Movement Compensation Panel

Mike Giardina sits down with Dr. Kelly Starrett, Stephane Rochet, Dr. Meghan Helwig, Jesse Burdick, and Dr. Jason Garrett to discuss the potential causes and effects of movement compensation in training. Movement compensation occurs when an athlete attempts to borrow capacity from other areas to solve a problem.

Seeking out movement compensation in your athletes is important, according to Starrett, because efficiency- and technique-driven training reduces the metabolic costs of the session, allowing athletes to use energy more effectively in sport and life.

You won’t see poor technique be more efficient, Rochet says, so it is imperative for coaches to determine where the fault is, when it is happening, and why.

Burdick says coaches need to seek out the root cause of movement inefficiencies, and sometimes the best place to spot them is when the athlete is walking through the door, picking up a weight, or unracking a barbell. This is when they are off guard and it can be easy to pinpoint movement inefficiencies they are working hard to hide under load.

Once a coach determines an athlete is moving inefficiently, there must be clear lines of communication with the athlete, Dr. Helwig says. These coaching interactions should be positive and not fear-based.

The panelists provide common examples of movement compensation in the CrossFit affiliate and what to look for as a coach. It is up to the coach to push the athlete until the athlete makes mistakes, and then we coach, Starrett says. This is an example of the CrossFit method of threshold training, which involves pushing an athlete to the intensity where movement starts to falter, then improving their movement before pushing them to greater levels of intensity. This is how we balance technique and intensity to get optimal results.