The Danger of Guessing

If you want safe, consistent progress, we need to stop the guesswork.

I had a terrifying conversation with a local "movement professional" the other week.  I attended a demo class & was talking to one of the other students.  Over the course of the conversation he revealed that he was recovering from a spinal injury.

When I brought this up with the guy leading the class, his only response was

"With things like that we just feel it out over time."

Sorry, what?  

A spinal injury is not something to "feel out over time".  And this student was told to perform vaults & rolls numerous times over the course of the class.  No screening.  No assessment.  Total guesswork on all fronts.  No wonder his back pain increased as class went on.

This is a recipe for disaster.

If you don't have a plan of action in place, you're going to spin your wheels & set yourself up for injury.  And if you are a professional taking this approach, you have some serious reflection to do.

What's the alternative?

The alternative to shoddy guesswork is to come up with a plan of action.  A roadmap to get you from Point A to Point B.  But you must know what Point A & Point B are in the first place.

Point A begins with a thorough assessment of where you are right now.  There are a whole slew of ways to gauge this, but with my students I go through a full movement, postural, and joint health assessment.  I aim to learn as much about their hardware & software as I can.  

This is by no means the only way to do it.  The point is: there must be a baseline measurement.  If you aren't testing, you're guessing.  And that's not where progress comes from.

Point B is totally unique to you.  Where do you want to end up?  What does success mean to you?  Some of my students want to improve their athletic performance (running & cycling times are big ones), others just want to move without pain (that always makes life better).  Before you start a new training program it helps to have a benchmark for success.  

If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.

So if you really don't have any goals, go ahead & guess.  Most people could use more nutritious movement throughout the day anyhow.  Things like hiking & sitting on the floor are good fall-back options.  But the random "numbers for the sake of numbers" approach is NOT the way to increase human fitness.  100s of burpees, a handful of vaults here & there, aiming for exhaustion...these are not examples of a well-executed plan.  That's guesswork, plain & simple.  

You Owe It To Yourself

You owe it to yourself to put a plan in place.  Spend some time thinking through where you want to end up, honing in on your Point B.  Then find a qualified professional to help you assess Point A.  With those constraints established, the road from Point A to Point B becomes infinitely more clear.  

PS If you're confused where to get started, it's time to apply for a free Strategy Session.  Click below to get one-on-one guidance on finding freedom in your body again.