Assess Your Clients

  I have read a few articles and blogs against assessing clients. There are two arguments I know of. One is the trainer does not understand the assessment enough to make valid decisions based on the findings. That is if the observations are correct to begin with. Also there is the argument trainees will figure things out for themselves, concerning what is harmful and what is not. So, as long as the program is focusing on the desires of the client that is good enough. The two common arguments above are just feeding the ignorance  that allows a trainer to overlook a very important portion of training a client, the proper assessment.

  As trainers we qualify clients for different fitness programs. If a client does not have the qualities to safely follow a particular training program, a smart trainer will "regress" the exercises, and many times create corrective and rehabilitative prerequisite programs. The more we know about human anatomy (especially the musculoskeletal system) and kinesiology, the better we are at  using an assessment and producing accurate exercise programs. There are many ways to handle it, but the assessment must have relevant analysis of the trainee's posture and motion. Obviously, being able to use assessments properly will take training and practice. It is not easy, but it separates professional trainers from all others. When I first began training I had a hard time using assessments. I am positive I have made some "bad calls" in the past. I have even injured some trainees when I missed some evidence of unstable joints and placed the trainee in an advanced training program. I learned a lot through the years. One thing that really sticks out in my mind is not only assessing, but constant re-assessing with a valid system to ensure that the client is progressing and any symptoms of faulty movement patterns are addressed.


 In my experience, initial assessing takes close to a month to get precise information to base progression on. In this time period the client is assessed and re assessed on a weekly basis. For me this works well. I may miss or dismiss problems in the first assessment. Also I could mistakenly diagnose an syndrome improperly. Shit, it happens. I get better as I practice but still there is always the possibility of mistakes. The first few weeks after the initial assessment there can be a great deal of change in ability and strength, of the trainee. It is in these weeks that the awareness of body posture and motion patterns need to be high. As the clients strength and functional ability can suddenly spike, a trainer needs to make sure the spike is not because of faulty motions through compensation. Keep in mind this is just my way of handling assessment process. However it is handled, professional trainers need to be able to assess their clients, and develop a program based on the assessments.