I think your true nature comes out when you have to teach others who know nothing about the things you understand well — your patience, empathy, kindness. And you learn things about yourself too. Maybe you realize you don’t know things as well as you think. Sure, you know how to do them because it’s now just a part of you — but do you know the nitty-gritty basics that you have to start with for some people?
Of course, I’m talking about lifting weights and teaching someone proper form and movement (and also, proper is a relative term because it depends on your goals and your intentions) because this is pretty much what I do in both of my jobs, which is kinda cool. A few days ago I read something that’s been stuck in my mind — when you learn something new or change your beliefs, what do you do with your old beliefs and opinions? Do you forget they were ever in your mind?
Something I’ve been having to do lately is teach people movements that I was required to learn in class a few years ago. I used them in my own workouts and I made rehab plans in undergrad that I didn’t necessarily have to teach because the athletes already knew most of them. If I had to teach anything, it was something simple, and my understanding of why we did each exercise was pretty basic. I didn’t have a lot of the cues, I didn’t understand that movement is individualized.
Those movements have become almost ingrained within me. I usually never have to think twice about them (except right now, I have to repattern my breathing and bracing and movement for my groin/pelvic muscles, and I’ll admit I’m doing a pretty shabby job so I’ll do better), so reaching into the back of my mind to teach them to others has been difficult. For example, do I have to remind people to “let go” of their hamstrings and glutes in order to hip hinge? And what about the posterior shift? And how do you tell people not to let their shoulders droop down or be too scrunched?
And then I started looking at how other people teach movements. I realized, for example, that I was cueing bent rows incorrectly because I was focusing too hard on the posterior delts. Of course you can do rows for your post delts, but that wasn’t what I was trying to do. I saw the different ways you can do lateral raises and bicep curls, I saw that Chinese powerlifters deadlift with a curved back. I realized that everyone has a different philosophy and that’s okay, because that makes life wonderful (I recently watched The Giver and realized sameness is sad). Truthfully there’s not a wrong movement, it may just be wrong for specific people, but you just need to achieve your goals.
The thing is, while I’ve been teaching others how to move, I’ve also learned a lot myself. I’ve learned a little more about all the squat forms you might encounter, all the little things to fix and cue for athletes. I’ve learned how to teach exercises better. While I don’t have time to correct every mobility issue because I only get half an hour with clients, it’s something I’m looking forward to doing.
Teaching Yourself
And then this week I’ve realized that just because you know more than the people you’re educating — doesn’t mean you shouldn’t educate yourself. I finally got to talk a little bit about why strength and conditioning is important for athletes to a college coach this week and it felt good (it’s a DIII school that doesn’t have an S/C coach). But I realized I want to learn more about it, and specifically how it acts as injury prevention and must be incorporated into rehab. It’s not enough to just send your athletes to the strength coach with notes on what they need (not that I’d know what goes on, I haven’t worked with a strength coach at the collegiate level and I’ve heard the interaction level varies everywhere). And of course, I haven’t necessarily worked post-op athletes, I’m more thinking of athletes with muscle problems because that’s the majority of what I deal with now (and what I see at my PRN coverage). But that’s precisely why I need to learn more about strength and conditioning, and that’s what grad school is for. I visited Utah State twice, and once I stopped by the office of an S/C coach who was really nice and seemed to be really friendly with the athletic trainer I was there with. So I’m really excited to learn.
I’ve realized I have very little grace for myself when I make mistakes…and this transfers a bit to how I treat others. Not that I outright judge or yell at someone out loud, but these are thoughts I harbor in my head sometimes. And I’ve just noticed it makes my life less…better. This is especially applicable when I’m teaching people who understand less than I do. And it even applies to my life in general, like when I see other people at the gym or when I’m driving. I think if I just gave myself and others more grace, my life would be so much better. More fun, more carefree, and I might care less what others think of me. And most importantly, I’d be a better teacher AND learner. I could give others grace for not “getting it” because they’re just learning, and I could give myself grace for the same thing. Teaching is about learning just as much as it is about teaching.
