Whether you’re doing some sort of movement assessment or using “corrective exercises” to improve a specific movement pattern that you’ve decided needs improvement. A common mistake Coach Jim Kielbaso (owner of Ultimate Strength & Conditioning) and I often find fitness professionals make is confusing “a lack of awarenss for a lack of ability.”
Check out this video of Jim Kielbaso and I giving some great corrective exercise tips!
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I often hear fitness professionals talking about “how much time they save in training by using an assessment.” But, what I’ve often seen happen is these same fitness professionals still end up wasting a significant amount of training time (theirs and their client’s) performing “corrective exercises” when the client was already ABLIE to perform the movement pattern well, because they never made their client AWARE of what “good form” was, and failed to ask them to “now try it this way.”
In our own training at Performance U, we’ve found that many people do indeed have the ability to successfully perform certain movement patterns once we’ve made them aware of how we’d like them to move. If they are able to immediately change the way they move (from sub-optimal to optimal) after you’ve simply made them aware – You’ve just performed the quickest and most effective “corrective exercise” training that’s humanly possible!
I think one of the other key take-home points that Jim made in the video was, “They can DO what the correction was (i.e. successfully perform corrective exercise), but they still CAN’T do the actually movement.”
In other words, we (Jim and I) don’t feel that corrective exercises are alone the solution to improving the movement patterns we desire to improve. We feel that most of time you’ve just got to ”coach them up” and be patient by giving them time to “learn” how to do it naturally.
Jim Kielbaso is one of the smartest Coach I know!
Put simply, if you’re not already familiar with Coach Jim Kielbaso‘s work, you absolutely should be!
Check out Jim’s awesome Products such as his “How to Dominate Your Combine“ DVD and new book “Speed & Agility Revolution.”
Great video Nick!
Hey Guys, I was really looking forward to this information, but the audio level is really low. I can’t make it out even turning up my speakers really high. FYI.
Nick,
Could not agree more. Being good at screening does not mean that you are good at coaching. My screens have become less and less important, but my focus on movement and technique has become more and more intense. Screens usually show tendencies based on the clients structure or dominant postures, but any client can improve form with specific movements or exercise technique with appropriate coaching and progressive skill development. Keep pumping out the great content, thanks Scott
EXCELLENT point! This is something we’re constantly telling our interns at Cressey Performance. Doing just assume that people need corrective exercise. Instead, COACH them.
Nice job Nick.
Nick, this is an excellent point. I use different techniques to assess whether it’s a movement dysfunction or an “awareness” issue.
For instance, when I start someone on squats and their knees are coming forward and heels lift off the floor, I explain to them about getting the hips back and balancing their weight. Unfortunately, some people can’t grasp that concept. They just aren’t aware of how to move their body in that manner. So, what I’ll do instead is place my hand under their toes and ask them to squat without stepping on my fingers. 99% of the time the movement improves instantly.
This is just one technique of many that works for me and I think it’s a great point you address.
[...] Are You Making This Critical Corrective Exercise Mistake? by Nick Tumminello [...]
haha love the awkward handshake in the middle of the vid. Thanks for a great post. You put to words something that has been floating around in my brain that hadn’t yet materialized into an intelligible thought. Thank Tony Gentilcore for pointing me to your blog!
cheers
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for your kind words!
Tony G is an great trainer and I read his blog all of the time!
Coach N
Tony,
That’s why you guys at CP are some of the ABSOLUTE BEST TRAINERS IN THE WORLD!
Thanks for the kind words bro!
Coach N
Chad,
Thanks for your kind words and for taking the time to share your knowledge with us!
Coach N
Brain,
This is the first I’ve heard anyone having trouble hearing the video.
Maybe try putting on some headphones on and see how that goes?
Coach N