Can You Go?: Assessments and Program Design for the Active Athlete and Everybody Else

by Dan John

Stretch the hip flexors. Work on thoracic spine mobility. Try a few bird dogs, and test the single-side bird dog to reestablish rotary stability.

tight hip flexors, stiff t-spines and a loss of rotary stability.

I recommend getting back toward “more normal.”

baseball players noted, he was shocked to see how stable he was with bird dogs when at home, and how completely that vanished during plane rides.

Bud Winters was

physical relaxation leads to mental relaxation, which in turn brought quicker recognition in the sky.

He called this method of relaxation Relax and Win.

Phil Maffetone,

whom I count on for much of my understanding about cardiovascular conditioning, wrote a book called Everyone Is an Athlete, which argues an opposing standpoint.

QIII E2

study of both elite athletes and of polio victims.

The concept of progressive resistance exercise, developed by Tom DeLorme, remains the key to understanding strength training. And Vladimir Janda’s contributions and insights about certain muscles shrinking with age or disease, and other muscles weakening with age and disease, continue to be the best approach to total-body training.

Janda showed us decades ago that the tonics—the muscles that tighten with age or illness—need to be stretched. These are the pectorals, the biceps, the hip flexors and the hamstrings, among others. After sitting in a chair, these are the muscles you want to stretch back into place when you stand up.

“The guy with the biggest butt lifts the biggest weights.”

glutes, along with the deltoids, triceps and abdominal wall,

keeping the rep range around fifteen to twenty-five for most movements.

From the elite training halls to the rehab wing, we learn the same basic keys to success in training. Stretch what is tightening. Strengthen what is weakening. Do both with the least amount of work.

the 1-2-3-4 Assessment—

Assessments are the first line of defense against injuries in the gym.

“Do we do what we say we do, or are we just barking ‘ice cream’?”

joint mobility, body composition and strength gaps.

ability of each joint to move freely.

Body composition is the search for lean body mass—more muscle and less fat.

addressing strength gaps through strength training improves the quality of life

In my Venn diagram for the assessments, there are three big circles, and each represents one of the most important qualities in training—mobility, body comp and strength. Pure mobility is a One; body comp is a Three; and strength is a Five. Some clients will need to focus on just one of these, some clients on two and some on all three. When I work with aging collision athletes and collision occupation groups, for example, I focus on Six. I

In Six, we train strength and joint mobility back-to-back throughout the training session—that is, every strength

movement has a joint mobility movement connected to

both training and lifestyle. Addressing one issue—for example, joint mobility—may help these clients sleep better and longer, which is often helpful for body comp. A little less fat and a more muscle helps strength training,

which in turn builds a better platform for joint mobility. In the early weeks, Sevens often make the best progress of all, as the basic principle of “everything works” holds true for them in this stage.

Ones: Hypertrophy and mobility training Twos: Hypertrophy and mobility training; nutrition and caloric restriction; inefficient exercise Threes: Nutrition and caloric restriction; inefficient exercise Fours: Strength training; nutrition

caloric restriction; inefficient exercise Fives: Strength training Sixes: Strength training; hypertrophy and mobility training Sevens: Hypertrophy and mobility training; strength training; nutrition and caloric restriction; inefficient exercise

Stand on One Foot

Ideally, we’re looking for a range between ten and twenty seconds. Anything

balance system needs to be challenged in order to improve.”

One had MS and often had a small stumble when moving around the gym. Another was well over three hundred pounds and couldn’t find his balancing point.

everyone I know starts practicing standing on one foot after being tested. That’s a win–win for a coach: The client is seeking mastery outside the confines of the gym. It makes for a fun test and is something worth doing when you’re just standing in line for a movie or doing a kitchen

If the scale tilts under three hundred pounds, continue assessing. If the measure is over three

If you’re twenty-five years old and you don’t smoke and you wear your seat belt, you will very likely live to at least fifty-five years of age (statistics are statistics),

over three hundred pounds,

“not so ...

an eye doctor, a dentist and a medical doctor.

yearly eye exam—I strongly recommend this for

eye doctor can see diabetes via damage to the blood vessels, can see evidence of high blood pressure and can get a ge...

den...

“I don’t see a lot of obese patients.”

If you have bad teeth, will you eat softer, more easily chewed food? Does poor dental health make

more difficult to eat those wonderful colorful

vegetables we’re always suggesting, while the client instead turns to...

It’s worth a semi-annual visit to the dentist.

see a medical doctor.