Derrick Price

Alexa I can understand the flow of your exercises and how they map to the 7-Step Prep process. Just be mindful of the reps, especially with the Activation exercises. Too many reps can create fatigue which will de-activate! Otherwise, job well done!

Hi Jane, thank you for the questions!

1) For someone struggling with Stability and Coordination, I would still consider their training a Workout as learning new moves is a heavy load on our cognition and usually will stress our tissues in novel and challenging ways. So if you’re thinking about doing Activation and Mobility drills only for their workout, that is still a Workout for them based on their capabilities! But as they grow and capture these adaptations, eventually. Activation and Mobility patterns will be less strenuous and we can classify them as Work-Ins at that stage.

In other words, “Workouts” and Work-Ins” is relative to the capability of the person performing them. What may seem like a Work-In for many, may actually need to be considered a Workout for others because they are less capable and it’s a true strain on their system. Another way to look at is Mechanical Workouts are Stressful while Mechanical Work-Ins are Not Stressful, i.e. Recovery focused where the stimulus is not strong enough to promote a stressful state on the body.

2. For too much mobility, Activation (Stabilization) patterns should be the primary focus to develop the strength and coordination needed to move well. I would avoid Mobility strategies with this population.

Hope that clarifies things for you. If not, let me know! Thanks again for your great questions.

Quentin,

first, to answer your question, yes, we would categorize thoracic region focused exercises as Upper Body for body part specific exercise selection.

And secondly, excellent job putting this 7-Step Prep together. You matched the exercise selection perfectly with the associated step and your simple justification for each exercise demonstrates a strong intent for why you selected the exercises. I also like the progression of unloaded drills to loaded exercises throughout the sequence.

This is now a great template for you to use with many of your clients and you’ll probably just need to adjust one or two exercises at the most each time you use it with someone different. That makes it incredibly valuable from a programming perspective as it will expedite your time greatly and show the client how well organized and thoughtful you are with their experience. Really well done, keep it up!

Excellent sequence Jane. I like how you alternated between Passive and Active strategies to mobilize the TSpine and Shoulders as well as progressed the circuit from easy (less force) to hard (more force). This should be useful for upper extremity workouts and to unglue your desk jockeys!

Quentin, there’s a lot to like about your mobility sequence:

• You leveraged all 4Q well
• You progressed through the exercises from “easy” or low force profile to “hard” higher force profile. Really smart from a preparation perspective
• You selected appropriate exercises to match the intent of where you wanted to facilitate the majority of your mobility

Really well done. More importantly, because you are doing it yourself, how’d it feel?? What feedback would/did you give yourself after completing this circuit?

Quentin, this is a great train of thought and thank you for sharing. We’ll unpack more in the webinars so more clarity is gained. To address your points above:

• First drill, yes, any compression technique will enhance fluid dynamics and usually a great place to start. Especially for the nervous system. When we do strategies to drive water into our tissues and change the viscosity of our tissues, the nervous system will immediately recognize that and will create better motion as a result. Think of your GAIT after long bouts of sitting. It’s impaired because the nervous system can sense the poor condition the tissues are in after sedentary activity.
• This is a good Mobility drill, and yes, you’ll improve some Fluid Dynamics. Activation is synonymous with Stabilization. So think of creating greater Stability while moving through Thoracic Extension if that is something that you need. One way to do this is to add the “Forced Breathwork” while performing these OH reaches. You’ll increase Small Motor Unit Recruitment (SMUR) around the spine which creates greater stability of the spine, which also allows for greater mobility. Mobility will be difficult to gain if there is a lack of stability in the area.
• Third drill, this is a good Excitation drill because you’re teaching the nervous system how to turn on AND OFF effectively. If muscles stay on, we create TOO MUCH stability which impairs motion. So excitation drills are designed to teach the nervous system the proper timing of muscle activation and deactivation.
• 4th Drill, For Stimulation, we want to increase Neural Demand because the more input we can create to the Nervous System, the more prepared it becomes for movement. We do this in 3 primary ways: Oculomotor, Vestibular, and Proprioceptive. So one way to make your exercise more “Stimulation”, is we can drive the head and eyes in the opposite direction of the MB Shift. This upregulates both the Vestibular and Oculomotor systems.

