National Training Academy for Rail
Monday 15th June 2026
Olympic Lifting - Functional Fitness - Slip, Trips & Falls - Mind Your Step - Musculoskeletal Screening -
Olympic Lifting - Functional Fitness - Slip, Trips & Falls - Mind Your Step - Musculoskeletal Screening -
Olympic Lifting for Better Movement & Safer Work with Aidan Syers
Olympic lifting is built around moving heavy loads efficiently and without injury: the biomechanics are tried, tested and directly transferable. The 45-minute session with Aidan applied those principles to the kind of lifting and loading that features in everyday life, building the core strength and movement quality that protect you over the long term. Practical, hands-on, and useful whether you’re at work or away from it.
Aidan Syers is a Sports Performance Coach and Sports Scientist from Loughborough University who specialises in developing speed, power, and conditioning in elite athletes, combining applied coaching expertise with a strong scientific foundation.
He has coached numerous international athletes across a range of sports, including football and boxing, with experience supporting players from clubs such as Manchester United, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich.
As an international sprinter who has represented England and Great Britain, Aidan also brings lived experience of elite sport to his work. His background includes four seasons as a Sports Scientist at Crystal Palace FC, and he currently serves as Head of Sports Science at Unique Football Academy in London.
Functional Fitness with Henry Cleminson
Modern working patterns often reduce the amount of useful movement people get, with many of us spending more time sitting than our bodies are designed for. But being active at work isn't the same as having the physical capacity to cope with it. Manual handling means repeated lifting, carrying, twisting, reaching and working in awkward positions, and tolerating that takes genuine physical capability, not just good technique. The 45-minute session with Henry used functional fitness principles to build that capacity, because someone who is physically fitter is typically far less susceptible to injury. It promoted:
Improved Posture: Reduce the risk of musculoskeletal issues.
Enhanced Mobility: Increase ease of movement and flexibility.
Improved Energy Levels: Feel more alert and engaged during daily tasks.
These benefits carry beyond the session itself. Individually, you’ll notice the difference in how you move and feel. As a team, people who are physically more comfortable tend to be more focused and consistent.
Henry Cleminson is a former UK martial arts champion and was the coach to UFC world champion, Leon Edwards.Using his sports science degree and close relationships with other elite sports coaches he has developed his own functional integrated training and high intensity interval training programmes. These transformative programmes are central to his CoreFit Academy and to our own workplace wellbeing services. His resistance bands expertise is exceptional and is currently being used to support workers at the British Antarctic Base.
Slips, Trips & Falls: Proprioception and Balance with Henry Cleminson
Slips, trips and falls are among the most persistent risks in any manual handling environment, and avoiding them takes more than technique and strength. It comes down to how quickly your brain and body communicate, the proprioception and balance that let you react and self-correct without thinking. Those senses dull with age, inactivity or an old injury, and that's when people fall. The session with Henry sharpened that coordination and reaction, reducing fall risk and helping you move with greater confidence and control, on demanding ground and beyond it.
It focused on:
Sharper proprioception: Train the body to sense changes in position and load and correct itself faster, the reaction that stops a stumble becoming a fall.
Balance under load: Build postural control while carrying awkward loads across uneven ground and around obstacles, where it matters most.
Resilience after injury: Rebuild the sensory awareness an old injury quietly blunts, protecting against repeat incidents.
Coordination that lasts the shift: Hold movement quality as fatigue sets in, when the risk of a slip or trip climbs on long and night shifts.
Mind Your Step: Foot, Ankle and Knee Injury Prevention with Ben Davies
Most people don't give much thought to their feet and ankles until something goes wrong. Yet rail work means constantly moving across ballast, uneven ground and confined spaces, placing relentless stress on the feet and ankles, and when those structures are weak or stiff, the risk of sprains, strains and falls climbs sharply. The 30-minute session worked from the ground up, building the strength and stability that keep you balanced and sure-footed, reducing your risk of injury in a demanding environment. Simple exercises, practical takeaways, and useful whether you're at work or making the most of your time outside it.
Ben Davies is a qualified Sports Scientist, Personal Trainer and Ski Instructor. He is one of our most experienced consultants in Body Composition analysis. Ben studied Sports and Exercise Science at Loughborough University. He then obtained further qualifications in personal training and Strength and Conditioning. Ben's previous experience is as a Ski School Director in Zermatt, with direct responsibility for staff and client safety in a high-risk outdoor environment. That background gives him a practical, ground-level understanding of H&S that goes beyond the classroom.
Learn more about ankle strength via the button below.
Bring today's session to your team.
If you would like to explore bringing any of today's programmes to your own team or department, leave your details and we will be in touch.