One thing I have recently noticed with a few of my clients is they lack coordination. Not hand-eye coordination, per say, but total-body, rhythmic coordination. For example, I have been implementing a lot of jump rope into my clients' training sessions, and all of them have gotten significantly better at theskill of jumping rope. However, when I first introduced them to it, I was amazed at how many of my clients had no idea how to jump rope. In fact, some of them even told me that they used to try jumping rope as kids but stopped because they couldn't get the hang of it.
Another example is skipping. Have you ever seen a grown man who spends 40-80 hours a week in a cubicle try to skip? It is a sight to behold, my friends. First, he'll look at you like you're crazy when you tell him he's about to skip. Then he'll say, "Ha. I haven't done this since I was five." Exactly. That's the fundamental issue.
The problem with this lack of coordination and rhythm is that without these skills, movement becomes a lot more difficult. And when something is difficult, it is a lot less likely that people will find enjoyment in it and will often times not continue to perform these activities.
Think back to your days on the playground as a kid. Think about what you did during recess and why you chose to do those things. Very rarely will you find a case of uncoordinated kids running around trying to sports or other ball games at recess. Why? Because if they're not coordinated, they probably aren't very good at the games; and if they aren't very good then the games probably aren't much fun to them.
Exercise should be seen as playtime for adults, except here you have to do things that you aren't very good at because you are mature enough to understand that if you put in a little work you will get better at these skills and they will become easier and more fun. Here are some exercises you can do with your clients to improve their coordination:
- Jumping Rope
- Skipping (forwards, backwards, laterally)
- Ladder drills
- Footwork drills through cones
- Carioca
- Dance Dance Revolution (Joking. Kind of.)
If you want to add another layer of difficulty onto these drills you can toss tennis balls to them as they go through the drill and makes them catch them and toss them back.
The point of all this is to question whether our clients are in the physical condition that they are because they are lazy or because we, as trainers, are unable to provide an exciting environment for them to train. If we can improve our clients' coordination, then perhaps we will also improve how they view exerciseand it's relative difficulty and, in turn, allow them to get more out of their training.
No comments:
Post a Comment