Because of my fitness education background, I have learned to pay strict attention to form during every rep of every set.
When you follow the teachings of people like Paul Chek, Gary Gray and Juan-Carlos Santana, you can't in good conscious allow your clients to perform movements with improper form and/or bad posture.
Motor engrams are motor patterns used to perform a movement or skill, that are stored in the motor area of the brain. So if you learn how to do the movement correctly while training with me, and perform enough reps of an exercise
it gets programmed into your Central Nervous System.
Eventually you will instictively perform the movement correctly -
and if a situation comes up in everday life where you have to perform a task, that mimics an exercise we do in the gym, you will automatically do it right and greatly reduce your risk of injury. Conversely, if I allow a client to; let there shoulders round forward during a chest press, let their traps roll up toward their ears during a tricep extension, or chest collapse forward during a squat, it not only increases the likelihood of injury in the gym, but also in everday life when muscle recruitment is called for. For example - if a person doesn't perform a squat-to-shoulder-press correctly in the gym, then, when they have to pick something off the floor and put it onto a shelf or whathaveyou, the risk injury is greatly increased.
Studies show that it only takes 300 (10 trips to the gym following a 3 x 10 set/rep format) repetitions of an exercise for it to become burned onto your CNS' harddrive.
Once, it becomes burned onto your harddrive, it takes approximately 3,000 repititions to unlearn that movement. This is why it is so important learn how to perform exercises perfectly - and why I believe it is so imperative for a deconditioned person to invest in a trainer. You should want someone there protecting you until you have total confidence in your body to protect itself.
I know that it is hard for many to think about their bodies 20,30,40 years from now, but it is impossible for me not to think about it while I'm training a client.
I have more than one client that would love for me to shut up, but to me, doing so would be unethical. I know what happens as a result of poor form and poor posture, and I can't in good conscious turn a blind eye to poor form. Did you know that braces for your teeth only apply 1 gram of pressure and yet they are able to move the teeth a few centimeters within 3 months? Imagine what happens to the human skeleton (esp the spine) when dealing with much heavier weight constantly being pushed, pulled, dragged etc when exercises or performed with incorrect posture.
Bottom line, every cue that I give is imperative to perserving the clients body.
I know to the occassionaly trainee gets sick of it, and can create some awkward silence time-to-time, but their longterm health is on the line. Sometimes doing the right thing isn't recognized or appreciated, but if you're a professional than you keep doing what you know is right.
