What this article is about

This article will help you understand corrective exercise, how it fits into a holistic approach, and how it can be useful in pregnancy/postpartum. It will also give you a basic overview of where to go for more education, from various corrective exercise organizations around the world.

If you’re a fitness professional, applying corrective exercise & stability practices allows you to get far better results, setting you on a faster path toward financial freedom. It is also incredibly fundamental to be able to discern when your client needs to address his or her larger lifestyle factors alongside their exercise habits. That’s often how the most lasting and profound results occur.  And, if this is your profession, you also need to be able to further develop your skills.  Therefore, it’s important for you to understand some of the basic similarities and differences between some of the various professional “corrective exercise” methodologies around the world.

• For those of you who are thinking about fitness as your profession, this article will give you the entire overview, so that you can understand clearly if and how this might be good for you.
• For those of you who are already Fit For Birth graduates, you’ll already be familiar with the Corrective Exercise basics, but will find an entirely new holistic lesson on “Using breathing & movement to create coherence.” Jump there, and if you’re wanting to know what your next Corrective Exercise education should be, check out all the “Types of corrective exercise methodologies!”
• For those of you who are already fitness professionals, but unfamiliar with Fit For Birth, welcome! This article will give you a solid understanding of how we recommend that corrective exercise should be synergizing with holistic health principles.

Why the pregnancy & postpartum timeframe is critical for corrective exercise

The 40 weeks of a baby growing inside a woman’s torso is a timeframe of such dramatic musculoskeletal change, that mothers who are not already in solid muscle balance are at big risk of having a miserable pregnancy. Muscle imbalances can also correlate with complications during childbirth. 

In many cases, you can single-handedly fix this.

But then, the postpartum period arrives with an even more dramatic impact. The transition to the “sudden” absence of that baby in the womb (via childbirth) is an even greater physical shock to the inner core mechanics. See, the pregnant core had spent 9 months learning how to rely upon the relative firmness of having a “filled belly” as a way of stabilizing for activities of daily life. The removal of that baby equates to a removal of the intra-abdominal pressure that was creating core stability. This radical shift happens literally within the span of minutes. 

Being confident in choosing exercises that most help your postpartum client also gets you better results. Better and faster results put you in the kind of demand that can give you financial freedom as a personal trainer. 

This article will help you take a big step forward in your understanding of corrective exercise & stability. It will also teach you how to apply these concepts, so that you can feel more confident in designing exercise programs for your pre & postnatal clients…so that you can have one very good problem: being so filled with clients that you can raise your rates, and start earning commissions from referring excess clients to other trainers. 

Here’s how this article will unfold:

1. Define a few of the most important concepts in Stability & Corrective Exercise.
2. Review the most well-known methodologies & assessment practices.
3. Understand how movement relates to holistic wellness parameters like nutrition, sleep, mindset and stress management.

What is Corrective Exercise & Stability Training?

Using the correct muscles at the correct time is the primary recipe for avoiding the aches and pains of pregnancy and postpartum motherhood. As a fitness professional, you have to be able to tell clients what muscles to strengthen, and which ones to stretch – since every person has different needs. 

There are some areas that nearly all humans need to address, like glute & core strengthening (primarily due to sedentary habits that are relatively “new” on the evolutionary spectrum). For pregnant bodies, those universal needs include pelvic tucking and transverse abdominis (TVA) corseting. It would be wise to become a master of teaching your clients how to do these things. We will teach you some of that in this article. 

But many other areas are completely unique to each individual. In order to design meaningful programs that immediately create change (often life-changing via eradicating pain), you’ll have to learn how to assess those areas. We will discuss those options in this article as well. 

Corrective Exercise 101

The first concept in corrective exercise is that you must stretch what’s tight and strengthen what’s weak. You should not stretch what is already overly-stretched or loose. You should also not continue to allow your clients to keep feeling a burn in already chronically over-activated muscles. Read that last sentence twice.

One of the properties of muscle cells is that those that are neurally activated – whether purposefully or not – will tend to hold more tension. As this continues, they will eventually shorten under that tension. These are “over-active” muscles and will often need to be stretched. 

Muscles that tend to be over-active in the pregnant body include:

• Hip Flexors
• Lumbar Erectors

Conversely, muscles that are not receiving enough neural activation will tend to grow weak. We are grossly simplifying here, but for our purposes today, those weak “under-active” muscles generally need to be strengthened. 

Muscles that tend to be under-active in the pregnant body include:

• TVA
• Glutes
• Lower rectus abdominis 

Now, there are also some areas that can throw practitioners for a loop. One example that can pop out during the kyphosis that often happens during pregnancy is that the mid-thoracic extensors will tend to be both elongated (and therefore potentially in need of activation or strengthening) but simultaneously over-active in “rubber-band syndrome.” This level of complexity requires a more delicate approach in your programming, like having your client rest vertically on a foam roller in order to take the “rubber-band about to snap”-like tension away from the mid-erectors. This exercise may be needed for multiple sessions before later trying to strengthen those erectors. (Don’t let your exercise programming burn them out via over-use on top of an already over-used muscle.)

Isolate, then Integrate

Once you have identified some of the muscles that are underactive and some that are overactive, you then design a program that reinforces what is needed. Again, we will generally be instructing just one of two things for most muscles in the body, during each exercise:

1. Turning ON: Increasing the neural drive of the under-active muscles.
2. Turning OFF: Reducing the neural drive to the over-active muscles.

The basic ways to turn on a muscle are to:

1. Start by telling your client which muscle they should be feeling/activating when they do the exercise.
2. Try to select exercises/positions that are naturally more helpful for the muscle we want to activate. 

Isolate, then Integrate Example:  Glute Activation using Glute Bridges vs Squats For example, most people, including pregnant and postpartum women, need their glutes to be activated.  Selecting a squat as the first exercise, however, will often be too complex. This is true even though squats should naturally elicit a strong glute response, since glutes are the primary mover in that exercise.  The challenge with a squat is that the knee joint is also moving, and 30+ years of a neuromuscular program for “knee-loading” makes it challenging for many clients to get a good amount of glutes during squats.  For the sake of this example, we will consider squats to be more “integrated” with the rest of the body, so it would be useful for us to select a more “isolated” exercise first.  So, we can choose a Supine, lying on the floor, Glute Bridge Exercise, because this position is naturally more helpful for glute activations – at least in most cases. In this position, the glutes are more likely to naturally activate (“turn on”) because there are simply less moving parts. The hips go up and the hips go down, and the knees are mostly fixed. In other words, we have selected an exercise that has a good chance of isolating the glutes. Note that it is still necessary for you to check in with your client to make sure that she is feeling the glutes.  It’s relatively common for people to continue to feel quads, hamstrings and knees, even lower back, rather than pure glutes. Telling your client to “try to feel the glutes” – either by repositioning or by purposefully squeezing – is necessary.  And in this way, we are being the guide that their brain needs. This is how we, as professionals, begin carving the neuromuscular programming for more glute activation. Finally, after they’ve been able to feel their glutes burning a bit in the Supine Floor Glute Bridge, we can try the squat again, and see if it makes a difference.  In many cases, the client will now be able to feel more glutes during the next set of squats! In this example, we have just “isolated, then integrated.”

