D.C Physiotherapy

D.C Physiotherapy Helping active people overcome injury.

🏃 Running & outdoor performance

🏋️ Strength & gym rehab

📍 Llanfair PG, North Wales

Book via WhatsApp

04/09/2026

Running is often thought of as a purely forwards-and-backwards movement.

But your trunk is constantly rotating as you run.

A big part of that movement comes from the thoracic spine, working alongside the pelvis and shoulders to allow the body to move efficiently through each stride.

So I don't just want runners to have strength through flexion and extension. I also want them to have the capacity to rotate and control rotation.

This becomes particularly relevant with trail and ultra running, where uneven terrain, climbing, descending and changes in direction place different demands on how you control your trunk.

That doesn't mean you need to consciously “rotate more” when you run.

It's about having enough strength, mobility and control to handle the movement that's already there.

Build capacity in every direction.

31/08/2026

Short on time? Try supersets.

Pairing opposing exercises - like an incline press and row - can significantly reduce the time needed to complete a session without compromising strength or muscle growth.

A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis found supersets reduced training time by around 37%, while producing similar strength and hypertrophy outcomes to traditional sets.

Less waiting. More training.

Source: de Souza et al., 2025.

20/08/2026

Running-related aches aren’t always coming from the legs.

For trail and ultra runners, hours of holding poles, carrying a race vest and maintaining your arm position can place a surprisingly high demand on the shoulder and upper back.

This variation of a lateral raise gives you a combination of:

• Side delt loading
• Scapular control
• Lower trap involvement
• Endurance under relatively low load

It’s not about finding the one exercise that fixes shoulder pain.

It’s about gradually building the capacity of the tissues that have to tolerate the demands of your running.

Especially useful if your shoulders tend to get tired, achy or stiff towards the end of longer trail runs.

13/08/2026

Squats hurting? Try slowing them down.

One reason I like using a slower eccentric isn't just because it makes the exercise harder.

It can give you more time to control your position and movement — particularly useful when you're learning or rebuilding a movement after injury.

And because tempo is another way of increasing the difficulty, you don't necessarily need to use as much weight.

That's important because external load contributes to the forces experienced at the knee. In squatting, increasing external resistance increases patellofemoral joint force and stress.

So if a heavier squat is irritating a painful knee, tendon or muscle, you may be able to modify the exercise by changing the tempo and reducing the load — rather than immediately removing the movement altogether.

This doesn't mean a slow eccentric is inherently safer, or that it magically reduces tendon load. It's simply another tool for managing training load.

And eccentric/slow resistance training itself has a useful role in tendon rehabilitation. Evidence supports progressive eccentric and heavy-slow resistance approaches for conditions such as patellar and Achilles tendinopathy.

The goal isn't to avoid loading.

It's to find a load you can tolerate, then gradually build your capacity.

11/08/2026

Lactate threshold isn’t just for road runners.

Your lactate threshold is the intensity where lactate production starts to outpace your ability to clear and reuse it.

Training around this intensity helps shift that point higher, meaning you can sustain a higher intensity before fatigue starts to build rapidly.

For trail and ultra runners, this matters because your effort isn’t constant.

Long climbs, runnable sections and changes in terrain can repeatedly push your effort higher.

A higher threshold can help you:

• Sustain a higher pace for a given effort
• Handle harder climbs and surges more efficiently
• Improve running economy
• Have more capacity available when the terrain gets tough

You’re not trying to run your ultra at threshold.

The goal is to raise the ceiling, so your race effort sits further below it.

Your training plan is just a guide.This weekend, I had planned to run 24 km + 8 km.But being away, spending more time on...
09/08/2026

Your training plan is just a guide.

This weekend, I had planned to run 24 km + 8 km.

But being away, spending more time on my feet and having less recovery meant that forcing the original plan probably wasn't the smartest decision.

So I adapted it:

20 km + 11 km.

I didn't abandon the training. I changed how I achieved it.

When adapting training, I think what is the priority?

For a trail/ultra runner, that might be:

-> Time on feet
-> Technical terrain exposure
-> A specific intensity or training stimulus

The exact distance, pace, route or timing can often be changed around that.

Being rigid with the plan can create unnecessary fatigue and stress, potentially increasing injury risk and compromising the compounding sessions that come afterwards.

Good training isn't about executing every session perfectly.

It's about consistently applying the right training stimulus while managing all of lifes stressors.

Consistency beats perfection.

If you want a training plan that can adapt to you rather than the other way around, I offer individual running coaching alongside physiotherapy.

DM me to find out more.

05/08/2026

This strategy is called post-activation performance enhancement and may help you produce more force during your main lift.

In this session I paired:
Split squat jumps -> Heavy Bulgarian split squats

You can also try:
Squat jumps -> Squats
Broad jumps -> Trap bar deadlifts
Pogos -> Calf raises

The goal isn't to fatigue yourself.

3–5 explosive reps before going into your heavy set.

If your legs are still sore, stiff, or you’ve picked up a niggle — now’s the time to get on top of it before it lingers....
17/05/2026

If your legs are still sore, stiff, or you’ve picked up a niggle — now’s the time to get on top of it before it lingers.

I’m offering post-race recovery assessments + sports massage over the next week for runners needing help with:

• soreness & overload
• niggles/injuries
• sports massage for recovery
• return-to-running guidance

DM or book via WhatsApp link in bio

Address

4, Bryn Bras Estate
Bangor
LL615PX

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 6pm - 8pm

Telephone

+447880852683

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