At first, a RedPill movement assessment can appear to be quite a random process that probably involves some recognisable stretches and exercises and some stretches and exercises that you have never seen before — but there is a method to the madness.

Every single assessment conducted by a RedPill coach is unique and bespoke to the client in front of them. It takes into account a broad range of factors such as (but not limited to):

Who the client is
Are they bendy (hypermobile) or stiff (hypomobile)
What their background is
What their goals are
What their current level of fitness is
If they are in pain or not
What life stresses do they have
What kind of treatment will they respond best to
How motivated they are to get better
How much time they have to train
Where they are in their season (if they have a competitive season)

All those factors have to be constantly evaluated and reevaluated before, and during, an assessment — and that’s before any actual movement has taken place.

Broadly speaking, there are two paths available to a RedPill coach when assessing a person — a joint by joint approach leading towards the bigger picture, or a bigger picture approach that leads towards an in depth joint assessment. With all that said, the starting point for an assessment may be one style, but the knowledge gained along the way may well change the style and approach.

Sometimes it’s appropriate to look at individual trees:

In a joint by joint approach, joints will be assessed for the appropriate amount of mobility and stability before being looked at as part of a function. For example, do the adductors have enough length in a stretch? Then, do the adductors have the ability to control the hip in an isolated fashion? Finally, do the adductors allow appropriate amounts of internal and external rotation at the hip at the right times in a squat or lunge?

Sometimes a coach will look at the wood first:

What’s the overall picture being painted by the body when it’s moving? How much visible effort is being used by the client to do a movement? Do the movements that relate to the client’s function look fluid, organised, and safe? For example, what do they look like when running? How does that compare to what fluid running looks like?

What is the bigger picture that guides towards which joints need further investigation?

The benefit of having a skilled coach work with you is that they can seamlessly switch between the two approaches and not get bogged down with any one specific thing. If you just looked at a forest and saw that the trees on the edge were all beech trees then you could assume (perhaps wrongly) that the whole forest was made up of beech trees. But by going deeper into the forest, or getting a birds’ eye view of the whole thing, you may well find out that it’s an oak forest with a few beech trees on the very edge.

Can you see the wood and the trees?