Training With Others

Image courtesy of cheetahfit.com

Last Friday during study group at Precision Human Performance we had the opportunity to work out with each other.  Now, personally, I almost always train by myself.  In fact, I can distinctly remember three times over the past 13 months that I trained with another person.  Otherwise it was just me doing my thing.

Now, what made Friday particularly interesting was not that we had training partners but that those partners were also trainers.  We used it as an opportunity to practice cuing and creating different experiences for each other than we would normally create for ourselves.

I tell you what, having someone there who was focused on cuing me made SUCH a huge a difference in what I was experiencing during the exercise.  Similar to when I was at RTS class, it gave me a better understanding of the importance of cuing and the impact it can have on both what the client is feeling as well as the adaptations that are trying to be created with each exercise.

Image courtesy of fttemecula.com

One thing that was different about this past Friday than RTS class is that cues that I often use with my clients were used on me.  A couple cues in particular really stood out to me.  The first was being verbally guided along the arc that I was wanted to move while doing biceps curls.  I have used this cue with my clients in the past, but to be honest I didn't think too highly of it.  It just seemed like a so-so cue to me.  But I hadn't experienced it before.  After Friday, I realized that for me, it was a much more effective cue than I had imagined in terms of creating a different sensation than I had ever felt while doing biceps curls.

Image courtesy of stack.com

Another cue I had been using often without first experiencing is providing a little manual guidance for how I wanted my client to move, such as having him push his elbows into my hands while performing a row, for example.  When this cue was given to me, it wasn't a huge restraint to my motion by any means, but it sure felt that way.  So much so that I didn't have to really think about which way to move myself any more and could almost completely focus on generating huge amounts of tension.  In a sense, it felt a little bit like I was rowing on a machine in that my path of motion felt much more fixed than it did without that little cue.  And that was with using two relatively light bands that were well within my ability to row with so it wasn't like a virtual restraint was the main contributing factor to that sensation difference.

One of my main takeaways from this study group was the benefit that can be provided by training with other trainers from time to time.  I know it is really comfortable and really easy to keep to your own schedule and do your own thing each day, but I realized that sometimes lab time should be done with other exercise professionals so you can better-understand what you are subjecting your clients to in terms of the exercise experiences you are trying to create for them.

Do you ever workout with others or always by yourself?  If you do workout with others, are they there purely for motivation and accountability purposes or are they actually allowing you to practice and get better at your craft through providing experiences that you are trying to create for your clients?

Your body.  Your training.

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