Throw away the rule book
When it comes to your personal training clients, there comes a time when you need to think a little outside the box and employ some creativity.
The normal progression route for qualifying as a personal trainer in the fitness industry is to complete the gym instructor component, then the advanced fitness instructor course along with a couple of additional units which tops it up to a diploma in personal training. Whilst I appreciate the subtle differences between training providers, the syllabus for these courses is very rigid and based upon the training habits of decades gone by.
Don't get me wrong, the theory side is key and absolutely necessary to start understanding the body, demands upon the body and mechanics of training but the entire direction of the courses is all about how training can be achieved in a specific environment. For the gym instructor course, this makes sense with the name suggesting, this is for instructing within a gym and as it stands, gyms continue to be filled with machines. However, with the advanced fitness instructor course, gyms are no longer the single hub of where fitness and conditioning take place and the industry is moving in a good direction. Yet the training courses remain very gym-centric.
My question is, would it not be better to gear the entire courses around learning how the body moves and works so that training can be achieved irrespective of any environment? The great thing about the body is that it's a mechanical wonder. It is packed with the joints, bones and muscles to articulate and move perfectly. Using futuristic looking gym machines forces the body to work around the movement of the machine which is the wrong way around in my opinion. It's understandable as to why machines are popular - they tell people what to do and keep things simple but in many situations, machines have little if no variability on movement.
Watch a child playing, their movement is a model of perfection with no bad habits and nothing is impossible. Watch an adult playing with their children, not quite as dynamic, inflexible, slow to keep up and a little creaky when bending down to pick up a toy. The evidence is there for all to see. The results of sitting down, being constantly asked to position in awkward spaces and fit around the environment that we set (chairs/cars/sofas etc) leaves an almost prehistoric state of movement.
Here's a simple journey to get your clients heading in the right direction:
- Be Functional - Train the body to be strong with itself, flexible and able to cope with a constant state of change
- Be Strong - Only once the body is able to handle supporting itself should strength training be adopted
- Be Powerful - Once the body is strong, then power can be achieved
If learning more about how the body works is of interest then take a look at the Primal Flow course which covers the inner and outer units of stability and movement helping you to train the body inline with how it's designed and avoid training against the grain.
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