 

Your client must be present throughout the day

How do we make sure that your exercise programming carries over to your client’s activities of daily life? There are two ways for this to happen:

1. Their exercise program brings enough intensity and strength and mobility, etc, that there is a natural carryover, without them having to think about it.  This is the “ideal” that we are eventually looking for.
2. You remind them that they need to actually remember to apply these concepts throughout the day: their breathing, glutes, shoulder blade muscles, core, etc. This is where you will have to start with each new client. 

We’ve been discussing a lot about “neural programming” in this article. Every human brain is constantly sending signals for the muscles to activate and deactivate, at various intensities, throughout the day. It is constant. Every moment of every day, muscles are either being “programmed” to be ON or OFF. 

However “good or bad” your client may begin your training program, they will have various pre-existing neural programs, for better or for worse. In most cases, there will be at least some neural programs that are not ideal and causing problems, like pain.

Your new client has spent years “training” themselves into their current muscle activations. This has happened every time they spent 8 hours sitting down in chairs, being sedentary, squatting down only to the height of a toilet or couch (rather than squatting all the way down to their heels), holding their toddler dominantly on one hip (and not the other), and many more programs.

They have trained themselves into dysfunction. 

Let’s assume that the average person sleeps 8 hours per day, and therefore is awake for 16 hours each day.  If a person has a perfectly designed corrective exercise program for one hour of each day, then there are 15 other hours each day that the client may be returning to their old program. 

In other words, one hour of great neural programming daily still pales in comparison to 15 waking hours of poor programming. You must remind your clients to be evermore present with their bodies, their breathing, their glutes, their core, and whatever other corrective exercises that you are working toward with them.

True Core Function of Pregnancy

The true “inner unit” core is made up of 4 muscles. These can be thought of as a box inside your torso:

1. Diaphragm (DPH): top of the box
2. Pelvic Floor (PF): bottom of the box
3. Transverse Abdominis (TVA): front and lateral sides of the box
4. Multifidi (MF): rear “side” of the box

These muscles must work in harmony together in order to create the intra-abdominal pressure that is necessary for proper function without pain. 

In short, the DPH and PF should work together, both descending on an inhale and then ascending on the exhale. (The DPH should concentrically contract into descension, while the PF should concentrically contract into ascension. Note that although this “should” happen, in most modern humans, it usually happens only a small fraction of what is considered proper function.) Simultaneously, the TVA should expand during inhale and then literally get smaller – like a corset – during the exhale. Meanwhile, the MF should be naturally managing the segment to segment rotations and flexions of each spinal vertebrae. 

In practice, and due to the extreme breathing dysfunction that most people have, you need to teach your clients to inhale into their torso for the first weeks/months of your training program. 

One caveat is that during the third trimester of pregnancy, you should talk with your client about not overdoing the inhalation into a bigger belly. This is to minimize the already-existing outward pressure that can cause the micro-tears of diastasis recti. The third trimester, therefore, is the perfect time to transition your program into lateral rib breathing. This means less “filling the belly” and more “filling the sides/ribs, as well as lower back.”

In nearly all programs, the tummy should “corset” smaller during each exhale. The amount of TVA contraction should be correlated to the difficulty of the exercise. (i.e. heavier weights should elicit a stronger TVA contraction.) The same is true for the activation of the PF muscles.

Nose breathing, even on the exhale, will generally elicit better inner core function all around. This will happen partly because air cannot be let out of the nose as fast as the mouth, so intra-abdominal pressure can remain more constant. Being that nose breathing is our primary and “non-stressful” evolutionary design, there are likely strong innate forces that further allow better core function when not opening the mouth. (One of them is that this is the physiological “balanced” position of the jaw/tongue/mouth.) 

However, heavier lifts can benefit greatly from an exhale with “pursed lips, like exhaling through a straw.” Pursed lips exhales provide resistance to the exhale, and additional intra-abdominal pressure to stabilize big weights.

When it comes to using these kinds of “Core Breathing Belly Pump” mechanics, the inner unit is supposed to activate in preparation to whatever movement is at hand. One way to gently train this in your clients is to ask them to intend to “breathe just before they begin the challenging portion of each repetition.” 

While there are beneficial applications for both inhaling or exhaling just prior to each repetition, note that most clients will initially select inhaling to accomplish this(because their TVA is stronger eccentrically than concentrically). Eventually – but usually not immediately – they should learn to exhale during the exertion. (People should generally only be asked to apply one new concept at a time.)

One final thing to note is that the true inner unit core does not include the usual-regarded abdominal muscles, like rectus abdominis, obliques nor erector spinae. These are considered the “outer unit” muscles. 

What is Appropriate Flexibility during Pregnancy?

It is important to stretch the correct muscles, rather than just stretching whatever you think is important, or what your client tells you “feels tight.”

When it comes to pregnancy, one example is women with a tail-up posture (pelvic anterior tilt) who feel like their hamstrings are tight, and therefore want to stretch them. But whenever the tail-up posture is what’s causing the hamstrings to feel tight, the solution is not to keep elongating the hamstrings. It’s another “rubber band syndrome” like we discussed earlier. The hamstrings may feel tight because they are like a rubber band at the end of their range of motion, “ready to snap.” Although it is not likely that a woman’s hamstrings will snap from doing hamstring stretches under this condition, there are a number of other exercises that would be far more beneficial for her to balance her body. These other exercises could actually keep the hamstrings in an appropriate length, and therefore completely remove the feeling of tightness without having to stretch them at all.

In the case of lordosis, you can learn to “see” the obviousness of an anterior tilt, and potentially over-stretched hamstrings. However, most kinds of flexibility programming need an assessment. 

There are many methods for assessing flexibility, and Fit For Birth has a course, Pre & Postnatal Corrective Flexibility Assessment (PPCFA), that helps you add this to your pregnancy and postpartum programs.

The woman whose pain disappeared when she stopped stretching I once had a postpartum mother of two arrive for her first training session, and initial assessments. Her complaint was that of severe pain in various joints of her body, pain that had been going on for 20 years actually. She was a yoga enthusiast, and had several yoga poses that she did every day, often twice per day.  She said that these yoga poses felt good while she was doing them, and that they would relieve the pain, at least for a while, but she was still suffering day by day. After completing a flexibility assessment, I noticed that she had several areas that were unusually overly flexible.  These were areas she was proud of, but I told her that they were beyond usual norms, and could be part of her challenges. Our session was coming to a close, so I needed a quick solution to send her away with, knowing that I would not see her again for several days. I asked her to show me the three yoga poses that she was doing every day, and – what do you know – these poses correlated exactly to her hypermobile areas.  I told her just to stop doing those three stretches until I saw her again (which was scheduled for 3 days later).  She was hesitant to alter the routine that had been “keeping her hanging on” for these years, but she also knew that she had taken the time to hire a professional, and so should give that a chance. She agreed to not do the stretches. Two days later, prior to our follow-up session, she sent me a text that said, “I can’t tell you what it’s like to NOT have pain after 20 years.”   In her case, she needed to stop doing the exercises that were causing her hypermobility. My flexibility assessment told me clearly what I needed to know.

