I mentioned this in the last one, but I’m assuming you’ll be spending some time working on your physical health at The Standard, so your coaching staff would love to know what you think is the most important thing for you to achieve in 2022. Click this survey! (it’s 3 questions, super short)

Hopefully all of you reading this have experienced how myself, Sam, and all of the trainers at The Standard are endlessly trying to improve their knowledge, communication, and skills. That endless pursuit of improvement is fully fueled by a desire to possess the tools and information necessary to get you to the next milestone in your fitness journey. I tend to talk about this a lot because it’s true; I’m convinced no team in the region wants to do a better job for every person that calls The Standard their home.

As I was learning from a podcast this week, I was introduced to a concept called “Zone of Proximal Development,” for the first time. If you’re an educator, you’re likely very familiar with this, but for me it was a fun rabbit hole to run down that ultimately related back to how we facilitate learning at the gym.

The basic idea is that a person can get themselves to a certain point, but not to a point they perceive as being next. For instance, “I can hang from a bar, but I can’t pull myself up.” That experience is frustrating and discouraging, so to bridge the gap they need an MKO (more knowledgable other). They need a friend who’s been there- someone who knows what they don’t and can provide information and an environment where new skills can be acquired. It ALSO talks about how there are stages of progression (let’s call them LEVELS) on the way to that significant new skill or knowledge. As the person goes from hanging from a bar, can they hold themselves over the bar? No? Ok, then that’s the next thing to acheive. It’s NOT a full pull-up— that is not the success measure. The success measure is the incremental improvement! Once they can hold their chin over the bar, it’s called scaffolding.. we remove the scaffolding to find the skill is standing on it’s own solidly. The MKO and the individual have build something new and there’s no longer a knowledge or a skill gap. We’re ready for the next step, a chin-over-bar slow negative… probably going to have to get that MKO to help out on this one too.

This may seem pretty “well, yeah, duh…” but it was neat to see the concepts we use daily in level method and at The Standard are rooted in sound psychology and the MKOs we have in place (more advanced athletes, friends, trainers) are powerfully equipped to help and advise our community members along the way.

The other reason I’m sharing is to gently remind you that things take time. Consistency over that time will overcome all frustrations and skill gaps. :) You can do it. I’m pumped I get to help. If you know anyone else that needs help, we’d love if you’d refer them to us. 😁