Adaptation by Daniel Pare, strength coach
When a new client starts doing the squat or the deadlift, I leave them to get into position on their own. I used to guide them with positioning, but I do not anymore. Why am I doing that?
The way there are going to get into a position will tell me what needs to be addressed and this process never fails. They will show tightness, a lack of awareness, a tough time positioning themselves… all of those are what I need to pay close attention to. If, for any reason I do not, it is not going to go too well.
If I take the squat, for the most part, people will be positioned themselves with one foot forward. If you squat with an uneven base you will end up with an uneven movement. So, every single rep you do you are forcing yourself to adjust to a bad technique. Not good. It takes a lot of practice to correct that.
For the deadlift people are rarely using their legs and they turn it into a stiff leg deadlift. They are 2 different exercises. When doing the deadlift, you must push straight up first then pull. If your hamstrings are not strong enough then you will be leaning forward.
The 2 exercises I just briefly described are some of the main exercises I use when I train older people. Why? We squat and we deadlift regularly. We do them all day long and do them poorly, so when you learn how to do them properly your whole body feels a lot better and stronger, just because you are correcting bad mechanics.
ActivelyFitSeniors 