Why every program starts with an assessment
Mckenzie
Most training plans fail for a boring reason. They were written for somebody else.
That’s not a knock on the people who write them. A program published online has to assume an average body with average history and average availability, and almost nobody is average in all three at once. The plan isn’t wrong so much as it isn’t yours.
What the first hour is for
Before anything is loaded, I want to know three things: what you want, what you’ve done before, and how you actually move.
The first two come from a conversation. The third comes from watching: squat, hinge, press, pull, carry, and whatever else is relevant to what you’re asking for. That tells me where to start, what needs attention early, and which things can wait.
Starting where you are
The useful part of an assessment isn’t a diagnosis. It’s a starting point that reflects reality, so the first few weeks are productive rather than a guess that gets corrected later.
Sometimes that means less weight than you expected. Occasionally it means more. Either way, the decision comes from something observed rather than assumed.
Then it changes
An assessment isn’t a one-off. We re-test on a schedule, because the person training in month six isn’t the person who walked in on day one. Positions improve, loads move, and the plan should keep up.
That’s the whole method: understand first, prescribe second, review often.