How to optimise your client’s exercise technique

The ability to recognise movement flaws when a client performs a resistance training exercise, such as a squat, is an incredibly valuable – and trainable – skill that personal trainers can develop, writes strength coach Tony Boutagy.

Experienced coaches can take one look at how an athlete is performing a movement and know straight away if it looks right or wrong.

Looking at how someone moves when they are performing a resistance training exercise is a trainable skill coaches and personal trainers can develop. Sometimes movement flaws are obvious, like witnessing an individual running towards us on the street and seeing that none of the lower body joints are remotely aligned (immediately prompting feelings of sympathy pain for their poor knees). At other times, movement flaws are subtle, like a small rotation in the hips and uneven weight distribution when squatting under load.

When we analyse exercise technique to look for signs of movement patterns which don’t appear quite right, or we try to comprehend why there is pain in certain movements or ranges within a movement, it can be really challenging to identify what the real problem is and how to go about fixing it. This is, partially, because there are so many moving parts involved in movements.

Static and dynamic assessments

We have a number of assessments to help us establish what is comparatively imbalanced in strength or flexibility between limbs and muscle groups. Often simple static assessments, such as a Thomas Test or a supine straight arm latissimus dorsi test, can help identify obvious restrictions that are altering exercise technique.

Strength imbalances, often between left-to-right limbs or various muscle groups performing a similar function, are much more challenging to identify when looking at an individual performing an exercise in real time. This is where dynamic assessments and strength ratios can help the coach identify the cause of movement dysfunction or pain.

Whether a coach uses a static or dynamic test, the most important aspect of a good assessment is the use of our eyes to spot differences in movement or range of motion between limbs and joints. The squat pattern is one of the most commonly used exercises to assess movement, which also serves as an excellent template for assessing movement in general.

There are six key questions to ask when looking at how an individual performs an exercise:

1. Does the movement look smooth and effortless?
2. Is the exercise performed through a full range of motion?
3. Is there any pain at a specific point in the movement?
4. Is there even contribution of all the joints involved, or does the individual move through one joint more than the others (i.e. restrict the knee travel or move primarily through the knee or hip)?
5. Does the individual collapse and fail to maintain joint alignment?
6. Does the individual shift their weight at any point?

For each of these six observation points, if the individual ticks that box then further consideration can be given via the following:

• Education and awareness of what the preferable technique should be
• Specific isolated drills to improve movement and thoughtfulness in an area
• A flexibility intervention
• Modification to the technique
• Exchange (or regress) the exercise to allow for optimal performance.

Assessing the squat pattern

Using the six criteria listed above, let’s apply the process to the squat, which is a good template for assessing movement in general.

1. Does the movement look smooth and effortless?

Consider both the concentric and eccentric portions of the lift. The squat requires the coordination of the ankle, knee and hip joints while maintaining trunk stiffness. If the exercise lacks smoothness, try and find out why. Is it merely a lack of practice and familiarity with the movement, as is common with beginners, or does the brain have difficulty coordinating all the joints together? In this case, more deliberate practice is required or perhaps a regression to a leg press style movement is needed to build confidence in the lower limb triple joint extension, without a need for high level spine activity. In time, the squat can be reintroduced.

2. Is the exercise performed through a full range of motion?

Squatting requires marked flexibility and mobility in the ankles, knees and hips. The most common restriction to deep range squatting is due to limited ankle dorsiflexion range (or using a weight that is too heavy to perform through a full range of motion). But, as all the lower body muscles are actively involved in squatting (either as prime joint movers or stabilisers), a lack of flexibility in any of these muscles may present with a squat pattern that is suboptimal or the cause of pain in specific ranges.

It is useful to observe the squat and stretch or mobilise the muscle/joint you see as being the limiting factor by not moving through a complete range and then retesting the squat, looking for greater smoothness, depth, or reduction in discomfort.

3. Is there any pain at a specific point in the movement?

The ‘next segment’ concept in movement suggests that a restriction in the range of motion at one joint has the potential to cause an overuse in the joints directly above and below.

Restricted ankle range has been linked to knee pain. Limited hip mobility has been shown to increase risk of both lower back and knee discomfort.

