I had a meeting scheduled with a VP from another department - let's call her Mary. Mary and I don't work together often, and we don't really know each other much past a "hello" in the hallway. But she asked my team to do some reporting for her team, so we scheduled a meeting to discuss.
The meeting went fine - we got through the material quickly, and I was on my way out the door when she stopped me.
Mary: Hey, Melissa, can you hang back a minute? I have a question.
Me: Sure, about the reports?
Mary: Not exactly. So... I'm taking this boot camp class, and when we do squats, my knees really hurt. (At this point, Mary does this forward knee bending motion and winces like it hurts. Uh-huh.) Is there anything I can do to strengthen my knees?
Me: Okay. So, Mary, what you just did... is that how you actually squat in class?
Mary: Yep, pretty much.
Me: Okay. And when you sit down in a chair, or on a really low bench, do your knees hurt then?
Mary: Not really, no.
So at this point, I'm over the fact that one of our Vice Presidents is showing me her air squat in an open conference room, because I'm pretty sure I know exactly what the problem is. She's breaking at the knee way before she is sending her butt back, which is pushing her knees way forward. No wonder they hurt.
So I explain all of this to Mary, showing her the proper squat motion (as best as I could in 3" knee high boots), explaining the concept of a safe air squat, and asking her to duplicate the movement. She listens, and does a few, and nods her head, and says thank you. And then I go back to my office.
Today, I got an email from Mary, with a subject line of "Thank you..." I assume she's talking about the reports we sent her, but instead, it read this:
"I wanted to express my thanks again for the advise regarding squatting. We did plenty this morning at boot camp, and by leading with my bum, it really took the pressure off my knees. So much better and much more effective. Thanks again!"
I mean, you are WELCOME. This whole interaction pretty much made my week. The fact that this woman - whom I don't know very well socially or professionally - heard from someone that I was the person to ask about proper squat form is totally awesome. The fact that I'm getting requests for form corrections outside of the gym, and from people other than my clients is really exciting. And the fact that I pretty much FIXED her in under three minutes in a conference room is the very best part.
I know not all my "clients" are going to be this easy... but I'm taking this as a sign that I'm doing something right around here. Thanks, fitness universe.
Dallas and I, coaching. (At a recent gymnastics certification. We don't have any rings in my conference rooms.)
5 people drop some props (leave a comment here):
We don't have any rings in my conference rooms.
Bummer. That would really liven up your meetings.
Good stuff about the TGUs yesterday. I need to add those to my repertoire. But I think I'll start with a dumbbell - our senior engineer comes to mind.
I hadn't really lived until i had 4 lawyers doing squats in suits.
I think we should have armed goons at all gyms doing mercy killings on folks that teach evil crap. Unless they repent of course.
I'm just envisioning you corporate types doing air squats in your pantsuits. With all this time, I'm wondering if you work at AIG.
the song by Run DMC keeps popping in my head... "Mary Mary" when I read this blog. But I'm injecting my own retarded squat-like lyrics to it.
I'll keep those to myself to avoid sounding like a mamaluke.
But, that had to be a sight to see some skirted chick in heels doing an air squat and you showing her the score.
Hilarious, yet incredibly cool.
Last year, during my brief stint as a 4th grade teacher, I taught my students to do burpees. Extra recesses usually involved some kind of burpee and/or jumprope contest.
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