ORIENT is movement coaching for people who want to feel capable in their bodies again. Your coach gives you set days and small asks. Each morning, ORIENT sizes today’s ask to how your body actually feels.
Two ways in.
Who’s behind it
I walked the length of New Zealand — around 3,000 kilometres on Te Araroa. Out there, it wasn’t fitness I noticed. It was orientation. It came in an order: first, the days found a shape. Then that shape became effortless. Then the body could carry more than I’d ever asked of it. And somewhere along the way, a real sense of direction emerged on its own.
I did a Bachelor of Sport and Recreation at AUT, majoring in exercise science, and came home wanting to understand why the trail worked when so many plans don’t. The answer holds up: action precedes motivation, and direction grows from a body capable of carrying it. ORIENT brings that same sequence into ordinary life. You don’t need four months in the mountains — the same order can unfold in an ordinary week.
I try to live that myself. Most weeks include gym sessions, regular runs, and long days in the hills. The long-term goal is simple: to still be running easy kilometres, lifting weights, and thru-hiking well into old age.
I work with a small number of people online from Wānaka. Whether your goal is to move more consistently or eventually take on a trail race or multi-day hike, I’ll help you build the foundation to get there.
I’m Matt, a movement coach in Wānaka. Once a week we train together, in person, and I come to you. Between sessions, the ORIENT app carries the week. If you’re further away, I coach online too.
I walked the length of New Zealand on Te Araroa. Out there, it wasn’t fitness I noticed. It was orientation. It came in an order: first the days found a shape, then the shape became effortless, then the body could carry more than I’d ever asked of it, and somewhere along the way a real sense of direction emerged on its own.
I did a Bachelor of Sport and Recreation at AUT, majoring in exercise science, and came home wanting to understand why the trail worked when so many plans don’t. The answer holds up: direction grows from a body capable of carrying it. ORIENT brings the trail’s sequence into an ordinary week, structure first and direction last.
How a week works
No gym to get to and nothing to buy first. We train with what you own, wherever suits you, and I bring my kit until yours is sorted. For anyone who’d rather be shown than sent a plan.
Once a week, with me there.
Fifty-five minutes on the lifts your week is built around. I watch how you move and adjust it on the spot. Online, it’s a call instead.
ORIENT carries the week.
ORIENT is the app on your phone. Each morning you open the day, move, and tell it how the body answered, and it sizes the day to that. Your sessions from me sit in it. No streaks, no pressure.
I arrive already knowing.
You tell ORIENT how the week went and I read it before I arrive. We pick up from where the week left you, not from the start.
orient
To orient is to find which way you’re facing.
First, it’s a bearing: knowing where you stand and where you want to be. Then it’s something you feel: sensing where the body is, and moving in a way that matches.
The idea
ORIENT is movement coaching for real life. A small daily practice keeps you moving through the week, and a coach keeps the whole picture in view.
It’s for anyone who wants movement to be a lasting part of their life: whether you’re working toward something big on the horizon, finding your feet when it’s done, or simply staying strong through normal weeks.
The coaching is built for the demands of real life, for strength you actually use and the range to move freely. And it faces outward. A body you can trust makes the world bigger: more time outside, longer days on your feet.
More on the good days, less on the flat ones, nothing to make up later. Over time, moving becomes part of how you live rather than something you keep restarting. You can try a morning for yourself just below.
The coaching
You and your coach agree the days, so you never have to work out what to do. Each morning you tell ORIENT how your body is, and today’s ask comes back to fit. Tap a colour below to see one.
What you get
You’ve just seen how a morning works. ORIENT helps you know how to move today, and your coach gets to know how you move over time.
The practice lives in the ORIENT app, and keeps what each day teaches. Over time that adds up to two things: what works for you, and the skill of reading yourself.
I know your story, read the patterns you can’t see from inside your own weeks, and shape the training around your actual life. After each call, the practice adapts to match. The four phases below are the ground we cover together, at the pace your body earns.
The practice lives in the ORIENT app, and keeps what each day teaches. Over time that adds up to two things: what works for you, and the skill of reading yourself once you’re moving.
I know your story, read the patterns you can’t see from inside your own weeks, and shape the training around your actual life. After each session or call, the practice adapts to match.
Both halves above: the app every day, and me behind it.
For the first five, then $279 · billed every 4 weeks · cancel anytime
Everything in coaching, and I come to you once a week. We train with what you own, I bring my kit until yours is sorted, and we set your space up together in the first session. Wānaka and Albert Town, travel included.
$125 a week, ORIENT coaching included · billed every 4 weeks · eight places · cancel anytime
I come to you once a week. We train with what you own, and I bring my kit until yours is sorted. Wānaka and Albert Town, travel included.
$125 a week, ORIENT coaching included · billed every 4 weeks · eight places · cancel anytime
The app every day, and me behind it, with a call in place of the session.
For the first five, then $279 · billed every 4 weeks · cancel anytime
It starts with a conversation, not a sign-up, so we both know it’s the right fit before anything is paid.
The route
Coaching isn’t a pile of workouts. It’s a path with a shape. This is the ground we cover together, roughly in this order.
Movement gets a place in your week first: set days, small asks. You don’t wait to feel ready; the doing is what brings the feeling back.
Same days, same places, until it runs on its own. No willpower needed, and one missed day changes nothing.
The base holds, so the body can absorb more: strength, range, ease. And what you can handle starts changing what you want.
Somewhere in the capacity, a pull appears: something out in the world you actually want to go and do. We follow it, and build toward it properly.
You don’t chase direction. You build the rhythm that reveals it.
Is this you?
Maybe there’s a marathon you keep circling, a trail you want to walk, or a version of yourself you’d like to meet in the gym. But the goal is rarely the point. Underneath it is a feeling you’re after: capable, steady, free, clear, more yourself.
So the first question isn’t what you’re training for. It’s what movement gives you. The answer is different for everyone, and you discover it through the doing, day by day: who you are when you move, and what you’re building your body for. That’s why the practice stays small: a little each day, with a coach keeping the bigger picture in view.
Run the marathon.
Walk the trail.
Meet yourself in the gym.
But build the person who can do those things first.
Find your feet
Tell me where you are and where you’d like to get to. If it’s a fit, I’ll find you a place.
Thanks for reaching out. I read every message myself. You’ll hear back within a day or two.