It is a Wednesday morning in late August and I'm lying on a treatment table. My legs and ankles are being poked and prodded. My hamstrings, which are tighter than guitar strings, are being manipulated and stretched to gauge their flexibility.
I'm then asked to stand on my tiptoes and hold that position. The news I'm about to hear does not come sugar-coated.
'The endurance in your calves,' says Matt Konopinski, co-founder of Rehab 4 Performance, with a twinkle in his eyes. 'It's absolutely rubbish.'
We have not come to this state-of-the-art facility on the outskirts of Liverpool for tea and sympathy but we have come for the good of our health.