What is proprioception?
Proprioception is the ability to move and sense where your body is in space. In the computer age with most people working behind a desk or a counter it is a skill that most people have lost. As a result, the population has become uncoordinated, unbalanced and clumsy. Rebuilding this skill with your clients is as important as building muscle and strength.
How to help your clients move again
I’m willing to bet that right now you can think of at least 5 of your clients who struggle in the area of proprioception. To help them improve you will need to focus on coordinated movements starting with the most simple and then moving onto complex movements. A few good exercises to get you started are:
- Lateral 3 cone hop: Set up 3 cones and have your clients hop laterally over them.
- Single leg walkout to push up: On one leg, perform a one leg stiff-legged deadlift until your hand touch the ground. Walk your hands out in front of you until you are in the 1 leg push up position. Complete one rep then walk your hand back in and stand up. The whole movement should be completed on one leg.
- MB catch and throw into reverse lunge: Throw a medicine ball to the client, have them catch the ball while simultaneously stepping into a reverse lunge. When the client stands up again, have them return the throw. You can also have 2 clients doing this by having them throw the ball to each other.
Creating a proprioception blasting bootcamp
If you run bootcamps (as many personal trainers do these days), creating a bootcamp workout to improve proprioception is a great way to add some variety to your camps. Simply follow this formula for a great bootcamp workout, your clients will love it.
- Warmup
- Agility cone drill
- Lower body balance exercises
- Speed drill
- Agility cone drill
- Upper body balance exercises
- Direction changing drill
- Core
Assign roughly 5-10 minutes to each area. You will get their hearts pumping and stabalisers firing hard.