Functional Movement Screen Next Week 3


Many you have already seen the announcement on the board or on the calendar about the Functional Movement Screen in all the classes Wednesday, Dec 14. Obviously, since everyone is doing it, we probably think it is important, so hopefully this post will explain why we think it is important, what we expect to get from everyone doing the FMS and, finally, the details of the class itself.

First, why should we dedicate this much time to a screen, especially this late in the game, i.e. after all, most of the people taking the screen have already been training at MDSoF for over a year (or three)? Three classes of Fundamentals BootCamp have already done this screen; so the first thing is that we want everyone to have the same information. Next, as you may have seen, we have a tag line, “Position, Movement, Strength, Power, Prepared.” We think that if you can’t get into position, your movement, strength and power are all compromised, i.e. if you can’t hinge at the hips, you can’t squat, if you can’t squat, you can’t overhead squat, you can’t overhead squat, you can’t snatch (or at least the chances are that you won’t be able to do these exercises safely over an extended period of time). The FMS is a tool that will help objectively measure your ability to get into several key potions and perform foundational movements that are required for athleticism. In addition, the FMS will help the coaches develop their eye and allow us to communicate between each other so that we can keep our coaching consistent.

Second, one of our goals for the new year is to make goals a bigger part of the experience at MDSoF. To make goals a bigger part of the experience, we are going to have to figure out a way to make training more personalized at the class level. To a certain extent, some people have already started doing that, but I think we can do a better job. The FMS will provide a way to identify the low hanging fruit, i.e. movement issues, for everyone. The same generic warm-up will be available for everyone, however, athletes who want to take advantage of extra coaching can take the opportunity to address their movement issues by doing exercises that are customized for them in the warm-up and/or strength session. Without an objective test/re-test framework customized warm-ups/exercises would be too difficult to share between coaches.

Finally, the FMS should take about 30 minutes to perform in a group setting. You will run/row/double-under and then roll out a bit then start right into the screen. There is a fair amount of waiting, but it goes quickly and, strangely, it is pretty fun (or at least we had fun doing it as coaches). After the FMS, there will be a short re-warm-up and then a quick 15 – 20 minute workout.

If you want to find out more about the FMS you can check this page out, Gray Cook’s Book Movement, or listen to his podcast and/or ask any one of the coaches as we have all been through it as athletes and coaches at least once.


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