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For founders, CEOs and leadership teams

Our President Spent Thirty Years and Over $150,000 Trying to Fix His Back.

What finally worked took a few painless minutes a day. And it did not stop at the pain. It changed his sleep, his energy and his focus.

The president of NuCalm, David Poole, has not owned an office chair since 1995. He stands all day. He eats standing or kneeling. Two spinal surgeries, thirty years of sciatica, and more than $150,000 of his own money spent on people who said they could fix it, but couldn't.

In October 2025 he met Elliot Newman, a human performance strategist who spends most of his time keeping international athletes on the field. Elliot showed him a set of simple child-like movements to do twice a day.

David has now been pain free since the start of 2026. He swims forty minutes a day. He is playing more hockey than he has in years.

David Poole

President, Solace Lifesciences

And he sits down for dinner.

Given his success, we asked him to bring Elliot's work to a small number of you.

Start with a conversation

David's account

David's Account, In His Own Words.

David Poole is 57. He grew up competing with his identical twin brother in wrestling, boxing, karate and football, and by his own description built his identity around it.

At the age of 26, I had my first devastating injury. I herniated two discs in my lower back and needed surgery to avoid permanent nerve damage and a dead foot. I had no idea how my life was going to change.
Five years later, I herniated two more discs while playing ice hockey and had to have a second back operation.

David Poole, President, Solace Life Sciences, creators of NuCalm

What followed was thirty years of managing it. Both shoulders operated on. A knee. Five broken ribs, a broken arm, a torn achilles, several severe concussions. All of those healed and left almost no mark.

The back did not.

My back has been a problem for 30 years. I have a very limited sitting tolerance. I have not had an office chair for 30 years. I stand all day. I often eat standing or kneeling. I have to limit my travel. I have missed out on countless family events, travel experiences, work events, because of severe back pain and sciatica.
I live in perpetual motion because it helps me deal with the chronic pain. During a four-year period I walked over 10 miles per day because it helped my back and my mood.

What he spent

Since 1994, I have spent over $150K cash for services from chiropractors, osteopaths, physical therapists, rolfing and reiki therapists, acupuncturists, and other specialists. For nearly one year I was ingesting 3,200 mg of ibuprofen to reduce pain.

He kept going anyway. What other choice did he have, running the company? Twenty weeks of travel a year, hockey, weights, six or seven miles a day on foot, and back spasms as the regular price of all of it.

October 2025

Elliot showed me some simple movements I can do two times per day that he said would help with my back. The science made sense and they were easy to do. I have been doing these movements daily since we met and I am surprised and delighted to report that I have been pain free since the beginning of 2026.
I am playing more hockey than ever, I am swimming for 40 minutes per day, I am riding my motorcycles regularly, and I am sitting for dinner. My life has completely changed.
You don't really pay attention to how bad things are until you resolve them and can live your life on your terms. Chronic pain is a horrible thing and at times now, I can't even remember having a bad back.

David is careful to say he still has a lower back and still respects it. He is also, in his own words, more active and more resilient than he has ever been.

The argument

It Was Never That He Had Not Tried.

Look at what David bought over thirty years. Chiropractors. Osteopaths. Physical therapists. Rolfing. Reiki. Acupuncture. Two operations. A year of ibuprofen at the top of the dosing range.

Every one of those is a good discipline practised by capable people. And almost every one of them was aimed at the place that hurt.

The place that hurts is rarely the place that is wrong.

Elliot did not treat David's back. He rebuilt the motor control, proprioception and reflexive stability underneath it, using movement patterns humans develop in the first three years of life and most adults quietly lose to decades of sitting, injury and compensation. Rehab repairs tissue. It very seldom retrains any of that, which is why the same injury keeps coming back to the same person.

That work takes minutes a day. It cost David nothing except doing it, twice, every day, without missing.

Now the part that matters more than any of it.

Those movements were not the answer. They were David's answer, because that is what David's body turned out to need, and it took sixteen years of doing this to know that within one conversation.

Somebody else needs their sleep rebuilt before anything else will hold. Somebody else needs to stop training the way they have trained for twenty years, because it is the training that is doing the damage. Somebody else is eating and travelling in a way no amount of movement will compensate for. Somebody else has strength and capacity as the missing layer and needs to be loaded, carefully, for the first time in a decade.

Elliot works across seven of these areas, and the skill is not in any one of them. It is in looking at a whole person and knowing which layer to touch first, what to leave alone, and in what order.

Which is the real point of this page. David did not have a spending problem or a discipline problem. He had nobody looking at the whole system and telling him where to start.

The problem

The Most Important Team in Your Business Has No Coaching Staff.

An empty boardroom at dusk, city lights beyond the glass.

