BAD. “I heard that’s not good for the body. Deadlfits are bad for you. Squats are bad for the knees” We hear this ever so often when it comes to a particular exercise. For me, it depends on the person. For someone that went through back surgery, I wouldn’t recommend deadlifts, unless I have spent months building up hip/back mobility and strengthening of the core. Then, I would assess how the client would execute the exercise and see whether or not he/she can do it without pain. Client safety is the number one priority when it comes to personal training.
As trainers, we have our exercises that we like to do personally and for our clients. When this exercise is questioned or a certain stigma is associated with it, it is our job to convince them and earn their trust. For example, I had a client that came in saying that they “heard” deadlifts were bad for them. Explaining the benefits of how it targets the posterior chain doesn’t get the point across. It is when you actually do the exercise and the client feels the muscles you mentioned that allows the client to understand the benefits and why they should do it more often. The best is when they ask to want to do it again. This is when you earned their trust because you changed a negative perspective into a positive.
I thought bench press was not a good exercise due to my experience.
For the longest time, I thought bench press was not a good exercise due to my experience. It was this exercise that caused me to get surgery on my shoulder. During middle and high school, all I did was bench. No stretching, just pressing. Yeah, I know, I didn’t know any better. Due to this, I constantly loaded my front side, making my shoulders round. The thing that made my shoulder worse was the fact that I wanted to get to 200-lb so bad (ego thing) that I kept throwing my shoulders as I pressed. Didn’t care how I did it, as long as I got to 200-lbs. Well, I did get there, but because I compensated for so long I created a lot of structural damage. This led to my rotator cuff tear, hence, requiring surgery.
After gaining knowledge in the field of kinesiology and understanding how the body operates, I was able to learn how to train SMARTER. By incorporating rotator cuff exercises, self-myofascial release stretches, and understanding the mechanics of the exercise, I am able to avoid the pain I experienced before. At times, I wish I could go back and tell myself to train SMARTER, not HARDER, but now I am in a position to TEACH OTHERS to avoid the mistake that I made. Its very rewarding to see how much I can influence and potentially avoid greater injuries.
Ultimately, you want to make sure you know which muscles are being targeted. If you feel elsewhere, then that means other muscles are being incorporated, and its usually due to compensation. This is your telltale sign of whether you are doing the exercise properly or not. Again, learn to train SMARTER, not HARDER. Hope you liked this week’s blog. Stay tuned for more next Wed……………….Kei