We all have those occupational party questions.
You know the ones – when someone finds out what you do for work and immediately asks a work-related question?
As a physio, mine is usually some version of:
“Ooh, my shoulder’s been really sore. Any ideas?”
But because I talk so much about strength training and exercise now, I also get asked for programs.
I was treating a client last week who said:
“Could you write a strength program my mum can do at home?
She wants to feel stronger but doesn’t know where to start.”
Firstly – what a beautiful daughter ❤️
Her mum walks a bit.
She sees a massage therapist when she’s tight
She occasionally goes to the physio when something flares up and she wants to get out of pain
She’d shown some interest in exercising at home.
And her thoughtful daughter was trying to do something kind –
get her a program written by a physio to build strength safely.
But I said no 😬
Here’s why (and how I explained it to her).
A program is not the same as a plan.
When someone comes to me for a tailored program, of course I base my exercise choices on:
their history
their pain or injuries
their goals
their physical assessment
But do you know what we also do?
We make a plan.
And the plan is more than the what.
It’s the how.
How is this person going to make it work in their real life?
Is this 10 minutes a day – or longer sessions three times a week?
Morning or evening?
Gym or home?
How are they going to make sure it actually happens?
👉🏻 Habit stacking
👉🏻 Environmental design
👉🏻 Temptation bundling
How will they know if it’s working?
And what will they do when their routine gets disrupted?
(Because it definitely will.)
That’s the plan.
Getting a program – whether you:
ask a physio or trainer
get one off ChatGPT
copy what someone else is doing
—>that’s the easy part.
But building a system so you actually get results from it?
That’s the real work.
And it’s the part most people skip.
I won’t write a program for someone if we haven’t worked out the how together too.
Not because I’m worried about wasting my time.
But because I know what happens next.
They don’t do the program and they blame themselves:
“I’m lazy.”
“I’m unmotivated.”
“I failed again.”
Or they blame the program:
“It’s not hard enough.”
“It’s too hard.”
“It’s not interesting.”
“I can’t do it in this environment.”
When the truth is –
they never had a plan.
So I want to ask you two things:
1️⃣ Could the reason your current program isn’t working be that you don’t have a plan?