A professional athlete competes for a few hours a week. The rest of the time is spent preparing, recovering, and managing the demands of performance.

They have a strength coach, a nutritionist, a physiotherapist, a doctor, a massage therapist, sleep protocols and a support team. All of it exists to keep them healthy, available and capable of performing when it matters.

You compete for most of your waking week.

No pre-season. No off-season. No recovery week. And for most founders and senior executives, nobody whose job it is to understand and improve how you physically and cognitively perform.

You are carrying a workload that would challenge a professional athlete, usually without the foundation that allows a body and a mind to sustain it.

Over time it shows up in ways that are easy to dismiss. Persistent back, shoulder or neck pain. Broken sleep. The afternoon drop. Difficulty holding concentration. A gradual loss of the clarity and decisiveness you used to take for granted.

And the higher you sit, the less likely anybody is to mention it.

Your board expects you to lead. Your team expects consistency. At home you may not want to worry anybody. So you manage it, you keep going, and you put it down to a demanding period that will settle down.

For a lot of executives that demanding period has been running for years.

It usually is not age. It is an unbuilt foundation carrying a load it was never designed to hold.

That can be changed, and normally faster than you would expect.

Why NuCalm is doing this

We Built the Best Nervous System Technology in the World. It Is Still Only One Thing.

NuCalm does one job better than anything else available. It puts your nervous system into a state where it can actually recover. That is not a small job. The nervous system is the master switch, and when it is stuck in a low grade stress state your sleep, digestion, mood, energy and decision making all pay for it.

But your sleep is not only a nervous system problem.

It is also what you ate, when you flew, how long you sat, whether your back hurts, whether you have built any physical capacity at all, and what your diary looks like next Tuesday.

Software cannot look at all of that and decide what to do about it in what order, for you specifically. A person can.

Elliot Newman is that person. He has spent sixteen years doing it for professional athletes whose careers depend on it, and the last few years doing it for founders, CEOs and senior executives, including our own president.

NuCalm is one of the tools he uses. It is the one he reaches for on the nervous system, and every client on this program gets it included. It is not the program. He is.

To be exact about it, because it matters: NuCalm did not fix David's back.

David has used NuCalm for decades. He did not need Elliot to introduce him to it, and he had it through every one of those thirty years. It was never going to fix his back, because a back is not a nervous system problem. Our technology does a different job in a different layer, and it does that job better than anything else made.

Which is rather the point. You can own the best tool in the world for one layer and still be stuck, for thirty years, because nobody has looked at the other six.

Who he is

He Did Not Come Looking for Executives.

Years ago Elliot Newman injured his back deadlifting 80kg and could not get out of bed for a week. He was told to rest, scale back, and accept that his body might not do what it once did.

Ten months later he won a world deadlift title with a deadlift of 227.5kg, with no belt and no back pain. Over eighteen years later he has never had another injury.

That experience raised the question he has worked on ever since. How much of what we accept as decline is actually decline, and how much is a foundation nobody ever built?

He spent the next sixteen years finding real answers to that question, with people whose income depends on it. Rugby internationals. Professional golfers and footballers. Boxers. World class strength athletes. He learned directly from Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell, Andy Bolton, Dr Stuart McGill and Pavel Tsatsouline, and was the only person to train every session alongside Bolton in the lead up to his 1,008lb world record deadlift.

The executive work found him. A CFO. A group CEO. An NFL team surgeon. Senior people in engineering and finance who wanted the resilience and performance the athletes were getting, and found it worked just as well on them, because the underlying system is the same system.

Elliot Newman, human performance strategist, photographed in black and white.

**Dr Peter Marta**, D.O., M.S., board certified physician and surgeon

As featured in

T Nation
Dragon Door
EliteFTS
Men's Health
StrongFirst

The framework

Most Executives Have Never Been Shown This. Your Career Is a Pyramid.

Elliot uses the same framework with a chief executive that he uses with an England international, adapted to the needs of the individual in front of him. The body underneath does not know what your job title is.

Level 5
Performance
The board meeting. The fundraise. The pitch. The negotiation. The quarter.
Level 4
Role specific
Transatlantic travel. Twelve hour days. Back to back meetings. Endless sitting. Screens. Decision after decision after decision.
Level 3
Physical capacity
Strength, conditioning, muscle and work capacity. Built so that you recover from it, never so that it leaves you tired for work.
Level 2
Resilience
Posture, motor control, proprioception and reflexive stability, rebuilt using the Human Developmental Sequence. This is where chronic pain goes away. This is the layer David had never worked on.
Level 1
Foundation
Sleep. Hydration. Nutrition. Recovery. Mental training. Nervous system regulation, which is where NuCalm sits.

The wider the base, the taller the peak.

