By DEREK REDD

When Allison Hickey started her fitness company Movement with Allison, she focused on her clients’ movements themselves.

Yet, as her company grew, she realized that to really see results, the plan needed to be about more than just exercise sessions.

So Hickey’s Movement has grown in scope and depth, taking into account the whole person. She also makes sure that her clients know that her advice is available long past the hours of any scheduled workout.

Hickey, 41, has an exercise physiology background and worked as a physical therapist assistant, so the actual movements of her clients were what she initially paid attention to.

“But I just started noticing that, in order to really make change and to dive into everything and to see progress, it takes more than that,” she said.

Hickey gradually put together what she calls the “Movement Method,” a seven-step process consisting of targets she wants her clients to hit every day. The categories are simple, like making sure to get enough water and protein daily and getting out for a walk. There’s also an accountability component, where clients check in with Hickey to let her know what goals were hit, good or bad.

“If somebody doesn’t hit it, that’s OK,” she said.

She also has built a private Facebook page where she offers talks, exercises and other tips and makes herself available to answer any questions clients might have.

“I just encourage everyone to encourage each other and support each other,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if someone is starting out or has been with me for a long time. The method is the method.

“I’ve noticed some big changes since I started implementing that stuff,” Hickey added. “It’s not just about beating your body up and working out really hard. I train for longevity. I want people to move long term, years and years down the line, and safely and effectively learn how every aspect of the Movement is important.”

Her typical work day starts at an atypical time. She rises at 3:30 a.m. to be at The Highlands Sports Complex by 5 a.m. There, she sets up for her Movement classes, three sessions starting at 5:15 a.m. three days a week.

She logs onto her virtual page after classes, gets in her own workout in the afternoon and spends the rest of her day preparing for the next day’s classes.

She’ll also make contact with her clients in the afternoons to see how their day is going, where they are in their goals and if they have any concerns.

That spirit of community permeates throughout Hickey’s business. She’ll do donation-only workouts and past beneficiaries have included breast cancer patients, the Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling, the Salvation Army and local animal shelters.

Hickey purposely schedules early morning classes, as it allows her clients to start the day with a good workout and limits the chances that they may miss the workout after a long, tiring day. It’s part of her motto to “prioritize yourself.”

“It’s just to put yourself first, put yourself on your schedule,” she said, “because a lot of times, you know, with work and kids and family and everything that life has to offer, it’s just really hard to prioritize yourself. But when you do, I mean, it can change your whole life.”

That prioritizing also is part of her advice to young people just beginning their professional careers. She tells them to set an alarm for two hours before they have to walk out the door. It gives them the chance to take time for themselves, to pour into their own cups before they head to work and pour out their cup for others.

Hickey said that her “Movement” isn’t done growing. She’d like to reach back into her experience in exercise physiology and focus more on mobility treatment.

“It’s about how to keep your hips mobile to make your lower back feel better, how to get a better posture and just work on balance exercises and stability so that you can prevent a fall,” she said. “I want to bring that to this area because I think that’s something this area really needs.”