Personal training has become more than just moving weights and getting a sweat on. Fitness Professionals are taking on more responsibilities and are required to have more competencies to become truly professional. We owe it to our clients to become masters of our trade.

The study of movement and dysfunctional movement patterns is one avenue generating a lot of buzz; trainers are becoming more competent in recognizing the importance of and need for good diagnostic skills in these areas.

As professional trainers, we should prioritize learning how to recognize the patterns, knowing how to unwind them, and implementing how to eliminate the problems that prevent our clients from moving forward.

It is impossible to detail out every sport movement or every dysfunctional movement strategy a client or athlete has adopted. Each of us deals with different injuries, over-performed actions, behaviors, self-esteem, and life habits. That said, here are some tips about movement that will help you or your client unwind:

1. Do the opposite actions of motions repeated throughout the day or unwind the sedentary positions held for long periods of time.

2. Get primal with it. Go to the ground and gain confidence. Go through developmental sequences.

3. Focus on complete breath through your abdomen. Breathe into your low back, pelvic floor, abdomen and chest. Teach yourself to stabilize
with full 360 degrees abdominal breath.

4. Gain confidence before you progress.

5. The angry site of pain is usually the victim. The culprit is nice and quiet. So apply the kinetic chain approach, because you need to find the cause of the pain and not just tend to the symptom.

6. Get joint contracted before you stabilize.

7. Stabilize before you move.

8. Move that specific joint before you integrate the entire kinetic chain.

9. If you do not start regaining mobility after your correctional exercises you are most likely barking up the wrong tree.

10. The body heals from the top down, inside out, and newest to oldest. That old stuff that we thought we healed up from may still be the root cause of dysfunction.

11. Joints compress because of unstable sections within the kinetic chain. They provide stability to the overall system to compensate for lack of stability within other regions of the kinetic chain. To get a joint to decompress identify which region(s)lacks stability and work to stabilize. Example: Look to the ankles compressing compensating for a weak core.

12. Pronating feet indicate lateral line instability in the hips.

13. Supinating feet indicate medial line instability of the hips.

14. Be patient and have fun.

For more information go to www.nationalPTIglobal.org and check out our Foundations: Movement and Biomechanics Course. We promise a fun and mindblowing ride. By the end you will have a resounding advantage in guiding your clients to sustainability, success and performance beyond their wildest dreams.

Become great!