How do you know you can help prospective clients when they walk through your door?
Do they have a problem you solve?
Are their values aligned with your process?
Are they a good fit for you and your facility?
We’ll assume the answer is yes; how are you assessing them?
If you ask them to squat and they’re cantilevering forward and/or rounding their back trying to get full depth, how do you unpack that?
Do you have them squat some more while you examine their movement, or do you do something else?
This is where Mark Twain comes into the equation. He said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
What information do you believe you’re collecting when you watch someone squat, and you see these various faults?
The logical answer is that there are clues as to what’s causing the problem manifested in the movement.
There are clues, but few answers and clues don’t get the job done very efficiently. What’s the alternative?
Performing a joint-by-joint assessment to determine the source of the movement fault. Maybe the cantilevering is caused by poor ankle range of motion, Maybe the ankles move fine, and it’s a knee issue, and with a little bit of digging, maybe you find that the passive range of motion is full but when weight-bearing weakness prevents full range of movement.
The best coaches in the world don’t guess; they assess.
They take the time to precisely define their clients' struggles and examine the components of their movement, capacity, and lifestyles to determine exactly what’s holding them back.
If your clients have specific goals, they need specific exercise prescriptions; without an assessment, that prescription won’t be consistently accurate.