Hey hey, Warrior! Today I’ve got the second part of my Gatekeeping Series. You can read the intro here and last month’s post here. Trainers, coaches, group exercise instructors and the like tend to place emphasis on certain types of exercises. And this emphasis creates barriers and boundaries for exercisers.
Google search for any strength or yoga exercise and you will find two main things. First, you’ll see many individuals demonstrating a fairly challenging version of said exercise. Second, you’ll often notice that these same individuals will give options to make an already tough exercise tougher. (You’ll also notice that these individuals are typically scantily clad, but that’s a post for another day.)
Guess what? Most exercisers aren’t ready to hop right into a bench press. Most exercisers don’t have the flexibility for bound side angle. Seeing these types of images can be very discouraging. Being goaded into attempting versions of exercises that one isn’t ready for can be demoralizing.
So let me start with the most obvious issue here. Each and every exerciser is different. Different wants and goals. Different needs. And different anatomy. All of which must be considered. If a client comes to me with rotator cuff issues or frozen shoulder syndrome, two things that I am not going to do with them right off the bat are barbell bench presses and bound side angle. That’s a recipe for pain and injury.
Depending on their goals, those exercises may be necessary at some point. But I owe it to them to work with them and their body’s unique abilities to slowly and safely progress to that point. They certainly don’t deserve my expectations of what I feel they “should” be able to do.
Which brings me to the more hidden, but equally important second issue. If our job as trainers and coaches is to get more individuals moving, then shouldn’t we be willing to meet them where they are? Shouldn’t we know our craft well enough to have options and variations available? Shouldn’t we want to be known as both the safe and empathetic trainer on the floor?
The obvious answer is yes, we should. But so many are gatekeeping positive movement experiences for all exercisers. My guess is this comes from a simple lack of understanding. Most trainers and coaches have been active to some degree throughout their lives. Most trainers are also young, relatively speaking. It is simply not their lived experience to know what it feels like to struggle getting up and down from the ground for crunches. It is rarely their experience of living in a larger body and knowing what those traumas feel like.
Every client deserves to have a positive movement experience. Sure, not every session is going to be workout gold. And there are days when my clients and students cuss me out for what I asked of them (my rule is they are allowed to do so as long as our time or class is over). But I have yet to hear (and I hope I never do) that I asked them to do something that they didn’t have the confidence to attempt.
Because as a trainer or coach, your real job is to build a client’s confidence. When a client knows that you aren’t going to give them an exercise that will cause pain or aggravate an injury, that adds to their confidence. When students know they won’t be judged on their bodies because you enforce a dress code, you build confidence. When clients know that you have really heard their concerns it builds confidence.
Building confidence is how we give clients the best movement practices. To meet clients where they are, we don’t necessarily need to have the lived experience ourselves. But we do need to have the empathy to put ourselves in those shoes and treat those individuals the way we would want to be treated. The Golden Rule really is everything.
Until next time, be well friends.
