Sunday, March 16, 2008

Singapore Personal Trainer - Teaching Exercise Technique

One of the key roles of a trainer is to teach exercise technique. This is actually not a "difficult" thing to do.

As a personal trainer or coach (fitness coach, sports coach, pretty much any coach at all) we have to believe that there is a correct way to do things.

A correct way to run, jump, land, change direction, turn, squat, lift, press etc.

These have been covered many times in magazines and videos and DVD's and websites.

The problem occurs when we are forced to adjust to individual differences. This is where a coach earn his/her money when it comes to teaching technique.

people differ in:
  • height
  • shoulder width,
  • hip width
  • angles at the knees and ankles
  • natural flexibility
  • muscle imbalances
  • ratios of arm length to height
  • ratio of leg length to height
  • ratio of upper arm/leg to lower arm/leg

all these things mean minor adjustment in technique and leverage to perform exercises safely and effectively.

With serious imbalances or postural issues, this also means adjustment to loading and finally to exercise selection.

Some general guidelines:

Thickly build people tend to have shorter legs and logner torsos. They are good at squatting and squat with near perfect form with just a bit on careful instruction. However they need modifications to their dead lift technique to make it more effective.

For the upper body these guys excel as well in pulling and pressing movements because the total distance lifted is less and thus they can handle more weight.

Longer limbed people need more help with squatting sometimes going wider and opening up the hips more. They also will likely not lift as much as the stoutly build thicker people. however these long limbed guys will usually excel at dead lifting because their long arms and short torsos give excellent mechanics for good pulling.

Longer limbed people tend to do better in ball sports because they have more reach and have long limbs that can, with proper training be put in good control.

Even among Singaporeans who are all supposed to be of Asian descent, there is a huge variance in body types. But rest assured with the correct training, anybody can achieve an awesome physique that is aesthetically magnificent, and performs just as well as it looks.

Built to Squat and Press Weights overhead!
Built for ball games

World class physiques come in all shapes and sizes. And they do need modifications in training to help them reach their potential!

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