 

What is Mobility?

Mobility can be defined as usable flexibility. It is often confused with flexibility, but while they are related, they aren’t identical concepts.

It’s one thing to be able to place one’s leg up high on a counter, or get into the splits position (flexibility)… but it is entirely another thing to be able to slowly – and with control, without holding one’s breath, tensing one’s upper trap/neck, hyper extending the knees, etc – to be able to lift one’s leg and place it upon a high counter without a thud (mobility)…or to lower oneself down into the splits without using your hands, and then stand back up from the splits without using your hands (also mobility). 

Strength + Flexibility = Mobility. 

Flexibility is more about achieving passive length of the muscle. Mobility involves flexibility with strength, which means aspects of control and stability are present. 

Good mobility is crucial for optimal performance and injury prevention in everyday activities and sports. It ensures that movements are smooth and coordinated, with adequate stability around the joints to support dynamic activities. 

Proper mobility training combines stretching for flexibility with strength training the correct muscles. 

Since mobility in many ways is really just another term for corrective exercise, it will be no surprise that it can be particularly important for pregnant and postpartum women for several reasons, including:

1. Handling a new baby: Maintaining mobility helps ensure that daily activities, such as bending, lifting, and carrying a new baby, can be performed more easily and with less risk of injury.
2. Alleviating Common Pains: Joint restriction is such a prevalent cause of joint aches & pain that increased mobility can help alleviate common pregnancy-related pains such as lower back pain, sciatica, and pelvic girdle pain.
3. Labor and Delivery: Enhanced mobility can be crucial for effective labor management, as in providing access to more comfortable birthing positions, thereby helping to prevent labor exhaustion and even reducing time spent in labor. 
4. Postpartum Recovery: After childbirth, mobility exercises can assist in the realignment of the pelvis and spine, and reinforce overall good posture. This helps the postpartum mom return to more solid fitness and function after birth.

Connecting Breathing to Movement

Just because someone breathes diaphragmatically does not automatically mean that they are able to connect their “proper breathing” to their movements. As a corrective exercise specialist, you will have to train that. 

We’ve written a lot on proper breathing, so won’t go into the basics here. This article, How to Breathe During the Pushing Phase of Childbirth, will tell you everything you may want to know, including sections on “Breathing during Life & Exercise”, “Open vs Closed Glottis,” and the “4 Stages of Breathing Progression During Exercise.”

When walking, with every step a person takes, pregnant or not, there should be a rhythmic harmonious connection between their breath and their step. It might be to inhale as the left leg steps, followed by an exhale when the right leg steps. Or it might be to inhale for 3 or 4 steps, followed by an exhale for the next 3 or 4 steps. And it could be other cadences as well. There is not a right or wrong cadence – but if there is not a rhythmic harmony, then it is disjointed inefficient movement. Rhythm must be present.

This same principle applies to literally every single movement that a person does. It is either connected rhythmically to breathing, or it’s not.

It’s like rocking a baby to sleep. Each baby has its own distinct preferred soothing rhythm for being rocked.  A parent instinctively tunes into this rhythm when they choose their gentle pattern of swaying back and forth. Well, unless the parent is exasperated or in a hurry, in which case they may not intuitively be able to achieve a soothing rhythm.

Rhythm & harmony in movement needs to be trained for most clients, because most clients have become completely unconnected with their bodies. This means that it needs to be written into your programs as “the purpose” of various exercises.

How to train rhythm & harmony into your clients In order to train a connected rhythm, you’ll have to start developing an eye for watching how your clients use their breathing during any particular movement or exercise.  One “rhythm building” exercise that we use at Fit For Birth is having the client lay supine with knees bent, feet on the floor. And we ask them to simply “breathe as you alternate leg lifts.” (To minimize hip flexor and periphery muscle dominance, we ask that the lift is very minimal, “one piece of paper from the floor.”) Most clients will move prior to breathing, and generally hold their breath for some portion of the movement, which is not ideal. This is one of the things you’ll need to keep an eye out for, and coach them to “breathe before you lift.” This is a common first step in connecting breathing to movement.  It can be helpful, as a practitioner, to think of breathing as 4-parts. Rather than just inhaling and exhaling, there is also a momentary pause as the person transitions from inhale to exhale, and then again as the person transitions from exhale to inhale. It is at these transition points that the person is more likely to hold their breath. (These transitions are often right at that challenging moment that the external resistance is also transitioning from eccentric to concentric.) Once you start to look for this as a corrective exercise specialist, you will see that it is most common for people to hold their breath momentarily in practically every repetition of every moderately challenging exercise that you give them.  There is a whole lesson on this in the Pre & Postnatal Corrective Exercise Specialist (PPCES) course, but suffice to say here that most people are holding their breath because their neuromuscular system has become accustomed to “holding on for dear life.”  The average person uses the breath-locking valsalva maneuver just to tie their shoes – a sign that their body believes that tying shoelaces must be a “One Rep Max” event.  We have a very core-deficient population. When it comes to pregnancy, these tiny breath holds are the most common reason why diastasis recti develops during pregnancy. The slow 9-month micro-tear build toward diastasis recti is why so many newly postpartum clients never see it coming. Your corrective exercise programming can make a tremendous difference.  Back to the alternating leg lifts…In many cases, that client will naturally fall into a relaxed pattern of inhaling to lift the legs. This is a great first step. At the same time, you should remind them to “breathe before the movement” at each step.   Eventually, often a few weeks & sessions later, you should also see if the client has the same amount of abdominal connection to “exhale to lift,” followed by “inhaling to lower.” This is commonly the second step in connecting breathing to movement. Most of the time, your clients will need to be reminded to slow down. They are so accustomed to moving without a breath connection. Remind them to slow down, and that it is most important to match the rhythm of their movement to the breath. This may force them to slow down to several seconds in each direction: several seconds of lifting the leg, and several more seconds to lower the leg.  Matching movement to breath-rate is very different from trying to match breathing to the rate of movement. This is the essence of connecting breathing to movement.  Again, at Fit For Birth, we usually have our clients do this exercise while vertical on top of a 3-foot foam roller, so that their head is on one end, and pelvis is on the other end. This adds an ideal amount of instability, and therefore core-breathing activation. You’ll also be more likely to be able to see their dysfunction more obviously.

Using Breathing & Movement to Create Coherence

Ever wonder how flocking birds and schooling fish move in perfect harmony? The unified interactions of parts of the whole is an example of spontaneous synchronization, otherwise known as coherence. This phenomena takes place in many systems of nature, as well as technology. Some of you may know of the spontaneous synchronization that occurs when metronomes, pendulums, or clocks that have started swinging at different times or speeds, ultimately come to synchronize over time. (Video 32 Metronomes) (Video 5 Metronomes)

Spontaneous synchronization is the natural and self-organized process by which individual systems, initially operating independently and with varying rhythms or phases, come to operate in unison. Various physical and biological systems, like heart cells or social groups, can become coherent when the individuals naturally align their states or behaviors to function as a unified whole.