Athletes who neglect levels one, two and three become inconsistent, get injured more, and stop being able to sustain performance.

Business leaders almost never build levels one, two and three at all. They build a demanding career on a foundation that was never designed to carry it, and over years that turns into high stress, poor sleep, brain fog, burnout, and a growing reliance on caffeine, sugar, alcohol or medication to get through an ordinary week.

Elliot helps you build levels one, two and three, so that you can execute levels four and five to your true potential.

The method

The Newman Factor.

Seven factors determine how you perform, how you recover, and how long you can keep operating at a high level. How they are applied depends entirely on the individual. No two programs are the same, because no two executives and no two diaries are the same.

01
Sleep.
The most powerful recovery tool you have, and usually the first thing sacrificed. Addressed properly it moves energy, focus, recovery and performance more than anything else on this list.
02
Nervous system regulation.
The master switch. Living in a persistent low grade stress state degrades recovery, digestion, sleep, mood, energy and decision making. This is where NuCalm does its work, used deliberately rather than occasionally.
03
Nutrition.
No restrictive diets and no unnecessary complexity. Practical strategies that survive hotels, airports and a diary you do not fully control.
04
Recovery.
Adaptation happens during recovery, not during the work. Most executives have never been given a structured approach to it that accounts for what their role actually demands.
05
Resilience training.
The Human Developmental Sequence. Posture, motor control, proprioception, balance and coordination rebuilt from the inside out. This is where back, hip, knee, shoulder and neck pain tend to resolve, because it addresses the cause rather than the site.
06
Physical capacity.
Strength, conditioning and muscle, built with exercises chosen for return and efficiency. The goal is capacity without leaving you sore, tired or compromised for work.
07
Mental performance.
Focus, composure, and the ability to perform under pressure. Breathing, visualization, and the ability to switch cleanly between high demand and recovery.

The program

The Executive Protocol.

Four phases. An order of priority, not a timetable.

Phase 1
Diagnose
Before anything else, Elliot needs to understand how you actually live and work. Your sleep, travel, pain, injury history, diary, nutrition, and everything you have already tried. A detailed questionnaire, then a long conversation. From that he writes a protocol built on your circumstances, your demands and your objectives.
Phase 2
Restore, the first priority
Sleep, hydration, nutrition, nervous system regulation and the Human Developmental Sequence. Low load, high return. This is where chronic pain, poor sleep, brain fog and low energy get addressed, and it is the phase most performance programs rush past.
Phase 3
Build, once the foundation holds
Now capacity. A body strong and conditioned enough to handle your work and your schedule without breaking down, built in a way you recover from easily. Training should improve your performance at work, never leave you too tired for it.
Phase 4
Protect, from the day you need it
Protocols for the specific demands of your role. Long haul travel and jet lag. The week before a board meeting. Peak trading. Sustained workload. Not simply getting through those periods, but performing and recovering through them.

What working together looks like

Ongoing Strategy and Advice. This Is Not a Course.

There is no program with an end date and no set number of sessions to get through.

You speak by phone or Zoom, weekly or fortnightly depending on which arrangement you are on and what is happening in your business. Elliot pencils in thirty minutes. Some weeks it is fifteen, some weeks it is an hour. He does not watch the clock, because what a call is worth is decided by what you need that week, not by what is in the diary.

Between calls you have his personal cell number. Every executive client gets it, exactly as his professional athletes do.

He is also thinking about your situation between calls, and sends things when he sees you will benefit from them. What he sends, and when, is specific to you.

He works directly with you, never through your HR department. The work is confidential and nothing is shared without your explicit permission.

He acts as your performance coach, mentor and advisor. He is not teaching you to run your business. He is optimizing you, so you can enjoy the results of your work without burning out the way so many executives do.

Included

A written protocol built specifically for you, revised as you progress
Weekly or fortnightly calls with Elliot directly, never delegated
His personal cell number between calls
Your NuCalm license, included for the length of the engagement

Proof

This Is Not New, and It Is Not Theory.

Business leaders

Steven Clegg, Chief Financial Officer, DTP Group

Peter Drinkwater, Group CEO and Founder, House of Brand Group

The athletes it was built for

Bevan Rodd, Sale Sharks and England.

Returned two weeks ahead of schedule after ankle surgery. Five consecutive Six Nations caps. Shortlisted for BKT Rising Player of the Six Nations, one of twelve players across all six nations. In eleven months across two major surgeries his back squat went from 165kg for three to 210kg for two, his vertical jump improved 11 percent and his maximum sprint speed improved 5.3 percent.

Ian Kirke, former Leeds Rhinos.

Seventeen surgeries during and after his rugby league career. Went on to podium twice at the World's Natural Strongest Man.

Chad N, golfer.

