This is going to be useful. My friend and colleague Kevin Mullins, author of Day By Day: The Personal Trainer’s Blueprint to Achieving Ultimate Success, reached out and asked if I’d let him write a series for this site. He wants to cover joint-by-joint breakdowns and how to train those areas without getting lost in the corrective-exercise trap. He knows most people don’t have 40 hours a week to train and he’s found a practical approach that improves function, reduces pain and immobility, and delivers real results. He’s excited to share this with the world. Today’s post sets the tone for the current flood of corrective exercise content, and in the coming weeks he’ll break down parts of the body—shoulders, the mid and lower back, and the ankles, knees, and hips—and show how to improve function in each area.
The State of Corrective Fitness: 2019
Every year brings new ideas and tactics to fitness. It’s exciting to see fresh concepts emerge, much like a city under construction—signs of growth and a healthy market. Demand for health and wellness products remains high as people seek solutions for weight, mobility, and performance. Whether the goal is weight loss, strength, athleticism, pain relief, or simply dancing like in a movie, there’s a product for them.
In fitness, the “money on the table” idea is simple: if a client can afford a program, opportunities open up and professionals compete for the chance to work with them. Personal websites and social media have made internet fame possible for many trainers—just as YouTube did for artists—creating a surge of great coaches we might not have discovered otherwise. I know this from experience.
But with opportunity comes risk. The easy access to fitness information means bad advice can spread, biased or dense coaching can steal the spotlight, and hype can push the wrong ideas.
In 2018 the spotlight was on corrective exercise. It seemed every day brought a new way to mobilize a joint, stabilize a segment, or boost breathing capacity by a barely measurable amount. Coaches from all over started promoting hours of mobility, stability, and corrective work each week. A flood of products followed—foam rollers, lacrosse balls, massage devices, mini-bands, mobility towels, and specialized assessments drawn from old-school wisdom and popular trends. The result was a kind of modern gold rush of equipment designed to drain wallets and decorate homes with unusual tools.
Let’s be clear, though: developing mobility in troublesome joints—like the shoulders, thoracic spine, hips, and ankles—is not a bad thing. Most people sit a lot and adopt poor postures that strain the spine and limit function. Improving segmental stability is also important because weak muscles and poor neural connections can make strength and posture fall apart.
There is a place for specific corrective exercises. We’re all a little imperfect. Some people have odd shoulders, others deal with low back pain. Runners may suffer from knee pain and tight fascia in the lower legs. Everyone is a bit jumbled in different ways. And yes, there are movements and therapies that can help many of these issues and move clients toward better performance.
But a trainer’s job is to move clients forward while still delivering the fitness stimulus they want. Too many coaches chase tiny points of mobility while ignoring the bigger load in the midsection. Some won’t load a client until every form cue is “perfect,” and even then they worry about future sessions and add extra unloaded workouts to “protect” the client. In practice, this can leave the client with great-looking movement on a squat with a light bar, but little actual progress.
That absolutism hurts both clients and the industry. If a client’s issues are so severe that any intensity causes problems, they should be referred to a physical therapist or other qualified medical professional. On the flip side, it’s encouraging to see many coaches take joint health, core strength, breathing, and fascial integrity seriously. That’s much better than uneducated, rigid approaches that put people at risk.
Our aim with this series is to bridge the gap that has grown in recent years. Over the next three installments, we’ll share practical methods for integrating stronger corrective strategies into the main joint segments of the body. Those segments are:
– Scapulothoracic region and glenohumeral joint (shoulder, shoulder blades, and the thoracic spine)
– Thoracic and lumbar spine and pelvis
– Ankle to knee and knee to hip
Each piece will address this question: How do we apply new information and modalities while staying true to our core function—delivering a fitness stimulus that produces real results?
As fitness professionals, our job is to give clients the results they want while also offering what they don’t know they need. It’s a balancing act, especially when some trainers chase quick cash or act as if they’re extensions of physical therapy without the right credentials. If you’re reading this on my site, you’re not part of that noise. You understand that heavy things need to move, the body needs some oil and maintenance now and again, and hard work is the only path to meaningful results. If you’re wondering who Kevin Mullins is and why he might argue that some corrective work is overemphasized, I’m not here to insult you. My goal is to move the conversation forward and help us all better serve our clients. Absolutism isn’t a good fit in politics or fitness—we should always be open to better ways of doing things, or innovation would stall.
If you’re wondering where this is headed, you’re in for three longer pieces on anatomy, physiology, and practical program design. I’ll leave you with a guiding thought I’ve shared with clients and fellow trainers: strength creates stability, stability enables mobility, and mobility helps strength be applied more quickly and accurately.
See you next time for a deeper look at the scapulothoracic region, the glenohumeral joint, and the core.
About the author
Kevin Mullins, CSCS, is a personal trainer and group exercise instructor at Equinox Sports Club in Washington, D.C. He uses a listen-first, coach-second approach to ensure his clients and programs are excellent—and not about his ego. When he isn’t training or writing, he’s likely deadlifting, bicep curling, or finding new, lighthearted ways to emphasize glute engagement. Kevin maintains his own site here.
