Making "Stupid" Smarter

Image courtesy of chess.edu.rs

One thing I try work through in my head are ways to go about taking exercises that may be completely inappropriate for a client and manipulating the variables of the exercise in order to make it appropriate for their abilities and goals.  As a professional, I think this is an important skill to develop.

For the longest time I would see or think of one version of an exercise and dismiss it as being stupid, ridiculous, or inappropriate for a specific client.  Subsequently, instead of questioning how I could modify that one version of the exercise in order to make it more appropriate, I would dismiss the majority of the versions of the exercise.

One example of this is the kettle bell swing.  While I may think there are more appropriate ways to allow my clients to progress to achieving their goals, if a client of mine is completely sold on all of the hoopla about the importance of doing kettle bell swings, my challenge as the professional is to be able manipulate all of the variables of the exercise well enough that they can perform the motion of a kettle bell swing while holding a kettle bell and have it be appropriate for them.

To understand the tools of my craft to the degree that I can take any exercise and manipulate and modify it so it is completely appropriate for the individual I am working with at that moment--that is my challenge.

Not to dismiss.  Not to say, "That's stupid," and be done with it.  But to see each possible exercise as an answer and then understand how to make each answer a little smarter in order to better answer the question at hand.

Your body.  Your training.

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