Perfect Your Exercise Instruction
There are four fundamental processes to great exercise instruction, these are:
1. Feature, benefit, feel.
Every time you instruct an exercise with a client, whether it’s weights, cardio or stretching, you should use the ‘feature, benefit, feel’ approach. The aim of the FBF approach is to continuously link what a client is doing to their pay-offs for doing it. This is very motivational as many clients, when the work is tough, will be wondering what the heck they are doing here. They will feel fantastic after they have achieved their result, so it’s just a matter of getting them through the work.
Feature – a feature is just something about the exercise. For example, ‘Okay Joe, this is the free weight bench press that works the chest muscles’
Benefit – this is the ‘what’s in it for me’ statement. For example, ‘For you Joe, this exercise is all about building the muscles around your chest so you are strong and burn more calories’
Feel – this is the ‘emotional’ link statement which gets the client in the head space to really invest the effort. For example, ‘You’ll feel fantastic once you’ve firmed up your chest area and you’re off to paint the town red in one of your new shirts’.
To do the above well you will need to really understand the links between what you are having your client do today, and what they will get out of it in the longer term. Once you have done this repeatedly though your client will invest the effort, become consistent in their approach, and really understand why they train the way they do.
Click here to see an example of ‘Feature, Benefit, Feel’ in action
2. Show, Tell, Do.
Show – When instructing an exercise first show the client how to perform one. The key here is to keep it simple as the part of the brain a client uses to visually learn an exercise just ‘mimics’ the movement it sees (this is how you first teach 6 month old kids to poke out their tongue). If you start to explain a lot of things you then involve the other ‘analytical’ part of the brain that wants to break things into bits. Most young kids learn movement extremely well by just seeing and doing it. Adults have the same capacity so to start with just say ‘Okay Joe, I’ll just get you to watch me do one then we’ll get you started’.
It is worth mentioning here that in many cases less is definitely more.
During exercise instruction, if you show the client how to do the exercise whilst explaining what not to do at the same time, you are highly likely to confuse them. “Keep the knees in line with the ankles, but don’t let them go over the toes, keep a soft bend in the elbows, don’t straighten the arms”.
In this example the client has to so carefully use their listening skills to remember to match up the words “don’t do” with the incorrect movements and “do” with those that are correct.
Clients who learn best visually will find this extremely difficult to do. So when you demonstrate, always follow a “best practice” approach. Just show the client what they need to do and avoid talking about all the don’ts.
When you learnt to drive your car, your driving instructor showed you the right way to drive – for both your safety and theirs they avoided worst practice demonstration! Do the same with your clients – just show them best technique. Remember “people will do what you do, not what you say”. You’ll also notice your instruction time will be cut in half too!
So, if you are going to explain anything at all just say: this is where we start (start position), this is where we stop (end range position), this is the pace we go at (tempo and breathing with it).
The number of repetitions we demonstrate for our client is worth mentioning here too. Will our client be able to pick up full technique with one demonstrated repetition or would it be more appropriate to complete a set so their eyes can build up the patterns of the movement?
Do at least 4-5 repetitions so they can learn from your body movements. People learn just as much with their eyes as their ears. Encourage your client to move around you and ask questions about what they are seeing and what they are supposed to do.
Tell – Then get the client in to the machine and ask them to get into the start position. That means you will help them with the set up explaining anything they don’t do automatically and get them in exactly the right start position by physically cueing them as well. A client in the right start position will typically complete the movement well, and come back down the same way they went up. For example, with bench press they will bring the bar down and then press back up in the same pathway as they came down in. The brain does this by default so getting someone in the right start position is a sensible approach.
Do – then ask the client to lift at the tempo you did. Count tempo for them if necessary to guide them.
Cueing of the movement can be done physically as the client can’t see themselves so there is little point in going ‘okay – can you move x to y etc’. Cue breathing. They should exhale on the concentric phase and inhale during the eccentric phase. Make sure they don’t hold their breath at any stage.
Rinse and repeat until you have exactly what you are looking for. Usually it takes 2-3 sets to learn the basics and for some clients, many more sets.
Once you have what you are looking for you can ask questions of your client so they start to focus in on the ‘feel’ whilst moving. This triggers the peripheral nervous system and creates sensory connections between the brain and the muscles that are working – this is called “proprioception”. For example, ‘where do you feel this working? Where is the weight on your feet? What is your torso doing when you push up?’
Do not load the client up unless they have the movement. As you increase the load the nervous system beds down the programme it has for completing the lift. So, if the movement is wrong, and you load the client, the nervous system simply ‘beds down’ an incorrect movement pattern and it’s 10 times harder to correct a pattern than to initially bed down the right pattern. Remember this fundamental rule of great exercise instruction – always be patient!
Click here to see an example of ‘Show, Tell, Do’ in action
When giving feedback to a client make sure you use the following process as it has been shown to enhance their responsiveness, confidence, and learning.
3. Commend, Recommend, Commend.
Commend – Tell the client something they are doing well.
Recommend – Ask the client to change something, at the same time as physically cueing it usually but if they know the exercise just verbally remind them as they are just not concentrating or are not aware of what is going on (you are their eyes).
Commend – Tell the client something they are doing well that relates to the improvement made in their technique.
Click here to see an example of ‘Commend, Recommend, Commend’ in action
At the end of the instruction (particularly when showing someone an exercise for the first time) check their understanding using the following and final process:
4. Question, Remind, Summarise, Make notes.
Questioning – After an exercise, once your client is back on earth and ready to listen, you can ask them about the exercise, its key points, the benefits for them and things to watch for. Doing this keeps your client focused and makes them realise there will be questions each time so they should listen. For example ‘Can you tell me the main form points to remember on the first exercise we did – the leg press?’ ‘What would happen if our knees wandered around when we were pressing? What do we focus on to make sure that doesn’t happen?’
A client who isn’t held accountable for their training may train poorly by themselves and therefore is at risk of not getting the results they originally sought.
Remind – cue them on any points they’ve missed that you think are vital for them. Don’t re instruct, just make sure the one or two things that you know will make them a success are there. If they nail the question, congratulate them and move on.
Summarise – quickly summarise the exercise FBF again and the few absolutely key points and ask the client ‘How do you feel about this exercise’. Again, asking feel not understanding is important. You want to know about their fear or anxiety versus their confidence. The key is to build confidence so they can become competent because they keep at it. Always remember to be positive and encouraging.
Make notes – on the programme just tell them the comments you’re making and write down any key points you want them to read in the future. It must be simple and is usually best if it is a key phrase like ‘steady pace, pause each time’ or ‘smooth and full movement’ or ‘bar to chest not neck’. No books please. If you find you are doing long notes, then please book another session with the client because you are not confident they actually get it yet.
Click here to see an example of ‘Question, Remind, Summarise, Make notes’ in action
As a side note, we went through a time when equipment providers put pictures on machines with full explanations, then we started putting pictures in programmes, then pictures were put on posters to show people how to stretch. All of this has helped, but only a little. The only way to get perfect movement consistently is to instruct it well initially, have the client feel the movement and get their brain to programme it in. So, perfect repetitions, often, especially early on – are required. Poor work by a consultant or trainer instructing early on can lead to 10 times that amount of work for clients, other consultants, trainers and physiotherapists. It really is key to get it right early on.
Note that we have only covered instruction here. In the PT papers we look at ‘session delivery’ more closely which includes all aspects of a session from preparation, meet and greet, communication through to a de-brief and follow up. This is all covered in the session delivery pages at ptdirect.com.