Within these various physical and biological systems, there are what’s called biological oscillators, including:

• Circadian rhythms
• Heartbeats
• Respiration
• Cell cycles
• Neural spikes
• Reproduction cycles
• Physical Exercise,

Biological oscillators are able to generate spontaneous synchronization or coherence by providing the intrinsic rhythmic patterns that can align with similar patterns in other oscillators. This leads to coordinated behavior across a biological system, such as cells, organs, or organisms. One example is the circadian rhythm that regulates sleep-wake cycles. 

In the human body, two very powerful biological oscillators are breathing and movement. 

Individually, both breathing and movement have the potential to align other systems, especially if the breathing or movement shows up as a powerful consistent harmonious rhythm. But together, as can be taught inside your corrective exercise session, these two have the exponential power of entraining other systems. 

Finding this kind of natural coherent rhythm is what “being in flow,” or “in the zone” is.  And we can help our clients to become aware of this inside their own bodies.

Coherence is a term that can be applied across various disciplines, each with its distinct context and implications:

• In physics, coherence describes the correlation between waves at different points in space or time. This concept is foundational in fields such as laser optics, where coherent light has the same frequency and phase.
• In quantum mechanics, coherence is a measure of how much wave-like behavior a quantum system exhibits, important in studies involving superposition and entanglement.
• In signal processing and telecommunication, coherence involves the correlation between signals or data sets. It’s often used in the analysis of various kinds of data points.
• In neuroscience and psychology, coherence refers to the degree of synchronicity between different parts of the brain, which can be measured using techniques like EEG. High coherence between brain regions is often interpreted as regions working in a synchronized manner.
• In wellness, coherence often refers to a harmonious state that promotes physiological efficiency, emotional stability, and resilience. This is frequently discussed in the context of heart rate variability (HRV) coherence, where the variability in time between each heart beat is considered an indicator of health or disease. And – surprise surprise – better HRV balance is achieved through exercise, mindfulness, sleep, healthy nutrition, and breathing exercises. 

In each discipline, the concept of coherence describes the relative harmony, correlation, or synchrony. This is the case whether the coherence is affecting waves & signals, or systems of health & disease.

Coherence can be a significant factor during pregnancy

To the degree that coherence is able to align systems into greater harmony, reinforcing coherence is worthwhile during pregnancy. At the same time, incoherence between bodily systems could contribute to pregnancy-related complications. 

• Physiological Coherence: During pregnancy, HRV coherence symbolizes maintaining a balanced nervous system. Balance between the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous systems, can help manage stress levels, improve cardiovascular functioning, and support overall health, which is important for both the mother and the developing fetus.
• Emotional Coherence: Coherence in emotional regulation during pregnancy – achieving a stable emotional state through practices like mindfulness, meditation, or biofeedback – can help expectant mothers manage anxiety, stress, and mood swings, leading to a more comfortable and healthier pregnancy.
• Cognitive Coherence: Clear and organized thinking can help expectant mothers make informed choices about their health, birthing plans, and postpartum care.
• Inter-System Coherence: Pregnancy involves significant changes in various body systems. Coherence between these systems may integrate them. For example, coherence may allow hormone-producing organs to interact more effectively with physical changes, like how much hormone is needed for the precise amount of pelvic ligament relaxation – not too much nor too little. This may contribute to a smoother pregnancy and prepare the body for delivery. 

Enhancing coherence in these areas will certainly improve the health and well-being of the mother while also positively impacting fetal development, and the overall pregnancy experience. Techniques that promote coherence, such as rhythmic breathing together with exercise is absolutely instrumental during the perinatal time frame.

This is the deeper first step for what it means to be a Holistic Pre & Postnatal Corrective Exercise Specialist. You are not only prescribing the very powerful drug known as exercise….You are also prescribing coherence between your client’s body systems.

Assessment is important for a personal trainer’s practice

If you’re a personal trainer, then you are likely performing an intuitive “assessment” of some sort, during each repetition of each exercise. This is likely the case whenever you are focusing on your client’s body, as opposed to having a  conversation that takes away from the sensations in the body, or paying attention to other things. This is one of your superpowers. And it’s a huge step ahead of most people, which is why you’ll be capably training them.

The next step is to formalize your method for assessment. Formalizing means repeating the same exercises, while looking for a particular set of criteria in each exercise. Doing this time and again with multiple individuals is what makes a confident corrective exercise specialist. 

The fun part is that you can actually create your own formal assessment, using whatever set of exercises that makes sense for you.  If your objective is to make your clients as good as a Cirque du Soleil performer, for example, then your assessment could actually include doing back-flips, and muscle-ups using Olympic rings! (Not the usual stuff of assessments, I know!)

At Fit For Birth, our Movement Assessment focuses on the 6 primal movements. The two main criteria that our practitioners are taught to notate are: 

1. Whether or not the “primary muscles” are indeed the primary activators, and also,
2. If there is any core breathing present in the movements. 

This is our focus because our clients are typically in need of learning how to “perform” in movements of everyday life, like bending over to pick up toddlers, etc. 

While this is one thoughtful way of assessing, there are MANY different methodologies, as the corrective exercise revolution explodes around the world, and we will share some of these with you next!

Types of Corrective Exercise Methodologies

This section begins an overview of the various corrective exercise methodologies. The intention is to give fitness professionals an insight into various ways to continue your education (CEU’s/CEC’s) in corrective exercise.

DNS & Infant Development Exercises for Adults

Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) is a rehabilitation approach based on developmental kinesiology, meaning it utilizes our movement patterns from early childhood to improve motor function throughout life. 

The “Prague School” of Rehabilitation and Manual Medicine was established by Pavel Kolar, drawing on the work of his mentors, professors of neurology and rehabilitative movement, Vclav Vojta, Karel Lewit, Vladimir Janda, and Frantisek Vele.

DNS uses the predictable movement patterns that are observed in infants as they grow from birth through the first year of life. These patterns are genetically predetermined and essential for proper motor development and central nervous system maturation.

KEY CONCEPTS of DNS

• Spinal stabilization first: “Any purposeful movement is closely related to the spinal stabilization based on the programs which come into play during early development.”
  • Stabilization in the sagittal plane occurs first and is required for erect posture. 
  • Phasic (faster) movement can only happen after sagittal stabilization occurs. 
  • Primal movements like stepping forward and grasping are all related to trunk rotation. 
• Intra-Abdominal Pressure (IAP): DNS emphasizes the role of intra-abdominal pressure to support the spine and create a stable base for limb movement. Proper breathing techniques, which are integral to DNS, help to maintain this pressure and stability.
• Homolateral before contralateral: Homolateral patterns will occur initially, which means utilizing the same side limbs. For example, an infant who has rolled onto its right side will support him or herself with the right arm & leg, while reaching with the left arm and leg. After the 4.5 month to 6 month time frame, stepping forward and support occurs on opposite sides, as in crawling, which is a contralateral pattern.

