Here’s the plan. Kevin Mullins, a friend and fellow trainer who wrote Day By Day: The Personal Trainer’s Blueprint to Achieving Ultimate Success, reached out with an idea. He asked if he could write a series for this site that breaks the body down by joints and shows practical ways to train each area without getting bogged down in endless corrective theory. Kevin knows most people don’t have 40 hours a week to train, and he’s found a simple approach that improves function, reduces pain and stiffness, and delivers real results. He’s eager to share it with the world. This post kicks things off by looking at the flood of corrective exercise options, and in the coming weeks he’ll cover different body parts—shoulders, the mid and lower back, and the ankles through the hips—and show how to improve function in each area. Sound good? Great.
The State of Corrective Fitness: 2019
Each year brings new fitness ideas and tactics. It’s like a city under construction—signs of growth and progress. Demand in health and wellness is high as people seek solutions to lose weight, gain strength, move better, relieve pain, or simply recapture a familiar move. With money on the line, competition heats up, and the same is true in fitness. The internet has made fitness fame possible for anyone with a camera and a message, helping many great coaches reach people they wouldn’t have reached otherwise. I’m among those who’ve benefited from this rise in online visibility.
But with opportunity comes risk. Bad information can spread, and biased or overly dense coaches can rise to the top. In 2018 the spotlight fell on corrective exercise. It seemed every day brought a new method to mobilize a joint, stabilize a segment, or improve breathing by a tiny amount. Therapists and coaches debated how many hours to spend on mobility and corrective work each week. A flood of products followed—foam rollers, lacrosse balls, Theraguns, mini-bands, mobility towels, and fancy assessments inspired by old-school wisdom.
A note from me: this piece isn’t about entertainment value; it’s about moving the conversation forward. Corrective exercise has exploded in popularity, and with that comes a modern rush to buy gear that promises big results.
Let’s be clear, though:
Developing mobility in joints like the shoulders, upper back, hips, and ankles is never a bad thing. Most people spend long hours sitting with poor posture, which stresses the spine, weakens the body, and creates long-term health risks. Nearly everyone can benefit from better mobility.
Improving segmental stability matters too. Many people struggle to hold tension in their core, mid-back, hips, and legs, which makes movement weaker and strength harder to apply.
There is a place for targeted corrective moves, but we’re all a little imperfect. Some people have wonky shoulders, others have low back pain. Runners may have knee trouble, and fascia in the shins and ankles can tighten up. There are movements and therapies that can help all of these people move closer to their best performance.
But a trainer’s job is to progress the client’s fitness while also addressing their issues. Too many coaches chase tiny mobility gains while ignoring the extra weight clients carry. Others won’t load a movement at all until form is “perfect,” and then they wonder if the client can repeat it in future sessions, insisting on more prep work with an empty bar. The result can be a clear, well-presented movement that doesn’t translate into real, meaningful work.
That kind of absolutism isn’t good for clients or the industry. If a client can’t tolerate any intensity without pain or risk, they should be referred to a physical therapist or another medical professional. On the other hand, it’s fantastic to see coaches take joint health, core strength, breathing, and fascia seriously. It’s far better than watching someone push intensity irresponsibly, hoping for results. No one should put a client at risk session after session.
Still, a trainer who spends most of a session on gadgets and “correctives” without delivering real results isn’t serving the client. People pay for outcomes and for growth they didn’t know they needed, and our job is to provide that. Our role isn’t to cram our own obsessions into every plan while ignoring the client’s goals and needs.
A great fitness professional knows that techniques like self-myofascial release and low-intensity correctives are just small pieces of a much larger puzzle they must solve. This series aims to bridge the gap that’s formed in recent years. Over the next three installments you’ll see specific methods for integrating new corrective strategies into the major joint segments of the body.
Segments:
– Scapulothoracic region and glenohumeral joint (shoulder/shoulder blades and thoracic spine)
– T-spine, L-spine, and pelvis
– Ankle to knee and knee to hip
Each section will ask the same question: How can we apply all the new information and modalities while still delivering the fitness stimulus that creates results?
Our job as fitness professionals is to deliver the results our clients want while also giving them what they don’t know they need. It’s a balancing act, especially in a market where some trainers chase money or pretend to be physical therapists when they aren’t qualified.
If you’re reading this, you’re not part of the noise. You know that heavy things need to move, the body needs some maintenance, and hard work is the path to real results. If you’re here, you’re looking to improve your methods, refine your practice, and deliver better results for your clients.
If you disagree with Kevin Mullins’ stance on corrective exercises, that’s okay. My goal here is to move the conversation forward and show that there’s always a better way. This piece is the setup for three deep dives into anatomy, physiology, and practical program design.
Remember this: strength builds stability, stability enables mobility, and mobility makes it easier to apply strength with speed and accuracy.
See you next time for a deeper look at the scapulothoracic region, the glenohumeral joint, and the core.
