The Show Up Fitness Podcast
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This podcast focuses on refining trade, business, and people skills to help trainers excel in the fitness industry. Discover effective client programming, revenue generation, medical professional networking, and elite assessment strategies.
Learn how to become a successful Show Up Fitness CPT at www.showupfitness.com. Send your questions to Chris on Instagram @showupfitness or via email at info@showupfitness.com."
The Show Up Fitness Podcast
Functional Neurological Disorder | How to design a fitness program
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Qualifying yourself as a professional personal trainer means going beyond basic certifications when working with clients who have complex conditions like Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). This episode breaks down exactly how to establish yourself as a trusted fitness professional within the medical community while designing effective programs for clients with neurological challenges.
When working with clients who have medical conditions, your first move should always be reaching out directly to their healthcare providers. We walk you through exactly how to approach doctors and therapists, what to say, and how to present yourself as a qualified professional who stands apart from the Instagram fitness crowd. This simple step not only improves your programming but positions you for valuable referral relationships.
For the long-distance runner with FND who experiences symptoms while descending stairs, we detail a comprehensive programming approach focusing on unilateral strength, frontal plane stability, and neurological control. You'll learn specific exercise selections—from explosive step-downs to airplane poses—that directly address the functional limitations while building overall performance. Most importantly, we explain why consistent progression of these movements creates better results than constantly changing exercises.
The difference between average trainers and elite coaches isn't just exercise selection—it's creating comprehensive systems and networks. By learning to work collaboratively with medical professionals and focusing on evidence-based programming rather than entertainment, you'll not only help clients overcome conditions like FND, but you'll establish yourself as an indispensable part of their healthcare team. Ready to elevate your professional status and help clients who truly need your expertise?
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NASM study guide: ...
I would actually reach out to the doctors before I went through this with her, because how cool would that be if you maybe did a FaceTime with the doc or the therapist? That client's going to be like, wow, you did your research. This is awesome. You really are different than what I was expecting.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry. One qualified trainer at a time with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitnesscom. Also, make sure to check out my book how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Howdy y'all. Welcome back to the Show Fitness Podcast.
Speaker 1:Today we're going to help you design a program for a client with functional neurological disorder, also referred to as FND. She's been cleared for activity, long-distance runner with some experience lifting weights going to the gym. Her disorder comes and goes, but most of the time happens walking down the stairs. She gets this vertical like symptoms shaky in her legs. How would you design a program? We will be doing a lot more of these when you post these questions in the Qualified Personal Trainers Community Facebook group, helping you level up your game when it comes to programming. So this is an opportunity to reach out to her doctor. Even though she's been cleared, let the medical professional know you are a professional.
Speaker 1:Hello, dr Wayne, I wanted to reach out, introduce myself. I'm a qualified personal trainer and we have a mutual client. I would like to see if there's any contraindications with the programming that I'm implementing for her. When could I stop by, bring some snacks for your team, introduce myself and learn more about this situation? I would also reach out to a physical therapist who specializes in vertigo and or balance issues, such as vestibular system expertise so neurological-based credentials there and then take that as an opportunity again to establish yourself as a qualified personal trainer. When I go in there and meet them, I'm dressed apart, I have a great handshake, I smile. I let them know quickly what the industry is like.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you've come across a lot of bad trainers. Trainers are hurting people right and left. I'm sure you're aware that they take a simple certification NASM, ace, issa. It's a textbook and they go out there and they have no idea what they're doing. So I just wanted to first off apologize if you've ever experienced a negative situation with the trainer and establish myself as a professional when it comes to movement the course that I went through hands on they're really big into anatomy. We got to know the rotator cuff muscle, all stuff that you probably forgot when you went to med school, but I could tell you the sits muscles, the supraspinatus, the infraspinatus, teres minor subscapularis.
Speaker 1:I actually say that and it's a pitch, to let that person know you are not a sleazebag because trainers have that rep online. We're posting photos of TNA on social media. We are vacuous. That means there's nothing inside. So you need to let this person know that you are competent. And when you show up to their facility, their medical office, once you reached out, you are literally isolating yourself from all the trainers out there because they don't do this, because they're not competent, but you are.
Speaker 1:Why would you talk shit about other trainers? I'm not talking shit about trainers, I'm talking shit about the industry. And now this medical professional knows that there are competent professionals out there. Doc, you're in great shape. You flirt with them. Flirting is a fun process, not in a weird creepy way, but let them feel confident in your capabilities. Doc, you're in great shape, I'm sure you have a trainer. Actually, I don't. Well, I'm located right here. I want you to come in for a workout. Normally my rates are 200 bucks. I'm going to comp it just because you're an awesome dude, or, if it's a female, you seem like a great medical professional to network with, and I want people to know that there are qualified trainers out there. So I'm going to comp a week of training. Normally that'd be a thousand bucks. Whatever your rates are, let them know that you are the best in the area.
