When I was a younger trainer, a lot of time and energy was spent among me and my peers trying to “get strong” or “get big.” We all wanted to cross the incredible 300 pound mark in the bench press. We all wanted washboard abs. We wanted to look like Arnold.
Then there was a stage where we all suddenly wanted to do squats on swiss balls. We wanted to hold a 1-arm plank with perfect form for 5 minutes. We wanted total stability. We wanted to be like Paul Chek.
Slowly but surely, we dropped off, one by one, each going their own way. Some left training entirely, pursuing other careers. Others stayed in the Arnold phase, where they remain to this day, seeking a perfect peak on their biceps. While the ones who made it through the Arnold stage either hung out in the Chek stage, or moved on to things like Crossfit, or Gym Jones type approaches.
I personally use all of these methods in my training, as the state of the client demands them. I found that there’s a better way than sticking to any single method exclusively, even if only for a certain phase of training here or there. Knowing the methods of these folks (and many more) constitutes the toolbox that I use at work every day.
Recently I had the honor of attending the Exuberant Animal Summit in Leavenworth, WA. And there, I added yet another set of tools to my work-set – those related to Play. While nothing is technically less scientific than play, science has spent a lot of time trying to define it, and figure out why its so good for us (like anything else science “discovers” the good qualities of).
To the subject header of this post, though, I want to make a point about all of these techniques, tricks, tools, or whatever you want to call them. My goal, as a trainer, is to get people into the best physical state they can achieve. And to that end, I employ all of the methods I can. But I’m also concerned with time.
Time is the one resource we can trade, but can’t get back. Once we’ve spent our time on something, that time is gone for good. While it shouldn’t be a deterrent to doing or trying new things, I think that an understanding of this idea should guide us in our decision-making.
Trainers – find the exercises, techniques, and tools, that allow your clients to achieve as many of their goals as possible in the shortest amount of time. Your exercise selection, timing, loading, etc., should all point to one common goal, and not be a mere collection of isolation exercises designed to fix their flaws…
Clients of trainers – find a trainer who does the above.
