Your Body. Your Training. Your Goals. Your Way.

Someone asked me last week…

“Will I ever get to do a squat like that? Do I even have to?” 

It was during her 1-2-1 personal training session and “squat like that”, was in reference to a squat using a bar. My answer was simple.

“Maybe. Maybe not”.

You might think that I was being difficult or even that it was a pointless response. When in fact, the reason was because I didn’t know the answer. It’s hard to predict where someone will he in the future, but also if they’ll ever get to a stage where they need to / can do a certain exercise.

Context matters 👏

• Your training and performance goals

• Training experience or ability 

• Any pre-existing injury, conditions or disability 

• The risk:benefit weigh up

• How much time you have to give to training VS how much time it takes to work on a skill.

For this Client, she’d seen someone else squatting and instantly began thinking that I was going to shove a bar on top of her sometime soon. Which some coaches would do. Because it might fit their coaching bias or ego, to have all clients squat with a bar. I prefer to put my clients and their needs first. Which means assessing what is actually useful, safe and fun for them.

A lot of people see back squats with a bar, as the marker of fitness. That it’s an exercise everyone should be able to smash out reps for. It doesn’t help that you see things online setting these arbitrary set points and “benchmarks”….

“Squat this much x your bodyweight or you’re not fit and strong”.

Whilst the back squat is an impressive exercise and one that works for some people, it isn’t as superior a leg exercise as some would claim. It requires a lot of technical skill, body awareness and strength. You might be able to shift a tonneeeee of weight on a leg press, but stick a bar on you and it all goes a bit tipsy turvy. Then you might get someone who has an incredible 🍑 to grass squat form, but ask them to do a box jump….lol…..next joke.

those post leg day feels

Which is why it’s important to keep you and your body at the forefront of your mind always. Because when we forget that, it can be easy to get bogged down in comparison. There’s no best exercise, only the one that suits your ability, goals and requirements best. Performing any exercise well, outweighs doing one half ass (pardon the squat related pun), just because everyone else does. Loads of women I know, do hip thrusts. I DO NOT do hip thrusts. Nor do I do back squats with a barbell, if that helps put your mind at ease.

Not because they’re “bad”….(though I swear doing squats is bad for my mental health 👀)

In the past this might have sent me into a spiral. Panicking that other people had it right and I should amend my training to match theirs. I would forget all the quality other leg exercises I did each week and how strong they felt. I’d tried to put every exercise into my programme and then found myself not improving in any, because I was cream crackered.

I’ve tried, tested, learnt from my mistakes. After getting injured, spending days in agony pain, chasing goals that didn’t mean anything to me. This is why it’s important to meet yourself where you’re at. To focus on movement patterns and ways we can get our body into those positions with how we are currently.

Something I remind my Clients, is to stay in their lane. Whether that be focussing on progressing exercises within reach of their current ability or just putting blinkers on to what other people are doing. Some of my VIP clients perform variations of exercises, not because they’re easier. But because it suits their body, presents the right level of challenge and allows them to execute a movement without pain. Which allows them to learn, feel, strengthen and build trust in that exercise/movement. Once we nail that, we might might look tograduallyyyyymake things more challenging by changing the range of motion, removing aids, load, direction etc. But as with most things; this just comes with time and practice.

Which can be quite exciting when you flip your perspective. Because it means you have something to look forward to trying in the future, whilst enjoying learning new things as you go.💃🕺