Help Your Clients Master New Movements
Connecting to a client’s difficulty completing an exercise in ideal form can be a challenge. It may have been years since you first learned to hinge or press overhead so it may be hard to recall what it feels like to learn a new movement for the first time. Some trainers may have entered the field with an athletic background and therefore may have found new movements natural or easy to learn. When working with clients who have limited or no experience in the gym, learning exercises can feel like learning a different language. It can be overwhelming to think about the multitude of components that make up a compound movement let alone imagine others watching this challenging process. When you can empathize and create a strategy for a client to learn and make mistakes, you can empower your client to feel safe and master a new skill.
Stages of learning
According to Fitts and Posner, motor learning can be divided into three stages: cognitive, associative, and autonomous[1]. When a client is first learning a new exercise or movement pattern they are in the cognitive stage, characterized by struggle and inconsistent performance. Depending on the individual, they may require verbal, visual, or tactile feedback. Despite the challenges, this stage can yield the the most noticeable improvements as there is typically significant room for growth. It is important to be aware that while as a trainer you may know this stage is temporary, a client can feel discouraged. Making the task small enough to keep the client in this stage for the shortest amount of time possible can improve confidence and improve progress.
The associative stage, next in the motor learning progression, is where the client must now take the foundations of the movement learned in the cognitive stage and begin to drill it. The movement will still not appear refined and progress may appear to stall as there isn’t the same kind of room for improvement seen in the earlier stage. While this stage is not as neurologically demanding as the cognitive stage, it still requires a great deal of mental and physical energy. The client may complete some successful repetitions and some that highlight areas for greater fluidity and precision. Despite the challenges, this stage is where your client has the opportunity to discover how they can begin to own the movement and gain confidence.
The final stage of motor learning, the autonomous stage, is where a motor skill becomes second nature and requires less attention[2]. If a client can easily carry on a conversation while completing an exercise you can feel confident that the client is in the autonomous stage. But remember to be observant as your client can be blissfully performing squats in the autonomous stage while their form is less than optimal. Bad habits can become autonomous too. This is why deliberate and appropriately paced progression is key. When creating a client’s program, it is important to remember that they will benefit from spending the majority of their training time in the associative stage. While this may seem counterintuitive as we all want our clients to move with laser precision we know adaptation occurs when we progressively overload the system. If a movement is easily performed without increased demand nothing will change.
Coaching Progress
Learning a new movement skill is best accomplished when tackled one small element at a time. Depending on a client’s training history, each individual’s step one may look different. Let’s take the hinge, the precursor to Romanian Deadlifts, Good Mornings, and Deadlifts. This can be a challenging movement to learn and for many individuals new to training, it can be difficult to differentiate from the squat. At first your goal as a trainer may be to help your client understand the movement of the hips in the squat. This may be accomplished by using a dowel rod and instructing the individual to keep the dowel in contact with the back of the head, thoracic spine (upper back if you chose to avoid anatomical terminology for ease of understanding) and sacrum (butt) while they drive their hips back. Right there you have asked the client to think of four, maybe more, things right from the start. It is best to air on the side of the more regressed version first as it keeps confidence high. Consider how defeating it could feel for a client to hear, “oh no, we have to make this easier so you can get it.” In this example, you may consider beginning a few feet from a wall with hands behind the head and encouraging the client to focus on driving the hips back to touch the wall. Once this has reached the autonomous stage you can progress by adding in considerations for the head, spine, knees. It is important to keep in mind that individuals learn differently, so it is best to have a wealth of regressions and progressions readily available so that you are able to adapt on the spot.
Another way to foster success is to create a learning environment that is self-limiting, i.e. hard for the individual to make mistakes. This may be as simple as placing a chair or large medicine ball behind someone as they aim to squat. While there are many elements to performing an optimal squat providing something to aim to may limit errors in-terms of depth, hip direction, tibia angle, etc. Finding tools to create limits on the exercise can help a client progress proprioceptively especially if you find the tool that addresses their weakest link.
Cueing is another element of your coaching that plays a huge role in developing motor learning. While your instinct may be to provide your client with feedback about each individual aspect of the movement that can improve, research suggests people execute movements more successfully when the number of pieces of information they have to attend to is limited[3]. Consider only giving clients one or two cues to think about while completing a movement. Use rest time between sets to provide visual and more extensive verbal cueing and then aim to only use one word cues or appropriate quick unobtrusive tactile cues while the client is completing the reps[4]. Also remember that cues phrased positively will produce greater results than those phrased negatively. Instead of saying ‘”Don’t let your chest come too far forward,” opt for something more along the lines of, “Try to keep your chest up as if you are showing off your name-tag to the whole room.” Then while they are doing their squats in a working set you can remind them of the cue by simply saying “name-tag”.
Celebrating Success
Everyone wants to see that they are improving. You have the ability to boost confidence and encourage further improvement by consistently celebrating their successes. This can be done through verbal acknowledgement during a session as well as congratulatory reminders via messages after and between workouts. Consider exercises your client likes and is successful performing and be sure to program them around exercises that are more of a struggle when appropriate. It can feel defeating to be continuously working on something you don’t feel you are getting any better at. Be sure to record progress in your written program notes as well as with video so that your client can have tangible evidence of all their hard work.
Helping someone become more comfortable and successful completing a movement is a wonderful part of being a trainer and with some thoughtful consideration about appropriate progressions and regressions, effective cues, and ways to celebrate success you can facilitate more of these milestones with every client.
[1] Fitts, P.M., & Posner, M.I. (1967). Human performance. Oxford, England: Brooks/Cole.
[2] Huber, J. (n.d.). Understanding motor learning stages improves skill instruction. Retrieved from https://us.humankinetics.com/blogs/excerpt/understanding-motor-learning-stages-improves-skill-instruction
[3] Winkelman, N. (2018). Focus and cueing for speed development. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 40(1)13-25
[4] Wulf, G. (2013). Attentional focus and motor learning: A review of 15 years. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 6(1):77-104
