The Bare Minimum for Personal Training: 4 Things That Every Trainer Should Avoid.

As trainers, we can oftentimes get consumed by the latest biomechanical assessments, programming strategies, and equipment, as we are passionate about getting people jacked and strong. However, the new and shiny stuff can sometimes distract us from the things that make trainers valuable; our ability to communicate effectively with others, to make the best decisions about how to progress people into fitness, and to be a supportive guide. The bare minimum for personal training should never get lost in what we do - be kind and personable, make good decisions, and teach people how to sustainably exercise.

Let’s review some things that can lead us astray from the bare minimum requirements for a personal trainer...

#1 Don’t make your clients feel like sh*t about themselves.

A close friend, let’s call her Tatianna, recently shared her experience of being duped into a personal training session at a local gym. The trainer, let’s call him Dill, did an assessment on...

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Elements of Progress.

training outcomes Apr 26, 2020

Progression in the weight room is not solely based on external loading (i.e. how much absolute weight lifted). Progress can be accomplished in various ways in order to improve performance, movement options, fitness, experience, and may even assist in external loading abilities.

Here are some valuable elements of client/athlete progress:

  1. Accumulation of volume is one of the key components to improving qualities of fitness. Increasing the number repetitions and/or sets throughout a training program is fundamental to progress.
  2. Progress through various positions (i.e. 1/2 kneeling, tall kneeling, etc.) and expose to positions that the body struggles to achieve (i.e. if client lacks hip extension, progress through positions that challenge hip extension, then you can challenge those positions under loading).
  3. Progress through coaching cues. Simplicity is king but an element of progression can be attention to detail or changes in the focus on attention. For example, the first couple weeks...
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Work Backwards.

training outcomes Apr 26, 2020

See the whole forest before seeing one tree:

START WITH, HOW DO YOU DEVELOP FITNESS?

Then work backwards, learn and coach basis exercises, optimize the exercises that you do, accumulate volume, then use your tools to intervene only when a barrier towards fitness/performance is encountered.

When we learn something new about movement problems during continuing education events or within systems we tend to start with, how can I fix this person’s movement problems?

We tend to want a clean slate to work from but we are not going to give people a clean slate with movement. We have very limited time with people, thus limited influence. The best thing we can do is use the tools to address movement problems to develop fitness.

Addressing movement problems is a need but not a necessity, the majority of the time. Don’t let the tools you have acquired to become the barrier towards fitness.

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Scare Tactics.

coaching Apr 26, 2020

“The lie you are fed becomes the story you believe”- Dr. Bryan Chung

I don’t typically barbell back squat clients as we have safety bars and cambered bars that I think are useful tools for adding load to the squat pattern. But the words I choose are careful. I don’t tell people that back squatting ‘isn’t good for you’ or that ‘you will get injured back squatting” as your words have the ability to influence someone’s beliefs. Be responsible for that influence with the words that you use, which they will then use as prior information to make future predications.

Someone saw me back squatting last week and said “that’s not good for your back.” That is a scare tactic that they have been fed.

  • Is there a direct cause and effect?
  • Does everyone who back squats have low back pain?

Usually people put personal limitations on their own capabilities so they will cling to those words or use those words to limit...

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Socialization by Keaton Worland

training experience Apr 26, 2020

Gym Partners, Group Classes, Semi-Private Training, Tribes.

Each of these satisfy the human need for relatedness through socialization.

As humans we have a fundamental need to be connected with or able to relate to other humans.  Relatedness, how connected and secure we feel in our environment, is dictated by our personal relationships and past experiences to help to regulate and guide our behavior.  So, if we lack the sense of connection and security to our environment, we as humans may lose our motivation to act and dysregulated behavior may ensue.1  This can take form as an elevation in heart rate, poor sleep quality, reduced work efficiency, or even social seclusion.  We have to have strategies to help us self-regulate.

A logical first step in regulating behavior in a new environment is to develop relationships to allow any threat perceived to be dampened.  Coaches are positioned to have a pivotal role in helping regulate their clients behavior....

