Partner spotlight, with Travis Thompson, Clinical Lead at Performance Logic.
If you've ever had an injury that kept coming back, or felt that your running had stalled no matter how many miles you put in, there's a good chance the answer lies in how you move rather than how much you run. That idea sits at the heart of Performance Logic (opens in a new tab), a performance training and running coaching clinic on Battersea Park Road, and its sister physiotherapy clinic, Body Logic Health (opens in a new tab), both of which have been helping people in South West London move better for more than 15 years.
We spoke to Travis Thompson, the clinic's Clinical Lead, who works as a sports therapist, running coach, performance coach and Pilates instructor.
How Travis ended up here
Travis's route into the profession started at school. Studying biology and PE at A level gave him an interest in how the body works, and it was a teacher who pointed him towards a degree in this field. He's now a qualified sports therapist, leading the clinical side of a team that brings together chartered physiotherapists, sports therapists, running coaches and Pilates instructors under one roof.
What he enjoys most is working with people. The hardest part, he says, is guiding someone through a journey that has its ups and downs, which anyone who's come back from a running injury will recognise. Recovery is rarely a straight line, and part of the job is helping people stay the course when progress feels slow.
Who's behind it
Performance Logic and Body Logic Health are owned and run by Paul and Juliet Goss. Paul is a chartered physiotherapist and running coach who qualified at Manchester University in 1994 and became an accredited movement control physiotherapist in 2010. Over the years he's worked with London Scottish Rugby, Middlesex and MCC Cricket, and even competitors in Britain's and World's Strongest Man. His real interest is movement analysis and helping people reach their goals, and away from the clinic he's more likely to be found coaching rugby, watching his boys play sport or firing up a braai, whatever the weather.
What they do
Body Logic Health is the physiotherapy side, treating everything from sports and running injuries, tendon problems and knee pain to back pain, post-surgery rehabilitation and women's pelvic health. Performance Logic picks up where that leaves off, with movement screening, running coaching, performance training, Reformer Pilates and youth athlete development. Across the road, The Pilates Studio Battersea adds a dedicated space for building core strength and flexibility.
Their approach to running is built around what they call foundation pillars: stability, technique, strength, stamina and mobility. The thinking is that consistency is what drives improvement, and you can only train consistently if your body can cope with the load. Once those foundations are in place, the work moves on to speed, power, agility and recovery. As Travis puts it, the aim isn't only to treat you but to help you improve your performance. The clinic also works well beyond running, and Travis's own caseload includes rehabilitation and injury assessment, strength and conditioning, and Parkinson's rehabilitation.
One thing most people don't realise is how closely the team tracks each client's goals and progress over time. It's that long-term view that clients often mention, with one recent reviewer describing a "long-term preventative approach to addressing the core issues rather than simply remedial".
The best story
Asked for a favourite story, Travis chose a client who came to them wanting to learn to run so they could be first in the queue when the concert doors opened. Not every goal is a marathon, and it's a good reminder that whatever your reason for running, it's a perfectly good one.
The runners on the team
Several of the team are runners themselves, covering everything from 200m to the marathon, and when it comes to events, Travis recommends Hyrox and the Hackney Half.
Travis's advice for runners
His advice is simple: "Find a style that works for you, then build the strength to maintain it." There's no single perfect way to run, but whatever your style, it needs a body strong enough to hold it together, especially late in a long run when fatigue sets in.
If you only book one thing
Travis's recommendation is a three-session intro block. It gives the team time to understand where you are, what you're aiming for and what's holding you back, and to build a plan from there. As he explains, much of the value is in knowing why each session is going to help, rather than simply following a programme.
Running Logic
The team also runs Running Logic, a free online platform for runners. Once you sign up, you can take a running quiz that looks at your technique, stability, strength, mobility and stamina, and get tips on what to work on. There are free training plans from a walk-run (couch to 5k) programme all the way up to the marathon, along with a strength and exercise series, technique tips and a return-to-run programme for anyone coming back from injury. It's worth a look whatever your level, and you can find it on the Running Logic website (opens in a new tab).
Anything else?
We'll leave the last word to Travis, whose message to RLS members is short and to the point: "Everyone can improve!"
You'll find Performance Logic and Body Logic Health at 292-294 Battersea Park Road, SW11 3BT.
Find Performance Logic and Body Logic Health on RLS
Performance Logic is an RLS Partner, providing personalised clinical running coaching that focuses on improving your technique, speed and movement patterns, safeguarding you against injury.
Body Logic Health is an RLS Partner, a physiotherapy clinic in Battersea specialising in pain, injury and movement, from running injuries and rehabilitation to Pilates and sports massage.
Run Love Sprint members can find both in RLS Rewards.
