From Chef to Coach: Alan Peacock's 20-Year Journey in Movement
Alan Peacock spent his early career as a chef in Newcastle before walking away from the kitchen to become a personal trainer, and twenty years later he owns and coaches at Move Method, a personal training and small-group studio in Lilyfield, Sydney's Inner West. His coaching blends gymnastics, strength training, Animal Flow, ViPR, and rehab-informed movement, built for people who want to move well, avoid injury, and stay strong for decades, not just chase a number on a scale.
Who Is Alan Peacock, Owner and Head Coach of Move Method?
Alan Peacock owns and coaches at Move Method, based at 503 Balmain Road, Lilyfield NSW 2040. Before he ever worked as a trainer, he was a competitive gymnast, and that background still shapes how he coaches today, he thinks about the body as something built to bend, balance, twist, and adapt, not just lift and lower weight.
With 20 years of experience behind him, Alan now runs Move Method alongside a small team of coaches, working directly with chiropractors, physiotherapists, and allied health professionals to support clients of all ages and abilities. He also mentors newer personal trainers, passing on the same approach to coaching and movement that shaped his own path. You can read more about him and the rest of the team on the Move Method coaches page.
From the Kitchen to the Gym Floor
Alan didn't plan on a career in fitness. He trained and worked as a chef in Newcastle, then moved to Sydney to keep building that career further. The hours were long and the work was physically demanding in its own way, but something was missing. As Alan tells it, it didn't take long to realise he wanted more from life than long hours over a stove.
What pulled him out of the kitchen wasn't a fitness fad, it was his history as a gymnast. He'd always been chasing new challenges and new ways to move, and eventually that curiosity pointed him toward a real career in health and fitness rather than a hobby on the side.
In his early twenties, Alan completed his Personal Training studies and took a job at one of Sydney's larger commercial gym chains. That job taught him plenty about the industry, but it also showed him where the model fell short.
Why Alan Left the Big Gyms to Start Move Method
Working the floor at a commercial gym gave Alan a good grounding in the basics, but it left him wanting something different. He wasn't interested in a career spent counting reps on machines while people worked their way through the same circuit week after week. He wanted to help people find out what their bodies were actually capable of.
That gap between what the big gyms offered and what he thought people really needed is the reason Move Method exists. Rather than build another gym full of machines and mirrors, Alan built a studio around movement, coached personal training and small-group classes for people who want to feel capable in daily life, not just after a workout.
What Training Styles Show Up in a Move Method Session?
Move Method isn't built around a single training style. Alan describes it as something he pieced together over years of study, course after course, blending several disciplines into one method:
Gymnastics, carried over from his own competitive years, used to build control, balance, and body awareness
Strength training, adapted to support real movement rather than isolated muscle groups
Animal Flow, ground-based patterns that build mobility, coordination, and full-body strength
ViPR training, load-based work that trains the body to push, pull, twist, and carry the way it does outside the gym
Rehab and prehab coaching, developed with input from chiropractors, physiotherapists, and other allied health professionals, aimed at heading off injury rather than just treating it afterwards
These show up across the class timetable, from the strength-focused BUILD sessions to the gymnastics rings and hand balancing SKILLS classes. The full schedule sits on the Move Method timetable and classes page. For a closer look at the coaching itself, Alan has also shared guidance on gymnastics rings strength training and bodyweight strength work.
The Three Pillars: Movement, Nutrition, Mindset
Alan built Move Method around three things he sees as inseparable: movement, nutrition, and mindset. Leave one out and, in his experience, the other two tend to fall apart too.
Movement comes first. That's why every new client starts with an assessment of posture, gait, and physical imbalances, rather than being handed a program off a shelf.
Nutrition is coached, not handed out as a one-page sheet. Clients work on food choices that hold up over time, geared toward how they actually eat and live, not a short-term diet.
Mindset ties the two together. A lot of Alan's coaching, and the studio's culture generally, comes down to helping people believe their body can do more than they assumed, not just pushing them through a hard session and calling it a day.
For anyone who wants a structured way into all three at once, Move Method runs an 8-week healthy habits masterclass built around exactly this.
How the Foundation Program Works
Every new client at Move Method goes through the same starting point, called the Standards of Foundations. It exists to build technique and body awareness before anyone moves into the more advanced classes. It runs through six stages:
Initial Assessment, setting goals and looking at posture, gait, and any physical imbalances
Foundation Training, four weeks spent on fundamentals and technique, working on whatever imbalances turned up in the assessment
Skilful Strength, once the basics are solid, moving into gymnastics, bodyweight work, and hand balancing
Weightlifting, building strength with free weights and functional equipment
Rehab / Prehab, injury-prevention work targeted at each person's specific weak points, done alongside allied health professionals
Mobility, ongoing joint care and flexibility work to stay limber day to day and for the long run
Alan doesn't hand someone a tough workout before they can move well, and this program is the reason why. The full details live on the Move Method Foundation Program page.
