Screening and programming is an equation.
Your screening is the assessment — it’s where you find the deficiency. Your programming is the solution to that deficiency. You can’t solve a problem you haven’t identified. And you can’t write a real program until you understand what’s actually going on inside that person’s body.
This is where most trainers fall apart. They screen a client, file it away, and then write a completely separate program. The screening goes in the cabinet. The program goes on the whiteboard. And the two never speak to each other.
That’s not coaching. That’s admin with a clipboard.
Everything in physiology relies on the theory of constraints. Where is the constraint in the body? Identify it. Unlock it. Get it stronger. Then the whole system can ascend to the next level. That’s the job. And if you skip the screening — or do it but ignore what it tells you — you’re just guessing.
Challenge Tests, Not Passive Tests
There are two types of tests. Passive tests and challenge tests. And most trainers waste their time with passive ones.
A passive test is something like getting a client into a lunge and driving their knee forward to check ankle range. There’s no challenge there. You’re just measuring where they are at rest. The problem? You have to do a lot of passive tests to find out anything meaningful — and even then, you still don’t know what happens when the rubber hits the road.
Challenge tests are different. A challenge test is where I push you and watch what breaks down. That’s where the real information lives.
The bodyweight squat is a challenge test. The overhead squat is a challenge test. When I load someone’s system — even just with their own bodyweight in a compromised position — I get to see what switches off, what compensates, and what falls apart. That’s the information I need to write a program. Not where your ankle passively sits in a lunge.
The Tests Tell a Story
I run five tests with every new client. I call them the Enterprise Five — bodyweight squat, overhead squat, toe touch, Klatt test, back bend. Simple movements. No equipment. Under ten minutes.
But here’s what matters: all the tests should tell me a consistent story.
If a client’s abs don’t switch on during the bodyweight squat, I expect to see the same thing on the overhead squat. If suddenly their abs are perfect on the second test, that’s inconsistent — and I need to dig deeper to figure out what’s actually going on.
When the story is consistent, I know exactly what programming needs to attack, and that drives everything.
Take this example. A client squats and I see the abs disengage — the pelvis tucks under, there’s a butt wink at the bottom. Then I run the Klatt test — single-leg balance — and the knee rotates inward on one side. So I put them on the floor and test the glutes directly. Sure enough, one glute is weak.
Now I’ve got a consistent story: weak core, weak glute — particularly on one side. That’s not three separate problems. That’s one picture. And that picture tells me exactly what goes into the program — unilateral work, core activation, glute work — and what stays out until those constraints are unlocked.
Identify the constraint. Program the solution. That’s the equation.
The Overhead Squat — It Doesn’t Need to Be Perfect
If you gave me one test to screen everything, it’s the overhead squat.
To a trained eye, the overhead squat tells you about 80% of what you need to know in a single movement. Abs, lower back, upper back, shoulders, hips — it’s all exposed.
But there’s a trick to it. Most people do this test with a wide grip. Wide is easy. Wide lets people cheat into the range of motion because nothing is being challenged.
Bring the hands in to biacromial width — shoulder width — and now you see things. The lordosis shows up. The upper back rounds forward. The elbows bend. The stick drifts in front of the ears instead of sitting behind them.
That stick should be directly over the ear in a plumb line. When it’s not, that’s information. When the client has to arch their lower back to get the stick overhead, that’s information. When the elbows can’t fully extend, that’s information.
And I haven’t even asked them to squat yet. I’m already dissecting — what are the abs doing? What’s the lower back doing? Where are the shoulders? Where are the biceps relative to the ears?
Then they squat, and the story gets even clearer.
‘Tight’ Is a Misnomer
Here’s something most trainers — and most clients — get wrong.
When something doesn’t move well, the default assumption is “it’s tight.” It’s not tight. It’s weak.
Your body is an ecosystem. Every muscle exists in relation to every other muscle. If someone has a strong chest and a weak upper back, the chest isn’t “tight” — it’s dominant. The upper back isn’t “restricted” — it’s underpowered in relation to its opposing muscles.
The solution isn’t to stretch the chest into submission. The solution is to build the upper back until the ecosystem balances out. More chin-ups. More rows. More external rotation work. More of everything to develop proportioned strength ratios.
It’s like a business that’s great at sales but terrible at marketing. You don’t need less sales. You need more leads. Same ecosystem, different constraint.
Red Flag Clients
Not every finding is equal. Some things are weaknesses you can train around. Some things are red flags that change the entire program.
Here’s what a red flag looks like. A client does the back bend test and has almost no extension — lumbar or thoracic. Then on the toe touch, they round through their lower back to get there instead of hinging from the hips.
That combination is a recipe for lower back injury. They have no mobility in their lower back, and they also rely on their lower back for every movement. Inflexible and dependent on the same structure.
That client gets told directly: you’re a red flag for lower back injury, and here’s why. No deadlifts. No barbell on the back. No standing overhead pressing. Not yet. We do a pre-hab phase first — we teach them to use their hips instead of rounding through the lumbar every time they bend.
Some clients hear that and say, “Yeah, my last trainer always had me sore and injured.” Of course they did. Because nobody identified the constraint. They just loaded it.
Exercise Selection Isn’t About ‘Good Exercises’
Squats are good. Deadlifts are good. Overhead press is good. So everyone gets squats, deadlifts and overhead press.
That’s lazy thinking.
I can’t write you a program until I understand what your deficiencies are. I can only write you a general program — bench press and chin-ups, sure, generally that’s a great workout. But it may or may not be appropriate for you depending on what the screening told me.
Exercise selection is about picking the right exercise for this person based on what their body just told you. A front squat isn’t better than a back squat. But for a client who has butt winks at the bottom of the squat, the front squat forces them to engage their trunk and make them work — because they physically can’t cheat the movement.
The exercise does the coaching for you.
That’s the standard. When you don’t have to cue “brace harder” or “sit up tall” because the movement demands it — you’ve made the right choice.
The Standard
Stop divorcing your screening from your programming. They’re the same conversation.
Screening is the deficiency. Programming is the solution. If you can’t point to a specific finding from your assessment that justifies every exercise in your program — you’re not coaching. You’re just making people tired.
Every exercise earns its place or it gets cut. Every set has a purpose. Every rep connects back to what you saw when you watched that person move.
That’s the standard. And if you’re not holding yourself to it, your clients deserve someone who will.
If you want to train with a team that actually coaches this way — where every exercise in your program traces back to what we found in your screening — get in touch with Enterprise Fitness.
