The Movement Barn

Personal training and group training

Harry

The Fundamentals of Fitness

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We are all aware of the importance of moving our bodies for both our physical and mental health. The fundamentals of fitness should be simple, yet the concept is often overcomplicated which can sometimes leave us feeling uninspired. We’ve shared a few ideas below to shed more light on the area and help you set the foundations for your health and fitness goals.

Establish Where You Are

Establish where you are now, where you want to be and the best path to get you there. It is often more effective to work in accumulate short term goals, such as improving your movement. Patience is key, so have aspirational goals but understand it takes time, as well as hard work and consistency, to reach them.

Choose How Often to Workout

For an average individual, with no injuries or health issues, aim for 3-5 workouts per week but perhaps start with 2-3 if you are a beginner and scale it up, don’t do too much too soon! If you have concerns or need some guidance then reach out to a personal trainer or fitness coach for help.

A workout means moving your body with intent and that means the intensity will vary from person to person. We host a number of different workouts, to suit all fitness goals, so definitely seek advice if you are unsure as to what is right for you.

Try a Variety of Exercises

By varying your training, you’ll keep things interesting and engaging. A wise man once said “Train everything and be ready for anything”. To be strong makes you more resilient to all forms of training and a good level of aerobic fitness will help you recover faster between workouts so don’t be afraid to give everything a try.

Warm Up and Cool Down

Every workout should start by preparing the body for what lies ahead. Break this down into a pulse raiser, joint mobilisation and activation of supporting muscle groups. Cooling down effectively is the process of down regulating your heart rate to allow your body to start the recovery process.

We hope you find this helpful; please do not hesitate to get in touch with one of our personal trainers who would be delighted to help.

Meet the Trainer – Harry

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We currently have two resident trainers here at The Movement Barn – Harry and Dexter. We had a chat with founder, Harry, to help you get to know him and his fitness philosophy!

Your Fitness Philosophy:

I believe in advocating the unsexy message, that we should focus on the basics including lots of movement, train often, eat mostly single ingredient foods where you can and listen to your body. This approach is simple but not easy.

Qualifications: 

  • Advanced diploma personal training (Level 4)
  • Lower back pain specialist
  • Exercise referral specialist
  • Circuits
  • Gym based boxing
  • Indoor cycling
  • Sports nutrition
  • Premier global kettle bell instructor
  • Premier global suspended movement trainer
  • Pilates instructor

Your Favourite Way to Exercise:

Functional fitness and strength training. Functional fitness focusses on exercises that support your daily life, replicating movements you might repeat in your daily life such as pulling, bend and squatting.

Your Favourite Class to Teach:

Build and breathe – a combination of exercises to improve your strength and fitness level.

Your Personal Training Style:

I’m a coach, not cheerleader, so my purpose is to motivate through education. By educating my clients on the training methods and nutritional strategies applied throughout their journey we can secure a more consistent long term approach to health and fitness.

How do you Treat Yourself?

80% of the time I will follow my own advice, the rest of the time I’m quite partial to a glass of wine and a chocolate Hobnob.

Your Best Moment as a Personal Trainer:

The best moment in my career has to be launching The Movement Barn last year. Yes it was tough but the experience has been so rewarding.

Your Favourite Piece of Equipment and Why:

Free weights are simple and effective. Lockdown emphasised the importance of movement at home and free weights including dumbbells and kettlebells were hugely valuable in helping people achieve their fitness goals at home.

If you have any further questions for Harry or would like to discuss personal training, please get in touch via email.

The Movement Barn – Our Story

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What is The Movement Barn?

The Movement Barn is a coach-lead studio nestled in the Berkshire countryside. Some would describe us as a boutique gym, specialising in personal training and fitness classes for groups up to ten. Our classes are built around three simple principles: Build, Breathe & Move which give our clients the ability to structure their training to help achieve their goals.

Why Did We Launch The Movement Barn?

Having been both a freelance personal trainer and working in commercial gyms around west Berkshire and Oxfordshire for 9 years, our founder, Harry, has a wealth of knowledge across the health and fitness space. Over the years Harry has refined his approach to coaching and when his personal training business became fully booked, he became determined to help more people than a one to one setting would allow.

In May 2021 the Movement Barn was launched with a goal to simplify health and fitness. We believe everyone should have the tools and knowledge to create sustainable changes no matter their current fitness level or circumstances.

Our Resident Personal Trainers

As well as our variety of fitness classes, we also offer personal training. More than just traditional one on one training, we provide our clients with the tools, knowledge and support they require to take control of their health and fitness long term.

June 2021, The Movement Barn welcomed a second personal trainer, Dexter. When it comes to fitness, Dexter believes in keeping things simple and enjoying the process. Allowing you to focus on the underlying principles and implement a method that works for you.

Alongside our resident personal trainers, we are lucky to work with Claire from Table & Tribe who coaches our Vinyasa and Yin Yoga classes. Claire believes yoga is about listening to your own body and being kind to yourself, her experience allows her to offer variety to her students, allowing them to tune in and listen to their bodies’ needs.

Our Biggest Challenge

Unsurprisingly, launching a new fitness studio in the midst of a pandemic was challenging. Even when we were able to open our doors, social distancing meant we had to significantly reduce our class numbers and some of our equipment took 8 months to be delivered!

Our Biggest Lesson

We’ve learned that the health and fitness space is more of a team sport that we had anticipated. Despite the liaison with clients, personal training can be somewhat isolated, but that certainly isn’t the case at The Movement Barn. As well as our members supporting each other, we also work closely together as coaches, constantly learning from one another and evolving to make The Movement Barn the best it can be.

If you’d like to find out more about The Movement Barn or have any questions for the coaching team, please visit our contact page.