Don't let a body that feels slower, stiffer, or less reliable than it used to keep you from doing what you love: hiking, skiing, snowboarding, golf, or just picking up your kids.
Book Your Free Discovery Call →Northbound Performance is my strength and conditioning coaching practice, based in Vancouver, BC. I coach active men and women, mostly 35 to 50, whose bodies feel slower, stiffer, or less reliable than they used to, often, but not always, tied to a back injury, sciatica, or a herniated disc. The goal isn't a personal record or a mirror muscle. It's getting you back to hiking, skiing, snowboarding, golf, or just playing with your kids, without thinking twice.
Everything I do is built on my own SCA Framework, Strength, Capacity, Awareness, and one line I actually live by: the gym is the vehicle, your life is the goal. I came to this the hard way, through my own herniated disc and years of sciatica, which is where the whole philosophy comes from. I didn't become stronger after my back healed. My back improved because I finally learned how to become stronger.
Whether that looks like a self guided program, monthly online coaching, or working together in person in Vancouver, the starting point is always the same: a real, honest conversation about where you're at.
Maybe there was an MRI. Maybe just a nagging ache you've learned to work around. At some point someone told you it was fine, and technically, they were right. Whatever it was has settled down. The imaging looks fine, if you even bothered getting it.
And yet, you still hesitate before you bend down. You still skip the trail you used to run without thinking. You still catch yourself calculating the risk before you pick up your own kid.
Nobody warned you about this part. The part where you get cleared, and your body still doesn't move like it used to.
Your nervous system learned that certain movements were dangerous. Tissue healing doesn't automatically unlearn that lesson. Research on this shows fear of re-injury is often a bigger predictor of long-term disability than the original injury severity.
So you're stuck between two bad options: push through and risk a real flare-up, or keep avoiding and slowly lose the life you used to have. Neither of those is actually healing. Both are just different flavors of stuck.
Real, durable strength, built for the mountain and the driveway, not the mirror.
Work capacity that holds up under a full ski day, a long hike, a weekend of yard work, back to back.
Rebuilding trust in your own body, so you stop bracing and start moving.
No models, no gym selfies. Same activities I'm coaching you back to, actually lived, not just talked about.
It doesn't start with a breakthrough. It starts with the boring stuff, a dead bug, a bird dog, a hinge with a dowel, done for weeks before anything feels like progress. You keep going anyway, because the alternative is staying exactly where you are, guarded, sitting things out, watching from the sidelines of your own life.
Then, somewhere around week six or seven, something shifts. Not a miracle, just evidence. You've loaded your back a hundred times now and it held. You start to believe it before you're told to.
None of that happens because the injury disappeared. It happens because you got strong enough, and aware enough, to stop treating your own body like a liability. That's the whole point. Not a personal record. Your actual life, uninterrupted.
Hesitating before every lift. Sitting out the ski trip, or white-knuckling every run. Calculating the risk before picking up your own kid. Your body feels like something to manage, not trust.
Back on the mountain without overthinking every turn. Hiking the trail you used to avoid. Getting down on the floor with your kids without bracing first. Not because it never happened. Because you rebuilt the strength and trust that make it a non-issue now.
"Since working with Ben I have gained back the confidence to do everything I love. Swimming, tennis, and playing with my kids. I feel free again."
"I'm the strongest I've been on my snowboard. I know how to recover after big days and how to fuel for my adventures ahead."
"I learned how hard I could actually push. I used to either hold back completely or overdo it and pay for it. Now I know exactly where my limit is, and that lets me do so much more."
Your SCA-based program, built for your situation and updated as you progress. Train on your own schedule, anywhere.
Everything in Online Programming, plus direct coaching: form checks, regular check ins, real time adjustments.
Hands on coaching in Vancouver. Pricing built around your goals. Let's talk on the discovery call.
I coach active adults, mostly 35 to 50, whose bodies feel slower, stiffer, or less reliable than they used to, often tied to a back injury, sciatica, or a herniated disc, but not always. They want to get back to the activities they've had to scale back on. Training is built on my SCA Framework: Strength, Capacity, Awareness.
People who already understand movement and training, but have lost trust in their own body, often after an injury. You're not a beginner, you're rebuilding confidence, not starting from scratch.
If you're in an acute medical situation or haven't been cleared by a doctor yet, start there first. This is coaching, not a replacement for medical care.
Depends on where you're starting and what you're working toward. Most clients see meaningful shifts in confidence within the first few weeks, and real return to their activity within a few months of consistent work.
Most programs either ignore the injury history entirely (generic strength programs) or ignore the sport-specific return-to-activity piece (clinical rehab programs). I sit in the middle, on purpose.
Depends on the tier. Online programming is self paced within a structured plan, 1:1 coaching includes regular direct check ins. We'll figure out what's realistic for your schedule on the discovery call.
Online Programming is $49.99/month. Online 1:1 Coaching is $149.99/month. In-person packages are available in Vancouver, priced around your specific goals.
Book a free discovery call. No pressure, no generic assessment. Just a real conversation about your situation and whether Northbound is the right fit.
You need to learn how to get strong the right way. That's exactly what we'll figure out together on a free discovery call. No pressure, no countdown timer, no fake scarcity.
Book Your Free Discovery Call →