Luca balestra

I am a science nerd with a passion for strength training. Personal experience has also made me very interested in how mental health, chronic pain and exercise interact.

To turn my passion for weight training outwards and make a difference in people's lives, whether it be through empowering clients to alleviate and manage their chronic pain, or simply establish a habit of exercising consistently.

My services revolve around weight training with a focus on strength development, health and chronic pain management. I can also help with body composition (muscle gain and fat loss).

I have been a personal trainer for close to 3 years, lifted weights in some capacity for the better part of 20 years, and have recently started dipping my toes in the world of competitive powerlifting. I also hold a BSc in Biomedical Science, which helps me interpret and stay up to date with recent research in the fields of exercise, nutrition and chronic pain management.

I am a firm believer in the "teach a client to fish" approach! In other words, I feel it important to provide education for my clients, and build up their intrinsic motivation by fostering the following

-autonomy - I want my clients to play an active role in creating the best program for them!

-competence - I want my clients to learn the skills that they can then put to use on their own in the long-term.

-connectedness - a sense of community and shared purpose with other gym goers.

One of the reasons I love strength training is the way it can challenge limiting beliefs. The experience of chronic back and hip pain early on in my fitness journey, combined with exposure to narratives of the human body's supposed fragility propagated by medical professionals and online gurus, made me very anxious when it came to exercise and massively limited what I could do in the gym. But by educating myself and gradually pushing outside of my comfort zone with the help of good physios and trainers, over the past few years I have learned that I am much more resilient than I thought I was, and that I can move in a variety of ways and lift with confidence in my body's ability to adapt and grow stronger.

The process of getting stronger, feeling better and becoming healthier is not linear, and there will be ups and downs due to the nature of the human body and the unpredictable things life throws our way. So if you're feeling frustrated during your fitness journey, try zooming out instead of focusing on day-to-day fluctuations - chances are you will be pleasantly surprised!

DEADLIFTS!

One last thing: to echo my colleagues, when it comes to getting the results you want, consistency is the single most important ingredient! So I am *very* open to my clients' suggestions when it comes to incorporating exercises and training modalities they enjoy (if you don't enjoy your training, being consistent is going to be that much harder). With that in mind, I look forward to seeing you at the gym :)