To simplify creating an Activation sequence, follow this logic:

1. Pick an area of the body or a specific body position that you want to create greater stability around.
2. Then pick 4 exercises that map to the 4 steps of Activation for that specific body region or position.
3. Regarding 4Q, keep the exercises ULT/LLT for 2-4 sessions. As you master these movements in the Linear quadrants, you can then progress them to the UMT/LMT quadrants. No need to hit all 4Q in one session because you’re right, it can stifle your programming. Variability is needed throughout a program, but not necessarily in every session that you do.

I hope this helps and please, let’s keep the conversation going if you need more clarity!

Welcome Ben and Nir!

Liz,

Thank you for sharing your program and your detailed intent of how your program was put together. I really love where your head is at, infusing Mental/Emotional/Social considerations into your programs. That is what Health and Performance coaching and programming is all about!

Here are a few comments that came to mind when reviewing your program:

• I appreciate the clarity of your session titles. Very easy to understand the expected outcome of a day.
• Love the blend of variable recovery with considerations of all domains of health with “sunday” being a more explorative recovery day with options. Very smart way to program and coach!
• If this is a brand new program for someone just starting out, I might suggest switching the Strength and Power sessions (perform Strength earlier in the week) as the slower pace of strength movements is easier and less anxiety inducing. I also might consider saving the Power sessions for Weeks 3 and beyond to ensure your client can move well enough to introduce Power training and give them more time to master the strength movements.
• Depending on how your client executes the workouts, you might be able to stretch this program out over the course of 8-12 weeks as some individuals may need more time to adapt and get used to this regimen

I think you hit a home run with this program Liz. And kudos to you for taking on technology and showing you CAN handle it even if it means it takes you a little longer to get through it. Shows a lot about your character! It’s been a pleasure to work with you and hope to see you in Level 2!

Lance,

I like the multi-phase approach to your program with each week dedicated to specific themes as well as the specificity towards Runners. The more dedicated programs you create for specific populations, the more valuable of a service/product you will be able to offer! Here are a few of my thoughts/suggestions when reviewing your program:

• One thing to consider is are you giving your client enough time/repetition to a specific stimulus to foster an adaptation. I think each week can be repeated for 2-4 weeks and represent a different phase of training. That way there’s enough exposure to a specific stimulus for an expected outcome to occur. So in my mind, you really have a 12-16 week program here!
• I really like the Active Recovery you promoted in Week 1. It would be wise to continue programming that every week to combat the high mechanical demand of your program!
• Days 16 and 19, the sessions are incomplete

Well done staying on pace and thank you for sharing week in and week out. Your contributions helped to create a successful cohort for all!

Lance, this is a highly variable program with high volume (High Workout:Workin Ratio). I can see this benefitting an athlete in the offseason. Using pre-made content also made this easy to put together I imagine as well!

Now the tradeoff with high variability is you may not have enough repeated stimuli to warrant specific adaptations the athlete needs so something to be very aware of. A couple of thoughts when programming offseason for an athlete:

• Make sure you have very clear, relevant, and measurable goals for the offseason. Athletes need focus and the more specific, the greater chance you have for high adherence and performance. Otherwise, you may find yourself with an athlete who is apathetic to train in the offseason
• Your program should contain training and conditioning that allow these specific goals to occur. It will help you select the appropriate themes for each day and to be less variable, more specific in your programming.
• Monitor your Workout:WorkIn ratio. With a high Workout:WorkIn ratio, you’ll want to make sure your client is dialed in with their nutrition (may need more calories or specific macro/micro nutrients during this phase) and sleep. More on this in Level 2!

Liz I will review your program this week in the webinar, great work!

Lance, I got you covered on the webinar this week. Thank you!

Liz, great work creating a power session for the older adult who may not be athletic. And glad you enjoyed the session with Aimee, we’re grateful to have her in our community, she’s a rockstar!

A couple of notes for you:

• You did a great job in the description describing how to modify the exercise as the videos may come off as too aggressive
• The Forward/Backward Start Stops place an emphasis on stopping quickly which makes the exercise more Deceleration. Modify this exercise by not stopping abruptly (allow the client to stop at a controlled pace) and focus on the quick steps from a static position to make it more of an Acceleration exercise.
• I’d make the Lateral Lunge Skip the last exercise in the block as it’s probably the most challenging exercise in your accel block
• I like the lower volume with the Deceleration exercises compared to Acceleration as Decel is more demanding on the tissues. Smart!

Love it, great job Hansel!

