[00:00:00] James Breese: Strength Matters Media. Video. Print. Podcasts.
[00:00:05] Josh Kennedy: Today's topic is our most important personal training assessments. And I think the first question I'm going to fire at you, James, is should personal trainers
[00:00:15] James Breese: assess? It's always the old thing. So, you know, when, if you don't assess, you're just guessing most of the time.
[00:00:23] But I think we've spoken about this on previous podcasts. I think we have three options. We have now, we have no assessments. Mini assessments and full assessments, because it depends on when the client comes into what sort of state they're in and what type of person they are. Some people love the assessments, therefore we get the full assessment system that we use all the time.
[00:00:41] But then you have the middle assessment, which is the middle ground, where we'd like to have at least everyone come into. But then some people just hate assessments, and you just have to be mindful of that. It's not where we want them to be, but we have to be mindful of this. To make sure that we don't put them off and we try and educate them over the long haul to maybe [00:01:00] build them up to assessments later down the line, or in some cases, you can just tell that some people should not be assessed.
[00:01:06] I'm, you know, and I'm talking about this with some of our clients, some of our clients who have been morbidly obese in the past. You know, we're not going to assess them and make them feel terrible about themselves, aren't we? We're going to try and help them as best as we can. Their biggest assessment is basically they need to walk more.
[00:01:20] That's essentially what we're trying to look at. Very simply, very simple terms in that sense. But yeah, so in answer, it depends. Mostly, yes.
[00:01:29] Josh Kennedy: Uh, indeed. I was going to say that it's always good to have a system, uh, to follow. As you say, yes, if someone, if we know someone's just not right for the assessments, um, we're not going to put them through them because as you said, we don't want them to feel bad about themselves, but we've got a system in place, which means, okay, what are the basics then?
[00:01:47] Walking, water, sleep. So I think that's important to point out because when I came out of, uh, I've mentioned this a few times, uh, PT school, we've done this. Yeah, we've done assessments, but there was no, there was no system to it. [00:02:00] Really? I had no framework to hang it on. So I was doing, I did the overhead squat test and I, you know, I did a, uh, balance test and just various things.
[00:02:10] But every time I got a client, I was just like, Oh God, what do I do? And then once I've done these assessments, what do I do after that? So it's not just having assessments, it's then having a system, a system and a framework to hang it, hang it on afterwards, right? Yeah,
[00:02:23] James Breese: absolutely. And that's the system we try and teach everyone.
[00:02:25] So like for us in very simple layman's terms, We look at it in four quadrants, health, movement, strength, and cardio, health comes first. Health comes first is our motto. Our mantra, our mantra, you know, it just, you just, without your health, you have nothing. Yeah, that's that too. Yeah, that too. Without your health, you have nothing essentially.
[00:02:46] So we had to break it down because yeah, there's so many good ways of assessing people, so many different ways to skin a cat essentially, that we had to think of a system that works for us, but works for us. Both in person and online. So we [00:03:00] come when it comes down to the question of like, what are our most important personal training assessments?
[00:03:04] It comes to health because the health side of things where we can make a bigger difference to people in terms of their everyday life. And where we can we get the most enjoyment sometimes out of it. People change your life. And or discover things that never even thought about before that that potentially life threatening as we have had in the past, you know, that there to us are the most important personal training assessments that we do, and it's the ones that people don't tend to do to a system or often enough.
[00:03:31] Basically,
[00:03:32] Josh Kennedy: I think I think we're talking about health and we'll come on to the assessments in a in a second might surprise people because they might have been expecting us to say some sort of, you know, squat test or deadlift or bench or five K run or something like that. And we do have those tests let further down the line.
[00:03:47] But absolutely for us within our system. Health absolutely comes first because, as you said, James, if you don't have health, you don't have anything. Um, so we'll come on to the first Uh, test, one of our most important [00:04:00] tests is the breath test. James, what is the breath test and why on earth do we do it?
[00:04:04] James Breese: Yeah, exactly. So the breath test is a gateway to see how, how healthy you are. Breathing is very fashionable at the moment. There's lots of books come out. The original I read was Oxygen Advantage. Yeah, I love breathing.
