHIP
SERVICES COVERING READING & BERKSHIRE more details...
Phillips-Fit was founded in 2004 to provide a premium Personal Training service to the people of Reading and Berkshire. With a dedicated team of experts covering every angle of health and fitness, we can provide you with the right service to meet your individual needs.
FREE consultation:
During your free consultation (lasting approx, 45 minutes), we will discuss your current physical activity level, health status, diet, activity preferences and find out exactly what you want to achieve during your programme and set some realistic short term and long term goals. From all this vital information I will then design a safe and effective training program tailored to meet your individual needs.
Contact Ryan to arrange a time that suits you.
Body Statistics and fitness assessment:
A 30 minute body stats assessment will be carried out at the start of your training programme to set the benchmark and each month thereafter to continually monitor your progress and ensure that you are on the right track to succeeding in your goals. This may include analysing your body composition (body fat %, Fat Mass, Fat Free Mass & hydration levels), body fat calipers, tape measurements i.e. waist to hip ratio, blood pressure, resting heart rate, lung power, fitness level, muscle strength, flexibility & balance. Depending on your goals we will only select relevant tests from this list.
"I have been working with Ryan for nearly 4 months; initially he spent time assessing my fitness and general health in order to devise an achievable and progressive fitness plan that suited me needs and aims." |
A safe and effective training program:
After analysing all the information provided by you during your free consultation I will get to work on designing an exercise program specifically for you. This program will be designed in such a way as to allow modification as you progress. It will be periodized over a 4 week period and once completed, your second body statistics and fitness assessment will be carried out to record your improvements and analyze your progress. Periodizing your training program in this way ensures that during exercise you optimise the training effect whilst exercising at a safe level. There is a very fine line between optimum physiological adaptation (your optimum progress) and over-doing it; we aim to get that balance just right for you!
"During these 4 months I have learnt that Ryan has an extensive knowledge of not only physical training but also anatomy, physiology and nutrition and this knowledge has helped me to achieve the improvements that I have noticed not only in my stamina, but also speed, strength and general health. This knowledge ensures a holistic approach to training that is safe, progressive and ultimately successful." |
Nutritional Guidance:
Regular exercise and healthy eating go hand in hand to achieve a healthier lifestyle. You will struggle to reach your goal whether that be fat loss or lean mass weight gain without it. Every fitness exercise program should be accompanied by healthy and appropriate nutritional advice. I will provide you with nutritional guidelines that will not only allow you to achieve stunning results in the short term but will set you up with good habits for the long term to manage your weight without you feeling like you're on a diet!
"The fact that I am still attending training sessions twice a week is quite surprising to me and is testament to Ryan’s enthusiasm and motivational qualities. I can see the benefits of regular properly devised training and good nutrition in everyday life, much more energy generally, but also the improvement in my fitness and agility when playing tennis has improved my game immeasurably." |
Motivation and enthusiasm:
I will help to motivate you to train effectively to reach your goals. Training sessions will be delivered with enthusiasm, and adaptations of conventional exercises will ensure that exercise remains exiting and fun. I will closely and continuously monitor your progress to ensure that you develop at your maximum rate without injury or over-training. This will ensure that your long term goals are achievable in a realistic time scale through setting short term achievable goals.
"If you are looking to improve your general health and fitness or if you have a specific aim you wish to achieve then in my opinion, investing in Ryan's skills and knowledge is well worth it!" Penny Meadley – July 2007 |
Online V.I.P Inner Zone Membership (Free access):
For extra motivation, help and support from me and other likeminded people (my clients) who are going through a similar process as you i.e. losing weight, toning up, getting fitter, training for a race, building muscle, etc and to gain instant access to all my years of diet and exercise knowledge in the form of articles, discussions, videos and more, you have the option of joining my private and exclusive V.I.P Inner Zone and becoming a part of my online community right away.
My V.I.P Inner Zone is also the place to share your progress with others, discuss your challenges, vent your spleen, help others in need of a kind, encouraging word and be a part of a small private community of successful, driven individuals all working hard towards achieving their ultimate health and fitness goals. The V.I.P Inner Zone site is accessible anytime, day or night, 24/7 and from anywhere in the world as you will have you own personal access code, you'll even have your own profile page which you can fully personalise with photos and different themes etc. There is also a live chat feature so you can engage in real time discussions with other members and myself who might be online the same time as you.
The content within the V.I.P Inner Zone site is continually growing and expanding, providing you with exponential levels of value month on month.
