About Jamie Pickett — Clinical Exercise Physiologist & Founder of My Movement Medicine
Updated: Sep 12
Author: Jamie Pickett, Clinical Exercise Physiologist, Health Facilitator, & Founder of My Movement Medicine.
9 minute read
Category: About My Movement Medicine, Clinical Exercise Physiology, Cardiac Rehabilitation, My Movement Medicine C.I.C.
Introduction
Hi, I’m Jamie Pickett. I’m an AHCS Accredited Clinical Exercise Physiologist, Health Facilitator and the founder of My Movement Medicine.
Most of my working life has been spent in cardiac rehabilitation, helping people rebuild confidence with exercise after heart attacks, stents, bypass surgery, valve procedures, heart failure and other cardiovascular conditions.
I started My Movement Medicine in 2023 because I kept seeing the same thing happen. People would complete cardiac rehabilitation, make really good progress, and then reach the end of the programme and ask: what happens now?
That question stayed with me.
I wanted to create something that could sit in the space between healthcare and everyday life — somewhere people could keep exercising, keep learning about their bodies and keep building confidence after formal rehabilitation had finished.
I’m genuinely very grateful that My Movement Medicine has grown into something I can now make my job. I’ve always enjoyed working with people and helping them feel more confident with exercise, so having the chance to build a service around that is something I don’t take for granted. I’m also really excited about where it can go next.
We all have a responsibility to understand our own bodies — what they can do, what they need and how we can help them thrive. Your health shapes so much of what is possible in life, and learning how to look after it is one of the most valuable things you can do for yourself.
Why My Movement Medicine was started
Working in cardiac rehabilitation has shown me how much difference the right support can make.
People often arrive understandably cautious. They may be worried about doing too much, unsure what their heart rate should be, or simply nervous about exercising again after a major health event.
Over time, that can change completely. With the right structure, people learn what safe exercise feels like, what their body can tolerate and how to start trusting themselves again.
The difficult part is that formal rehabilitation eventually ends.
Some people are completely ready to continue independently. Others miss the routine, monitoring, social side and reassurance that helped them get moving again.
My Movement Medicine grew from wanting to offer a useful next step rather than leaving people with a gap.
It began as a small community exercise service in Hampstead and has gradually developed into a wider Clinical Exercise Physiology service, with cardiac-focused group exercise, online sessions, 1-to-1 support, small groups, home visits and health education.
My clinical background
My clinical background is mainly in NHS cardiac rehabilitation.
I’ve worked across Royal Bournemouth Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, including St Mary’s cardiac rehabilitation.
Across those roles I’ve worked with people recovering from or living with coronary artery disease, heart attack, coronary stents, bypass surgery, valve procedures, heart failure, arrhythmias and more complex cardiac histories.
My work has included cardiac rehabilitation exercise classes, exercise stress testing and functional-capacity assessment, health screening, risk assessment, exercise prescription, heart-rate monitoring, Borg RPE, patient education and supporting people who are often managing more than one health condition at the same time.
That experience still shapes the way I run My Movement Medicine now. Even in a community setting, I want people to feel there is a clear reason behind what we are doing and that the exercise has been thought through properly.
My qualifications and professional development
I’ve always tried to keep building my knowledge rather than relying on one qualification or one area of experience.
My main qualifications and training include:
BSc Clinical Exercise and Rehabilitation Science
CIMSPA / REPs Level 2 Gym Instructor
CIMSPA / REPs Level 3 Personal Training
CIMSPA / REPs Level 3 Exercise Referral
CIMSPA / REPs Level 4 Cardiac Disease
CIMSPA / REPs Level 4 Chronic Respiratory Disease
CIMSPA / REPs Level 4 Stroke
CIMSPA / REPs Level 4 Falls Prevention
CIMSPA / REPs Level 4 Obesity & Diabetes
BACPR Assessing Functional Capacity
BACPR Level 4 Exercise Instructor
BACPR Physical Activity in Heart Failure
CIMSPA Senior Activity and Health Practitioner
I also keep my required health and safety qualifications up to date.
What Clinical Exercise Physiology means to me
Clinical Exercise Physiology is about much more than simply choosing exercises.
For me, it means understanding the person in front of you: their health history, symptoms, medication, confidence, goals, fitness and what they actually want to get back to doing.