[00:04:17] Josh Kennedy: It's really fashionable. I've always done it. We
[00:04:20] James Breese: know, it's great, innit? It's great, but it's also the hardest thing to talk to people about because they've done it all their lives.
[00:04:26] They don't think they're doing it dysfunctionally. So when you tell them you're doing it dysfunctionally, they look at you with a weird look on your face going, What the hell are you on about? You mentalist, basically. That's what you're gonna try and get over. So basically with our breath test, it's based from Patrick McKeown's work on oxygen advantage.
[00:04:42] It's a CO2 Breathing test that's telling to see how, how well your body can deal with co2 in the body, which is then tells us how well you're processing breathing and also how well your diaphragm is working. Because most people are what we call mouth breathers. They breathe in the mouth, which means they're not using the [00:05:00] diaphragm and the diaphragm is the most important muscle.
[00:05:02] To help stabilize everything within the core, lower back and relieve back pain and all these good stuff. And CO2, the higher your tolerance is, the longer you can perform, the faster and healthy you are. In a short, you know, that's a bastardized way of saying and talking about it, but that's a very simple.
[00:05:18] way to put it. So breathing is the most important thing, but it's also one of the hardest to convince people that they need to be doing it. So
[00:05:25] Josh Kennedy: it is, but as you say, it is so important because I think it's an, the diaphragm is a muscle. It needs to be trained like any other muscle. And I think it's a hugely overlooked component within people's training.
[00:05:35] So I think that is a really, really important one to think about. The next one, resting heart rates. Um, I think it's probably obvious why this is important, but go for it. Metabolic
[00:05:44] James Breese: diseases, cardiovascular diseases. Most people have a high resting heart rate. Unless they have a medical condition that in states otherwise that they aren't aware of like they think yeah my help my heart rates normal But then that's for normal doctor's terms and that's for everyday people [00:06:00] who are like really ill and stuff So if you have a resting heart rate over 60, I think you have issues personally.
[00:06:05] That's what I'm gonna argue You're not cardiovascularly fit enough. You're prone to metabolic disease and you're prone to cardiovascular issues at some point, heart attack, stroke, et cetera, et cetera. So for us, understanding your resting heart rate is key to understanding how good your aerobic system is and how well your body's recovering so we can give you the right advice to get you training you properly so you can recover faster and be healthier in the long term.
[00:06:30] As soon as we
[00:06:31] Josh Kennedy: see that in the assessments, instant red flag. cardio, walking, you know, let's get that resting heart rate under 60, um, as soon as we can. So it always becomes a priority. Um, waist to height ratio. Now we used to do waist to hip ratio, uh, in PT school, but, uh, waist to height ratio. Talk to us a little bit about why that's important,
[00:06:52] James Breese: James.
[00:06:52] Yeah. Waist to height ratio. Again, it comes down to metabolic diseases. So many studies out there that show that if your waist is over [00:07:00] half your height, You are prone, severely prone to metabolic disease, thus reducing your lifespan, thus impacting your health span at the same time. And yeah, it's, you're not going to perform at all, are you, in terms of like athleticism, if you waste over half it, which means you're carrying too much weight.
[00:07:17] So it's a great test. Hundreds of thousands of data points behind this, medically approved. And we look at it, it's going, yeah, you know, it's a really good, simple test that people can apply. And it tells us straight away, is this client overweight or not? There's, there's no, there's no messing around and the data is too strong to puncture up.
[00:07:34] Josh Kennedy: Here's a special message from our sponsor.
[00:07:37] James Breese: Want more clients without breaking the bank on ads? Google is your ticket. Imagine being the first name clients see when they google your services near them. Sound impossible? It's not when you've got Strength Matters on your side. We'll build you a website and get you ranked high on Google.
[00:07:50] For free, you'll save thousands on ads, web design, and SEO services. Plus get a suite of business tools to help you grow your business effortlessly. All you cover is our bulletproof hosting that comes [00:08:00] with a full 90 day money back guarantee. Ever wonder how many new clients you're losing by not being Google's number one?
