Hello all, gearing up for a small read regarding “Where to Begin on a Fitness Journey.”
Let’s kick this off by saying: everyone is different and will start at a different place. A good Fitness trainer is to meet the client (or potential client) on where they are at in their current skill set of Human Movement. Some general population people (those who do not play any type of Professional Sport) may have some minimal experience with workouts, while a majority of people do not.
In order to meet them where they are, start with a proper assessment.
During this assessment, lots of notes will be taken and questions will be asked or answered. In my opinion, the best way to start is by a joint-by-joint approach. You start with the mobility of the big toe, to the mobility of your ankle, then work up the kinetic chain to your knees, followed by your hips, check your lumbar spine to your thoracic spine to your shoulder joints, ending with your elbow and your wrist. With that being said, in my personal assessment – the key in on the big 4, your 2 Hip and 2 Shoulder joints. Those 4 joints are the main functioning joints or core of our body.
After this portion of the assessment, you should be given a light workout. This means hitting at least six of the movement patterns. I have discussed these patterns in a previous blog post.
Putting your joint assessment and your human movement assessment together will give you a lot of information on how to sculpt the first phase of a workout – which we will call the Neurological Phase or the Hardwire Phase. This usually will last anywhere from 6-9 workouts or about 3 weeks.
Your body needs to understand the patterns that you will be working on, which is a big reason why we call this the “Hardware Phase” – We are hardwiring these patterns for movement. Some trainers call this “working out the kinks” because your body is understanding how to move within the Human Movement Patterns.
Reviewing really quickly just to understand, and lay the foundation that the hardwiring portion of starting a new fitness journey will take about three weeks. Let’s set that in stone – we have 3 weeks of understanding how to move and move well.
One way to gauge how well you are moving is to understand the strength training order of operations. These are as follows:
- mechanical movement (understanding how to move within the pattern, usually very slowly)
- working movement with speed (being able to move within the pattern faster and more precisely.)
- Working movement with power (moving within the pattern with speed and Force)
- Building strength (how much load you can move within the pattern)
Now, once you start your workout phase your rep ranges will be usually between 15 and 10 reps per set. You need to strengthen the ligaments and tendons – which in turn is hardwiring the pattern you are currently working on.
That to me, is the best way to start s fitness journey. I did an anatomical and mechanical assessment. I wrote a program with the information from the assessment – highlighting goals, they would like to achieve. An understanding of at least three weeks or 9 to 12 workouts is needed to ingrain that pattern neurologically.
As I come to a close with this post, the big thing to remember is everyone is different. So I will be meeting them in different places. My job is to meet you there and progress forward. My goal in this post is to help anyone who has no idea where to start. This is your starting point.
Please reach out if you have questions, comments, or concerns.
Phil Dominguez
