Today’s post is a guest post by Aaron Callaghan, PTA Global Faculty Member and director of Peak 40. Peak 40 is a company specialising in lifestyle transformation for males aged 40 and over, teaching proven techniques to understand the relationship between mindset, recovery, nutrition and movement. Their goal is to help you thrive, not just survive, as well as enhancing how you look, feel and perform.

 

Well – Filex is done and dusted for another year.

As usual, the expo was that unique mix of the best and the worst of the fitness industry all under the one roof. The lectures were of a typically high standard, with many of the leading minds in their respective fields attending from all around the world.

When considering the last three or four years, there has been a lot of talk about the benefits of high intensity interval based or circuit based training, plus the need to develop small group training.

A common theme this year that many of the presenters spoke of was exercise as a skill. If exercise is a skill, it should be trained as a skill. Complex movements need to be chunked up and coached in a layered manner, with each movement chunk only being progressed once technical proficiency has been nailed.

Sounds simple….but so many aren’t doing it!

Instead of that well used phrase ‘Time Under Tension’ there seems to be a shift towards ‘Time Under Attention’! When movement mastery is the goal, the fine details really count.

I had many open and honest conversations about us as an industry and how we have probably placed too much emphasis on just ‘getting the job done’, with the primary focus on the outcomes, such as building muscle, burning calories or increasing capacity.

Unfortunately when the primary focus is outcome based it can take attention away from the process. You’re just thinking ‘go, go, go, get there, get there, push, push’ but how good is the quality of movement at that point?

This will often lead us down the path of poor mechanics, injury and will eventually become a self limiting factor when performance is considered.

The base of our training pyramid is built on fundamental movement patterns. If these are faulty, eventually a ceiling in performance will be met.

Quality always trumps quantity.

Quality matters whether you’re training a mature athlete to regain some youthful vibrancy, training high end athletes looking for the edge or enhancing the ‘movement software’ that a young client will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Every dysfunctional rep leaves a stain on the body and brain.

From a practical stand point what does this mean as a coach?

In a very simplistic overview we need to get really really good at teaching the basics. If you’re not comfortable teaching the fundamental movement patterns then seek help. Read books, watch webinars, work with a mentor, attend workshops.

In this day and age where we are surrounded by easy to access information, there is really no excuse. The first step in being a successful coach and a leader is to invest in your own development.

Remember every rep counts. Become a master coach so your clients can become master movements for life.