Paul’s career spans over 40 years of academic and elite, professional, and Olympic level work.

His career has included working as visiting lecturer to Nottingham School of Sports Medicine and leading a course for the BSc in Sport Science at Nottingham Trent University. During this tenure, Paul was joint National Director of Coaching for the Sports Council, recognised Governing Body the BJJAGB and National Coaching Director for the CCPR recognised MMA.

Over the years, Paul’s has worked with professional golfers on the European Tour and with professional rugby players in the UK on pre-season conditioning. His practical teaching covers strength & conditioning, human performance, sports research and nutritional education, assessment, testing, program design, exercise prescription, rehabilitation, and personal training.

Having conducted consultancy work with medical associate Professor Colin Cleland, Paul began working in the role of a Clinical Exercise Physiologist, a career which spanning several decades and saw him develop the PLDHealthspan system. Paul and Colin’s work was wide and diverse, including taking Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy from inexperienced amateur to professional MMA fighters. These are the only two British fighters at time of writing to fight for World Titles in UFC.

This work, coupled with Paul’s martial arts experience, went onto form the basis for his Ultimate Rugby Warm up and pre-season ACMMT system. This system helped reduce injury and improve player performance. Paul was invited to present the system to NZ High Performance team in Wellington New Zealand and given funding to research and develop it.

Paul worked work with Auckland Rugby and their NPC Division One Semi-finalist and Champions, implementing the preseason contact skills and specialist conditioning to reduce injury and raise performance, which the coach agreed assisted in their Championship winning success. He was introduced to the Performance manager of Australian rugby, where he presented his work on avoidable injury, reducing recovery and rehabilitation, before returning to the UK in the late 2000s.

Paul was then appointed Co-ordinator of Strength and Conditioning for the world-famous Queensland Academy of Sport Regional Services in Queensland Australia. Here a large part of his role was working with Olympic and Paralympic competitors and professional athletes across a wide range of sports and disciplines, as well as college and school aged scholarship students. Paul was largely responsible for coach and trainer continued education, including “One to One” training and development with athletes.  Working as regional lead for a high-performance team, he instigated the idea of an injury review, which his then boss, Warwick Cann, went onto develop and conduct with Townsville Cowboys professional rugby League team.

Returning to the UK, Paul was interviewed and reached the final stages for the Rugby Leagues coach education officer and for the position of Coach to the Great Britain Paralympic weightlifting/ power lifting role. He went onto train local competitor, Natalie Blake, before going on to establish PLDHealthfit Ltd.

Paul’s professional focus is now primarily (but not exclusively) on “Exercise as adjunct medicine”, for longevity and specifically future fitness and health, and individuals Healthspan. He found a talented successor in Tom Cundy, who he believes has the right academic and practical acumen, skill dedication and self-discipline, and whom he has mentored for several years. Paul now works in collaboration with and for Tom, acting as Clinical lead for Exercise Physiology, Lead Strength & Conditioning, Staff Training and CPD at the Bespoke Fit Life Academy in Southwell.