Let's talk about flex: why there’s more to fitness than burning calories

Elle Rich, the Perth-born physiotherapist I meet in Ten’s airy Fitzrovia studio, explains that the classes she leads are entirely bespoke: ‘I take each client’s pathology into account and create a programme specifically for them.’

After a careful analysis of my strengths and weaknesses, Rich diagnoses a misalignment in my hips, and together we do specific work to loosen hip flexors (the collection of muscles used in lifting your knee toward your body) and activate my glutes. Exercises include me lying on my back over a raised box, lifting and lowering one leg while keeping the other pulled to my chest.

‘If certain muscles are tight, they may inhibit other muscles from kicking in, and that way injury lies.’ Historically every time I train, injury has kicked in, and this feels like a viable way to break the vicious loop.

The notion of movement as release is also integral to the work of Suzanne Wylde, heralded as a ‘stretchpert’ for the improvements she brings to clients, including Premier League footballers and business CEOs. Wylde pioneered a new kind of resistance stretching that targets the fascia, the dense, connective tissue that encases our muscles and that, like muscles, can grow tight and knotty. ‘So many clients come to me hunched or in pain,’ says Wylde, who has published a book on her unique approach, Moving Stretch. ‘They are amazed how quickly and how visibly their body can change.’

While Wylde’s book focuses on DIY work, you can also visit her at Triyoga in Camden for an assisted stretch session. After careful analysis she moves my legs with her hands, asking me to push back against her. ‘If I move your leg the smallest distance out from of its normal pattern of motion, you have almost no strength,’ she observes. Though the movements feel gentle, I am stiff afterwards from the effort. I also feel taller, more open across the shoulders and, oddly, emotionally renewed. ‘You carry tension in your fascia,’ she smiles. ‘You would be amazed how powerful and cathartic it can be to let that tension go.’

The psychological letting-go that accompanies muscular release is one of the reasons Kensington’s Core Collective gym recently launched its 55-minute Stretch class, a floor-based combination of active and passive stretches.

‘Muscles contract when you are stressed, which makes you feel still more tense,’ says Core Collective COO Heloise Nangle. ‘And men are particularly bad at doing anything about this. The class will encourage the release of endorphins, which provide a sense of tranquillity and wellbeing.’ Certainly my experience suggests this targeted yet holistic approach is compelling. It’s exercise that brings physical and mental rewards that will enable you to use your body better for years to come.