Are you "Special Needs"???

I am on a roll here - 2 blogs this week. Some of you may know that in my former life I was a special needs educator. What I mean by this was that I was a teacher that worked with students that had been identified as having special needs. My areas of emphasis were kids that had been identified as learning disabled or behavior disordered and often times - both. My students appeared to have normal levels of functioning on the surface but usually had one or more "deficits" that impacted their ability to do work. For those kids with learning disabilities it was maybe the ability to process numerically or logically - a lot of them had language deficits like being unable to put their thoughts into writing and of course quite a few of them struggled to read. My behavior disordered kids - aka "emotionally disturbed students" - often had a behavioral issue (that most likely stemmed from an emotional issue that was a combination of environmental and biological causes) that impacted their ability to participate appropriately in classes and thus affected their learning. I am really watering this down as many kids were a complex blend of a variety of these issues and other disabilities that all worked together to make it difficult for them to reach their full potential.

SO what the heck does any of this have to do with what I currently do??? Well! One of the themes of being a "special educator" was inclusion. And part of inclusion meant giving kids the least amount of accommodations and modifications necessary to make them successful. Basically - don't give them too much help or then it becomes a crutch but give them exactly what they need to be successful. Sometimes these kids would "ween" themselves off of the accommodations we would give them. Some would not. Some would do better for awhile and then need to come back.

SO! - what does this have to do with fitness and personal training. Probably much to the chagrin of many of my peers - I feel like personal training should be viewed as anaccommodation with modifications made periodically. Training is a tool. I think a trainers professional responsibility is to educate their clients as much as possible so they have all the possible tools to take charge of their own training. For some people this means a great deal of accommodations at first. You may need to work with a trainer for every workout for the first weeks or even months. This way you have all the support necessary to do things safely and appropriately. When I work with my clients at first - it is all about finding out exactly about what works for their bodies, what is happening with them bio-mechanically, what deficits they have and also what strengths they have.

Of course there are those clients that need to work with a trainer pretty much weekly or even more than once a week even after the initial education process occurs. For whatever reason - those people need the accommodation of having a trainer - or in many cases - simply want it. This is just fine. It is actually a really smart way to get the most out of your workout regimen. But a trainer and a client must reach a agreement that if at any point the trainee is to reduce his "accommodations" then careful attention must be paid to making sure they have all the tools to go out and exact their program on their own without the support of the trainer. Modifications are changes that can be made periodically with the trainer once the client has moved towards a more independent (but not totally independent, as a trainer as a consult periodically is a hugely valuable tool) program. Often with my clients modifications of existing routines are a chance for me to follow up, see what progress has been made, talk about new challenges they would like to implement and reassess goals. Again, a truly fit person more often than not has taken full responsibility for their program and put time and energy into learning everything that does and doesn't work for them. It's called taking OWNERSHIP of your program and it is very similar to what we wanted our students to do ... take ownership of their educational program.

The truth is WE ALL HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS. We are all unique individuals with unique bodies that should have a specific program designed for us. A great part of my job is the chance to help accommodate, modify, and see my students ... er, clients grow and change!!!

Thanks for reading,

Andy

Whatever Works ... Work it!

Going to be a little all over the place here. First - I have to address something that I have been confronting lately. A couple of clients of mine haven't really been getting as much accomplished as they have wanted to and have struggled to respond to the training protocols I have set forth for them. Upon further review - I started to think that it could be actually something that I wasn't doing or maybe something I was doing??? I had talks with them both and the same issue reared it's head. That issue being that at some point the friendship part of our relationship had somewhat superseded out trainer/client relationship. This is a very fine line to walk. Some trainees and I are able to walk it easily for whatever reason. But for others, there comes a point where individuals stop responding to me as a trainer because the friend part of the equation seems to distract. This is NOT a bad thing because I like having these people as friends. BUT it is important for them and I to understand - that is imperative that we communicate through the issue and if we are not able to switch roles when hanging vs. training then they need to move on. My point is - any trainer worth their salt should be more than willing to say "you know what - your friendship is important, but I want you to get results as well and if you can't do that with me, then go to a trainer that you can be more driven by". Again, not a knock on anyone involved - it is about being emotionally mature and secure enough to look each other in the face and be honest about what is best.

Okay - for rant number two. Most people know by now I really focus on "men's fitness". And in a lot of my conversations lately I have found myself repeating a specific set of principles. Much of this comes from what I gained when I got my newest certification. But in my own words it goes like this.

1. Your body works together kinetically - if one or two pieces of the puzzle are off kilter - then it affects everything else.

2. You have to be cardiovascularly fit, strong, flexible, and nutritionally sound to really have your fitness in check.

3. Weight training is numero uno with regards to importance in my book - but without a adequate flexibility program that is closely aligned with the strength training protocol - you are not covering your bases.

4. Leg training is freaking important and if you neglect it or think that your cardio training will take care of that you are selling yourself short. My new favorite phrase is this. "When you are 60, 70, 80 years old and beyond ... I don't care how far you could run or how much time you spent on the elliptical ... if your foundation is weak and non-limber, you will not have the quality of life you might of had if you had trained your legs appropriately"

5. Whatever comprehensive program you can find that will motivate you and work for you - stick with it. And if you don't know what that is - continue to work with someone to help you find it - because if it isn't working then it won't work! Ya know?

Thanks for reading,

Andy