Some milestones patterns of musculoskeletal activity include:

• 4 months – supine leg flexion
• 4.5 months – grasping beyond midline
• 5 months – turning to lie on the side
• 6 months – turning over
• 7 months – sidelying, supporting on elbow
• 8 months – sitting up in oblique position
• 12 months – walking sideways

ASSESSMENT in DNS

DNS assessments typically involve developmental positions and movements that mimic the motor patterns of infants. The assessment typically involves evaluating the body’s ability to naturally engage the correct stabilizing muscles.

These include:

• Supine (lying on the back): Observing natural spine curvature and abdominal tension without the influence of gravity.
• Prone (lying on the stomach): Evaluating how the back muscles activate and how the patient lifts their head and upper body.
• Quadruped (all fours) + Crawling: Assessing the stability and coordination of the limbs while maintaining a neutral spine.
• Squatting: Checking the integration of movement patterns that should have been established in infancy.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH mentioning DNS

• A 2013 study (co-authored by the leader of Prague School, Pavel Kolar), stated the opinion that dynamic neuromuscular (core) stability is crucial for peak athletic performance and cannot be achieved solely through the strength of the abdominals, spinal extensors, gluteals, or any other specific muscle group. Instead, authors wrote that core stability results from the precise coordination of these muscles and the regulation of intra‐abdominal pressure by the central nervous system. The DNS approach, “provides functional tools to assess and activate the intrinsic spinal stabilizers in order to optimize the movement system for both pre‐habilitation and rehabilitation of athletic injuries and performance.”
• A 2020 study wrote that DNS is being “used successfully in rehabilitation of a wide variety of neurological and musculoskeletal conditions,” including pediatric and sports injury cases.
• Another 2020 study of 34 females found that 6 weeks of DNS improved functional movements better than standard physical fitness training.

[COMING SOON: For more on Infant Development Exercises for Adults, see COMING SOON on our sister site, www.ExerciseForLongevity.life. COMING SOON]

PRI – Postural Restoration Institute

The Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) is an organization that focuses on the biomechanics of postural alignment and asymmetry in the human body. PRI principles are based on the idea that the human body is not symmetrical and that these asymmetries, if not properly managed, can lead to various musculoskeletal dysfunctions and imbalances.

PRI was established in 2000 and is located in Lincoln, NE, USA. The organization strives “to achieve true balance using our bodies’ asymmetries.”  They call it an “unrecognized science that is applicable to everyone.”  

KEY CONCEPTS of PRI

• Asymmetry and Balance: PRI teaches that natural asymmetries in body structure and function, such as the liver being on the right side and the heart on the left, lead to predictable patterns of muscle activity and posture.
• Zone of Apposition (ZOA): This concept refers to the area of the diaphragm that maintains its shape and position to effectively manage pressure and maintain functional breathing. 

• Respiration and Ribcage Position: PRI emphasizes the role of breathing mechanics and rib cage position in maintaining balance and alignment. Therapists are trained to assess and correct dysfunctional breathing patterns that can affect spinal and pelvic positions.
  • Posture is considered to be the reflection of patterned airflow.
• Integrated Systems Approach: The approach considers not just the musculoskeletal system but also its interaction with other body systems such as the respiratory, circulatory, and nervous systems. 

• Asymmetries to look for: Since the human body is not symmetrical, normal imbalances that are not regulated by the reciprocal function during walking, breathing or turning, create a strong pattern of  structural weaknesses, instabilities, and musculo-skeletal pain syndromes. Some of the places to recognize asymmetry in the body include:
  • One or both legs turn out when standing
  • Overdevelopment of certain muscles
  • Limited or excessive hamstring length
  • Lack of or excessive hip rotation
  • Curvature of the spine
  • Uneven rib height
  • Uneven shoulder height
  • Flat feet or high arches
  • Facial asymmetries
  • Inability to touch your toes
  • Inability to squat

ASSESSMENT in PRI

PRI assessments involve evaluating postural imbalances and asymmetries. The assessment includes tests for pelvic position, rib cage orientation, and respiratory mechanics to understand how these factors influence overall body alignment.

PRI uses specific movements to evaluate how asymmetries affect body mechanics:

• Pelvic shifts: Assessing how the body stabilizes and shifts weight, which can indicate dominance in one side of the body.
• Breathing patterns: Evaluating the diaphragm’s function and its effect on rib cage and spinal position.
• Walking gait analysis: Observing the overall body mechanics during walking to identify compensatory patterns.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH mentioning PRI

• A 2024 study used PRI training on 42 participants with degenerative disc-associated lower back pain, and found PRI methods to be effective in improving joint range of motion, step length when walking, and performance.
• A 2022 thesis on physically fit 18-26 year olds found, “no true changes of any pelvic patterns but anecdotally reported less restriction in lower extremities following” PRI repositioning exercises.
• A 2024 study that PRI promotes as relevant on its website concluded that “Pelvic repositioning exercise can significantly improve contractility of PFMs.” Although PRI itself is not mentioned in the abstract, pelvic realignment exercises were found to create pelvic symmetry and to improve pelvic floor muscle (PFM) contractility. 

FRS: Functional Range Systems (FRC – Functional Range Conditioning)

Functional Range Systems (FRS)  is an overarching framework designed to improve musculoskeletal health, mobility, and performance.  Developed by Dr. Andreo Spina, the system includes manual treatments (Functional Range Release), mobility development (Functional Range Conditioning – FRC) and Kinstretch (an exercise class that utilizes FRC). FRC has 3 main goals: mobility, joint strength, and body control.

KEY CONCEPTS of FRC

• Mobility Development: FRC focuses on expanding and developing the usable range of motion, which encompasses flexibility and the strength to control movements throughout the entire range. The key component is active range of motion.
• Joint Health: The system emphasizes the importance increasing synovial fluid circulation within the joint, which helps in nutrient delivery and waste removal.
• Motor Control: FRC aims to enhance the body’s ability to control and utilize the newly acquired ranges of motion by incorporating neurological and muscular training techniques that increase motor control.
• Progressive Overload: Similar to strength training principles, FRC uses progressive overload to adaptively condition the joints and surrounding tissues. By gradually increasing the demands on the tissues, they adapt by becoming stronger and more resilient.

ASSESSMENT mentioning FRC

Essentially, Functional Range Assessment (FRA) is the assessment phase to address the training phase of FRC. Some of the controlled movements used to assess and improve joint health include:

• Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs): Slow, intentional movements through the joint’s full range of motion to identify areas of restriction or discomfort. Think of taking every joint in the body through a precise, focused circle, intending to expand that circle at every angle over the 360 degrees.

End-Range Control tests: Assessing strength and control at the limits of joint mobility. Think about being in a Hip 90/90 or seated hamstring hurdler stretch, and lifting one of your feet/legs from the floor, without using your hands.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN FRC

• There is a 2023 case study on a single participant with frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis). The study utilized a physiotherapy home program of physical and mental exercises, as well as a steroid injection. FRC was one of the modalities used. The paper provides an argument for using a transdisciplinary approach to manage frozen shoulders, “as part of the ongoing rehabilitation and re-acquisition of normal range of movement and their functionality.”
• Another 2024 study also recommended “[building] upon the differences in therapies” in an attempt to speed the recovery of injured dancers. Once again, FRC was one of the physical exercises mentioned as one of the options.

