Robertson Training Systems Newsletter 5.22
The Development of a Philosophy, Part I – The Assessment
In this three part series, I’m going to outline my basic thoughts on improving human movement and function.
It seems that nowadays the term “corrective exercise” isn’t just a buzzword used by numerous coaches and trainers, but it’s also a lightning rod of criticism for those with different viewpoints on training.
My goal is simple: To outline what we do at IFAST, along with the thought process and rationale to support it.
The first step in the process, and therefore the first newsletter in our series, details the need for an assessment.
The Need for Assessment.
As Eric and I pointed out numerous times in our Building the Efficient Athlete DVD Series, if you’re not assessing, you’re guessing.
If you are a trainer or coach and you aren’t putting your clients or athletes through an initial screen of some sort, stop reading right now.
Seriously, stop reading this right now and find a screen that you deem to be safe and effective for your clients. It could be the Assess and Correct package. It could be the Functional Movement Screen. It could be Kendall’s book Muscles: Testing and Function.
I don’t care what it is right now. You don’t need the perfect assessment. You need an assessment. Period.
You owe it to the people you work with to understand from the get-go what their movement limitations and restrictions are. I don’t care what it is; you have to start somewhere.
As our industry has grown, assessments have become a hugely debated topic in-and-of-themselves.
Why do you need to assess someone?
How much assessment is enough?
When does an assessment crossover from personal training or strength coaching to physical therapy?
I’ll do my best to answer all these questions.
Why do you need to assess someone?
I used to think this was an obvious, “No-duh” type answer, but I guess that’s not the case.
An initial assessment gives us feedback. This feedback could include movement restrictions in muscles or joints, poor motor control, lack of strength, or any number of physical qualities.
Regardless of whether someone’s end goal is fat loss, muscle gain, more strength or improved athletic performance, the assessment tells you where he or she is starting at. Once you know where they’re at, you can decide the best avenue to get them to where they want to go.
I liken the assessment and program design process to a map. If you live in Boston and want to drive to New York, the process is simple: You know where you’re starting, and you know where you want to end up. It’s fairly straightforward as you simply move from A to B.
But what if you follow that same map, but instead of starting in Boston, you start in Cleveland. Can you see how this would be problematic?
If you don’t know where you’re starting at, it’s impossible to determine the most efficacious way to get to where you want to go.
How much assessment is enough?
I’ve got to admit – I’m always a little surprised by this question.
My answer is this: When you have all the answers you need to develop safe and effective programming for your trainee, you’re done assessing them.
Far too often, I believe, we err on the side of too little versus too much.
The assessment we use at IFAST is incredibly detailed. Here’s a very brief rundown of what we do:
- Basic body measurements (resting HR, blood pressure, weight, body fat, etc.)
- Isolated muscle/joint flexibility
- Isolated muscle strength
- Gross movement skills
- Sport-specific movements
- Sport-specific energy system work
Unfortunately, even the best assessment has limitations. Especially when working with athletes, it’s very difficult to reproduce on-field movements, or game-like situations such as fatigue. This shouldn’t stop us from trying, however. The easiest solution in this case may be to attend their sporting event (or videotaping it) and just watching them play.
The more in-depth and specific your assessment becomes, the more specific and detailed you can be when developing training programs.
Alwyn Cosgrove often describes the concept of the slight-edge. Quite simply, if a book, seminar, or article gives you even one idea or concept that provides you benefit, it’s been valuable.
The assessment is no different.
I may go through 20 different isolated joint assessments, with the first 19 all demonstrating optimal motion. But if I get to the 20th test and I find one piece of information that wouldn’t have shown up elsewhere, then that assessment was valuable.
All great coaches are constantly evaluating their clients and athletes. Quite often, you can tell when someone walks in the door what kind of session they’re going to have. However, this shouldn’t take away from the need for a great initial assessment.
There’s something to be said for going through a thorough and detailed assessment early on in your programming. Not only will you get better long-term results, but you’ll often avoid a lot of those hiccups that can happen along the way.
When does an assessment crossover from personal training or strength coaching to physical therapy?
As I’ve said numerous times before, I’m not a physical therapist and don’t claim to be one.
However, turning a blind-eye to basic assessment results and provocative tests isn’t just lazy, it’s irresponsible.
Simple evaluations such as repeated spinal flexions for the lower back, or empty can tests for the shoulder can tell you immediately what’s within your realm of expertise, and what/whom requires a referral.
This is where building a solid network comes in to play. If you’re a strength coach or personal trainer, make it a personal mission to find a great physical therapist, massage therapist, dietitian, etc. that you can refer your clients to. Building a network is a sure-fire way to get better long-term results.
As a trainer or coach, the goal isn’t to memorize an entire orthopedic screen. Rather, our goal is to determine who we can train safely and effectively, and be able to refer out whenever necessary.
Summary
The assessment is the cornerstone for everything we do as trainers and coaches. I can’t fathom writing a training program without evaluating a client, and I hope that after reading this, you’ll feel the same way as well.
In Part II, we’ll discuss the concept of isolative/activation movements and their role in the training process.
Stay strong
MR