When I get a new client in the door, I never want to jump right into a program. Reason being, everyone is unique. What people tend to forget is that we have unique jobs that place tension and stress on different parts of the body. For example, when I have a new client who works construction, his posture might be a lot better than my new client who has a desk job. Why is that? Those everyday positions we tend to be in for long periods of time effect our body and can lead to repetitive stress or breakdown of the body. This is why it’s important to get feedback by doing an assessment.
I start with an overhead squat. This assessment allows me to determine what muscles in the body are overactive or tight and which muscles are underactive and need to be strengthened. If this issue is not addressed, it may lead to further imbalances ultimately leading to injury or plateau in your strength. About 80 percent of the time, people have underdeveloped back muscles; mostly the rhomboid and mid traps. This is why we perform more pulling movements in our workouts. Typical exercises have a 2-1 ratio to allow those underdeveloped muscles to play catch up. These movements are also important to help with your posture. If muscles remain underdeveloped, it can lead to shoulder injuries as well. As a society, we spend too much time sitting as many of us are “desk bound”. If you have a job where you’re sitting more than 6 hours per day, try to get up every hour. Moving each hour and incorporating more pull movements into your workout routine provides various health benefits as well.