MAT: Muscle Activation Technique 

Muscle Activation Technique (MAT) is a unique approach to assessment and correction of muscular imbalances in the body, focusing on muscle weakness rather than tightness. Developed by biomechanics consultant, Greg Roskopf, MAT is designed to enhance the body’s performance and decrease pain through improved muscle function. “Modalities across the health and wellness industry claim to ‘activate muscles.’ The techniques within our process can definitively assess if a muscle is activated.”

KEY CONCEPTS of MAT

• Weakness as the Root Cause: MAT really zeroes in on improving the ability of muscles to contract, rather than assuming that tightness is the primary cause of limitation and pain. 

Muscle Activation / Corrective Contractions: MAT uses targeted isometric or slight isotonic contractions to “wake up” underperforming muscles. These submaximal contractions are intended to increase muscle strength and coordination. By improving the contractile capabilities of muscles surrounding a joint, MAT enhances stability and helps prevent injuries.

ASSESSMENT in MAT

MAT assessments focus on the muscular system’s response to specific joint motions. The practitioner will evaluate the muscle’s ability to contract efficiently when a joint is moved through various ranges. If weaknesses or imbalances are identified, MAT techniques are applied to increase the muscle’s ability to contract and thus improve joint stability.

• Range of Motion Testing: Identifies limitations in range of motion at various angles of the 360 degree spectrum, and including internal and external rotation. For example, can the client in supine raise their leg into the air, overcoming their own inflexibility?
• Strength Generation: MAT tests for how much strength a joint is able to produce in the 360 degree spectrum. Practitioners are taught to determine which muscles have decreased contractile efficiency by evaluating responses to very specific isolating tests. For example, does the force behind a client’s activation seem adequate, compared to other client’s activations?
• Comparative Analysis: Tests are often comparative, assessing symmetry between sides of the body to understand functional discrepancies.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH mentioning MAT

• A 2016 case study mentioned MAT as “a godsend that allowed my body to strengthen so it could cope with the strain it went through due to my illness.” The subject of this report had a very rare autoimmune disease. The nature of the report, which was published in the European Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, was to “acknowledge the myth that Western biomedicine is omniscient” in hopes of minimizing the in order to minimize the poor treatment of people who have rare health problems.  

McKenzie Method

The McKenzie Method, officially known as Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT), is a renowned methodology developed by New Zealand physiotherapist Robin McKenzie in the 1950s. It specializes in diagnosing and treating musculoskeletal issues, particularly those involving the spine. 

Initially recognized for its effectiveness in treating lower back pain, the McKenzie Method has expanded to address a variety of musculoskeletal conditions, promoting self-management and active patient involvement. 

KEY CONCEPTS of the McKenzie Method

• Centralization Phenomenon: In the McKenzie Method, centralization refers to the phenomenon where pain that radiates from the spine to other parts of the body (like the arm or leg) moves back towards the spine’s midline. It’s a positive sign indicating that the treatment approach is effective and the underlying problem is improving.
• Mechanical Diagnosis: This system categorizes spinal disorders based on the response to repeated movements and sustained positions, directing specific treatment protocols.
• Multipronged Approach:  Tailored exercises are prescribed to correct mechanical disturbances. Stabilization, strengthening, stretching, mobilization, injections, and decompression surgeries, are all considered tools in the tool box for McKenzie practitioners.

Patient Education & Empowerment: “We do not fix patients, we teach patients and we assist patients to fix themselves.” “The patient’s symptoms will never make a mistake.”

ASSESSMENT in the McKenzie Method

The McKenzie assessment is used primarily for spinal disorders. It involves a series of movements and positions to identify patterns of pain response. The goal is to determine whether the pain is centralized or peripheralized as the patient moves through these positions, which helps in classifying the problem and guiding treatment. McKenzie’s method is particularly focused on spinal movement.

• Detailed Spinal Evaluation: The assessment starts with a comprehensive history and a mechanical examination, which includes observing the effects of various movements and positions on the patient’s symptoms.
• Repeated end-range spinal movements: Movements like bending forwards, backwards, or sideways to provoke symptoms and identify the direction of preference.
• Sustained positions: Holding certain spinal positions to observe changes in symptoms.
• Directional Preference: The method identifies beneficial movement patterns that alleviate symptoms, known as directional preference.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH mentioning McKenzie

• A 2006 meta-analysis evaluated the McKenzie method for low back pain. The conclusion was, “There is some evidence that the McKenzie method is more effective than passive therapy for acute LBP; however, the magnitude of the difference suggests the absence of clinically worthwhile effects. There is limited evidence for the use of the McKenzie method in chronic LBP.”
• A 2018 study compared the efficacy of MDT compared with placebo, in 148 patients with chronic lower back pain. The two things that the authors were looking for were changes in pain intensity, as well as actual disability after 5 weeks of treatment. Results stated that the MDT group had greater improvements in pain intensity at the end of treatment, but not for disability, as compared to placebo.

Alexander Technique

The Alexander Technique is an educational process that teaches people how to improve physical postural habits, particularly those that affect movement and respiratory function. It was developed by Frederick Matthias Alexander in the early 20th century and has been utilized by performers and individuals seeking relief from pain through improved coordination. The focus is about teaching clients to move mindfully through life, changing movement habits in everyday activities. 

KEY CONCEPTS of the Alexander Technique

• Being Present of How You Move: The technique teaches people to be aware of how they move, sit, stand, and do activities of daily life. 
• Primary Control: This concept denotes the relationship between the head, neck, and spine, which determines the quality of the body’s overall coordination. For example, letting the head balance up on the neck can let the spine lengthen. 
• Inhibition and Direction: Inhibition refers to the conscious pause individuals give themselves to prevent habitual reactions that interfere with optimal coordination. Direction involves thinking specific thoughts to bring about non-interfering, coordinated movement.
• End-Gaining: The Alexander Technique discourages focusing solely on the end result of an activity, advocating instead for attention to the process along the way.

ASSESSMENT in the Alexander Technique

The Alexander Technique assessment focuses on observing the patient’s posture and movement patterns to identify habitual behaviors that may lead to tension or inefficiencies. This observational approach guides the re-education process to promote more natural and efficient use of the body.

