The England football team do it, the England rugby team do it and it is very popular across a multitude of sports in the United States.

The ‘it’ being referred to is stick mobility, a training system that seeks to improve a person’s flexibility, strength and coordination.

As the name stick mobility suggests, central to the training system is a training stick, a flexible exercise tool that is used to enhance range of motion, stimulate muscle activation, improve coordination and develop body awareness.

And guess what, it works, if those who attended their weekly class in Cheltenham are anything to go by – a class I was invited to attend.

The session was taken by 41-year-old Zoe Jones, a chartered physiotherapist, who set up Cheltenham Stick Mobility four or five months ago.

We met at Holy Apostles Church Hall in Charlton Kings – there are also classes at High School Leckhampton in Farm Lane – and ex-Pate’s Grammar School pupil Zoe, who is a certified stick mobility instructor, immediately puts everyone at ease.

She is easy to talk to, has a ready smile and obviously knows her stuff. The 40-minute session is fun, but she works you pretty hard too.

“You’ve got to get as much out of the class as you can, you can’t be half-hearted” she said.

“There are lots of different postures, we fit in a lot of the components of stick mobility – mobility, strength, stretches.”  

The various exercises all have their own names – warrior, ninja, slapshot, superman and bow and arrow to name just a few – and all are designed to provide a fitness routine that pushes people to really challenge themselves.

The training stick actually provides support as well being central to the workout and Zoe, who lives in Cheltenham, stresses that it’s something that people of all ages can take up.

She calls it Cheltenham’s newest exercise class and it’s obvious it’s something that she’s passionate about.

She took up stick mobility five years ago and she said: “It’s been around for 10 years but there are still very few providers, it’s quite a niche thing.”

That may be so but it may not be niche thing for much longer because it’s got some high profile supporters.

“England’s football team, the Six Nations rugby team and a lot of the top American football teams all use stick mobility,” said Zoe.

“It’s going really well, it’s just very good for everybody.”

Professional sports people are obviously in their prime but Zoe emphasises stick mobility is for people of all ages.

“It’s really important for people who have any joint pains or back pain,” she said.

“People who get occupational work pain, this is where stick mobility comes in. Not many classes make you do things that you don’t do at any other time of the week.”

There is a £5 trial option for anyone thinking of trying stick mobility, to find out more, visit www.cheltenhamstickmobility.com