Motor Learning, Kinesthetic Sense, Mirrors

[Mark Rippetoe]

Yes, and while most people seem to adapt quickly and can be encouraged/pushed to try new things, a few require slower, more gentle persuasion. This is her first exposure to barbell training, having been using machines and doing yoga, and she hates the feeling of the bar on her back. I am picking my battles where I can, and making slow but steady progress. The other lifts are going well, and she's getting stronger overall and has added some muscle mass. I'm just trying to get her to do some form of squatting at this stage. We'll get to the low bar squat eventually.

Mia, COACH your client. You are currently functioning as her counselor.

[Kyle Schuant]

My experience is that when I started out training people, I could get hardly anyone to do this stuff. Now I can get lots of them to do it, at least if I'm going to be around during most of their workouts. What's the difference? Well, it's the same people coming into the gym... so the difference is me.

As I got more confident coaching the lifts, clients started having more confidence in my advice.

[Mia Inman]

Mia, COACH your client. You are currently functioning as her counselor.

Point taken - both yours and Kyle's. I'll work on it. Thanks.

[Kyle Schuant]

It's the same with any job, Mia: there's knowing what to do, and there's being confident in that knowledge. A friend I'd helpe get her fitness certification and taught to lift started working in another gym, and for the first four weeks or so she was contacting me every day, "I have this guy who... I told him to... is that right?" And basically she was right every time, she knew what to do, she just wasn't confident in it yet.

You can probably think of equivalent examples from other jobs you've done or people you've got services from. It takes some time, but sometimes something happens to give it a quick jump up. One of Rip's articles mentions working in a gym and there being a room of barbells and a room of machines, the machines trainer had a holiday and Rip trained his people, they all got quick progress in those couple of weeks. I suspect he had a big jump in confidence in his methods of training with that experience, it's something he remembers more than three decades later.

And though I didn't pass, I had a big jump in confidence after having a go at the SSC cert and taking a few people to powerlifting meets. Most were far from setting records, but they had a respectable performance given their time under the bar, so it showed to me that I more or less knew what I was doing.

We've all had to go through it.

[Mia Inman]

It's the same with any job, Mia: there's knowing what to do, and there's being confident in that knowledge. A friend I'd helpe get her fitness certification and taught to lift started working in another gym, and for the first four weeks or so she was contacting me every day, "I have this guy who... I told him to... is that right?" And basically she was right every time, she knew what to do, she just wasn't confident in it yet.

You can probably think of equivalent examples from other jobs you've done or people you've got services from. It takes some time, but sometimes something happens to give it a quick jump up. One of Rip's articles mentions working in a gym and there being a room of barbells and a room of machines, the machines trainer had a holiday and Rip trained his people, they all got quick progress in those couple of weeks. I suspect he had a big jump in confidence in his methods of training with that experience, it's something he remembers more than three decades later.

And though I didn't pass, I had a big jump in confidence after having a go at the SSC cert and taking a few people to powerlifting meets. Most were far from setting records, but they had a respectable performance given their time under the bar, so it showed to me that I more or less knew what I was doing.

We've all had to go through it.

Thanks Kyle. I'm pretty new at this and I realize I've got lots to learn and yes, confidence (having and projecting) is part of that.

Most of the folks that I train seem to do okay. Many of the women don't like the bar to begin with, but I can get them to stay with it and produce a decent squat (and the other lifts). Most of the men have trained with barbells before (some have even read Starting Strength!)

I have a 71-year old woman who has increased her bench press from 30 to 36 lbs in 7 sessions. We add one pound each training session. She's thrilled, and so I am. Maybe I can get her to a powerlifting meet one day :-)

I appreciate your advice.
Cheers, Mia.
P.S. I visited Melbourne many, many years ago. Beautiful city you have there.

[Kyle Schuant]

You're on the right track, Mia. Have you done an SS seminar? That helps cement things. Since that my people have made more progress more quickly. Part of it's just been my having confidence in the process. I used to mix things up more, now I just give them two workouts with the squat in common and alternate them, and add weight to the bar when they can. Like your "bench every session, add 1lb a time." Exactly right, well done.

One of the difficulties with vanilla SS is its being open-ended. "Keep adding weight to the bar until you can't." For the typical personal training client, that's like when the Army took us for a run and didn't tell us how long it'd be; it turns out 5km when you don't know it'll be 5km is worse than 15km when you know it'll be 15km. So I tell them, "We'll do this for 6 weeks, then either deload or change 1-2 exercises." People can hack it better if they know it won't go indefinitely. It's less than ideal, of course, but until you own your own gym and can pick and choose your clients, that's the sort of stuff you have to do.

[Mia Inman]

Kyle,

Yes, I've done a seminar. Phenomenal experience isn't it. Especially in the delightful Wichita Falls :-)

I do have my own little gym, and only a few clients. Training folks is part-time for me. They are all on the novice progression, so we'll see what happens when that needs to change. I just got the latest edition of Practical Programming and am looking forward to the read.

Thanks again
Mia