Current topics of discussion:
- Fad Diets, ever tried one?
- Weight Training Myths
Current articles:
- Eggs: The myths are busted and the truths are revealed...
- Everything you need to know about Omega 3 fish oils
- Is your lack of drinking water making you fatter?
- How much water do I really need to drink?
- Why is breakfast so important?
- Checklist: 10 reasons why you might not be getting results...
- How eating whilst watching TV can make you fat!
- 3 popular exercises to avoid if your goals are to lose weight
- The Water Bottle Workout - Your simple solution to not blowing your results when on holiday
The list here is endless as I’m frequently updating the site with more cutting edge material over the months to come helping to make your journey of achieving your goals a smoother and easier ride.
Contact Ryan to get started
Sports Injury Rehab using MAT®:
MAT® stands for Muscle Activation Techniques which is a system designed to evaluate and treat muscular imbalances. MAT® looks at muscle tightness as a form of protection in the body. Weak or inhibited muscles can create the need for other muscles to tighten up in order to help stabilize the joints. MAT® gets to the root of pain or injury by addressing muscle weakness rather than muscle tightness. This helps to restore normal body alignment, thereby, decreasing pain, reducing muscle stiffness, reducing your risk of injury and improving your physical performance and fat burning potential.
Muscle activation refers to the process of ‘jumpstarting’ the muscle. The goal of Muscle Activation Techniques is to identify the position of weakness and the muscles that are inhibited, and then to activate these muscles – basically switch them back on.
For a more simplistic approach to understand muscle function, compare the body to a car. The initiation of a muscle contraction occurs similarly to the way a battery initiates the starting of a car. Both rely on connections that transfer electrical energy to produce a reaction. The nerves that run from the spinal cord to the muscle are just like the cables that run from the ignition to the battery. When the key is turned in the ignition, the impulses transfer through the cables to the battery allowing the car to start. Similarly, in the body, when a message is sent from the brain, the input is transferred through the nerves to the muscles creating muscle contraction. Each muscle is independently innervated; therefore it can be seen as having many batteries, each connected by its own independent cables. When the body is functioning properly, with all batteries connected, each muscle will contract on demand and the body will function very
efficiently.
Many times, due to factors such as stress, trauma or overuse, the neurological connections may become altered, creating a reaction in the body similar to that of loose battery cables in your car. When the brain sends a message for a muscle to contract, the muscle does not respond immediately, creating increased demand on other muscles to perform the desired movement. The result becomes what we know as compensation. Over time, these compensation patterns create altered alignment in the joint, leading to joint instability and abnormal wear on the joint surfaces. The end result becomes pain and eventually osteoarthritis. The progressive degeneration has been correlated with aging. If identified and properly addressed, it does not have to occur.
While most therapies focus on treating the muscles with tension and/or pain, MAT® gets to the root of pain or injury by addressing muscle weakness rather than muscle tightness. MAT® views muscle tightness as a form of protection in the body. Weak or inhibited muscles can create the need for other muscles to tighten up in order to help stabilize the joints. The goal of MAT® is to identify the inhibited or weak muscles that are creating a protective response and then ‘jumpstart’ these muscles in order to improve their contractile capability.
If the tight muscles are stretched or massaged— without addressing the root cause, the inhibited or weak muscle—then we may have violated the body’s protective mechanism. We must know that when we increase range of motion through modalities like stretching or massage, that there is also stability through that increased range. MAT® provides the checks and balances system to make sure that this happens. That is why MAT® is a great adjunct to all forms of exercise and therapy.
MAT® can slow down or even reverse the aging process. If it is recognized that muscles are designed to stabilize and support the joints naturally; it must be understood that arthritic conditions and joint instability can be helped or prevented when muscles are prepared to function properly. All that is needed is to create proper connections between the brain and the muscles. Muscle Activation Techniques does this. It provides the ability for the body to function the way that it was designed to function. Just like with a dead battery, the muscles must be jumpstarted and the cables must be tightened before the muscle will function properly. In simplistic terms, through MAT®, muscles that have improper neurological connections are identified, then jumpstarted; creating the ability for the muscles to stabilize the joints and reduce joint stresses that lead to arthritic conditions. That is when the body becomes efficient and the related aches and pains are deterred.
Another issue that results from when muscles are not contracting properly is that they don’t “burn” fuel optimally. Glucose uptake is solely dependent on muscle contraction; in other words, if your muscles are not contracting optimally then you’re not burning fuel properly and this will have a negative effect on your fat loss even if you’re training hard and eating a healthy diet.
