FILEX PRESENTER
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL
PUSHING YOUR CLIENTS TO THE LIMIT
SAFELY AND RESPONSIBLY-PART 2
Being fastidious about form may not be exciting for clients, but it will enable them to achieve
greater gains while avoiding injury-induced downtime, says PT and performance coach Susy Natal.
ollowing on from the first
part of this feature (click
here to read), this article
expands upon the topic of how to
keep safe, but maximise the results
of your clients who want to push
hard, have big goals or who struggle
to recognise their limits.
Whereas the first article focused
specifically on the management
of pain, how to approach different
forms of pain and what they
might mean, here we look at the
importance of teaching precise
technique and how to ensure your
client successfully learns all the
information necessary to maximise
their results and minimise injury.
F
Learn before the burn
A concern that many trainers have is that if they are not smashing
their client every single session, the client will not feel like they are
pushing hard enough to achieve good results and they will leave.
This will be true for certain personality types, but it is actually quite
unsafe for clients in the long-run if they are always thrown into new
movements without first mastering the correct execution. There
needs to be a strong educational foundation targeting precision
of technique. The best results are obtained when consistency is
maximised, and avoiding injury is paramount for this.
Manage your client’s expectations from the beginning, explaining
that in the initial phases of training together, or whenever a new
movement pattern is introduced, there will be some stopping and
starting, and that the sessions will be a lot slower as you have a lot
to teach them. If you back yourself from the start with an informative
explanation about the importance of executing movements properly,
most clients will understand this and will appreciate you taking the
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