Why I Give Some New Clients Less Exercise, Not More

Most people come to me wanting a training program. They want to lose weight, build muscle, or get back in shape, and in their head that means one thing: more exercise.

For some of them, that's exactly the right place to start. But for a lot of stressed professionals, it isn't, and that surprises almost everyone in week one.

The clients carrying the most physiological stress are usually the ones who need the least exercise at the beginning. Their nervous system is already running on empty. Adding a demanding workout on top of that doesn't build health, it adds another stressor to a body that's already struggling to cope.

So instead of giving them a hard training program straight away, I give them energy building practices like Tai Chi or Qigong. We call it working in instead of working out. At the same time, we prioritise other areas of their life that are draining them.

People often struggle with this at first. It feels too slow, or not like "real" exercise. But as they keep doing the work and their body starts recovering, something shifts. Their energy comes back. Their capacity comes back. And that's exactly when we can start introducing more physical training, because now their body can actually handle it and benefit from it, instead of being pushed further into the ground.

That's how we build the foundation. Not by pushing harder from day one, but by giving the body what it actually needs first.