Aidan Donnelly Coaching

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Aidan Donnelly Coaching 🏋🏻‍♂️Coach & Co-owner of G2G Coaching
I focus on sustainable approaches to training, health, performance and coaching, and help others to do the same.

It’s like the whole idea of ‘don’t think of a pink elephant…’Tell yourself that part of you is ‘fragile’ or unsafe and i...
08/10/2026

It’s like the whole idea of ‘don’t think of a pink elephant…’

Tell yourself that part of you is ‘fragile’ or unsafe and it’s all you’ll be able to focus on.

The nocebo effect is real - and gets reinforced by well meaning but misinformed people.

Fearing pain and injury = hyper-vigilance, guarding, avoidance

Recognising the body is robust, adaptable and can recover = resilience

04/10/2026

Pain doesn’t always mean injury and tissue damage

Understanding why can change everything about how you heal and solve the problem.

Here’s the difference between nociceptive and neuroplastic pain:
💪Nociceptive Pain: This is pain from tissue damage. Think a sprained ankle, a cut, or a burn. Your body’s sensors detect real tissue damage and send a danger signal to your brain.

🧠 Neuroplastic Pain: This happens when your brain’s danger alarm system gets overprotective. Even after the tissue has fully healed, the brain continues to generate pain signals due to learned neural pathways.

How Neuroplastic Pain Behaves Differently: Unlike an acute injury, long-lasting pain (3+ months) that comes and goes, shifts around the body, flares up easily, or after rather than during exercise isn’t a structural problem - it’s neuroplastic. Searching endlessly for a mechanical “fix” or structural defect often keeps the brain trapped in fear.

The Mind-Body Connection: Stress, anxiety, and low mood act like fuel on the fire. They dial up your nervous system’s sensitivity, exaggerating pain signals - even when the pain is nociceptive and stemming from damaged tissue.

The Takeaway: Pain is always real, but it isn’t always damage. Retraining your brain and nervous system to feel safe in your body and with certain movements is often the true key to relief.

💾 Save this post for the next time your pain flares up, and share it with someone who needs to hear that their pain is real - even without an active injury.

Disclaimer: This post is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional regarding any medical condition, persistent pain, or before starting any new health or rehabilitation program.

24/09/2026

💃 Your Thursday nights just got a little more interesting…

Brazilian Zouk is all about connection, movement, music and flow.. and we’re creating a relaxed space to discover it together.

Our beginner block starts this October. No partner, no experience, no pressure - just come along and give it a go. 🤍

🐣 Early bird is £45 until Sunday 27 September.

📩 DM us or email [email protected] to book.

Stress in itself is good and necessary - chronic stress - the kind you are not coping well with, is not - but many peopl...
20/09/2026

Stress in itself is good and necessary - chronic stress - the kind you are not coping well with, is not - but many people struggle to identify periods or chronic stress and when they are in the midst of it. It’s only with the benefit of hindsight they are aware.

Adapting to training and overcoming injuries/ pain become very problematic under periods of chronic stress.

At times the psychological and emotional stress caused by the injury itself can be enough to wreak havoc if there’s a loss of identity or social life.

Many high performers use their sport/ activity to manage stress - and therefore without it - that coping strategy is gone - and they become desperate to get back - self sabotaging along the way - trying to fast track rehab - which takes times and patience.

If you are aware of it based on your behaviours or emotional responses - then you can put strategies in place to cope.

If you find it difficult to identify - then look at your behaviours and responses aka ‘your tells’

Here are some key ones:

- difficulty falling/ staying asleep
- physical exhaustion but feeling on edge at night
- lethargy in the morning
- difficulty recovering from normal bouts of training
- increased muscle and joint soreness
- appetite reduction or increase desire for high calorie ‘junk food’
- irritability and low mood

17/09/2026

Do you need to be pain free to train?

Is pain a bad sign?

Whilst there are always exceptions and nothing is absolute - the answer is generally ‘no you don’t need to be pain free’ and ‘no pain is not a bad sign’

Some pain and discomfort is part of the recovery process after an injury, and chasing ‘pain free’ generally leads to more problems than it solves

What matters is the dose and the response over time.