A Studio Built Around More Than Weightlifting
Walk through a week at Move Method and you'll see how far the coaching stretches beyond a standard weights session. The MOVE class builds strength in awkward, stressful positions the body has to adapt to on the spot. STRENGTH & MOVE is built around each person's own imbalances rather than a set program everyone follows. MOBILITY sessions load the joints through their full range to build both strength and flexibility at once, and on Saturday mornings, SPRINTS takes things outdoors for interval-based running work, open to complete beginners.
BUILD classes focus on the upper and lower body fundamentals Alan considers worth keeping as people age, and the SKILLS classes split into three levels, beginner, gymnastics, and hand balancing, so someone brand new to gymnastics and someone chasing a handstand can both find a class that fits. Kieran's adult boxing classes round things out, teaching footwork, pad work, and partner drills rather than a generic cardio-boxing format.
That range is deliberate. Alan's own path through gymnastics, big-box gyms, and rehab work left him convinced that no single class style covers everything a body needs over a lifetime.
Meet the Other Coach: Kieran Geeves
Alan isn't the only one shaping what training looks like at Move Method. Kieran Geeves, a personal trainer and boxing coach at the studio, came to fitness from a different direction. He became a trainer because he knew what it felt like to be out of shape and training in pain, and for the past six and a half years he's helped people move without pain, step into the ring for their first boxing fight, and build bodies that can keep up with everyday demands.
Kieran's sessions mix boxing, strength, mobility, gymnastics rings, and handstand training, and he also runs kids' boxing classes focused on coordination and confidence. Between them, Alan and Kieran arrived at Move Method's coaching philosophy from two very different starting points. Full profiles for both are on the our coaches page.
Working Alongside Chiropractors and Physiotherapists
Alan's approach to rehab and prehab work comes directly from years spent alongside chiropractors, physiotherapists, and other allied health professionals. Rather than treating injury prevention as something to bolt on later, it's one of the six stages every client works through from day one.
That matters most for people in the Inner West who've been putting up with a sore shoulder, hip, or back and don't want a program that ignores it. Move Method shares specific guidance built from this approach, including how to fix your back and a daily 10-minute mobility routine clients can use between sessions.
What This Means If You Train in Lilyfield, Rozelle, Balmain, or Leichhardt
For anyone looking for personal training in Lilyfield or nearby suburbs, Alan's background is the reason the coaching at Move Method looks different from a standard Inner West gym. Twenty years across commercial gyms, competitive gymnastics, and rehab-informed movement gives the studio a different starting point.
Nobody gets handed a generic plan. Clients go through an assessment, work through the Foundation Program, and get ongoing support across movement, nutrition, and mindset. For adults 35 and up who want to stay strong and capable for decades, not just months, that structure is the point of the whole thing.
Anyone curious to see the coaching before committing can watch class footage on the Move Method videos page or the Move Method YouTube channel, and follow the studio day to day on Instagram and Facebook. For a firsthand look, there's also a short two-week introductory offer for new clients.
Key Takeaways
Alan Peacock moved from a career as a chef in Newcastle into personal training, drawing on his years as a competitive gymnast.
After working in large commercial gyms, he built Move Method to coach movement quality rather than reps on machines.
Move Method blends gymnastics, strength training, Animal Flow, ViPR, and rehab-informed coaching into one method.
Every client starts with the same six-stage Foundation Program, from initial assessment through to mobility.
The studio runs on three pillars, movement, nutrition, and mindset, coached together rather than as separate add-ons.
Move Method's rehab and prehab work is built in partnership with chiropractors, physiotherapists, and allied health professionals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Alan Peacock?
Alan Peacock owns and coaches at Move Method, a personal training and small-group studio in Lilyfield, Sydney. He has 20 years of experience, starting as a competitive gymnast, working briefly as a chef, and later moving into personal training.What makes Move Method different from a typical gym?
It combines gymnastics, strength training, Animal Flow, ViPR, and rehab-informed coaching into one method, built around movement, nutrition, and mindset. New clients start with a structured Foundation Program instead of a generic workout plan.Does Move Method help with injury prevention?
Yes. Alan and the team work directly with chiropractors, physiotherapists, and other allied health professionals, and rehab/prehab work is part of the core Foundation Program every client goes through.Where is Move Method located?
Move Method is based at 503 Balmain Road, Lilyfield NSW 2040, and serves clients across Lilyfield, Rozelle, Balmain, and Leichhardt in Sydney's Inner West.Who else coaches at Move Method besides Alan Peacock?
Kieran Geeves is a personal trainer and boxing coach at the studio, running sessions that combine boxing, strength, mobility, gymnastics rings, and handstand training, along with kids' boxing classes.
About the Author
Alan Peacock owns and coaches at Move Method, a personal training and small-group studio in Lilyfield, Sydney. With 20 years of experience across gymnastics, strength training, and rehab-informed coaching, he works alongside chiropractors, physiotherapists, and allied health professionals to help adults 35 and over move better and train for the long haul. Read more about Alan and the rest of the coaching team on the Move Method coaches page, or get in touch through the contact page.