Author: jessgoesnorth
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Quiet burn
I’ve come to welcome the ache of muscles rebuilding after a workout. It’s obviously not enjoyable in itself but it reminds me that I’m getting stronger. That I’m doing the work I need to do to regain my fitness. And it reminds me that I need to care for myself and give my body the…
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Goldilocks zone
People are often advised “listen to your body” to guard against overtraining. But many people would retort “if I listened to my body I’d never get off the sofa!”. Training too hard can lead to injuries and burnout. But not training enough will stop you reaching your goals. So how do you tell the difference…
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Doing something is the biggest win
https://acsm.org/resistance-training-guidelines-update-2026/ New ACSM guidelines came out earlier this year – I love the emphasis on consistency over complexity. It underpins my sense that as a personal trainer, the coaching skills that you bring to motivating clients are more important than ability to come up with the latest flashy technique. I’ve been learning a lot about…
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Challenge
I’ve been reflecting recently on coaching and AI, and I think the issue of challenge is one of the biggest downfalls, as highlighted in this article. https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2026/ai-is-giving-bad-advice-to-flatter-its-users-says-new-study-on-dangers-of-overly-agreeable-chatbots/ Learning to challenge appropriately in coaching is a skill and an art. Challenging in the wrong way, or at the wrong time, can be damaging to the coaching…
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Setbacks and identity
I confess my recent humbling attempts to start upper body exercise again have had me questioning some fundamentals of my identity. Joy and pride in getting stronger has been a really important part of my fitness journey, and something that has motivated me to start building up my skills to offer personal training. These last…
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Tail of the snake
When you’ve built up your strength and fitness, it’s tough when you realise you’ve lost fitness. You’ve slid down the snake and there aren’t any ladders in sight. And the square you used to be on seems unreachably far away. It can happen so easily – injuries, illness, life events or just getting older. It…
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Change
Looking back, I see I’ve written a lot about change, and I came up with three reasons why. Firstly because coaching is about making changes. Our goals generally don’t drop in our laps – we need to do something, however small, to make them come to life. At its best, coaching is about the inner…
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Exercise snacking
I’m a big fan of exercise snacking. It’s easy to see exercise as a big thing – something we need to commit precious hours to. And of course for some goals you do need to put the hours in. But it’s also easy to fall into the trap of starting too big, and setting ourselves…
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Checking in
One tool I often offer to many of my coaching clients is a check in. It works like this. I ask them to choose a moment in their day for a quick check in. A point to take stock of how things are going. Crucially there’s no judgement, just noticing. The best time varies. If…
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Fun and motivation
Runners often talk about type 1 and type 2 fun. Type 1 workouts are the ones that are actually enjoyable at the time. And type 2 are those that aren’t fun at the time but feel good to get done. I’m lucky enough that I mostly enjoy my runs, rides and gym sessions while I’m…
Jessica Smith - Life, work and fitness coaching 