Exercise Technique, Instruction, and Program Implementation
Technique fundamentals
Know the set-up checkpoints for the major lifts: stable base of support, neutral spine, bracing, controlled tempo, and breathing out during the concentric phase. Spotting rules matter: spot dumbbells at the wrists, never spot a maximal effort alone, and know which exercises cannot be safely spotted. Equipment adjustment, safe entry and exit, and inspection before use are all fair game. In clinical populations, technique choices are also safety choices, so no breath holding during heavy lifts in cardiac or hypertensive clients, and range of motion stays within a pain-free arc.
Instruction and motor learning
Name the stages of motor learning and the role of demonstration, cueing, and feedback. Novices benefit from external cues such as push the floor away rather than internal anatomical cues, and from a low frequency of feedback that fades as skill develops. Use whole-part-whole teaching and short, single-focus cues.
Implementation
Session structure, supervision ratios, emergency action plan rehearsal, documentation, and adherence strategies such as self-monitoring, action planning, and problem solving. Adaptive settings require wheelchair brakes locked, foot straps secured, gait belts for transfers, band anchors that cannot slip, and scheduled skin checks and hydration breaks.
Traps
Giving novices internal anatomical cues that overload attention. Letting a cardiac client hold his breath through a heavy set. Assuming a returning client's machine settings are already correct. Spending group time on set-up with no plan for transitions. Delivering corrective feedback more often than positive feedback.
Rule of thumb
Teach, then cue: demonstrate once at normal speed, break the movement into two or three checkpoints, let the client perform five to eight repetitions while you give one cue at a time, and add load only after two extra repetitions are completed with unchanged form.
Worked example
Teaching a seated cable row: set the chest pad, feet planted, neutral spine, exhale as the handle is pulled to the lower ribs, two-count return. Regression is a band row; progression is load, not speed.