Before you read along, re-read that title first. Think about it. Then proceed.
I am not in the business of injuring people.
People find me via different channels and join our amazing community with the desire of improving their health. Weight loss, chronic illness, the desire to have more confidence and strength in their day to day life, and the desire to stop hurting or getting hurt when playing sports.
Most of my clients are strongly turned off by other fitness models. They don’t want high impact movements, competitive enviroments, or chaotic crowds. They hear of the injury rates at other places and know that isn’t the best fit for them. The benefits need to outweigh the risk and let’s be honest, exercise routines are not all the same. You’re smart to be here at SASC.
When I was younger I did various fitness routines. Powerlifting in high school and college and then crossfit for a bit. I had never had an injury in powerlifting but in crossfit class over the years, I had managed to fracture my thumb, strain my low back and get a disc injury, have shoulder impingement and the final straw being hip impingement. I left and went to olympic weightlifting. I had a few fun years there but the hip impingement never went away. I was desperate to exercise and I paid a lot of money for remote coaching from someone who said they could fix me with proper strength ratios. I paid even more money on chiropractors, massage therapists, and even physical therapists who all left me with empty pockets and the exact same pain when I worked out.
Eventually, I found some mobility certifications that seemed like a good fit and I started the process of fixing my damn self.
See, it didn’t matter if I gave up the high volume, swinging, BS training and rested because resting or getting a massage wasn’t going to address the fact that I no longer had a functioning hip or shoulder joint. You also can’t just rub or stretch a muscle better, if you could then you wouldn’t have the same massage therapist with a weekly standing reservation for the last 15 years. And while resting may help the acute inflammation around your damaged tissue- it doesn’t restore that lost joint function. You’re going to have to do better than that.
That’s where the assessment comes in. Not once, at any of my various appointments when I was injured did someone do an assessment. It was pre- printed PDF exercise forms from google, it was bullsh*t about muscles not firing and needing to “release” my psoas, and it was passive joint cracking that didn’t do anything but make me nervous.
Eventually as I learned, I was able to assess myself and prescribe the exercises needed to actually address the capsule space, tissue architecture, and loading needs to be able to workout the way I wanted to again. When I’m curious about other joint issues I see in clients or family, I travel for my certifications or I travel the 7 hours to the next closest therapist who offers what I do, and I pay the $250 to play client and collaborate on ideas and ways to rehabilitate various injuries.
Due to my own life lessons, which I learned from- I have always been a stickler on this with my clients. 1) I believe it builds trust and long term buy in because they can continue with their original goal of improving their health and wellness and 2) I’m not in the business of injuring people.
It’s much easier to be proactive with your pain or limited range of motion than it is to wake up with pain, arthritis, or having to book a surgery because you chose to ignore or work into it.
In the almost 10 years that SASC has been operating, I have had 1 client injury (this was shortly before my certifications). And while its still a HUGE accomplishment to just have the 1- it’s still 1 that could have been avoided had I known then- what I know now. And as a promise to myself way back then, I no longer go that route.
When a client has aberrant joint function they have the option of doing an assessment, doing their homework, feeling amazing from regaining that function and then resuming normal activities OR they have the option of going somewhere else to workout.
Without the assessment, I cannot say what exercise you can or can’t do. I think a lot of people have this idea that a trainer can magically give them a list of other optional exercises BUT if I don’t know what your individual joint has the ability to do and not do then how can I truthfully give you a “safe” exercise within your capabilities?
If you happen to be lacking hip IR then you don’t even have a hip. And while maybe just backsquats cause you pain- you can’t move where you can’t move. So any other hip dominant exercise like a RFESS, lunge, or step up is only a compensation exercise that will STILL eventually lead to injury.
At SASC we assess, not guess. That is what makes this gym so different from others. You are more than a bank draft. Your goals matter to me and ignoring your joint capacity issues would be a disservice to each and every one of you.
SO book the assessment and DO THE HOMEWORK!
You get one body and my job is to help you take care of it.
In health,
Coach Aubrey