The Assessment

What do you do when you join a gym? Do you hop on a treadmill and start walking? Do you play with a couple of the weight machines? Which do you use? Maybe you elect to pay for a generic "workout" with ActiveTrax.

If any of those scenarios are the case, then I can guarantee mediocre results. Why? Because you don't have an objective survey of your current physical condition. What do you need? Do you want to lose fat? Improve your health? Get stronger? Well, exercise is a stressor applied to the body to stimulate it to adapt. Optimal stress and an appropriate progression are key to see significant, continued improvement in your body and performance. Everyone should be assessed for injuries, muscle tightness, muscle imbalances, poor posture, inability to stabilize a joint, poor technique, poor body awareness and coordination. Even before you hop on the treadmill or elliptical trainer (later, you will learn more efficient ways to burn fat, get stronger, and healthier). Many people get this backwards. Either they never progress their level of training or end up with an injury that deters them from training. Both result in poor results (this is 90% of the people in the gym).

The assessment gives me the information to help design the first phase of your training, the mobility and stability base. This is a key building block for more intensive training in the future. Oh, and it is progressively more challenging....so don't think this is a cake walk. It is an optimal training stimulus, not a maximal or minimum training stimulus.