[00:08:05] Don't wonder? Act now. Book your free strategy call at strengthmatters. com forward slash website today. Yeah,
[00:08:12] Josh Kennedy: exactly. I was gonna say, there's so much data out there to back it up. It's a really good one to test. Uh, so I would say if you are still doing waist to hip ratio, I would switch to waist to height ratio because there's so much data to back it up and talking of data, the, uh, Brazilian give it his full title, the Brazilian sit and rise test.
[00:08:29] Talk us through that one. Another longevity test.
[00:08:34] James Breese: Exactly. It's all, it's all longevity tests. I think if people should, should see the pattern coming here now. Again, let's see how mobility impacts longevity. So it's a simple test. Can you sit down on the floor and get back up again without using your hands?
[00:08:46] You lose a point for every part of the body that touches the floor while doing so. But again, it's just again, hundreds of thousands of data points that show that. The more your mobility is restricted long term, the more it [00:09:00] impacts your life span. So I think something crazy, if you score less than five points, your lifespan is less than 15 years that of other people.
[00:09:07] So it's, it's incredibly important. It tells us how well you move. And how well, and how long, potentially, you could live all things being well.
[00:09:16] Josh Kennedy: What is it for, uh, I lost you for a second there. Is it for every point you get back it's an extra five years? Is
[00:09:22] James Breese: it, I think? Uh, yeah, something along those lines.
[00:09:24] For every point you get back it's an extra five years. So it is, so it's like, but for, if you, if you get five points and under it's like 15, 20 years. Less than other people who score eight plus, basically.
[00:09:35] Josh Kennedy: Exactly, so, uh, give it a go. Sit down on the floor, stand back up, give yourself a score out of ten. And, uh, yeah, let us, let us know how you get on.
[00:09:42] Um, the next one, and this one is really important for, for runners, especially. The single leg
[00:09:49] James Breese: balance test. Well, you can't stand or balance on shaky foundations, can you? And it's all about pro receptive awareness on the foot. Again, not a sexy test. People do realize, don't realize [00:10:00] how important it is, but again, it's like a handbrake.
[00:10:02] If your stability and vestibular system is switched off and not working properly, it's acting like a handbrake on the rest of the body. Therefore, we need to optimize it. Make sure you are balancing effectively because it impacts everything else that you do. Also, in terms of health and in terms of health, think about how many falls of elderly people have so we can make sure that they're stable enough.
[00:10:24] And they're also there, they have the balance to maybe reduce the number of falls later on in life too. So again, healthy, you know, athletes. Yes, absolutely. But also for the long term health of everyday people too.
[00:10:37] Josh Kennedy: And just to say that is with your, with your eyes closed. It's not just standing on one leg.
[00:10:40] So it makes it much more, much more, much more difficult. So stand on one leg, close your eyes, make sure you don't fall into anything and see how long you can get. Over 15 seconds is our absolute bare minimum, but ideally, especially if you're a runner, we want you to get over 30 seconds on each side. And then finally, the [00:11:00] hand, uh, hang, hang, hang test, which is a grip strength test, which is also linked to, uh, longevity.
[00:11:07] See a theme. We're seeing a theme, James.
[00:11:09] James Breese: Mm hmm. It's a big theme. It's the longevity theme. Because that's all we're trying to help people is help be healthier, fitter, stronger. And it comes down with health first. So again, your grip strength. It tells us a lot about your shoulder health, but it also tells us so much about your overall health and longevity.
[00:11:25] Again, we go back to the studies, we go, keep going back to all of these studies and it talks about health and that's what we're focusing on. Fitness should be all about health and yes, there's an element of performance. We all want to perform better, but let's bring it back to what we should be doing and that is the health aspect to help us live long and prosper.
[00:11:42] Like the Vulcans in Star
[00:11:44] Josh Kennedy: Trek, you get in a Star Trek reference in there at the end. Same, same. It wasn't the Star Wars one, but I'll let you off
[00:11:53] James Breese: next time. So
[00:11:55] Josh Kennedy: next time. Absolutely. So that, that is it for today. Give those assessments a go and let us [00:12:00] know how you get on. Uh, if you want to find out more about our system of training, you can go to strengthmatters.
[00:12:04] com forward slash system.