Thomas Higo

Here is my story and the turn of events that lead to the creation of fitcure; I’m blessed to spend my days working with people from all different walks of life face to face and online, in various different formats.

We all have stories that lead us to where we are, they are a combination of our actions and unforeseeable and here are mine.

When I look back over my own training goals through the years it has wavered between one of the three, as an 8 year old boy it was all about performance, although I wasn’t conscious of it at that point, I wanted to be the fittest, fastest player on the football pitch, the best at climbing trees.

As a 14-year-old I became even more conscious of my potential future pushing performance harder and harder to try and achieve the unachievable, to be in the top 1% of human beings and have a career as a professional athlete, without much thought to anything other than just that, getting faster and better no matter the cost. Eventual over training, and what was sadly with my skill set an unachievable goal, left me with several reoccurring injuries and 3 knee surgeries. By the age of 16 I knew it was all over.

Fast forward to my late teens, trouble concentrating at school, and constant fatigue, was put down to being a teenager and growing. I spent most of my teenage years sleeping, If I didn’t have football practice I would come home from school be home for 16:00 and literally sleep through till 21:00 be up for two hours and go back to sleep until morning I would then struggle to pick my head up off the pillow and sprint to school/college, time keeping certainly wasn’t my strong point back then, at the time I thought this was normal, all the “hardcore training” I did, growing into a man etc.

The start of university was when I realised; well, to be honest it was hard to miss I woke up one morning, and finally found where I have been storing all the meat and protein shakes I had been drinking for the last 6 years! (sadly, it wasn’t on my torso). I had what can only be described as a hamster’s pouch at the front of my neck?! Fast forwards a couple of months of testing, “you my friend have an underactive thyroid” said the doctor. Suddenly the dusty haze of fatigue and confusion in my life began to all make sense, initially relief, I had something to blame for my procrastination and lack of achievement, then fear began to raise his ugly head. Suddenly a teenage boy who took health as a given, was engulfed by it!! Training shifted gears, it became all about increasing energy, hydration, sleep, cardiovascular exercise, low sugar, no caffeine, Epsom salt baths and so the habit stacking began. In hindsight I added too many habits at once, I made myself more anxious searching for the “magic pill” than I would if I have if I continued as previous with the added medication from the doctors. Health became no1 priority, no more body part splits, no more sports as they just got me injured! (Oh I had 3 knee surgeries and tore the labrum in my hip too, turns out I’m hypermobile with dysplastic hips, but perhaps we will leave that story for another time) Truth be told I did feel a little bit better, when I say better, I no longer felt the same level of fatigue and had clarity of thought, my health was restored through the medication given to me by the doctors... but it wasn’t enough, that eight-year-old boy began to raise his ugly head, performance wasn’t really where I wanted it to be.

Due to what I believe now a lack of competition in my life, I began to focus heavily on body composition. I became obsessed with muscles and body fat percentage. So, I continued with my healthy lifestyle habits, and began to focus on muscles groups and body fat, things were going great until a plague of injuries where bestowed upon me, too much volume, over trained, muscular imbalance and hypermobility to boot. A distinct lack of corrective exercise, postural balance, and general rehab from old injuries, as well as ignoring new, created what can only be described as a Ferrari with no breaks, all power and certainly no stability.

I knew I had to learn about this rehab stuff so I spoke to my physio (who I have since married, never say I am not committed, again a story for another time); If she asked me to read a book, I read it, a course to go on? I did it. Eventually I was hired by physio cure and began to work closely with them rehabbing their patients particularly the hip and shoulder. and so, the next seven years and still to this day I continue to learn everything I can about corrective exercise and performance.

At the risk of sounding like a crock, with all my injuries and health issues this was the catalyst for creating what is now known as Fit cure, "A company striving to improve health, performance and body composition, for everyday people and weekend warriors alike using effective program design, nutrition and lifestyle habits to build happier healthier people."

16 years on from my initial diagnosis and injury, at the time of writing I am 33 years old, with a 5year-old boy, a beautiful wife and a constantly evolving fitness system, to improve everything body composition, health and performance for everyday people in the time they have.

My life experiences have given me perspective and empathy for my clients, in the trenches, being where they are, has helped me to build a bite sized manageable program. Whilst like everyone on this earth, I am still learning every day, what I am certain of is fitness has to encompass all three elements, life itself is about balance, “too much of anything is not good for you”. If you truly want long term success in sport, playing with your family and generally enjoying life and the adventure it can bring without fitness limiting you, a solid training program with the right exercises to restore balance, appropriate nutrition, lifestyle and fitness habits bespoke to you is the answer. Think yin and yang with an added bit of you!