As a therapist and strength coach one of my most utilized tools was taken away during the times of lockdown and social isolation, my hands. I use my hands for manual therapy, exercise ques, and other parts of therapy and strength and conditioning sessions to aid in the value I bring to my clients. Deciding not to dwell on the uncontrollable, I took it upon myself to get better in the many other areas that go into these sessions that are just as important, if not more important than hands on approaches.
Communication with the individual in front of me needed to be of utmost importance as I switched to a virtual model for the time being. It always has been integral, but now more than ever due to the limitations in physical evaluation. Diving deep with empathy and understanding helped me see the entire picture of what was going on within the context of that person and I was able to see the psychosocial aspects contributing to pain signals that may not have been as clear before. Hearing someone out from start to finish can be just as therapeutic as a hands on treatment, and fully understanding the situation can allow for the best and most effective advice to be delivered even through a phone or computer screen. Bringing these improved skills out of isolation has certainly benefitted my clients even further now that they are back within an arm's reach. This experience has been a reminder that we are in the people business serving therapy and fitness, not the other way around!
During lockdown I also decided that I wanted to win each day by being productive and not falling into the trap of watching series after series on Netflix, although this did have its place as spending quality time with my significant other was also very important to me. Execution became doable with the extra time on my hands. I was able to dive deeper into concepts that I have wanted to, including things that have come up through the beginning of my career that would make me a better coach and clinician that I haven’t necessarily had time to fully explore yet. I also wanted to expand my base of knowledge beyond the human body into business related topics like marketing, economics, and finance in order to create a base of stability in my own life so that the worry of these types of things wouldn’t effect the way I interact with my clients. I learned that creating steel in the walls in a business sense would allow my most creative and effective self to flourish in the presence of my clients. All of these lessons combined to help Resilient Strength come alive and now that fitness facilities are reopening, all services are in full swing!