Those pesky ball-and-socket joints going every which way can really confuse matters of movement, even for personal trainers, can't they? The hip, like the shoulder, can move in all planes of motion powered by any number of the 17 muscles that are responsible for its...
Michele Rogers
NFPT Publisher Michele G Rogers, MA, NFPT-CPT and EBFA Barefoot Training Specialist manages and coordinates educational blogs and social media content for NFPT, as well as NFPT exam development. She’s been a personal trainer and health coach for over 20 years fueled by a lifetime passion for all things health and fitness. Her mission is to raise kinesthetic awareness and nurture a mind-body connection, helping people achieve a higher state of health and wellness. After battling and conquering chronic back pain and becoming a parent, Michele aims her training approach to emphasize fluidity of movement, corrective exercise, and pain resolution. She holds a master’s degree in Applied Health Psychology from Northern Arizona University. Follow Michele on Instagram.
Personal Training Client Types, Why They Hire You, and How to Knock Their Socks Off
For every year you're in the fitness industry, there's another personal training client type you will have assessed and categorized in the back of your personal trainer brain. Not that everyone you meet will fit neatly into one of these pigeonholes necessarily, but...
How To Do Bodyweight Dips
Performing bodyweight dips requires mastering your entire bodyweight just like its distant cousins the chin-up and the pull-up. Dips also require extensive shoulder mobility to perform effectively and without injury--probably even more so that the two former. The dip...
How to Perform an Overhead Barbell Press
Execution of a standing overhead barbell press may appear to be a simple movement, but technique is often difficult to nail down due to muscle imbalances and mobility issues. Teaching a personal training client to properly prepare for the movement, engage the core,...
Interpreting Signs of Overhead Squat Assessment: Lower Extremity Dysfunction
After getting familiar with performing an overhead squat assessment (OHSA) and noting any signs of imbalance or dysfunction, you'll have to know what to do with that information to be of any help to your fitness clients. Start from the ground up, since so much...
The Overhead Squat: The Best Movement Assessment to Expose Muscle Imbalances
Most personal training clients arrive with muscle imbalances that need to be corrected in order to make gains and prevent injury. The most skillful of trainers should employ initial assessments and be able to accurately assess most of these imbalances with a single...
BFR Training: How it Works and How to Use it With Fitness Clients
If you are immersed in the world of fitness, chances are you have already heard of, or seen, or researched blood flow restriction (BFR) straps and training, also known as occlusion training. What on the outset may appear to be a fitness fad, there is plenty of solid...
How To Handle Embarrassing Client Moments
We've all been there--your client does something he or she finds embarrassing and you must handle the moment with grace and aplomb. If you are caught off guard in such situations you could make the interaction even more uncomfortable, or potentially even lose your...
What’s a “Deloading” Week and Does Your Client Need One?
Of the many buzz phrases circulating in the fitness world these days "deloading week" may be one that you may have heard many times, have contextually surmised its meaning, but may be uncertain of its necessity and appropriate application. What is Deloading? As it...
Periodization for Personal Training Clients
Having a solid grasp on how to use periodization programming with personal training clients may be the difference between successfully advancing in training while preventing injury and someone who just "works out" a lot, failing to meet goals and perhaps getting...
Dynamic Deltoids: Understanding and Training the Shoulders Muscles
The deltoids, otherwise known as the deltoideus or shoulder muscle, consists of three distinct "heads" with very different joint actions that, when engaged simultaneously, work together to produce shoulder abduction: the anterior deltoid, the middle deltoid, and the...
The Perfect Pull-up: A Total Prep Program
The execution of a strict bodyweight pull-up is the paragon of upper body strength and should be a goal for every fitness client and enthusiast. Many people get stalled out on a weight assistance pull-up machine while others force the movement with poor form and...
Understanding Active and Passive Insufficiency
The terms active and passive insufficiency are buzzwords in the fitness world as of late and for good reason: understanding the implications will help every personal trainer program exercises that are more efficient and less injurious. Both active and passive...
How to Program Regression Exercises to Learn Pull-Ups
Teaching a client to do pull-ups, a gold standard exercise embodying bodyweight strength and endurance, is a process. Assessing mobility and addressing restrictions with releases and drills are the first two steps before teaching the actual pull-ups. When your client...
Corrective Exercises to Improve Shoulder Mobility for Pull-Ups
Once you have determined what your client's shoulder joint mobility restrictions are, you can begin improving mobility by lengthening and strengthening the correct muscles. For each movement restriction of the shoulder that your client exhibits, there is an outlined...
Shoulder Internal/External Rotation Mobility Exercises for Pull-ups
The last piece of relevant corrective exercises to improve shoulder mobility for pull-up progressions is focused on glenohumeral internal and external rotation. Once you have determined what your client's shoulder joint limitations are from the last blog on how to...
Scapular Mobility Exercises for Pull-Ups
Improving scapular mobility and correcting muscle imbalances that might prevent proper pull-up form is an essential step before teaching efficient pull-up or chin-up technique. After determining which shoulder limitations are present after learning how to assess...
Thoracic Mobility Exercises for Pull-Ups
Improving thoracic mobility and lengthening the latissimus dorsi are essential steps to laying a strength foundation for a pull-up progression routine. Before incorporating the following exercises, you should have determined what your client's limitations are from the...