Speaker 1:So what you're going to find when you do some research about FND, it's like fibromalacia, which is a condition that people will get because the docs don't know what's really going on. There may be some seizures associated with FND. So that's why you really have to do that medical clearance to see if the client experiences those. How would you respond to a client having a seizure? Are there things that I could do that could potentially produce seizure-like symptoms? I don't want that, obviously.
Speaker 1:So once you learn more about the symptoms from this person the workout that you're going to do we need to go through the needs analysis because it is an athlete. We got to make sure that we are getting stronger unilaterally, we have the stability. When we decelerate downstairs, we don't have the strength and stability. Balance can get off, and that's exactly what she's experiencing. So the program is going to be more unilateral based, but it's full body. So during your assessment you're going to learn things that she can and cannot do. You got the green light. You have the doc on your back pocket. I would actually reach out to the doctors before I went through this with her, because how cool would that be if you maybe did a FaceTime with the doc or the therapist. That client's going to be like wow, you did your research. This is awesome. You really are different than what I was expecting.
Speaker 1:The needs analysis from NSCA is going to go over the bioenergetics from their sport. So long duration is going to be more oxidative, using fat as a fuel source. Long duration, low intensity always looking at duration and intensity when it comes to bioenergetics. So now I know with the programming I'm probably going to be doing higher reps, 10 plus, because that's specific to her sport. What are the muscles involved? What are the actions? Plane of motion? Running is very sagittal, so there's going to be vulnerability in the frontal plane. It's unilateral in the gait cycle, so we're going right to left, but we shouldn't be necessarily implementing a lot of bilateral exercises because it's not specific to the sport. Nothing wrong with doing goblets or something like that, leg presses, leg extension, leg curls but I would focus more on unilateral and frontal plane would be great because as you're walking downstairs you have to have that stability and that's where the injury part of NSCA needs analysis comes in.
Speaker 1:You got to look at common injuries that would take place in her sport. You're going to see vulnerability at the knee and the ankle. So screen to see if we have at least 15 degrees of range of motion with dorsiflexion. That's where you can do the knee to the wall test that we incorporate the soft tissue mobilization techniques. Get to a weekend seminar. We're going to be in Sacramento this weekend that's going to be the 25th and 26th, roseville and then we're going to be in Colorado. We're going to be in Florida. Those are next on the list. I'll have exact dates next week. But we screen the ankle to see maybe if the knee is a little wonky because you don't have that requisite range of motion at the ankle. So I would also look at the QL because that is a common muscle to get affected from running, which is going to be mid back under your ribs. Coming off the lumbar spine, looks like a quadrilateral, hence QL, quadratus lumborum. That muscle typically will get irritated when you're doing a ton of repetitions. For running a mile that's about 1,500 reps, so it's a tissue capacity issue that happens at the ankle, the knee, the hip and the low back. So we got to strengthen it.
Speaker 1:So my programming, after I've learned more about the acute symptoms that she may be experiencing, would do your 10 checkpoints of human movement ankle, knee, hip, lumbar, thoracic, cervical, shoulder, elbow, wrist, some breathing drills and the first CCA. Because she's been exercising regularly. I would like to start with an explosive step down. So you put a band and you can check this out on Instagram, because I posted it on there Put a band and you're going to step down. The first couple reps show how to do it, let her get comfortable, for the first set probably, and then the second and third round.
Speaker 1:I would work more on that high velocity. It's like you're stepping on an alligator's head, as I like to say. You're going down fast and explosive and then we're going to go into a push. So if you wanted to do a bench press or a push up, something along those lines, a horizontal push, and then into an accessory that's going to complement her sport, which is running. So for the accessory here I'd probably do some type of prehab rehab. So let's do some single leg calf raises. I would do that for three rounds In the second CCA.
Speaker 1:I would start with some lateral bounds that's going to be working on some plyometrics, but also stabilizing in the frontal plane. Go into a reverse lunge. I would definitely load that up because when you have a dumbbell or kettlebell you're going to also be targeting her QL because you have to stabilize from bending over. And then let's do another prehab rehab. So I love doing airplanes, where it's going to be putting your knee into a pad that's unstable you can do a BOSU ball if you'd like, or Eric's pad I'm not joking, yes, that's a great variation and then you put your arms out and you balance. So it's great for targeting the hip and the muscles that cross the knee, which would be your gracilis, your TFL and your sartorius. But since you bend the knee, you're taking them away and they're going to be focusing just on the frontal plane stability at the hip.