I am one of only a handful of MAT® Certified Personal Trainers in the UK having the specialised knowledge, skills and tools to assess you from head to toe, checking almost every muscle and joint in your body to identify any areas of muscle weakness or inhibition you may have. Then by performing low level isometric contractions to those weak muscles I can “jumpstart” those muscles, switching them on again thus improving the range of motion of the joint instantly giving you pain free range of motion and at the same time releasing muscle tightness.
If you would like more information on MAT® or would like to book an assessment then contact Ryan now.
"I recently commenced personal training with Ryan and, after implementing his advice on diet and water intake, very quickly felt the improvement in my general wellbeing.
All in all, I am left in no doubt that I was lucky to find Ryan when looking for the right personal trainer and look forward to continued success with his help." James Bishop - Reading |
"I had been suffering from pain in my Achilles tendons, calfs and legs for some time. I was stretching out my muscles after every run but things just seemed to be getting tighter even though I was doing even more stretching! Eventually I had to stop my running due to the pain becoming unbearable. I went to see a physio and they did some deep tissue massage and treatments and gave me some stretches to do for my Achilles and calfs but my symptoms of pain and tightness just didn’t get any better; in fact things seemed to be getting progressively worse! The physio told me that I would have to give up running for good!! After all that, I was willing to try anything different. I booked an MAT session with Ryan and within this first session I noticed some improvements, less leg pain and not as much tightness. Ryan found lots of muscles around my hips that were not working properly and explained that when muscles are inhibited due to trauma or injury, other muscles tighten up to compensate for the weak ones. This all made so much sense, as I was involved in a terrible motor bike accident about 20 years ago where I suffered serious damage to my leg and ankle so much so that the doctors said I’d never be able to exercise again! Luckily I did manage to eventually get my leg working again so that I could continue to exercise but my body had been compensating for this injury for all these years and things were just tightening up protect these weaknesses from the injury. This is why the stretching and the physio I was having wasn’t working. I’ve been seeing Ryan once every fought night for about 14 weeks now and during that time I’ve been able to get back to my running at least 3 times a week and can now do so completely without any pain! Thanks to Ryan’s MAT treatments I have eliminated all the weaknesses in my legs which results in me being able to finally do my running pain free. Thanks Ryan for helping me get back to doing what I love to do – RUN! :)" Caroline Sowter from Reading |
"Discovery consists of seeing what everyone has seen, and thinking what no one has thought." Albert Szent-Gyorgi, 1937
Sports Massage:
If you are training regularly and your muscles are starting to feel the strain, sometimes a Swedish massage just isn't enough! So why not treat your aching muscles to a 1st class sports massage with our fully qualified and professional Sports Massage Therapists
"I had been training for many months and could not get my body fat percent down without losing muscle. After a consultation with Ryan I began a comprehensive programme that would see me achieve results that even I could not believe. After each consultation Ryan charted my progress and set new and exciting goals for me to achieve through each month. Month on month my strength (and muscle) grew beyond my expectations and a strict cardio programme saw my body fat drop month on month. My fitness, a priority with Ryan, progressed exponentially. Not only was Ryan a help with my training programme, but also any questions regarding nutrition and training injuries were easily answered. Ryan gave solid advice on my eating plan and calorie intake, of which is 70% of any weight training programme. I was surprised at the range of products that Ryan could offer at discounted prices too, from new energy drinks to state-of-the-art nutritional supplements. My whole experience of training with Ryan is one of gratitude, motivation, confidence in my programme (and my ability) and overall enjoyment in being healthy, fit and strong." Chris J Moss - April 2008 chrismoss@usa.net |
Group Circuit Training sessions:
Group training sessions are a very cost effective way of getting in great shape and exercising with friends is fun too! For more details please contact Ryan now.
Group Nutrition and Weight Management sessions:
For more details please contact Ryan now.
Additional benefits of training with Phillips-Fit:
- Client of the Month Incentive Awards
- Free access to the VIP Inner Zone forum
- 25% discount on our Sports Massage Therapy sessions *
- Discounts on Osteopathy treatments
- Discounts on Kettlebells
- 10% discount at the Sweatshop in Reading **
- Free delivery on all activewear and sportswear at Kiamba
- Exclusive access to the worlds No.1 brand in vitamins/minerals & dietary supplements
* discount applys to 1 hour sessions at the studio ** none sale items only
Fat Loss Tips, Revealed...
