This would be the ethos of Guerilla Fitness and our coaching philosophy summed up into one sentence. Rarely do we see a new member join without some dysfunction in terms of muscular imbalances, poor mobility and movement mechanics and I would think its a fair statement to say that 99.9% of the population including myself would have some dysfunction in the form of a muscular imbalance at a minimum.
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- Squatting heavy when one can’t perform a deep body weight air squat properly
- Deadlifting when one cant hinge properly
- Lunging when one hasn’t performed a split squat.
These are all examples of potentially adding strength to dysfunction. Quite possibly one of the most detrimental mistakes you could make as a coach toward your athletes overall performance. Let’s face it, we have all done it during our career. I understand, “What people want is results!” The strength coach who is under pressure from the coaching staff to show the teams training improvements. The weight loss client who desires that “curl up and die” workout to get their figure back in time for beach season. Gray Cook has said numerous times, “Don’t add strength to dysfunction…if you can’t squat don’t squat.” Certainly a powerful statement with a lot to be said.
It all boils down to risk or benefit. Loading poor movement patterns will only result in injury due to the various degrees of compensation at all levels (osteo, articular, muscular and neurological). It is important to remember that the difficult or “pretty” exercises are not always the most beneficial. In a number of cases, it’s the simple exercises that don’t “reinvent the wheel” that possess the greatest amount of worth. But getting someone to move better is the MOST important aspect as its allows someone to stay healthy, injury free and once their mechanics improve they will rapidly progress.
