Alex Reid
Perform Fitness is run by Director, Alex Reid BSc, CSCS, ASCC
Alex Reid created Perform Fitness in 2008.
Perform: Fitness: is run and directed by Alex Reid (nee Court), BSc., CSCS, ASCC.
Graduating from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 1995 with an Exercise Science degree, after a four year basketball scholarship, Alex began her professional career at a private sports medicine clinic in Northamptonshire.
The exercise scientist role included fitness testing on various sports teams, individual athletes, as well as corporate health screens. Clients included Nationwide Building Society, Northampton Fire & Rescue Service and Northamptonshire Police Force.
In 1997 Alex moved to London and worked at Harrods Limited in the occupational health department, providing health and fitness screening on executives, company directors and staff. She shared her time between the corporate environment of Harrods and the professional football players at Fulham Football Club.
Alex spent a total of seven years at Harrods Ltd and Fulham Football Club. She was part of the multi-disciplinary medical team who supported the squad to win Division One in 2000 as part of Jean Tigana’s staff and gain promotion to the Premier League.
She also worked with the FFC academy of excellence players (U9-19 years) and the Fulham women’s first team. Alex became the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the men’s first team squad in 2003, preparing the players for the challenges of the Premier League on a daily basis.
Between 2004-2007 Alex spent three years at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club where she was recruited from FFC to conduct the rehabilitation of the injured first team squad players. Alex was then promoted, due to change in management, to Head Strength & Conditioning Coach working with Martin Jol and Chris Houghton with the first team squad and Clive Allan with the Spurs Reserve Team.
She managed all of the strength & conditioning of the professional players, in addition to conducting the rehabilitation of injured players, working closely with the physiotherapists and ensuring that the players returned to action fit and robust ready for the rigours and demands of the Premier League.
Alex’s experiences also involve time as a consultant exercise scientist for the Football Association, working specifically with the England women’s U23 and U17 teams. Many of her U17 squad were in the highly successful Lionesses who won the European Championships in 2022 and 2025. In addition, she has worked with a number of International athletes from other sports, including tennis, karate, basketball, golf, swimming and hockey as well as consulting for England Athletics.
After her time in football, Alex decided to become self employed and this is when Perform Fitness S&C Limited was created.
In recent years Alex has developed her wellbeing service provision and developed the concept of ‘Deskercise’: desk based exercise for office and home based employees. Alex has engaged with a number of high profile companies since 2020 and delivered live and videoed sessions for their teams and employees worldwide. This proved to be a positive addition to each company’s wellbeing initiatives, benefitting both physical and mental health.
Alex was awarded Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Year 2023 in Health & Wellbeing from the UKSCA for this work. In addition, Alex has written a research paper on the benefits of Deskercise which was published in 2024 (Taylor & Francis).
Alex was the High Performance Coach and lead the strength and conditioning provision for the professional game match official team (PGMOT) for the RFU/England Rugby.
Alex completed this role for a total of 16 years and within this time also consulted for World Rugby. Both roles included physical monitoring of the World Rugby match officials in preparation for the 2015, 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cups, in addition to fitness testing the match officials for the women’s and men’s Six Nations on a number of occasions throughout her career.
As well as preparing the match officials for the 7s World Series, the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games, Alex has seen her English match officials through four Rugby World Cups, preparing the selected match officials for 2011, 2015, 2019 and more recently 2023. The highlight of this involvement being the selection of five of her English match officials for the Rugby World Cup Final in Paris on October 28th 2023. Alex is immensely proud of this achievement, it is one of her career highlights.
In 2020 Alex volunteered to work with the Great Britain Women’s Maxi basketball team to help them prepare for the European Masters Basketball Championships in Malaga. This involved S&C programming for the over 35’s, 40’s, 45’s and 50 year old teams to help optimise their conditioning and robustness in preparation for the European Championships.
2025 provided the opportunity for Alex to return back to football after 16 years in rugby, where she gained a freelance contract with FIFA Women’s Division. Alex was the lead high performance coach for the Afghan Women United team, supporting players who have been dispersed globally. The inaugural FIFA Unites tournament provided the opportunity for these amazing women to play competitive football again.
Alex has written and published three books on various components of strength and conditioning and is always keeping up to date with current research principals to benefit her clients and application of her trade.
Alex is very proud of her experiences in high performance sport which spans almost 30 years and brings her experiences and love of sport, high performance and rehabilitation to her role with Perform Fitness, her private clients and consultancy roles.
Alex preparing the RFU match officials for the Rugby World Cup in Japan 2019.
Alex with the PGMOT: professional game match official team.
Alex training the Tottenham Hotspur Football Team, Pre-season tour in South Korea, 2005.
In recent years Alex has taken to writing and has now written three books within the area of strength & conditioning:
- Elite Performance Running: Middle Distance to Marathon (A&C Black, 2009)
- The Science of Stretching (The Crowood Press, 2017)
- Applied Core Conditioning (The Crowood Press, 2019)
Alex is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength & Conditioning Association who are the worldwide authority on strength & conditioning, in addition to being an Accredited Strength & Conditioning Coach (ASCC) with the UK Strength & Conditioning Association.
In 2023 Alex was awarded Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Year Award for Wellbeing by her peers at the UKSCA, an award she is extremely proud of.
Alex’s continuing professional development is important to her. Her on-going qualifications and certifications include the following:
- The Football Association Fitness Trainers Award
- Certificate in Sports Nutrition
- SAQ (Speed, Agility & Quickness) Certification
- British Weight Lifting Association (BWLA) Instructors Award
- British Weight Lifting Association (BWLA) Leaders Award
In addition, Alex is certified in Emergency First Aid in accordance with the Health & Safety (First Aid) Regulations.
She has Professional Liability Insurance through the United Kingdom Strength & Conditioning Association (UKSCA). Alex has clearance on the Criminal Records Bureau disclosure (CRB) and has attended the National Coaching Foundation workshops on child protection and attended the FIFA Safeguarding Guardians Course.
She is a member of The British Association of Sport and Exercise Science (BASES) as well as the UKSCA and the NSCA.
Please contact Alex to discuss how Perform Fitness can help you develop your fitness and strength & conditioning and discuss your performance and rehabilitation goals.