• Observational Assessment: The teacher observes the student’s habitual patterns of movement and posture during simple activities like sitting, standing, and walking.
• Guided Movement and Positioning: Using gentle hands-on guidance and verbal instructions, the teacher helps the student experience more efficient ways of moving and holding themselves.
• Self-Perception and Awareness: Students are taught to develop heightened kinesthetic awareness to recognize and change poor habits that lead to physical and mental stress.
• Functional Integration: The technique is taught in the context of daily activities to ensure that improvements in movement and posture are practical and sustainable.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH in Alexander Technique

• A 2011 systematic review of 18 publications concluded, “Strong evidence exists for the effectiveness of Alexander Technique lessons for chronic back pain and moderate evidence in Parkinson’s-associated disability. Preliminary evidence suggests that Alexander Technique lessons may lead to improvements in balance skills in the elderly, in general chronic pain, posture, respiratory function and stuttering, but there is insufficient evidence to support recommendations in these areas.”
• A 2015 study compared acupuncture to Alexander technique, and concluded, “Acupuncture sessions and Alexander Technique lessons both led to significant reductions in neck pain and associated disability compared with usual care at 12 months.”

Feldenkrais Method

The Feldenkrais Method uses gentle movement and directed attention to help people learn new and more effective ways of living the life they want. It was developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais in the mid-20th century, who said, “We move according to our perceived self-image.” This method aims to teach individuals how to live better through improved movement, increased efficiency, and reduced pain. It is often utilized by those recovering from injury, experiencing chronic pain, or seeking enhanced performance and ease in daily activities.

It is a system of movement re-education designed to teach, for example, how to feel each spinal segment with the same clarity as each individual finger.

KEY CONCEPTS of the Feldenkrais Method

• Awareness Through Movement (ATM) & Functional Integration (FI): In order to improve body awareness, ATM uses verbal instruction while FI uses movement instruction.
• Movement, not just Exercise: Movement is larger than just exercise, and includes how we breath, digest, turn our head and take a step.  
• Presence & Self-Awareness: The Feldenkrais Method emphasizes paying attention to habitual patterns, and learning to move with attention, intention, and sensory awareness.
• The Use of Imagination and Visualization: Imagining and visualizing movements are integral to the method, allowing for neurological changes that can translate into physical changes, even without performing the actual movements.

ASSESSMENT in the Feldenkrais Method:

• Ongoing Observation and Interaction: The practitioner observes the client’s movements to identify patterns and areas of difficulty, like reaching upward with one arm from a seated position. Unlike more traditional forms, this assessment is ongoing and fluid throughout each session.
• Guided Movement and Positioning: Through touch and small, guided movements, practitioners engage in a form of kinesthetic dialogue with clients to raise awareness of habitual movement patterns and introduce new, more efficient patterns.
• Integration into Daily Activities: Assessment also involves discussing how the movements practiced during sessions translate into daily activities, ensuring that the lessons learned are not only understood but practically applied.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH mentioning Feldenkrais Method (FM)

• A 2015 systematic review of 7 studies concluded that there is “promising evidence that the FM may be effective for a varied population interested in improving functions such as balance.”
• A 2020 study, “Found that research clearly supports the effectiveness of the FM for improvement of balance and chronic pain management.”

Peter Attia, Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity

Dr. Peter Attia, a physician focusing on the science of longevity, emphasizes a comprehensive approach to health that integrates strength training, cardiovascular fitness, and mobility for sustainable, injury-free living. His approach prioritizes long-term health and performance, with a specific focus on what he terms “the Centenarian Olympics” – the kinds of physical tasks that allow for independence into old age.

KEY CONCEPTS of Outlive:

• Longevity and Performance: The primary goal is to maximize lifespan while ensuring a high quality of life through enhanced physical fitness. This involves training for both the expected and unexpected physical challenges that come with aging.
• Stability Training: Before engaging in more rigorous strength and cardiovascular training, his program emphasizes the importance of stability. This foundational element supports injury prevention and enhances overall training effectiveness.
• Integrated Training Approach: Combining strength, endurance, and mobility exercises, their techniques focus on building a body that can perform well in various domains, from daily activities to more demanding physical challenges.

ASSESSMENT Concepts from Outlive:

• Health History: Initial assessments include a comprehensive review of health history, current fitness levels, and longevity goals. 
• Stability Evaluations: Before progressing to complex movements, stability must be established. Exercises like single-leg balance, planks, and glute bridging are used.
• Functional Tasks for Longevity: Functional tasks such as walking lunges, squats and step-ups are used to evaluate an individual’s core stability, balance, and movement efficiency. The “sit-to-stand” test, where individuals attempt to rise to a standing position from the floor without using their arms or hands, assesses lower body strength, balance, and flexibility, serving as a longevity indicator.
• Individualized Approach: “While strength training and aerobic conditioning are relatively straightforward, everyone has very different issues with regard to stability. Thus, it’s impossible to give a one-size-fits-all prescription for everyone.”

The SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH for Outlive

The entire book by Peter Attia, Outlive, is filled with rather in-depth analysis of many scientific research studies! The conclusions point to:

• Exercise being the #1 most research correlated item for longevity.
• Stability-training needing to be the foundation for exercise.

CHEK Institute: Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology

The CHEK Institute, founded by Paul Chek in the 1990s, is an organization dedicated to advancing holistic health education, blending both Western and traditional approaches. The Institute emphasizes a comprehensive understanding of the interrelationships between lifestyle, movement, and wellness.

KEY CONCEPTS of the CHEK Institute

• Holistic Health Philosophy: The CHEK approach is grounded in the belief that optimal health requires a balance of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being.
• The Four Doctors: Paul Chek’s methodology emphasizes the importance of four ‘doctors’: Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, Dr. Movement, and Dr. Happiness. These represent the foundations for a healthy lifestyle, advocating for balanced nutrition, adequate rest, regular physical activity, and positive mental health.
• Primal Patterns: The CHEK Institute identifies specific movement patterns that are fundamental to human function. 

Detailed Assessments: The CHEK system is known for its extraordinarily detailed assessments, including assessment tools like Blood Pressure Cuffs to monitor lumbar stability, and even those uniquely patented for their practitioners, like the CHEK Inclinometer.

ASSESSMENT in the CHEK Institute

• Movement Analysis: CHEK practitioners are trained to assess movement patterns to identify dysfunctions and imbalances. 
• Postural Assessment: Posture is closely monitored, understanding that it reflects the body’s overall health and biomechanical efficiency. Correcting postural deviations is a key component of the CHEK methodology to improve client well-being.
• Holistic Lifestyle Assessment: This comprehensive evaluation considers factors such as diet, stress, sleep patterns, and daily activity to develop a personalized wellness plan.
• Wellness Coaching: A significant aspect of the assessment involves understanding the client’s mental and emotional states, guiding them towards better stress management and emotional resilience.

FFB: Fit For Birth Method

Fit For Birth (FFB) focuses on corrective exercises that are designed to address common musculoskeletal and physiological concerns during and after pregnancy. 

Our holistic approach considers how our ancestors lived, compared to how we are living today. We recognize that while we want to maintain access to modern technologies, they are often the cause of our “dis”-ease, including our musculoskeletal issues. 

