What’s it like to work with RedPill?

RedPill are famous for their biomechanics and attention to detail, however the principles of the RedPill methodology apply to all areas of coaching.  RedPill coaches take care of everything from programme design, training cycles and periodisation, psychology, through to skill work, technique, as well as the rehab and prehab that built the brand’s reputation. In this blog, we will follow two long-term clients’ journey from pain and injury through to unlocking new levels of performance in the competitive space. 

Introducing Carrie Ogilvie-Brown and her coach Brett Bennett.  Carrie and Brett started working with RedPill in 2016 when Carrie struggled walking upstairs due to chronic knee pain. Now, pain-free, the pair continue to regularly work with their RedPill coach James Jowsey to identify and improve Carrie’s movement with a view to boosting Carrie’s competitive performance. 

Part 1: Pain and Injury – RedPill Treatment session

“I was waking up crying – it was really bad.” Carrie

Coach Brett: “I came down to see Jowsey to see why Carrie was getting out of bed in chronic pain. She couldn’t squat, she struggled walking up-stairs without pain. I don’t have the knowledge of physiology of the body and things like that, so I don’t always know how to fix a problem or identify the driver. I can pick up the symptom or something like that, but often the symptom is the result of something else that’s going on.

When we first started working with RedPill the sole intention was to get Carrie healthy again. She’d been doing CrossFit for about 6 years and had gone from enjoying it, wanting to get better, to breaking down. So, we wanted her to get back to enjoying CrossFit again. So that was the whole plan initially, to train again, pain-free.

We spent the first year getting pain-free, with a lot of rehab work. Carrie didn’t do any squatting, deadlifting, box jumps. No impact through the knees, so her programme was basically the RedPill rehab work with me sprinkling in other CrossFit movements, complementing the rehab. That was for the best part of the year. “

Part 2: Return to full training – RedPill SquatFit session 

After nearly a year of diligently performing her rehab, Carrie was now pain-free.  Brett and Carrie booked in to see Jowsey again to discuss next steps, looking to get back to squatting.

Brett: In the second year, 2018, Carrie was pain-free. We had another RedPill assessment [SquatFit] and Jowsey said she is ready to go, she’s moving mechanically well, there’s not strikingly obvious flaws. So, we started to build things up over 6-9 months. We added weights in very slowly. During this process we kept coming to see RedPill. I guess it was about 18 months between first seeing Jowsey to Carrie being able to return to the same level of training as before.“

Carrie: “After we rehabbed, I wanted to compete. We started with European Championships and the Open and then I realised I loved it and wanted to see if we could push the performance to the next level.”

Brett: “We came back to RedPill to see how we could take what we had already achieved and build on it. I’d analysed Carrie’s results and identified certain flaws. The first thing was out-and-out strength, if a workout came up with out-and-out strength in it, it would crush her. So that was the first step. We worked with RedPill again to see how we could incorporate strength training into her programming and that’s sort of how it progresses. We will go away and work on something, over a training block, driven by weaknesses and we will use what the RedPill guys have given us and I factor that into the rest of the programming."

 “The goal always changes - as you progress, your goal moves to the next thing that you would love to be able to do.” Carrie

Part 3: Performance – RedPill Muscle Imbalance Assessment Session

 Brett: “I came to Jowsey 4-5 years ago and what I was most impressed with was his methodology. I’d never seen it before. Elements of prehab / rehab. Non-traditional S&C methodology and it worked for me. I went onto the RedPill seminar and the knowledge I picked up on that course I can implement on a daily basis. But every time we come and see RedPill there’s constant development. They have that in-depth knowledge and unique methodology compared with what you see on Instagram, it’s totally different.

You get more bang for your buck. There are so many things they do with the programming and rehab that transfer. Like for instance one of the things we are always working on with Carrie is her snatch. The session today was looking at the muscle up, but we know there are things from today that will transfer across to the snatch, to help develop that explosive power and extension. “

“For me it’s that element of we came for years ago and since then I have been injury-free, training that whole time because I do my RedPill prehab work.” Carrie

If you need support with any stage of your training journey, from pain and injury through to return to sport, performance optimisation and anywhere in-between, get in touch to see how a RedPill coach can assist.  Services range from treatment to identify and address injury and pain, muscle imbalance assessment to correct asymmetry and dysfunction, to SQUATFits and skill-specific sessions to understand where performance output is being lost.  RedPill coaches also offer a full coaching service with remote programming to anywhere in the world.  Get in touch to find out more!