Your Client Says an Exercise “Doesn’t Feel Right.” What Do You Do Next?
You're working with a client or athlete, and you give them an exercise you've used many times before.
Then you hear:
“That doesn't feel right.”
What happens next can tell you a lot about the difference between simply knowing exercises and understanding how to work with the individual performing them.
Don't Automatically Force the Original Plan
An exercise might look perfectly appropriate on paper and still not be appropriate for a particular person at that moment. That doesn't necessarily mean the exercise itself is bad. It means you have new information to consider.
Depending on your professional role and scope of practice, you may need to look at factors such as:
How the person is performing the movement
Where they're experiencing difficulty
Mobility and stability
Strength and coordination
Previous injuries or limitations
Exercise setup and positioning
Resistance or load
Range of motion
Whether a modification may be appropriate
The important part is being willing to observe, think, and adjust rather than simply forcing the original program.
Programming Shouldn't Be Set in Stone
A program is a plan, not a contract.
How someone actually responds to an exercise gives you information you didn't necessarily have when you wrote the program. Maybe the exercise needs to be modified. Perhaps the resistance, range of motion, position, or progression needs to change.
In some situations, another exercise may be more appropriate. And when something falls outside your professional scope, recognizing that is part of good professional decision-making too.
This Is Where Understanding Movement Matters
If you've only memorized an exercise and the instructions for performing it, your options can become limited when something doesn't go according to plan.
A deeper understanding of anatomy, biomechanics, human movement, assessment, and exercise programming gives you a stronger foundation for thinking through what you're seeing.
Instead of only knowing what exercise to use, you're developing the ability to think about why you're using it and what you should do when the expected response doesn't happen.
Better Professionals Keep Asking Questions
Continuing education isn't simply about accumulating more exercises, techniques, or certifications.
It's about expanding the knowledge you can draw from when the real person standing in front of you doesn't behave exactly like the example in the textbook.
At Pinnacle Training & Consulting Systems (PTCS), our continuing education programs help fitness and healthcare professionals strengthen their understanding of human movement and apply that knowledge to real-world professional situations.
We offer online courses, live seminars, certifications, educational videos, and mentoring covering human movement, biomechanics, functional assessment, corrective exercise, exercise programming, post-rehabilitation, sports performance, soft-tissue techniques, and more.
The real test of your knowledge isn't when everything goes according to plan. It's knowing how to think when it doesn't.
Pinnacle Training & Consulting Systems (PTCS)
443-528-0527
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