As a Coach, Clinician, Health professional – the ability to actualize change in your clients and patients is the number one metric of progress.

In a world where people need and want to carve out their own space in the professional landscape; it’s difficult to understand and live by the following mantra: 

The result for the client, is more important than the method to achieve it.

With that in mind, the term ‘result’ is always going to be a loose statement. Going on a crash, juice cleanse diet where you drink the most “in” supplement at the moment – will ‘result’ in a lower bodyweight.

Does this mean it’s an effective method of improving someone’s health? 

The Duty of an Exercise Professional

On top of delivering the method that produces results, I believe that the first port of call when working with a client or patient is to work together as a team to identify what the ‘result’ actually is.

In the world of healthcare – the outcome is more or less 100% prescription based. This is to be expected, as most people that go to a physiotherapist, consultant,  or on an orthopedic ward usually have something “wrong” that needs to be corrected.

The problem however, comes when the method and outcome lack individuality, resulting in the compromise of what’s optimal for the patient due to logistical constraints or an inability to identify the route on behalf of the practitioner.

On the other end of the spectrum, in the realms of “fitness” – exercise prescription is typically based exclusively on the emotions and desires of the client – disregarding the professional recommendation of the coach and as a result, becoming a middle man for a “plug and play” style of training. 

Wanting to lose weight? Do cardio.

Wanting to build muscle? 3 sets of 10 with compound exercises.

Before we dig any deeper into how we realize this change in our clients – we need to first answer the question – are we working towards the right goal in the first place?

Authority & Rationale

If there is one thing that determines your ability to “prescribe” a method of training – it is authority.

While this may sound obvious, it’s often a misunderstood, yet crucial aspect of professional development – leading to frustration for coaches and clinicians the world over.

Why can’t I get results?

Why won’t my client listen to me and do what I’m saying?

After a time, coaches will receive the advice from those with “Skin in the Game” to – do their time. Earn their stripes and ultimately gain authority through time spent in the industry.

Incredibly valuable advice, but with one fatal flaw – 

Confusing time with experience.

While they go hand in hand, they aren’t mutually exclusive.

Positioning yourself as a coach with authority doesn’t mean having the greatest social following. 

It comes from the relationship you cultivate with your clients to result in change.

Remember…

Research. Reframe. Realize.

It’s often said that the truest definition of failure is to exhaust all of your efforts and commit yourself to the wrong cause.

Imagine having the greatest steak in the world, and trying to sell it a vegetarian market.

Context and situational awareness will always precede the decision you make as a Coach or Clinician when we’re looking to help people.

 Needs Analysis

This is where a needs analysis comes in.

Establishing the current status of the client both from an objective and subjective standpoint becomes the first port of call when aiding anyone on their journey with physical health.

In this scenario, it’s important to remember that the human body is an open system. A concept that is covered extensively in our CS Level 1 Qualification – understanding connectivity between systems becomes more important than the system in question.

Let’s take the example of pain.

Working with a patient that wants to return to sport, more than anything – they need to compete.

But no matter what they seem to do, they can’t remove knee pain. It’s a chronic issue that has been bugging them for months, ever since they competed in the regional qualifier in their chosen sport.

All the experts and physios they have seen previously, have been successful. 

Or at least, so the experts would say. 

Physio #1 improved the patients passive hip flexion mobility by 20 degrees after some dry needling work and manual release therapy on the hamstring.

Coach #2 improved the ‘activation’ of the glute medius during unilateral movements by implementing reactive neuromuscular training (RNT). 

You can’t argue with the results. 

But ultimately – the patient is still in pain.

So, was the training and intervention successful?

The true answer, as is often the case, is ‘it depends’. 

A phrase that is used all too often as an excuse but again, ultimately stresses the importance of context.

Open Systems

The primary issue we have with physical training, is the human body is an open system.

Without going into too much detail – the process of acquiring fitness, reducing pain, building muscle tissue etc. is not a process of A + B = C.

There are so many possible outcomes in response to exercise, and as a result, so many potential benefits to be gained from them – that the answer will never be black or white.

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Instead, it’s a sliding scale. “Virtually no effect” right through to “Optimal”.

But with the exception of creating an injury, the interconnected nature of all aspects of fitness means you can never actually have ‘no effect’.

Beware Confirmation Bias

And finally, this is the key takeaway from today. 

As a coach – you want the best for your clients and as a result, you want the best for your business (note – it should always occur in that order). 

Continuing the point above – the relationship between all variables means that in one way or another, you can always carve a narrative of progress.

In some instances, this is a very useful side of the coaching process. 

As coaches, we’re keenly aware of the health and body composition benefits of having more muscle mass. We know the link and it’s not a difficult relationship to establish once you understand basic anatomy and physiology. 

However, your clients might not study, or even take interest in, training the way you do.

Being able to educate and empower each and every client on the human body is always time well spent.

The downside however, is that many coaches and clinicians (particularly those that lack skin in the game and are new to implementing the science) often struggle with the concept of monitoring progress.