Happy almost weekend gang, yes I am back with another post. This will be a fun one for me to write about. It's not just about picking things up and putting them down either. Last week I got a chance to give one of those talk dealies. Man you should have seen the turn out for this thing, so many people looking back at me. Ok really it was about 20 people but still for my first talk in front of more than a couple people, most of which I don't know, it wasn't bad. The company I work for does one in service for the whole company once a year (believe me I personally wish it was more, but you take what you get sometimes), and they asked from a select group within the company to give a talk. I gladly raised my hand for this chance to share my thoughts.
I have got a pretty good handle on my programming with a few years under my belt. Things like how to do an assessment and things to look for during their assessment, and how to program to get around the limitations and issues. I know there are many out there that aren't quite so comfortable with these things as I am, new pros and old, so I decided I'd do my part to show them the ways.
Well what did I show them and talk about?
Assessments
(Overhead) Squat-Looking for things like proper ankle mobility, range of motion aka depth, thoracic spine mobility and all the other kinks you can find.
Hinge-I mostly just look for range of motion, balance and get a general sense of where to possibly start a client off when selecting a hinge exercise.
Shoulder-There are probably 20 different things to assess and look for when it comes to the shoulder. Basics I look for are t-spine mobility, scapular movement as it relates to the shoulder and clear them of any noticeable impingements and pains.
Movements
Squat-Most people are familiar with this motion and the majority of the progressions that go with it.
Hinge (Deadlifts)-My favorite, although it's been declared more super hero than super villain as of late some still struggle with form and how to properly progress and regress this movement.
Push (Vertical and Horizontal)- Most people are well acquainted with the military and bench press for this movement, apart from switching between incline and decline, dumbbells and barbell most don't know much else. Quite honestly there isn't a huge need to go much beyond those ones because some can't quite get those down. It is however always good to know some different variations for those who probably aren't ready to press over head.
Pull (Vertical and Horizontal)- Pretty much everything I've said above can apply here, apart from the fact that there probably should be more pulling than pushing for the every day 9 to 5er due to their atrocious daily posture.
Carry-Possibly has developed into my second favorite movement in recent times, both for myself and my clients. Carries (should be) low impact axially loading the body, and when you have clients that are becoming more and more worried about osteopenia and osteoporosis this is a great tool in the belt to have. Most know the farmer's walk, but outside of that there's other basics like a suitcase carry, rack (+ 1/2 rack) carry and goblet carry I find very useful as well.
How did it go might be the next question.
Truthfully it went really well, of course I lost my train of thought which caused me to skip over some points I wanted to make, but it wasn't anything drastic. The audience could have been way more resistant to the things I was saying, which would have made my first talk of this variation very very difficult. The one thing that surprised me was my nerves weren't through the roof. Maybe those that were around me can remind me what I may or may not have done that day so I can repeat it and keep me from getting nerves when I'm trying to avoid them.
That's all I got today folks, hopefully I get to do one of these again, talks not posts those are still coming to the best of my ability. Have a good weekend all, go out there and get after it.