Speaker 1:So a lot of adductor stabilization. Your glute max, your glute med awesome exercise. I would do that for three rounds. And then the last circuit. Let's do a hinge, now unilateral. You can put your foot on a bench or something and get more range of motion. We've done a push. Let's compliment a pull. Now let's do some type of Aussie row or some type of TRX row, put your leg out, which will stabilize the core and trunk. And then I would do some type of side plank with your feet staggered, because that's again going to really target the QL. If you have some time left over, let's isolate the quads, the hammies, the adductors, strengthen up around the knee, maybe some reverse Nordics. Maybe you want to do some Nordics, some leg extensions.
Speaker 1:I did a podcast with Dr Mike from the Prehab Guys and he talks about the importance of quad health and gastrocnemius health when it comes to rehabbing for ACL. Obviously this isn't an ACL, but let's strengthen that area for this runner and let's just throw a curveball in there. Maybe you're training at Equinox and that first circuit where you're going to do the step down into the press variation or push variation into the single leg calf. Well, now you can't do the bench press. So what are you going to decide to do in your environment.
Speaker 1:And that's the beauty of the CCA is it gets you to think critically, but it's a plug and play. So a push and a press, the difference is more pec emphasis, or your chest, and the press is going to be more shoulder emphasis. So you could just do a press variation, such as a landmine press, and you do it on the ground because that's going to be more specific to training the legs as well. And so, instead of doing the single leg calf raises, maybe you want to do some anti-rotations with the landmine. The ability to think critically but also maneuver effectively while you're training is super important because it can come off as you're not confident. So it's great, as a new trainer, to write out a full program, have that day workout done, do the rest of the week and then start looking at the whole month. That's an exercise that's going to make you really, really prepared for those curve balls that do happen. Instead of just doing quiz questions for your NASM test or whatever it is, which isn't specific to training, individuals, get better at programming.
Speaker 1:So for that second workout when she comes in, instead of doing explosive step downs first in the CCA, I'm going to bring up the reverse lunges and put that first. And then I do the landmine press again, but this time I'll do it on the ground or I'll do it standing up just a small tweak from what I did the prior time. And then I'm going to add in more single leg calf raises. So if they weren't that sore, maybe you'll do a set of 25. And then for the second circuit, instead of doing a single leg bridge or hip thrust, I'll do a bilateral one. That's okay to do. Even though her sport is more unilateral, we can load up more bilaterally. So you're just going to get more force on her glutes. And then we're going to do more pulling. So the last time we did some Aussie rows. We're going to do the same thing, but maybe there's some trainer engagement. And then we do the side planks. And then for that last circuit we come back to the unilateral step down variation, but now we're just going to do a step up.
Speaker 1:So from that first workout to the second one, we use a lot of the same exercises. That's a huge mistake. I see trainers doing is workout one, two, three, four, five, six are 100% different, and that's exactly why your clients don't get results. You need to overload that pattern that you decided to implement, that exercise that you felt was important for their goals. If you just throw in new exercises every single time, they're not going to get results. Overload within the programming is the single most important part. And we're not doing that. And I get and I think trainers do this because we're thinking they want to be entertained, they want new. But you have to take that step back and realize your clients want results for her. She wants to perform better with her long distance running. She wants to get those symptoms to go away from her functional neurological disorder. And when you implement repetition they're going to get the results.
Speaker 1:I would offer to go running with her. Normally I would charge my hourly rate for this. In your head you're thinking I don't have a lot of clients, I'm just going to train her as much as possible, but there needs to be compensation for that. There's a little asterisk though. So I will run with you and we're going to get better at running. We'll do some fart licks, which is actually a term F-A-R-T-L-E-K. That's a style of conditioning for long distance. But what you need to do is bring a friend, a family member, a coworker, someone else from your run club and I will do it for free. So now they're bringing you opportunities to show your value and get more clients. So maybe you're training her one time with weights. You're doing one run. Ideally you're training her three times and then you go for a run a couple of times and every time you do it's an opportunity to get and help more clients.
Speaker 1:Wayne, who asked this question in the Facebook group he may not be thinking that I'm going to be a running trainer, but the opportunity presented itself and now you are. You have a doctor on your team, you have a physical therapist, you are building your team, so your confidence is going to skyrocket. If you want to get the full week workout for a client who has functional neurological disorder, email us info at showupfitnesscom. I will send you what that week program looks like so you can implement it. Three workouts, full body, exactly like we talked about here. I just gave you two, but I'll finish it off and I'll send that out to you.
Speaker 1:Please comment into the Facebook group hypothetical clients or real clients, conditions that they have, injuries, whatever it may be. We're going to help you program. We're going to help you level up to become a qualified trainer. Get to a seminar. Get your show up in a CPT certified for life. Get your soft tissue certification that's going to level you up with the networking opportunities with physical therapists, assessments and programming and screening. And get your certification with nutrition that's going to allow for you to work with qualified registered dietitians. Level up your game as a coach, but also build those streams of revenue. Have a great day and keep showing up.