I want to start by extending a warm welcome to you.
If you want to get your strength and fitness back after a prolonged hiatus from long COVID or another chronic illness, you are in the right place. And I am so grateful to have you in our growing community!
About Me
I remember it like it was yesterday.
It’s a Saturday morning. My 8 month pregnant wife and I have just woken up. I have barely slept. I am summoning up the courage to tell her that I am having thoughts I am better off not here.
Why? Well 7 months earlier I contracted COVID, which materialised into Long COVID. I was bed-bound, in constant pain and my condition was unchanging. I saw no way out. I didn’t know how I would look after my wife and child. I had lost my health, my purpose, and my self-worth.
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It was scary to be in a place I never expected to understand.
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Was this destiny?
I am a type A personality and (was a) perfectionist. Just prior to my illness I was working long corporate hours, coaching online fitness, training for the London Marathon and my wife and I were going through IVF. Sometimes I think COVID was the straw that broke the camel's back.
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And yet I still resisted. How could I not work and provide for a newborn in the house? So I rotated bed-rest with 30 minute chunks of work.
A couple of months after our beautiful daughter was born, we made the decision that I would stop work completely after we looked at the worst case scenario - I don’t get better, we live on one income and move out of London to somewhere cheaper (which we did). But ultimately we made the decision based on giving myself a chance to heal.
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I realised that health is a fragile commodity. It can be taken away in a second.
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This was the catalyst, along-with brain-retraining, but it took me another year and a half to fight my way back to a good health status.
In that time, I discovered my purpose from this experience - to help people reclaim their identities and athletic selves after long COVID, chronic illness and other life changing circumstances.
About the Program
​​It starts with The Baseline Program - an affordable membership containing the exact gentle movement program I followed, whilst recovering.
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You'll be supported by a positive community and regular coaching touch points. The program is not a progressive, it's not graded exercise, nor is it a means to accelerate your recovery. Rather it is designed to meet you where you are at, re-build the mind-muscle connection, slowly build your movement tolerance, reduce PEM and keep your muscles and joints healthy until you are recovered enough for more.
That 'more' when you are ready is my unique 90 Day Rebound Method for the detrained body. There is no other program like it. I have piled all my knowledge and experience to create a safe, carefully curated and engaging program I think you will love. It is paced perfectly and crafted to ensure your successful return to strength and fitness. You can apply here to take part.
I like to say that COVID saved me. It taught me perspective, gratitude, and the importance of rest. It made me address unresolved trauma and make important lifestyle changes. It destroyed me then cleansed me. It stole over years of my life but has probably given me back many more.
More Resources
If you’re reading this and recognising yourself in my story, I want you to know this:
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You don’t need to guess your way back to movement.
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When I was navigating long COVID, predominantly bed-bound for 18 months and grieving the loss of my athletic identity — there was no roadmap back to movement that respected post-exertional malaise, crashes, and the unpredictability of recovery.
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So I documented my journey in my free Returning to Exercise guide which walks you through the exact steps and mindset shifts that helped me safely rebuild exercise tolerance.
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And if you’re unsure where you currently sit, you can complete the free Rebound Movement Assessment — designed to help you understand your exercise tolerance and identify the safest, most appropriate starting point.
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For now, thanks for reading my story. And good luck wherever you are on your rebound journey.
– Rachael