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 day you need to just expose people to different experiences, strategies, loading, velocities, durations, positions, patterns, stances to u...

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? 

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.

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 then who are you?
...

“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 physical). Trauma doesn’...

“IF YOU’RE NOT UNDERSTANDING, YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND ENOUGH TO FORMULATE A QUESTION” –BILL HARTMAN

When we leave the academic system we know how to speak a certain language using specific words based upon a curriculum (most likely outdated). In relation to specific degrees such as Exercise Science the curriculum is based upon an accreditation program, guidelines, or certification. In many Exercise Science or Strength and Conditioning programs these include:

• American College of Medicine (ACSM) professional practice guidelines
• Accreditation standards are outlined by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education programs (CAAHEP)
• Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

There are specific terms and definitions utilized within an overarching language of these structured curriculums. Language involves a method of communication by structuring the words in a specific manner and sharing co...

“NOT BEING UNDERSTOOD MAY BE TAKEN AS A SIGN THAT THERE IS MUCH IN ONE TO UNDERSTAND” -ALAIN DE BOTTON, 2004

I’ve been thinking a lot about not what I want to be (position, title) but who I want to be (value system). Your value system may be conditional on your immediate environment, the people you interact with, and what you read and listen to. Confidence in who you want to be can be challenging in environments and cultures that condition us to value the pursuit of status (may be judged as success) or to desire the emotion of happiness. I desire the ability to responsibly use a position and establish meaning in self exploration.

We are susceptible to the influence of external voices about what we require to be satisfied and what to aim for so as to flourish as human beings (Alain de Botton, 2004). Do you know yourself enough to know what you want to become? Learning from others can be your greatest asset in understanding yourself.

Be observant of other people’s behaviors, the ...

Embedding testing in program design can be used an assessment of progress.

Are you improving or staying the same? …fear staying the same. 

• 3-10 RM testing
• Perform sets to own volition (example: perform sets of 3 until client chooses to stop or can’t maintain) 
• Density blocks: Number of reps within a timed set or number of sets within a specific duration
• Open set: client performs reps to own volition
• Set duration of time and record distance completed on mode of fitness equipment (example- distance in miles completed in 6 minutes on airdyne)
• Set specific distance and record time to completion (example- time to climb 300 feet on versaclimber) 
• Record vertical jumps in warm-up routine
• Timed circuit: record total volume or time to complete 

The term “Strength and Conditioning” has long been associated with the idea of heavy barbells and running until one’s legs collapse. The strength coaches who exploit our social media pages are often shown yelling until their veins pop at an athlete performing a 700-pound squat. Unfortunately, this has skewed the public’s eye on what a strength coach should represent. Negative reinforcement, yelling, exercise punishment, and representing the villain who runs the team into the ground after the loss predominates the strength coach persona. However, as psychology and motor learning research enters the weight room, it becomes increasingly obvious that these traditional strength coach’s tendencies may hinder an athlete’s performance and psychological well-being. Therefore, it’s time we reexamine the words a strength coach uses and understand how much power one’s word choice can carry beyond barbells.

Your words have power…maybe more than your program design.

              First, let’s cove...

Coaching: Perception, Context & Perspective.

“More awareness translates into greater survivability” (Lipton, 2015)

“We don’t see things as they are, we see things as WE are.”

Perceive: become aware or conscious of (something) or to interpret (someone or something) in a particular way. Self awareness is the conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives, and desires. There is a difference between how you perceive yourself (a false perception can differ from who you actually are), how you think others perceive you, and how they actually perceive you. 

Context: the external circumstances of the present moment and your internal state that has been influenced by past experiences. If context is different, your perception is different, thus your responsiveness is different. 

Coaching is both understanding how to best interact with others that may have a different perspective than you and being aware of your own behavior. All are needed to assist in the goals of the athle...