It can involve testing exercise capacity, prescribing cardiovascular and strength exercise, monitoring intensity, adapting around symptoms or long-term conditions, and then progressing when the time is right.
One of the most useful things I can do is help somebody understand what their own body is telling them.
That might mean learning how to use Borg RPE, understanding heart-rate response, recognising when to progress, knowing when to ease off and eventually feeling less dependent on somebody else telling you exactly what to do.
How I think about exercise
I don’t think good exercise is about making every session harder.
Sometimes the right decision is to progress. Sometimes it is to maintain. Sometimes it is to adapt.
Too easy → Progress. About right → Maintain. Too hard → Adapt.
The correct level can change from one day to the next.
Sleep, stress, medication, illness, pain, temperature and recovery can all affect how exercise feels. I would much rather someone choose the right level for themselves than feel they have to keep up with the person next to them.
That is one of the things I really want people to take from My Movement Medicine: a better understanding of their own response to exercise.
Heart rate, Borg RPE and learning to self-manage
Heart-rate monitoring has always been a big part of my cardiac rehabilitation work, and it remains an important part of My Movement Medicine.
But I never want people to feel that a heart-rate number tells the whole story.
Medication, rhythm conditions, pacemakers, fitness and lots of other factors can change heart-rate response. That is why we also use the Borg RPE 6–20 scale, the talk test, symptoms and movement quality.
In the group sessions, the general framework is:
Warm-up starts around RPE 6 and gradually builds towards 10–11
Main exercise is usually around RPE 11–14 depending on the person and the day
Cool-down comes back into single figures and towards RPE 6 where possible
The longer-term aim is for people to understand these tools well enough to use them confidently outside a supervised session too.
More than cardiac rehabilitation
Cardiac rehabilitation is my main clinical background, but my training also covers a wider range of long-term health conditions.
My Movement Medicine can support medically stable people living with or recovering from cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, respiratory disease, stroke, cancer, falls risk, reduced balance, chronic pain, fibromyalgia and deconditioning after illness or inactivity.
The principles are usually very similar: understand the individual, choose the right starting point, monitor the response and progress gradually.
Building confidence, not dependence
One thing that matters a lot to me is helping people become more confident managing their own exercise.
I don’t think the aim should always be to keep someone in supervised exercise forever.
For one person, success might mean moving from cardiac rehabilitation into a community group. For somebody else, it might mean using a few 1-to-1 sessions to learn how to use the gym confidently. For another person, it could simply be understanding their heart-rate zone and knowing when exercise feels right.
Sometimes the best outcome is that somebody needs less support than they did when they started.
Education is a big part of the service
I enjoy the education side of the job just as much as the exercise itself.
That is why My Movement Medicine has developed a growing library of health guides covering exercise, heart health, nutrition, psychology and long-term conditions.
I want the information to be useful, practical and easy to apply rather than something people read once and forget.
Explore the My Movement Medicine Health Guide Library — https://www.mymovementmedicine.co.uk/health-guides
From NHS rehabilitation to community health
Over time, My Movement Medicine has grown from a small community programme into My Movement Medicine C.I.C.
The C.I.C. side of the service is particularly important to me because it allows the group programme to stay focused on community benefit, affordability, referral pathways and long-term sustainability.
We now work with people referred from cardiac rehabilitation teams, GPs, social prescribers and other healthcare professionals, as well as people who refer themselves.
I’m proud of that growth, but I still want the service to feel personal. I never want it to become so big that people feel like a number.
Read the GP Referral Pack & Self-Referral Guide — https://www.mymovementmedicine.co.uk/post/gp-pack-self-referral-guide
Recognition and a few milestones
My Movement Medicine has received some external recognition, which I’m very grateful for.
Health Referral Specialists of the Year 2025 – London
Cardiac Rehabilitation Innovation Award 2025
Best Emerging Exercise Physiology Service 2026 – UK
I’m pleased to have received them and they help raise awareness of the service, but I don’t see awards as the thing that makes My Movement Medicine credible.
For me, that comes from the qualifications behind the work, appropriate screening, sensible exercise prescription, good monitoring and, most importantly, how people actually experience the service.
View My Movement Medicine’s 2025 GHP winner page — https://ghpnews.digital/winners/my-movement-medicine/
A little bit about me outside work
Away from work, sport and music probably take up most of my interests.
