This is a chapter 10 summary of the book “Movement” by Gray Cook.

Mistakes, I’ve Made a Few

When we are talking corrective exercise design, people often make 4 mistakes:

1)      Protocol approach: Exercise based on category.

Problem – 1 size fits all.

2)      Basic kinesiology: Target prime movers and some stabilizers.

Problem – fails on timing, motor control, stability, and movement.

3)      Appearance of functional approach – Use bands and resistance during functional training.

Problem – If the pattern is poor, adding challenges to it can increase compensation. There is also no pre-post testing.

4)      Prehabilitation approach – Prepackaged rehab exercises into conditioning programs as preventative measures to reduce injury risk.

Problem – Design is based on injuries common to particular activities as opposed to movement risk factors.

There are also certain mistakes that are often made when utilizing the FMS and SFMA:

1)      Converting movement dysfunction into singular anatomical problems.

2)      Obsessing over perfection in each test instead of identifying the most significant limitation/asymmetry.

3)      Linking corrective solutions to movement problems prematurely.

The overarching rule is to address these movement deficiencies first, as we do not want to put strength or fitness on top of dysfunctional movement.

The Performance Pyramid

When designing an exercise program, we look for three areas to improve performance: Movement, performance, and skill.

It is important that program design is based on the individual’s needs and has these qualities in a hierarchal fashion. For example, if one performs excellent on functional performance capabilities but has poor foundational movement, injury risk may increase.

Program Design

When implementing corrective exercise, it is important to provide the correct stimulus amount. We want the individual challenged, but not struggling for dear life.

• Too easy – >30 reps with good quality.
• Challenging, but possible – 8-15 reps with good quality and no stress breathing. There is a decline in quality secondary to fatigue towards the end of rep ranges.
• Too difficult – Sloppy from the beginning and only worsens.

Rarely does increasing difficulty equate to increasing resistance. Oftentimes you may advance the exercise position, decrease the base of support, or add more movement complexity.

You may have to remove some activities that feed into dysfunction from one’s current programming, lest you wish to not change the movement pattern. Often how quickly one changes his or her ability to move depends on how diligent one is with corrective exercise.

Realize that corrective exercise should only be supplemental and temporary to what one is doing. It is supposed to be corrective in nature, not preventative.  Moreover, movement scores can decrease with hard training, so continual reassessment is important.

The corrective exercise pathway should proceed as follows:

1)      Exercise selection is driven by screen and assessment.

2)      A thought out framework gives you the best possible choices.

3)      Retest, note positive or negative changes, and then use results to modify next session.

4)      Reassess once an obvious change is noted to see what the next priority is.