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Don't Tell Me Something Needs to Be Fixed!

coaching Apr 26, 2020

Most people just need to gain muscle mass, lose body fat, and accumulate volume.

The idea of ‘fixing’ a fitness client or using some of your new continuing education catch words to tell people they are something that needs to be fixed is a lack of understanding of the end game and the big picture.

* “You shouldn’t deadlift because your thorax is narrow”

* “You’re so jacked up, I’m surprised you haven’t gotten hurt back squatting yet”

* “You don’t ‘manage pressure’ well in your pelvis so you shouldn’t squat” Can you even explain what pressure management means?

* “You need to do these specific exercises because ‘you’re extended’”

These are all promoting mindsets of ‘there is something wrong with me’. We sometimes like to prove our value and spit out some new knowledge we learned at a con edu event but lose sight of fitness. 

At the end of the...

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Connecting Training Principles & Implementation: Seated 1 Arm Row.

training outcomes Apr 26, 2020

The use of passive constraints to manipulate a task: External objects are used to assist in finding certain references and muscles.


* The dumbbell behind the foot is used to find heels and hamstrings. The ball between the knees is used to find adductors. The weight in the hand is used to find abs and close a space. The weight of the cable can be used to reach and feel a scapula move.


Training Principle: Proximal structure position influences movement of distal structures
Focused Attention: Heels. Opening a side of the thorax and closing the opposite side.
Guided Experience: Initiate questions before providing feedback. What was that like? How did that feel? 

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Connecting Training Principles with Implementation: Leg Transition Chop.

training outcomes Apr 26, 2020

Creating an exercise to match intent. The intent of the exercise is to transition from leg to leg working on frontal plane mechanics.

* The chop will assist in centering over a leg: stacking the nose over the zipper line, over the knee, over the big toe.

Training Principle: All athletic skill acquisition includes the ability to transition from leg to leg; gait, skating, throwing a ball, or changing direction (push mechanics).

Guided Experience: What was that like? How did that feel? Where do you feel your weight? Why do you think this is important?

Focused Attention: Arch of the foot.

* Client accomplished a personal record weight in the Trap Bar Deadlift which was an externally focused activity. To finish the session, we turned to thinking about the body and feeling muscles in specific areas, which was an internally focused activity.

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Hard Work.

coaching Apr 26, 2020

Hard work is the basis for everything you desire to achieve. It is applying your ability with focused attention and the exclusion of other abilities. You must know the purpose or intended outcome of the work especially in relation to the type of person you desire to be.

Types of Hard Work

1.  PHYSICAL SAVAGERY: 

  • Primitive instincts of hunting and killing
  • Suffer, Competition
  • Do you know what a 10 out of 10 feels like?
  • You will need to train at the level you are going to compete at, its called preparation.
  • Get comfortable with being uncomfortable

 

2.  PHYSICAL AWARENESS

  • Sense of Self/Body Awareness
  • Can you feel muscles working?
  • Learning, Variability
  • Can you be thoughtful about instructions and the details when you need to be?
  • Internal & external standpoint
  • Be aware of how your actions effect your surrounding environment

3. HUMILITY & GRATITUDE

  • Show appreciation and return kindness
  • What type of person do you want to be? If you don’t know that...
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Book Review #4: The Body Keeps the Score.

book review Apr 26, 2020

“IT IS NOT THAT SOMETHING DIFFERENT IS SEEN, BUT THAT ONE SEES DIFFERENTLY." – CARL JUNG

The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. By Dr. Bessel van der Kolk. Penguin Books, New York, NY. (2014)

The most effective coaches are those that have the ability to connect with others, understand the importance of psychology, and value knowledge about human behavior. You cannot have physiology without psychology. There is information out there about coaching tactics for personality and temperament (Brett Bartholomew), neurological profiling for program design (Christian Thibaudeau) , and targeting neurotransmitters for adherence.

These can be important considerations for training and coaching, however humans are extremely complex and there is always a deeper level. When you interact with others, that deeper level may include understanding how trauma can manifest itself in the body.

We all interact with people who are in pain (not just...

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