What exercise programming solutions are you using to meet the needs of your clientele?
Great question!
I will have them perform a series of assessments:
1. overhead squat assessment for muscular imbalance test
2. sub max VO2 for cardio assessment
3. Push up test for upper body strength baseline
4. Plank (reg or modified) test to find baseline for core stability
After collecting the information I follow a periodized plan that is non linear in progression. It makes it easy for me as a trainer to stay on track, for the client it helps to comprehend muscle confusion and how to effectively use acute variables in their program.
That is a great question Joanne! As a holistic wellness coach for women and children, I use the “whole-person” approach which includes physical, emotional, spiritual, occupational, intellectual, environmental, and social aspects. Every new clients fills out a customized Wheel of Life assessment to determine how happy they are with different parts of their life. Then, we set goals using a Goals-Action-Plan chart that I have created. Once we see where we are and where we want to go, we conduct a fitness assessment and determine the best “eating” and “moving” regimen for this particular client.
Creating the personalized positive eating and moving program for my clients in the beginning is the easiest part of my job. Once they have the initial program down, my ultimate goal (other than tweaking the program and creating new ones as needed) is to keep them motivated by sending them a Daily Challenge and doing a random check-in between sessions.
Hello Joanne… I love this question. Thanks for asking such an important one. I actually use a very practical, innovative and science based approach that has been developed and proven in many countries around the world, by a variety of different types of trainers. It can be found in the PTA GLOBAL educational curriculum. You can look them up on Fitness Connect… Look for PTA GLOBAL and go specifically to their “Personal Trainer Bridging Course” & “Advanced Personal Training” Course.
These courses collectively provide an already certified trainer the following:
1- A 5-8 minute behavioral questionnaire that tells a trainer what a client’s behavioral patterns are, their goal, why that goal is important to them, what type of training they want and will help them be most compliant as well as what level of ability they have,
2- over 800 programs that are specifically tailored to match all the information in the behavioral questionnaire by meeting the client’s: a) goal, b) their preferred style of training – what type of workout best matches their behavioral patterns and personality and c) their level of ability.
3- A fantastic system for progressing & regressing any exercise in all 3-dimensions (not the same as 3 planes)
4- A movement observation you can use each session that can also be a warm-up for the client
5- The only organized, systematic & holistic process to determine a client’s “daily readiness” – this allows us a trainers to determine how much stress the client is under each day we train them – and then the course will show you specifically how to manipulate a program to match their stress on that day.
This stuff is VERY “personalized” so you can tailor a program to every client in every session.
I hope this helps Joanne and thank you again for helping us with this great question. 😉
I tailor any program to the needs of the client based on what is uncovered in the initial questionaire and then assess mobility and flexibility with movement screens followed by passive and active ranges of motion at each joint and how they affect posture or compensation patterns. If the mobility is sufficient then further strength and agility testing may be warranted. I then do a needs analysis for specific lifestyle activities or sports played.
This leads to a starting place and goal for the program that can emphasize a corrective strategy program, a stabilty program, a functional program, an edurance program, a strength program, a power program, a performance improvement program, general health, etc.
It would be next too impossible to show how I would manipulate acute variables for chronic adaptaion without knowing what type chronic adaptation is the goal.
I use a combination of all my certifications methods with a little of my own understanding of exercise science to facilitate the goals of my clients. No one program works the same for everybody and I have never used the same exact workout program for two different clients.
Everything that I do is taylored to meet the needs of that particular individual.