A good personal training assessment is about five minutes of simple movements: a single-leg stand, a bodyweight squat, arms overhead, a toe touch, a back bend and a single-leg bridge. It shows how your joints line up and where you compensate. It isn’t a diagnosis. It’s data, and it decides what your first program includes and leaves out.
Lewis came in for his first program. I’ve been getting people strong and injury-free for over 20 years, and this is how I want every program to start: watching someone move before writing a single set. Here’s what five minutes with Lewis told us, and how it changed his plan.
What is a trainer actually looking at?
Circles and lines. That’s it. When I watch someone move, I don’t see a person. I see a circle at the ankle, a circle at the knee, a circle at the hip, and the lines running between them. Train your eye to see that and the body starts telling you things.
Lewis stood on one leg first. His hips were crooked, with a diagonal running through his body where he was shifting across. His knee rotated in, which told me he wasn’t stabilising from his glute. His feet were working very hard. He’s got magnificent feet, you can see the space in them and he really grips the ground, which is great. But look higher and his shoulders sat on a slant. He was compensating somewhere.
On the other leg the same pattern showed up, just less of it. None of that is a diagnosis. It’s information, and it’s already shaping what his program will and won’t include.
Why does your goal change the assessment?
Because the answer changes the program. So before I go any further, I ask. Lewis wanted to get leaner, then maybe build some size. Mostly aesthetics. He used to have a bench press goal, but he’d dropped it because he didn’t think it was possible.
I’d put that goal straight back on the table. If bench press is the goal, I’d prioritise it, and the first thing I’d do in our session is watch him actually bench, so we define our terms before we chase a number. An assessment that ignores your goal is just a list of faults. One that starts with your goal becomes a plan.
Is a movement assessment a diagnosis?
No. It’s data collection. It works a bit like ChatGPT: I’m collecting information and context, then using it to build the program. As I watch, I’m flagging things in my head, not handing out labels.
That distinction matters. If something in the screen points to an injury that needs treating, that’s a job for a physio or a doctor. My job is to make sure the program fits the person in front of me instead of a template.
What did the squat, overhead and toe touch show?
In the bodyweight squat, his abs were an issue, and the first thing I flagged was thoracic extension: the ability to lift and open the upper back. He bends forward well. He isn’t strong coming back up into extension. That means upper back work.
Then arms overhead with a stick. He didn’t lock his elbows out. That’s never a coincidence, so I asked about injuries. Nothing recent, he said. Then: “Oh, I used to have a problem with my elbows.” A recurring soreness he’d written off as nothing. He didn’t have the range, and now we knew why.
Then the toe touch. It isn’t a flexibility test. It’s a test of how well you use your hips, and Lewis didn’t use his. So when we move to deadlifts, he starts with a trap bar deadlift to build the hinge.
Not everything was a problem. His back bend was phenomenal. A++. A good assessment tells you what’s working as clearly as what isn’t.
What did the single-leg bridge reveal?
The last test is on the floor. Bridge up as high as you can, take one leg off, hold, then switch. The difference between Lewis’s left and right sides was significant, and he felt it in his lower back.
Then the missing piece: he’d rolled his ankle two weeks earlier, and it was still a little sore. Your knee is a reflection of what’s happening below and above it. So the question becomes whether the hip is genuinely weak, or whether the sore ankle is sending pain signals back to the brain, and the brain is shutting off force on that side. My suspicion is the ankle. Two weeks in, it’s too early to call.
Should he squat? Not yet.
I’m not putting Lewis under a barbell to squat. With a hip shift that big from left to right, he’d be shifting way too much under the bar. He needs single-leg work first. If I did introduce squats, he’d wear a band around his knees to switch his glutes on. If the glutes are the problem, that solves it. If it’s the ankle, the problem is the pain signal, not the glute.
His first program is simple: two upper body days, two lower body days and one arm day, built around his bench goal, a trap bar hinge, upper back work and single-leg training. Nothing fancy. Just the right things, in the right order, for the body that walked in.
What should you expect at your first assessment?
You should move before you’re given a program, not just fill in a form. Expect to be asked about your goal and every old injury, including the ones you’ve written off. Expect the trainer to explain what they saw and how it changes your plan. If someone hands you a program without watching you move, it’s a template, and you’re paying for guesswork.
I’ve written more on why screening and programming belong together, and why your body works as an ecosystem, not a set of parts.
Before your first session anywhere, write down every injury you’ve ever had, even the ones you think don’t matter. Lewis’s elbow, the one he called “not a big injury”, explained exactly what I saw overhead. If you’re in Melbourne and want yours done properly, book a consultation at our Abbotsford studio.
Frequently asked questions
What happens in a personal training assessment?
You’ll do a handful of simple movements, such as a single-leg stand, a squat, arms overhead, a toe touch and a single-leg bridge, while the trainer watches how your joints line up. You’ll also be asked about your goal and your injury history. The result shapes what your first program includes and leaves out.
How long does a movement assessment take?
The movement screen itself takes about five minutes. Around it sits a conversation about your goal and your injury history, which matters just as much, because the answers change what the screen means.
Is a movement screen a diagnosis?
No. It’s data collection that a trainer uses to build a program for your body instead of a template. If something points to an injury that needs treatment, that’s a job for a physio or a doctor.
Why do trainers ask you to touch your toes?
Not to test flexibility. The toe touch shows how well you use your hips. If you don’t hinge from the hips, I’d build the hinge first with a trap bar deadlift before loading a barbell.
Should everyone squat in their first program?
No. If your hips shift noticeably from left to right, squatting under a barbell just loads the shift. Single-leg work comes first, and if squats come in early, a band around the knees helps switch the glutes on.
What should I tell a trainer before an assessment?
Your goal, and every injury you’ve had, including the ones you’ve written off. Lewis told me his old elbow soreness was nothing, and it explained why he couldn’t lock his arms out overhead.