Not a fan of absolutes or sweeping statements - but when it comes to back pain people generally tend to focus on specifi...
30/08/2026

Not a fan of absolutes or sweeping statements - but when it comes to back pain people generally tend to focus on specific exercises or singular details without recognising the massive contribution of constant stressors without reprieve or sufficient recovery.

Adaptation goes out the window, and a host of other issues start to arise if there is chronic stress and not enough time to recover.

24/08/2026

Do you actually need to RELAX the muscles in your lower back?

The sports and hobbies I do involve using my lower back and erectors a lot of the time. 🏋️‍♂️

Mix that with a history of lower back injuries, and now whenever I’m stressed, anxious, or running on an overactive sympathetic nervous system, my erectors are the very first place to tense up. 🧠⚡

Early advice that I adopted, and has now proven to be unhelpful, was: 
❌ Always chasing a “neutral” spine 
❌ The need to always brace hard under heavy loads 
❌ Constantly striving for a “stronger core” and “better core stability”

Now, my erectors can easily become overactive (also known as hypertonic). Think of it like tensing your bicep all day long - eventually, it gets exhausted and fatigued! 

📍 Quick Test: A great indicator of whether this is happening to you is your ability to touch your toes and forward fold. If you have limited, rigid movement in your lower back, your muscles might be holding onto too much tone. 

The solution? Learning how to relax the muscle tissue and down-regulate that tension:
1️⃣ Positional Breathing & Breathwork: Use deep, controlled breathing or meditation to calm your nervous system. 🌬️🧘‍♀️ 
2️⃣ Move Through Full Range: Practice moving through active flexion and extension instead of maintaining a rigid, fixed spine. 🔄 
3️⃣ Sub-Maximal Loading: Lift lighter weights while staying relaxed. In this video, I’m exhaling at the bottom of the front squat to reduce unnecessary tension. 🏋️

💡 Bottom line: Your lower back might not need more bracing and tension - it might just need you to calm your nervous system and relax. 🧠✨

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE YOU? Are your lower back muscles constantly feeling “on” or guarded? Drop a comment below or send me a DM-let’s talk about taking the tension off! 💬

📌 Save this post for your next workout, and share it with a gym buddy who’s always dealing with a tight lower back! 📲

Demand exceeding capacity. 📉That’s how most injuries happen. 🩹You can draw a direct parallel between this and how so man...
21/08/2026

Demand exceeding capacity. 📉

That’s how most injuries happen. 🩹

You can draw a direct parallel between this and how so many life problems arise: what is being demanded outstrips the capacity available to tolerate or cope with it. ⚖️

I post a lot about pain - and this concept is deeply applicable there, too. Pain frequently stems from the nervous system responding to an overwhelming level of stress. 🧠⚡

When it comes to actual tissue damage, MOST issues (not all, there are always exceptions!) arise from stress exceeding tolerance - aka demand exceeding capacity.

* When stress is tolerable, we adapt and grow stronger.
* When stress is intolerable, things go wrong - either in an instant or gradually over time through chronic overload.

Posture, positioning, stability, and technique are simply tools to redistribute stress across a system, helping tissues accommodate more or do less. But they are not the sole drivers of injury.

🚫 ‘Poor’ posture or ‘poor’ technique does not instantly lead to tissue damage.

The trickiest part? Figuring out where all that stress is actually coming from and identifying what’s pushing you past your threshold. 

Most people blame a single movement or exercise, completely missing the big picture - and the forest for the trees. 🌳👀

Feeling stuck with a nagging injury or persistent pain? Stop guessing and start looking at the bigger picture. Drop a comment below or send me a DM today so we can map out your total stress load and build back your capacity!

Keep the goal the goal!Having a priority, a focus and maintaining that over enough time to see it pay off or know how be...
28/05/2026

Keep the goal the goal!

Having a priority, a focus and maintaining that over enough time to see it pay off or know how best to adjust can be a challenge.

Check out the slides for more information.

If you struggle with this DM me the word ‘goal’ for a framework to help solve this.

Change is difficult. Easier to keep doing the same thing hoping for a different outcome, especially when you don’t want ...
24/04/2026

Change is difficult. Easier to keep doing the same thing hoping for a different outcome, especially when you don’t want to have to change what you are doing.

Load management, proper recovery and identifying what triggers your back pain is huge for being able to make sustainable progress.

Do you have ongoing back pain?

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