PERSONAL TRAINERS: Jack-of-all-Trades, Master-of-None Mentality.

PERSONAL TRAINERS: There is this vibe at the moment that PT’s MUST have a massive encyclopaedia of exercises and movements for their clients, the motivation for this is pretty obvious; to create an interesting and fun environment for your clients. However, the down side to this is the industry has developed a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none mentality. 

Ask yourself this: If you have a client that cannot perform a correct body weight squat, do you attempt to identify and correct the movement dysfunctions or do you ‘train around the problem’ by prescribing quarter squats or leg press? Are you mind-numbingly placing your client on a treadmill in the hope of ‘results’ or are you assessing their gait mechanics and looking at improving their running efficacy?

Ask yourself another question: Have you ever REALLY maxed out your squats and cleans? And by ‘really’, I don’t mean walking in to the gym one day and going full retard ‘till you miss, I mean taking 8 weeks to develop your own progression and thus develop your own knowledge of the basics.

Consider this: do you feel you have a solid foundation of knowledge of core motor patterns? If a client walks up to you and can’t squat, do you feel you have the knowledge and tools to correct this? What if they are massively heel striking while running, do you think you can get them back on to the forefoot? 

If not, start doing some research; look to guys like DeFranco, Starrett or Cook. 

 

We as an industry have copped enough crap already; the movements you prescribe need to represent a piece in the puzzle – the puzzle of posture and movement. Every time you prescribe a quarter squat, Push-Up on the knees, or bizarre chicken dance on a Bosu you further drive a nail in to the coffin of credibility. It’s time for change!