When did "exercise prescription" become a thing?
A badge of honour. A notch on the squat rack.
We've taped a medical phrase onto a bit of common sense.
You don't need a prescribing qualification to tell someone to move a bit more. For most people it simply isn't a prescription. It's a walk. A squat. Getting up from a chair without overthinking it.
But the second we call it "exercise prescription," something shifts. It becomes medical. Something you could get wrong and possibly more complicated than it needs to be. So people wait. For the plan, for the reassurance and then for permission.
And while they're waiting, bugger all changes.
Most MSK problems don't need a better programme. They need more momentum, more oomph and a sprinkle of salesmanship.
We've taken the most basic of human movements and wrapped them in layers of: sets, reps, tempo, rest, progressions, sciencey stuff. Borrowed wholesale from performance sport and handed to someone who just wants their ouchy knee to stop hurting on the stairs.
In elite sport, precision absolutely matters. Everyone else? Consistency trumps clever every time.
Our job isn't to guard movement like it's a controlled substance. It's to make it feel normal again. Simple. Clear. Repeatable.
Explain it simply. Point them in the right direction. Then get out of the way.
Overcomplicate it and they do nothing. Make it human and they might actually start.