Alex, really important you highlighted the client’s value system. Something we cover in Modules 10-11 which helps to drive your programming. It makes sense to blend both Muscle and Movement-Based Strength based on your client’s desires and needs combined with specific aerobic conditioning that may translate to their sport. Plus, leveraging content that you’ve made or that IoM has in the library makes putting together a program quick and easy. Nicely done!

Lance, well done selecting premade content and just dropping them in on the appropriate day. Should make for very fast programming! The more content we create, the more we stay organized, the easier programming becomes, and the more fruitful and valuable your business becomes!

You have plenty of variability and it’s a good idea to repeat some days so the client can develop motor learning around some activities. Something to be mindful of is the Workout:Recovery Ratio being 5:2. There are many factors that influence this ratio, especially the client’s age and training experience. Something you may want to consider are more extended cooldowns on Workout days that can be done later in the day to combat the near-daily demand of exercise, especially if this is to be done with a beginner. Food for thought!

Hansel this is fantastic. Science is starting to unpack more and more on how exercise can help combat cancer. We discuss this in greater detail in Level 3 but one note for you now is that Mechanical Stress may directly slow the growth and reduce the potential of cancer spreading so you’re doing a great thing for your client! https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39975

Not sure I would change much with your program. Your logic is very sound and I agree with your points of

• extended Warm-Up and Cooldown times on Workout days
• High reps with lower intensities to begin, especially during chemo
• Utilizing exercises to enhance blood pressure and increase parasympathetic tone

My only question is why did you select Movement instead of Muscle-based Strength (not that you made a wrong/bad choice)? Aside from combating Cancer, what motivators does your client have that Movement-Based Strength would be more appropriate? Identifying this is key as exercising simply to combat cancer may not be enough. Anchoring exercise to passion is vital for sustainability!

All good Alex, the beauty behind this experience is it’s yours to make and you get back what you put in!

Hansel this is great, I will review it in this week’s webinar!

Lance, you do a great job of blending Muscle and Movement-Based Strength with your exercise selection with a bias towards Movement Strength considering you enjoy a more Whole-Body Integrated (WBI) approach. With that said, I would challenge you to make this session more “muscle-isolated” to take advantage of the unique training stimulus that muscle training provides relative to WBI training (continuum-based thinking!).  I do understand where you’re coming from though!

Otherwise, I like how complementary your supersets are. With the Legs, you have an Anterior Focused, Linear exercise followed by something that is more Posterior and Multiplanar. And of course, Pushing complementing Pulling. One suggestion from a delivery perspective is it may be easier to coach and execute if you make the whole session Loaded or Unloaded using the same equipment throughout. This is especially important for your clients that work out at home or in a crowded environment. Some food for thought, keep up the good work!

Well done Alex, I will review it in the Webinar this week!

Esther, one of the biggest consequences of a “stuck” kyphotic spine is the loss of dynamism in the spine, i.e. the ability to move through a myriad of different postures and planes of motion so I think this is a great sequence to begin the restoration of a healthy moving spine. I understand omitting the Excitation and Stimulation at the end as you know your client’s personality and sounds like this is a smart judgment call. If possible, I would still look to integrate a couple of SMUR exercises before and after your Mobility drills as it’s a great complement to fostering both stability and mobility to any movement/joint you’re looking to enhance.

Let me know if you’re still having trouble finding specific exercises. We have so many now that I may need to go back and re-tag certain exercises to make sure they filter correctly. Some of these exercises were added before we had the ability to filter so no doubt some exercises have fallen through the crack so I would love your help!

Savannah, a lot to like here. Aside from your firm grasp of the benefits of the 7-Step Prep and exercise selection, I also like the idea of a Level system so your strategies can match the capabilities of your clientele. Makes it even easier to find your content and integrate it within your program building.

And I agree, this would be for a Level 3 client for sure! Great work integrating your own videos, you’re killing it!

Hansel, very thorough and a great intent behind your exercises. Well done!

A couple of suggestions:

• For the band chest press, I would recommend pressing at an incline instead of straight out or progress to incline once the mechanics have been mastered. This promotes a greater stability demand in thoracic extension which most people need.
• I really like the swing exercise for my advanced clients. Otherwise, I might switch it out for something like this as it allows more time for the nervous system to figure out how to stabilize the shoulder OH at end range: https://platform.instituteofmotion.com/library/activity/5e236rxo/

Teresa, this is very well thought out. You’re demonstrating a great grasp of the material and creating practical solutions, love it!

My only suggestion would be to switch the order of your mobility drills. If you mobilize the foot before the SL Balance drill, you may get more out of that exercise!