The question, “Have we evolved to be able to handle this?” is at the root of FFB. This question attempts to acknowledge that we simply may have not (yet) evolved to handle many of today’s modern stressors, from sugar to light bulbs and sitting all day in chairs…

KEY CONCEPTS of FFB

• Corrective Exercise: There is a strong focus on addressing imbalances and dysfunctions that arise during pregnancy with tailored corrective exercises.
• Holistic Approach: The program integrates 5 Foundations that all influence well-being during the perinatal timeframe: 
  • Breathing
  • Movement
  • Nutrition
  • Sleep & Lifestyle
  • Mind
• Comprehensive Assessments: Fit For Birth uses up to three detailed assessments: 
  • Movement/Exercise (PPCES course)
  • Flexibility (PPCFA course)
  • Pelvic Floor (PPDCC course)

ASSESSMENT of FFB

• Health History: Step 1 at FFB is to identify the goals and needs of the client. This includes identifying if there are any ongoing repercussions from things like previous C-sections or vaginal tearing. 
• Movement Assessment (15-20min): Step 2 at FFB is to identify whether or not the correct muscles are functioning during the following specific movements: Breathing, Pelvic Tilting, Six Primal Movements (Squat, Lunge, Bend, Twist, Push, Pull), and lower abdominal connection to pelvic floor. 
• Instant Client Experience & Feedback: Upon completion of the movement assessment, the FFB practitioner will know which muscles are over-active, and which are under-active. The FFB Pre & Postnatal Corrective Exercise Specialist is trained to identify the single most important correction/activation for the client. The FFB specialist coaches the client through a few exercises to activate the #1 most important correction, and then asks the client to repeat a few of the assessments. The client is able to immediately feel the difference within the first session (typically in the form of reduced pain and increased function), and understand how the practitioner will be able to further help them achieve their goals. 

FOLLOWUP & LONG-TERM CLIENT RETENTION: 

• The FFB Movement Assessment can be performed every 1-6 months or so, in order to give you client objective feedback for the benchmarks that you have created for your exercise program. This assessment is taught in FFB’s PPCES course, where you become a FFB Pre & Postnatal Corrective Exercise Specialist. 
• The FFB Pelvic Floor Assessment (PPDCC course) allows you to help your client identify if her pelvic floor muscles are under-active or over-active, discrepancies between superficial and deep layers, left and right synergies, and phasic vs. tonic muscle needs. This assessment is designed for personal trainers to verbally instruct their clients to connect physically and mentally to their pelvic floor muscles. (As a non-invasive option, this assessment is completely different from the internal evaluations that are typically performed by women’s physical therapists who have licences for manual therapy!) 
• The FFB Corrective Flexibility Assessment (PPCFA course) offers the perfect assessment at about 3 months of training, to inspire fresh programming and renewed excitement in your training. Once basic corrective exercises have been practiced for one or two 6-week program cycles, your client is ready to add the specific stretches that can unlock any remaining limitations in function. Performing a corrective flexibility assessment shows you exactly which stretches are most important, and – similar to the movement assessment – gives your client immediate results in the form of pain reduction and improved function.

How to move from Exercise-focused Personal Trainer, to becoming a Comprehensive Holistic Personal Trainer

Exercise is the single most important research proven longevity factor for human beings. Without question, that is where you should focus your development as a pre & postnatal professional. 

Corrective exercise is a step up from normal fitness, because it teaches people how to make sure they use the correct muscles, and therefore become far less likely to wear their joints away over time. When you help people get fit, you can do so on top of a foundation of whatever muscles they are currently using, or you can do so while teaching the right muscles to activate. It makes sense to learn some form of corrective exercise, and this article has given you a variety of options above!

Once you are getting consistent exercise results with your clients, you can add to your practice the possibility for even more comprehensive longer-lasting results. That’s where you’ll need to learn more about the rest of the 5 Foundations (Breathing, Exercise, Nutrition, Sleep/Lifestyle, Mind).

FFB’s PPCES addresses all 5 of these, with an emphasis on breathing and exercise. Here is how each of these factors can affect your client’s musculo-skeletal system, and overall well-being: 

Breathing

About 20,000 times per day, one’s breath either stimulates or relaxes the body. Every breath either activates or has no connection to the core muscles. The diaphragm is both the primary breathing muscle and primary homeostatic regulator. Because of this, it helps regulate what the entire sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system is doing, at any given moment. At the same time, it is a primary inner unit core muscle that determines whether or not core muscles synergize with movement muscles. 

Movement

Exercise is indeed the single most important factor in longevity. This means that, day-by-day, it is the most powerful epigenetic force that determines how a person feels, as well as the function of their digestion, immunity, mental focus and more.

Nutrition

A food sensitivity can cause inflammation in the digestive system and shut off the inner unit core muscles. 

Sleep/Lifestyle

Your day begins at the time you go to sleep the day before. Being tired specifically slows core/posture muscle function, which means more likely damaging joints during exercise. Other lifestyle factors like phone usage and household toxins (kitchen/bathroom products) can demand your bodily resources into detoxification instead of core muscle function, for example. 

Mind

Some sort of mind-calming and relaxing practice is necessary in today’s hyper world. We still have the same genetic requirements as our ancestors, but our world today is extraordinarily different. We have not yet evolved to be able to handle the amount of information, and this overwhelm is hurting our society. Being able to teach clients specific exercises to counteract this unavoidable fact is critical for holistic personal trainers. 

Conclusion

In this article, we explored the multifaceted approach to corrective exercise, particularly its critical application during the pregnancy and postpartum periods. By understanding and implementing corrective exercises, fitness professionals can greatly improve their clients’ quality of life, ensuring a safer pregnancy and quicker postpartum recovery. This corrective exercise approach is the first step in expressing your holistic view of health, and it needn’t stop there.

Incorporating lifestyle and wellness beyond physical fitness also prepares practitioners to offer more specialized and valuable services. Mastering these techniques opens up pathways to financial prosperity through specialized service offerings and the potential to charge premium rates due to enhanced expertise. With a variety of global methodologies available, professionals have the opportunity to refine their skills and knowledge, tailoring their practices to meet the unique needs of their clients and standing out in a competitive market. This exploration into the depths of corrective exercise illustrates its indispensable role in fostering long-term health and stability, emphasizing the profound impact of well-informed, well-executed fitness regimens.

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If you love fun & research-based guidance as a fitness professional, or during your own pregnancy & postpartum, please check out these Fit For Birth offerings:

• Fitness & Wellness Professionals:
  • FREE 1-hour CEC
  • CEC/CEU Courses, including our Pre & Postnatal Corrective Exercise Specialist (PPCES), the world’s first holistic perinatal CEC/CEU!
  • Monthly Elite Membership – Community. Monthly education. Business mentorship & work opportunities. $27/month.

• Pregnancy, Pre-conception & Postpartum:
  • Zoom virtual personal training
  • Online Pregnancy Self-paced Program 

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James Goodlatte is a Father, Holistic Health Coach, Corrective Exercise Practitioner, Speaker, Author, Educator, and the founder of Fit For Birth and Exercise For Longevity. Since 2008, when he found out he would be a father, his passion for holistic wellness shifted to children and families. Today, he is a driving force in providing Continuing Education Credits for the pre and postnatal world, with Fit For Birth professionals in 52 countries. James is a member of the First 1000 Days Initiative at the Global Wellness Institute, and professional longevity researcher & educator.