Master Functional Movement Patterns

The biggest change I made to my career as a trainer was changing my philosophy with exercise to be “movement focused” as opposed to strength or fitness focused. The reason I changed my entire way of thinking and programming with exercise was because it was not working. Sure, there were many clients who achieved great results from the muscle approach I was using but there were many people who never improved, and some who got worse! My desire to find out answers to the reason I was failing led me to the functional movement approach where many of the world’s leading practitioners were practicing these type of methods. At first it appears this approach is too aggressive or even risky, especially when dealing with injury and dysfunction, for the exercises seem too complex. However, once you understand many of these exercises are fundamental patterns we use in daily life, you appreciate how effective and absolutely necessary they are to teach people. For one thing is for certain, they are going to move with these patterns the minute they leave the gym anyway. If the only way they know how to move is dysfunctional, they will continue to create damage to their body for it knows no other way. The sooner you learn how to use a more efficient and effective way to move the better, and this will prevent weakness and pain taking over your body. I must state that it is not only injury prevention that is of importance with learning to move efficiently, for strength, fitness, and sporting performance can never be truly achieved without these skills. Therefore, the rules of functional movement apply to all of us. The degree of difficulty will vary from person to person, but the fundamentals will always remain the same.

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