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I thought i was teaching exercise for pre and post natal women, but i realised over the weekend that i am actually teaching a way of thinking about exercise! Let me explain…

I was in Adelaide over the weekend, at a very successful training studio chain called Life Personal Trainers. They have 3 studios in the CBD and surrounds, each with an area not much larger than what we have at IntoYou, and 24 trainers that work at each or all centres. Their philosophy is not unlike what we do at IntoYou; where we are focused on life-changing ways of training. We aim to change the way you think, change the way you feel, and change the way you eat, move, and operate on a daily basis, through 30min training sessions. Life PT is about training for Life… which is what aligned them so well with Burrell Education.

We have discussed before how we treat a Mama’s Activities of Daily Life like a sport: there are actions that they repeat daily that we can train to be better at, and “detrain” if they’re making a negative mark on that Mama’s body (like forward shoulders). If i had a cyclist, i would train them differently to a swimmer, because they had different “tasks” to complete in their sport, and different repetitive actions that i need to “unwind”, “detrain”, and neutralise to keep their bodies balanced. This is essentially what the One Day Burrell Education Courses are about.

What the owner and founder of Life Personal Trainers, Kristin Lewis, put so succinctly is that it’s not the “rules” of training pregnant women that we are teaching in these courses; it’s a way of thinking about ANYBODIES lifestyle! Anybody, whether they are a man, woman, parent, cyclist, secretary, jogger, gamer, or suffer cerebral palsy, will have repetitive movements in their lives. We can approach thinking about exercise for ALL these populations with two, very simple, strategies:

  1. What are they doing now, that they can do better?
    For example, are they lifting their children all day everyday? Can we teach them to lift well? See the video below as an example, can we help them do this better, easier, with less stress on their joints?</li>
  2. What are they doing everyday that is moving their posture out of alignment? How can we release, stretch, “unwind” those patterns to help keep that person more aligned, and therefore more comfortable, with less risk of injury?

    If we use the same lifting example, perhaps they would enjoy some movement in the opposite direction to help keep their bodies balanced when they’re bending forwards all the time?

These two points are great ways to “understand” your client’s needs. Once you’ve determined what they need to do better, and what they need to “unwind”, you will easily program the most kick ass sessions, and lift your game a level above all other trainers. After all, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to throw the same exercises at every client you see, but it certainly takes someone special to change a life in a 30min session each week!

If you’re a personal trainer that wants to go deeper in their understanding of what it takes to train women, have a look at our Education for PTs here. If you are looking for a “certain something” to lift your business to the next level, check out our business coaching here. Finally, if you’re a mum that wants to take this course yourself, check out our 6 Step Restore Your Core Course for Mums here!