Chronic back, elbow and knee pain gone in under three weeks. Handicap from 8.6 to 2.3 in six months. Clubhead speed up 6mph.

**Stephen Rodd**, Solicitor and Partner, Keystone Law. Bevan's father.

Qualification

Only Six Places Available.

Elliot works with a small number of people at a time, because everything is individualized and he does not delegate any of it.

He is opening six places for US clients, and their executive teams, at an introductory rate, because this work is new to America and because David asked him to bring it here.

When those six places are filled, the rate is the rate.

This is not therapy, psychology or medical care. It is not leadership coaching. It is not a wellness program for a thousand employees. It is the physical foundation underneath everything you do, built properly, probably for the first time.

If you are a founder, chief executive or leader of a team, and you want a serious edge in resilience, energy, focus, output and performance, this is for you.

Conversion

Start With a Conversation.

It costs nothing and doesn't commit you to anything.

Tell Elliot what you are dealing with and how you want things to be different, and he will tell you honestly whether he can help, and how. If he is not the right person, he will say so.

That is how it has always worked with the athletes he coaches, and it works the same way with his executive clients.

01
Complete the form
Elliot reads every submission himself, so that when you speak he already understands something about your situation.
02
You talk
He comes back within two working days to find a time that fits your diary. Phone or Zoom. Your sleep, your energy, your pain, your schedule, and what you have already tried.
03
You leave knowing more than when you started
Whether or not you go further. He will tell you what he thinks is causing the problem and what can be done about it. If he does not believe he can add real value, he will say that too.
04
If it fits, you begin
He explains how he works, what it involves and what it costs. Nothing is decided on the call.

Questions

Questions.

Is this a NuCalm program?

No. It is Elliot Newman's program, and NuCalm is one of the tools inside it. We introduced him because our own president is his client and we would rather you heard about him from us than not at all. Your NuCalm license is included in his fee.

I already have NuCalm. Why would I need this?

Because NuCalm regulates your nervous system, and that is one of seven things that determine how you perform. It will not tell you why your back hurts, what to do about the four hours you spend sitting, how to eat in a hotel for nine nights, or what to build first. That is the work.

Is this corporate wellness?

No. Corporate wellness is built for scale. An app, a gym membership or a webinar delivered to hundreds of people rarely reaches what is actually driving your problems. This is one person working directly with you.

Is this executive coaching?

No. Executive coaching improves thinking, communication and leadership, and the best of it is genuinely valuable. It is not designed to reach sleep, energy, pain, posture and physical clarity.

Is this a personal trainer?

No. A trainer starts at level three of the pyramid. Loading a system that is already struggling to recover simply adds to the load, which is why executives so often get injured when they start training.

How much time does it take each week?

Less than you expect. The resilience work is minutes a day. The rest is largely about doing what you already do differently rather than adding hours you do not have.

I travel constantly. Does that make this pointless?

The opposite. Travel is one of the specific demands the program is built around, and it is one of the fastest things to improve.

Do I need a gym or equipment?

Not to start. What you need depends on where you are and what you are working on.

I have tried everything already.

So had David. Two spinal operations, thirty years, more than $150,000, and most of the disciplines you can name. He is not an unusually credulous man and he was not short of options. What he was short of was somebody looking at the whole system and telling him what to fix first.

I am in my fifties with an old injury. Is it too late?

David is 57, had his first back operation at 26 and his second at 31, and has not owned an office chair since. He has been pain free since January.

Elliot is in the UK. I am in the US. Does that work?

Most of his work with athletes and executives has always been remote, and he works around your diary rather than his own.

Who sees my information?

Elliot, and nobody else. He works directly with you, never through your company, and nothing is shared without your explicit permission. NuCalm does not receive your submissions.

What does it cost?

He will tell you on the call, once he knows whether he can help and what would be involved. There are two arrangements, one at a higher level of contact than the other, and a rate for leadership teams of three to eight.

Am I committed to anything by speaking to him?

No.

Start with a conversation

Our President Spent Thirty Years and Over $150,000 Trying to Fix His Back.

David's Account, In His Own Words.

What he spent

October 2025

It Was Never That He Had Not Tried.

The Most Important Team in Your Business Has No Coaching Staff.

We Built the Best Nervous System Technology in the World. It Is Still Only One Thing.

He Did Not Come Looking for Executives.

Most Executives Have Never Been Shown This. Your Career Is a Pyramid.

Performance

Role specific

Physical capacity

Resilience

Foundation

The Newman Factor.

Sleep.

Nervous system regulation.

Nutrition.

Recovery.

Resilience training.

Physical capacity.

Mental performance.

The Executive Protocol.

Diagnose

Restore, the first priority

Build, once the foundation holds

Protect, from the day you need it