For my sins, I support Manchester United. I’ve always enjoyed football, both watching it and playing when I get the chance. One of my favourite football memories was getting the opportunity to play in a cup final at the Vitality Stadium.
I also enjoy setting myself the occasional challenge. I completed the Three Peaks Challenge in 22 hours 35 minutes, raising £4,000 for Bournemouth Heart Club, and later ran the Bournemouth Half Marathon, raising a further £2,000 for Bournemouth Heart Club and Safe & Sound Dorset.
Those experiences probably say quite a lot about why I ended up working in exercise and rehabilitation. I enjoy seeing what the body is capable of, but I also like exercise to have a purpose beyond simply chasing fitness.
Music is the other big one for me.
I’ve built up a record collection over the years, with a particularly healthy amount of T. Rex, and quite a few of those records eventually find their way onto the playlists we use during My Movement Medicine sessions.
I enjoy live music too, and I’ve always liked putting playlists together and finding the right music for the environment. So there is usually a little bit of my own taste hidden in the background of the classes.
I’ve also created a growing collection of tempo-based Spotify playlists that we use across My Movement Medicine sessions, helping match the music to different parts of the session and different exercise intensities.
Listen to the My Movement Medicine Spotify playlists — https://open.spotify.com/user/31tz3deaqir2ydb2mtqo4ogrfwkq
My philosophy
The philosophy behind My Movement Medicine is quite simple.
We all have a responsibility to understand our own bodies — what they can do, what they need and how we can help them thrive. Your health shapes so much of what is possible in life, and learning how to look after it is one of the most valuable things you can do for yourself.
I don’t mean that everyone needs to become an expert in physiology.
I mean understanding enough about yourself to make better decisions: how hard to exercise, when to rest, when to progress, what symptoms matter and which habits help you feel and function better.
Exercise is one of the best ways I know to build that understanding.
What I hope My Movement Medicine can become
I’m very excited about the next stage of My Movement Medicine.
The aim is to keep building a service that acts as a bridge between healthcare and everyday life.
That means offering different ways for people to get the right level of support, including community group exercise, online cardiac-focused exercise, 1-to-1 Clinical Exercise Physiology, small-group sessions, home visits, exercise testing, health education and practical self-management tools.
I’m grateful that I now have the chance to put more of my time into this work and to see how far the service can go.
I don’t want to medicalise exercise unnecessarily. I want to make good-quality support available when people need it, then help them become as confident and independent as possible.
Work with My Movement Medicine
There are several ways to get involved with My Movement Medicine, whether you are looking for ongoing cardiac-focused group exercise, individual Clinical Exercise Physiology or simply useful health information.
Frequently asked questions
What is my professional role?
I’m an AHCS Accredited Clinical Exercise Physiologist and Health Facilitator, with a specialist background in cardiac rehabilitation and long-term-condition exercise.
How much cardiac rehabilitation experience do I have?
I have around 10 years of NHS cardiac rehabilitation experience across three hospitals, alongside community and private Clinical Exercise Physiology work.
Do I only work with cardiac patients?
No. Cardiac rehabilitation is my main clinical background, but my qualifications and services also cover respiratory disease, stroke, falls prevention, obesity, diabetes and other long-term health conditions.
Can I see Jamie for 1-to-1 exercise support?
Yes. My Movement Medicine offers individual Clinical Exercise Physiology sessions alongside the C.I.C. group service.
Can healthcare professionals refer patients?
Yes. My Movement Medicine accepts healthcare-professional referrals and also provides a self-referral route for suitable participants.
Is My Movement Medicine part of the NHS?
No. My Movement Medicine is an independent service, and My Movement Medicine C.I.C. is a Community Interest Company. My NHS experience informs the service, but MMM is not an NHS organisation.
Summary
I started My Movement Medicine because I saw how much people could benefit from structured rehabilitation, and how difficult it could sometimes be to keep that confidence once formal support ended.
I’ve been very fortunate to spend my career working in an area I care about, and I’m genuinely grateful that I now have the opportunity to make My Movement Medicine my main job.
The next stage is about building on what is already working, creating more ways for people to access support, and continuing to help people understand their bodies well enough to move with confidence.
& I’m excited to see where it goes.
Useful links
This health guide was written by Jamie Pickett, Clinical Exercise Physiologist, Health Facilitator, & Founder of My Movement Medicine & My Movement Medicine C.I.C.
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