If an individual has pain in certain parts of the movement, use the ‘next segment’ approach to apply stretching to the muscles above and below the site of movement pain to see if that improves symptoms. And of course, if pain persists, then refer on to the appropriate professional for further assessment and treatment options.

4. Is there even contribution of all the joints involved, or does the individual move through one joint more than the others?

Watching elite Olympic weightlifters squat illustrates the skilful sharing of load across the ankles, knees and hips, with no single joint taking the majority of the load.

Novice squatters, on the other hand, will often restrict forward knee travel, or move primarily through the knees or hips. The inexperienced lifter allows the knees to push forward, taking most of the load, while the hip muscles do relatively little, or minimally using the knees and sitting back to let the hips and spine do most of the work.

Neither of these novice movement patterns adequately distribute the joint loading or muscle activity in an ideal way, and can result in excessive loading of an area (knees or lower spine) or reduce all-round lower limb muscle development. Often, these issues can be resolved by education and retraining the individual to more evenly use the ankles, knees, and hips when squatting, rather than pushing the knees forward or limiting forward knee travel and sitting the hips back.

5. Does the individual collapse and fail to maintain joint alignment?

The two most common movement flaws in squatting are collapsing at the foot (pronation and collapse of the medial longitudinal arch) or inward knee movement (dynamic knee valgus). Careful observation can identify if the problem is occurring purely at the foot or the knee, or both. Foot pronation during squatting can be caused by limited flexibility in the calves and deep hip rotators or weakness in the intrinsic and extrinsic foot muscles.

Both issues are easily resolved with targeted ankle and short foot muscle strengthening or specific stretching aimed at increasing the range of motion at the ankles and hip rotators. Inward knee movement can be caused by weakness in the external hip rotators and abductors, and also the hamstrings. Targeted isolated resistance training exercises can be used to resolve this strength imbalance as well.

6. Does the individual shift their weight at any point?

Watching an individual squat from a side and back perspective can reveal if there is a weight shift between limbs or a rotation during the movement. Generally, if the weight shift or rotation occurs during the eccentric portion of the lift, we can assume that limited flexibility might be the cause and stretching of one side would be conducted and the squat re-performed to assess effectiveness of the approach.

If the shift or rotation occurs concentrically, then it may be a dominant-side strength issue causing the movement flaw, and unilateral strength testing can confirm if this is the case. Single-leg leg press, leg extensions, calf raises and squats can be performed for each limb with the same load for submaximal repetitions, such as 8RM. An inability to perform the same reps with the same load through the same range might indicate a strength imbalance causing a weight shift and unilateral exercises would be indicated to resolve the issue before the individual recommenced squatting.

The squat serves as an excellent movement pattern for coaches to train their eyes to assess movement pattern flaws and dysfunction, and the thought process can be applied to most resistance training exercises. Filming the client during the set can help identify which movement flaws are occurring. Once you have established the ’energy leak’, you can attempt to solve the issues by using static or dynamic assessments for flexibility and strength and using the appropriate tool to correct the problem.

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REFERENCES

Bloomquist K, Langberg H, Karlsen S, Madsgaard S, Boesen M, Raastad T. Effect of range of motion in heavy load squatting on muscle and tendon adaptations. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2013 Aug;113(8):2133-42. doi: 10.1007/s00421-013-2642-7. Epub 2013 Apr 20. PMID: 23604798.

Kubo K, Ikebukuro T, Yata H. Effects of squat training with different depths on lower limb muscle volumes. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2019 Sep;119(9):1933-1942. doi: 10.1007/s00421-019-04181-y. Epub 2019 Jun 22. PMID: 31230110.

Hartmann H, Wirth K, Klusemann M. Analysis of the load on the knee joint and vertebral column with changes in squatting depth and weight load. Sports Med. 2013 Oct;43(10):993-1008. doi: 10.1007/s40279-013-0073-6. PMID: 23821469.

Dr Tony Boutagy, PhD

Tony is a strength coach and educator based in Sydney, Australia. He holds a PhD in sports science and runs ongoing education courses and seminars for coaches and trainers both online and face to face. For more info about Tony and his services, visit tonyboutagy.com or tonyboutagy on Instagram.

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