Assessment: Where Every Successful Program Starts
Most, if not all of what you expect and hope to do as a strength and conditioning coach, trainer, etc, starts with your ability to assess what needs to be done. Without an understanding of this, you’ll never achieve maximum efficiency. Your programs will undershoot at best, and at worse, do nothing at all.
It sounds obvious, but I find that in a world filled with ready-made programs and apps (and sure, I do sell those myself), it must be understood that assessment is the key missing component from these. If your needs are met by what a particular program offers, you’re going to have success. If your needs are not covered by these programs, you probably won’t get where you want to be from them. That’s why assessment is so important to the individual who may be reading this.
To give you an example on how to better utilize programs made available to you: in the case of Jiu Jitsu Strength, or Advanced Jiu Jitsu Strength: I compiled two separate 3-month programs to work on Functional Hypertrophy and Strength: the most often needed areas of improvement for grapplers in my experience, and addressed them with these programs, Are there other things to conquer as a grappler? Absolutely. Might you need more endurance and mobility, along with better movement literacy? Yes. Will you get it from those programs? Possibly, but that’s not the goal: strength is the goal— and it’s in the name and description. Thus, I really find it important to dig in here because I want all athletes and trainees to really understand what they are buying into when embarking on this without a coach.
Back to assessment between a coach and client/athlete though—
I think it’s important to point out, that as a coach or athlete, you will likely fail and strike out more times than not at first, and you should continue to expect to run into snags all along the way. To me, that’s never been a bad thing. That’s the most exciting aspect of being a coach/trainer— you are literally experimenting in real time to see what works.
How do you get better at assessment as a coach or informed athlete? Here’s my top 5:
Anatomy. And Then More Anatomy.
You will never be able to understanding anatomy and its intersection with movement and physics enough (biomechanics in other words). Deepen your understanding of anatomy at every chance you get. If you’re an athlete (and not a coach) and want to explore this more, I highly encourage you to even at the most basic levels. It will make you ask better questions. If not, then find yourself a coach who makes a point of understanding these things.
Learn An Established System of Assessment
Learn a successful framework or system of assessment and really put it through its paces. By “system or framework” I mean an established person or organization’s protocols. Examples include FMS, Strength Sensei’s Biomechanical Assessment, PRI, etc. Learn its strong points, weak points, what it excels in identifying, places it has blinders, and what populations seem to respond best to it. I’ve always found that when I really dive into a system someone has developed, I end up understanding other systems that much better and eventually how to apply it that much better to the appropriate individual.
Ask a lot of Questions
Your clients and athletes will lead you to far more answers if you learn what to listen to and more importantly, how to listen. If you are an athlete, take ownership of your training and ask questions. Learn to understand why you are doing what you’re doing— even if you don’t fully care about the science- it still helps to know “x exercise makes me punch harder, so we do it.”
Establish a vocabulary with your clients. Start with the meaning of the word “Pain”
Learn to ask people what their meaning of the word “pain” is— pain is a complex topic that warrants articles and books of its own, but I have found many people use the word “pain” in association with fatigue, or just getting tired during an exercise. What they truly meant is nothing even close to actual physical pain that you need to be concerned with. All of this to say, establish a vocabulary with your clients and athletes.
Assessment is Far More Than What’s Covered in the 1st Session…
Assessment does not end once you do your first session… it’s a constant thing. You put one area in balance and another issue presents itself. Life and competition demands change. Always be watching. As an athlete or client, having an eye with you whenever you train will always be the way to pick up on these things.