Troubleshooting

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Hey all!

I'm hoping that I can draw on some of the expertise of the members of this group!

Last night I successfully completed the final step in becoming a personal trainer and I couldn't be happier. Overall I scored very well on both the written and practical components of the exams however when I was doing my practical last night the feedback I got from my instructor (and I knew this was happening as I was training my "client") is that I have to work on the coaching of the actual exercises and the troubleshooting. I have taught myself how to lift and have only ever lifted in the comfort of my lovely basement gym....which is awesome....except I have never lifted WITH anyone or even really watched in real life.

Obviously the way to improve this is to practice.....however I would like to know if any of you know of any books or online resources that I can use to help educate me on form breakdown or correction techniques. Or if you have any tips or tricks that you have picked up that I may be able to benefit from.

Thanks in advance

lwoodroff

too ... distracted ... by ... your ... awesome ... booty ...

I think time with people actually doing it is your best shot, if you fancy a trip over to the UK I'll be a guinea pig for you!

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Haha thanks


Bump....anyone.....

Slrajr

Have you read Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe? He goes into intricate detail when he breaks down compound and accessory lifts.

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Yes, I do have Starting Strength and it's a fantastic resource for how to set up and what proper form looks like....fortunately I'm good at that part....it's the troubleshooting and technique correction that I need some help with. Basically like something that lists faults and fixes, if you know what I mean

Sarauk2sf

Just curious as to why that would not be covered by the training materials for the PT course. Which course did you take out of interest.

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Just curious as to why that would not be covered by the training materials for the PT course. Which course did you take out of interest.

This is a damn good question, TBH. And really is my only complaint about the course. The component of the course that deals with actual exercises is seriously lacking (even the textbook) and IMO there should have been another day at least devoted solely to coaching, spotting, and troublshooting lifts. But unfortunately that isn't the case. So now I have to continue to educate myself, which is fine.

In Canada, besides post secondary institutions, there is really only 2 organizations that do certifications.....Canfitpro and CSEP. Most people go with Canfitpro and you will find that here, in most gyms trainers have that certification.

danimalkeys

The best way is to find someone who is good at analyzing weaknesses and technique flaws, and learning from them. It isn't something that an inexperienced lifter can just open a book and become good at. You can learn the basics, and if you already have good form yourself, you can compare other lifters to yourself, but the bottom line is it takes time to get good at.

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

The best way is to find someone who is good at analyzing weaknesses and technique flaws, and learning from them. It isn't something that an inexperienced lifter can just open a book and become good at. You can learn the basics, and if you already have good form yourself, you can compare other lifters to yourself, but the bottom line is it takes time to get good at.

Yeah....the challenging part is finding that person, but I agree that observing is going to be the best way. In the interim I was looking for some reference material that I can study up on. Obviously it doesn't take place of actually doing and watching, but I think it's better than sitting around and waiting for a good coach that I can observe to appear on my doorstep.

And just to add.....I'm not an inexperienced lifter

danimalkeys

The best way is to find someone who is good at analyzing weaknesses and technique flaws, and learning from them. It isn't something that an inexperienced lifter can just open a book and become good at. You can learn the basics, and if you already have good form yourself, you can compare other lifters to yourself, but the bottom line is it takes time to get good at.

Yeah....the challenging part is finding that person, but I agree that observing is going to be the best way. In the interim I was looking for some reference material that I can study up on. Obviously it doesn't take place of actually doing and watching, but I think it's better than sitting around and waiting for a good coach that I can observe to appear on my doorstep.

And just to add.....I'm not an inexperienced lifter

I should say that it's not something that an experienced lifter can open up a book and learn! . Though an experienced lifter does have the advantage of the hours and reps in the gym to draw upon.

Look up vids of powerlifters. Nowhere is form more important.

heybales

I've found through the years that troubleshooting anything is a skill, and many either have it or don't.

That ability to look at a system, know enough about it, to know where something isn't working right and the reason why.

If you find yourself able to troubleshoot say car issues to at least a certain direction based on your knowledge level, that's good.
If it's stuck at "there's a funny noise up there" but you've been taught some basics about cars, that's not good.

If the toast doesn't pop up and you just bang the toaster around and slam it down out of frustration, that's bad.

What I've found helps those that aren't natural troubleshooters, know the system deeply, the interactions, ect. While this is true anyway, actually think about the interactions.

While you could have a list of "if this is the issue, this is a possible solution", that section in the car book doesn't cause harm if you do the wrong things, just wastes time and money possibly replacing things.

But if you notice a rounding of the shoulders during a squat when the weight gets heavier, and there are possibly many reasons why, and you pick the wrong one to work on, you may not help the problem, or cause confidence it shouldn't be there and cause form problems when it still is.
That's where knowing to test perhaps some aux lifts to discern which one is pointing out a weak muscle turns up the solution.

I'd suggest keep digging in to the interactions between muscles, and that's where Mark really gets in to that. Not just proper form, but the why (usually) the form is important.

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Thank you

I do totally realize that this could take years to really "get".....I'm not upset about putting in the time. A lot will come with the experience of working with people. I guess I just figure that it's better to at least start reading about common faults....common fixes.....just so that I can become familiar with identiftying these things. I think, to be honest, that I'm probably better at it than I think and I just have work on really breaking it down and, like heybales said, really focus on muscle interactions. When I was doing my exam, I was just so nervous and I wasn't thinking how I normally would think when *I'm* lifting and I think that was my biggest downfall.