Walking down the street, training at the gym, watching girls teeter in high heels on a night out or walking knock kneed and their Uggs, watching the way people sit at events, at work or in the waiting room at the doctors is something I find quite fascinating.

NOOOO I’m not a voyeuristic person (HONEST I never watch reality TV - well not regularly anyway!!) but I am a geek when it comes to watching human movement and analysing physical variations in our body types and the way we move because of those variations.

Why does THAT happen? Why do THEY walk THAT way?

Being on holiday the examples of our differences are more obvious with less clothing and what I noticed while on holiday this year was that we really should..

<i>..Embrace OUR Genetics!</i>

Having spent 2 weeks half naked, with half naked people, lying around a pool watching each other walk to the bar or apply cream, step into a pool, swim, pick up kids, eat ice cream etc etc...

It really does emphasise human movement variations and of course the variations of aesthetics.

It is truly fascinating to see the many different body types from large to small, tall to short etc. It made me think about the ‘ideal’ body concept and in fact how dull and boring it would be if we all looked and moved the same way or if we ALL had those 'magazine cover' bodies, the same hair styles, the same limb lengths, waist circumferences etc!

BUT

..in MY opinion using aesthetics as THE goal is possibly not the best way to plan exercising programmes even if that is ultimately the end goal. Creating a goal that is health and/or fitness related will of course still result in improved aesthetics based on YOUR body type, YOUR frame and YOUR genetics. Having this shift in the training programme goal offers more opportunity for positive achievement/s AND a more positive shift towards a realistic body image.

(Here I am talking about the average client as oppose to competitive body builders of course, since body building is an aesthetically judged competition rather than health and fitness being the goal)

There is of course the beautiful aspect of our differing bodies types. From the cute PSIS dimples above large OR small and maybe wide OR narrow round buttocks. These dimples can appear wide or narrow or some people don't see to have any! There are various textures of tanned skin, even different ‘shades’ of white skin and some have scars or birth marks that no on else in the world has!

There is a huge variety of long OR short soleus calf muscles above feet that turn out OR turn in OR <i>flick</i> a certain way during their bare foot walk across the tiles. Some spines rotate and some stay rigid during movement. LONG shins, short shins, slim arms, muscly arms, <i>baggy</i> triceps and bulging ones.

Seriously imagine if we ALL actually looked the same!!! BOOOOOOORRRRIIING!!!

THEN as PT’s, Fitness instructors, exercise professionals and even therapists we get frustrated that we struggle to understand why people move the way they do.

BUT WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT!

So of course this will be a challenge for anyone trying to apply a system to human movement…

NO ONE SYSTEM WORKS FOR EVERYONE!

So we should receive education that embraces the differences between us all rather than EXPECTS us ALL to move the same way. We should maintain an open mind to what our clients are capable of when using their bodies. A realistic aim or goal should always be individual to that person in relation to their history, genetics, lifestyle, diet, biomechanics and movement ability or capacity.

YOU do KNOW the MORE you know the LESS you know, right?

So we should also demonstrate duty of care to our clients by continuing to attend up to date CPD’s, further training and we should also read more and do our OWN research to develop our OWN methods of application for the best care of OUR clients.

WELL did you know you already learnt one of the simplest and applicable methods to analyse human movement (without any fancy equipment) as an exercise professional?

YUP

Group Action of Muscles is what we call our <i>movement analysis</i> study section in the Spine Biomechanics 2 day CPD workshop, that is part of our Biomechanics Coach™ workshop series. This is where we take our learners back to their A&amp;P training, which often gets forgotten due to only ever using lay language with our clients! So we lose the skill of recalling the analysis of abduction, rotation, flexion etc as part of movements during our exercise prescription. PLUS this is disguised by lots of soft tissue (muscle, fat, fascia, nerves, skin etc) covering the skeletal system which is the part of the anatomy we use to understand those joint actions.

This L3 A&amp;P knowledge is the minimum <b>pre requisite</b> for accessing our academy at the appropriate level to understand the screening system we teach. BUT it is very rare that a learner has really come in and easily nailed this session. Yet it is what we are taught right at the beginning of our training!

Here are the reasons professionals give for attending our CPD workshops:

<i>I want to understand the body and movement better </i>

<i>I want to learn more about the anatomy </i>

<i>I want to understand how we move on the inside</i>

<i>I want to understand why people move badly</i>

<i>I want to understand how to help people move better</i>

<i>I want to understand why they ache hurt get injured</i>

If we remembered out level 3 A&amp;P we would already have many of these skills and be more confident. We also hear…

<i>“but I never use this language with my client!?”</i>

<i>agonist </i>

<i>antagonist </i>

<i>synergists</i>

<i>dynamic stabilisers </i>

<i>fixators</i>

<i>abduction</i>

<i>adduction </i>

<i>rotation </i>

<i>flexion </i>

<i>extension </i>

..of course, me neither !! BUT if we talk to <i>each other</i> this way then at least we can enhance our recall AND memory of it.

Sadly the fitness industry in particular causes many of us to feel we can't admit to how bad our A&amp;P memory really is. If we are really honest it’s really poor isn’t it and therefore not surprising many exercise professionals lose confidence in what they are looking at when watching clients move!

We are expected to achieve so much when it comes to improving movement when we cannot even work out the WHY from WHAT we see.

Clients are suffering more and more due to lifestyles and our job of choosing the best exercise programme is getting even harder as everyone has SOMETHING going on, eh!

Previously we didn't feel we had REASON TO REMEMBER our A&amp;P.

In our academy we GIVE YOU REASONS to remember your anatomy which gives you increased confidence when watching your clients move.

So while embracing our differences, lets start getting serious about understanding human movement and improving confidence in movement and of course function.

Remember NO ONE IS PERFECT …that would be SO dull!

The Spine Biomechanics workshop includes WAAAAAY more than just movement analysis by the way!!

<a href="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/workshop/spinal-biomechanics-3/">REGISTER YOUR INTEREST HERE</a>