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Other/Mixed do you movement screen? TRX MAPS experience please click!

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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wespom9

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Anyone tried this?
Physmodo


Looking for thoughts from users, but also those also fitness pros (and specifically those who regular use movement screenings, FMS or other) who may have used.
The facility where I work is looking at getting one and just doing some due diligence on the background of it during our initial brainstorming.

My thoughts:

pros: gets people focused on movement quality. Easy to put in a corner of a gym and have people check.
cons: I question the validity of results from 3 squats on camera. With no further assessment, hard to tell what's mobility, what's motor control, where the true bottleneck is. I can't find research on it. I assume recommendations must be generic due to these limitations?

IMO my first point - makes people conscious about improving movement quality - may outweigh all the cons. It would get our members focused more on quality, engaging with staff. It would also get our staff (very few at my facility have education in movement screening) more interested in the background behind assessing qualitative movement.

@Brett Jones really curious to specifically hear your thoughts on this.
 
This looks pretty interesting but I’m a bit skeptical on how it can decipher what your weakness’s are. A good trainer should be able to watch a client perform movements and figure out where they are falling short. But who knows, maybe machines can do that better?! I do find it interesting that TRX has become so high-tech when they started out as the exact opposite: a set of straps with handles.
 
@wespom9
I have not been an active trainer since covid closed all the gyms where I had connections, so take my thoughts with that grain of salt. Also the following is my heavily biased opinion. It is also based only on the above video.

I agree more with the idea that it may help people get more in touch with their body. However....

To me, it sounds like it will be more of a "one-size-fits all" marketing and money making machine. It reminds me of the more gimicky fitness tools we see out there. It might be well-intentioned, but I think it is unnessecary at best, and maybe misleading at worst. Without more details on the device, my initial concern is that it would lead to more instances of "x is wrong, so do y to fix it," instead of looking at the client holistically.

While a camera with good AI might be able to see postural imbalances or asymmetries, I seriously question how it will be able to assess things like "activation" (assuming they mean muscle activation) by camera alone. Something like that is no substitute for someone who really has spent a lot of time learning how the parts of the body interact with each other. It also cannot, by camera alone, understand pain-avoidance behaviors or other neurological aspects of movement patterns and compensations. My obvious two cents here is that the money spent on a machine like that would be better invested in educated trainers, or in educating trainers.

To my very first point, a well-trained/educated trainer could better explain the why's and how's of movement patterns and compensations to a client, and that personal connection, in my opinion, would get the client even more in touch with their body.

A last, side note: a better technology investment, imo, would be a force plate (that shows the weight distribution in both feet) and the education required to understand and use it. Center of mass understanding and management can go a long way in addressing compensatory patterns.
 
I haven't used this system, or software, but I personally find the overhead squat a good 'self system check'.

If my OHSQ is not on point, it is informative to me on what I need to work on.

But I usually do this via feel (how is my depth, how is my torso angle, how solid do my shoulders feel).

I don't know how much a camera would be able to pick up vs what I can feel, anyway.
 
I am not in charge of the budget/purchases but I am trusted by management, so a other things like a force plate is going to be out of the question haha.

@bluejeff I agree a well education trainer is going to be better. The question in my mind is, does this nudge someone closer to training? Does this nudge our staff to know more? Does this outweigh the negatives?
 
I am not in charge of the budget/purchases but I am trusted by management, so a other things like a force plate is going to be out of the question haha.

@bluejeff I agree a well education trainer is going to be better. The question in my mind is, does this nudge someone closer to training? Does this nudge our staff to know more? Does this outweigh the negatives?

Isn't the primary purpose to generate new sales leads?
 
Isn't the primary purpose to generate new sales leads?
Maybe it's a matter of opinion or "marketing education" (of which I have next to none) but wouldn't spreading the word of well trained, communicative, and effective trainers also accomplish new sales leads?
 
@wespom9, What type of gym are we talking about ?
Will this service be paid out of pocket by members or billed to insurance ? Free, as a new member orientation ?
The TRX info. will be used to entice a member to buy personal training sessions ?
Does your facility pay or contribute to continuing education ?
 
Maybe it's a matter of opinion or "marketing education" (of which I have next to none) but wouldn't spreading the word of well trained, communicative, and effective trainers also accomplish new sales leads?

I mean -- they say right in the video it's for lead generation (0:47-48 timestamp)
 
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@wespom9 -

I have no experience with TRX Maps.

I'm not sold gamifying like this is the best move forward. In practice in can become like an electronic whip for those that are struggling, behind, or not making improvements. It increases competition, increases our desire to win (and our frustration when we lose), and incentivizes people to "opt out" of playing a game they don't feel like they can "win."

It isn't that I don't like games, but I'm not sold that gamifying things like work or fitness or school are a good idea, and without knowing more about how TRX has "gamified" it, I can't say too much.
 
@wespom9 -

I have no experience with TRX Maps.

I'm not sold gamifying like this is the best move forward. In practice in can become like an electronic whip for those that are struggling, behind, or not making improvements. It increases competition, increases our desire to win (and our frustration when we lose), and incentivizes people to "opt out" of playing a game they don't feel like they can "win."

It isn't that I don't like games, but I'm not sold that gamifying things like work or fitness or school are a good idea, and without knowing more about how TRX has "gamified" it, I can't say too much.

If I saw one in a gym, I'd definitely play with it.

And then I'd have a PT emailing me trying to sell me sessions. ;)
 
If I were a fitness business, I would be evaluating its cost vs revenue upside.

"How any more memberships / PT sessions do we have to sell to justify the investment?"

and

"Will people play with it?"

As long as it's not completely garbage in its assessments, as a business owner, I wouldn't get too hung up on whether its accurate to the nth degree.
 
If I saw one in a gym, I'd definitely play with it.

And then I'd have a PT emailing me trying to sell me sessions. ;)
You aren't general pop. Let's say your membership that partakes in personal training makes up around 5-10% of your member base. Maybe you could double that with your new gizmo ?
@wespom9 , how much is the Kiosk, if you don't mind me asking ?
 
You aren't general pop. Let's say your membership that partakes in personal training makes up around 5-10% of your member base. Maybe you could double that with your new gizmo ?

If the facility is large enough, doubling that to 10-20% sounds like a good bet vs the cost of the machine.

(I'm assuming the machine isn't six figures)
 
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