This is the last installment of what I learned at the IDEA / ACSM Health & Fitness Summit in Denver. The last session that I took was about making modifications in exercises to avoid pain for clients and class participants with joint or muscle issues. Since I deal exclusively with older adults, almost all of my clients have at some time or other needed modifications to the exercises we do so I was looking forward to brushing up on my skills and knowledge.

There are lots of exercises. There are also lots of muscles and joints. There is rarely one single exercise that will benefit a certain part of the body. For instance, the triceps can be worked in a number of ways: bench triceps extensions, overhead triceps extensions, cable push-downs, triceps dips, push-ups, triceps kickbacks, etc. If doing one of them causes pain, that does not necessarily mean that it is impossible to train the triceps; on the contrary, there are almost always other forms of the exercise that do not create discomfort. Additionally, there are ways to adjust the amount of weight, the speed of the exercise, or the number of sets to achieve the same goal without pain.

I have to be honest that I out of the four courses I took, this was the one that I found least helpful to me. There was more technical jargon than necessary (presenters do not need to call it the glenohumeral joint; among professionals there is no need to show off–just call it the shoulder) and, frankly, my work over the past 7 years has required me to come up with all kinds of adjustments to the exercises we do one-on-one and in a group setting. One of the things I enjoy the most in my on-line group fitness class is seeing the variations of movement on the screen among the participants based on their abilities; they have learned how to achieve the same goal in a different way. It is a win-win.

Even so, I did pick up a few new “tricks.” I also think it is important for trainers who do not necessarily work with special populations to understand that not everyone comes to a personal trainer to become an elite athlete. Many are looking to maintain strength, agility, balance, and independence; the path for older adults and those with disabilities looks very different from the one followed by a 19-year-old basketball player.

The human body is a wonder. We all have certain assets and liabilities in our physical fitness. It is reassuring to know that in almost any condition there are ways to build better fitness. We just need to be flexible and recalculate how to keep it pain-free.