The Individual’s Hierarchy of Needs is a framework designed to optimise health and longevity by prioritising recovery, movement, and strength. It is intended to replace the trial-and-error approach often seen in fitness and healthcare with a structured plan tailored to individual needs. This shift from "try this and see if it works" to "let's find out what you need" saves time and energy, providing a more straightforward path to success.
What is the Individual’s Hierarchy of Needs?
The Individual’s Hierarchy of Needs is a flexible guide that helps identify health and fitness priorities based on individual assessments.
The hierarchy is not a step-by-step process but a dynamic framework that directs our focus to the most relevant factors, much like a detective sorting through clues to solve a case.
This approach allows us to set clear priorities and develop and inform our action plan.
Often, people dealing with pain might turn to mobility exercises, thinking that’s the solution, when the issue might not be mobility at all. Or they believe that building strength is the answer, when in fact, they might be lacking stamina.
Navigating from pain and injury to wellness can be complex and daunting. The hierarchy simplifies this by removing guesswork and providing clarity where it's needed most.
Our motto is simple: Assess, don’t guess.
Why is the Individual’s Hierarchy of Needs Important?
Understanding and applying the Individual’s Hierarchy of Needs is crucial because it allows for a tailored approach to health and fitness. By addressing foundational aspects like recovery and capacity balance first, it ensures that subsequent efforts in flexibility, mobility, and strength are more effective and sustainable. This method saves time, reduces frustration, and leads to better long-term results.
Recovery & Capacity Balance
The foundation of the hierarchy is the balance between recovery and capacity. This involves evaluating how well you manage life’s demands, including work, stress, and training. Key questions include:
How much are you working?
How well are you recovering?
Are your sleep, diet, and stress responses conducive to progress?
Without addressing these foundational aspects, gym efforts may lead to frustration and failure. Balancing stress with adequate recovery is crucial for adaptation and progress.
Example: Consider someone who has been training seven days a week for two years straight. Instead of focusing on improving their hip range of motion, which might not be the root cause, we address their excessive training volume first. Another example is a person experiencing low back pain while squatting. This pain might be more related to poor sleep habits (sleeping five hours a night) and insufficient movement outside the gym rather than an issue with the spine or muscles.
Flexibility
Flexibility refers to the passive range of motion—the potential for a joint to move. It is essential to determine the necessary flexibility for your life and goals. Overemphasis on flexibility can be counterproductive if it exceeds what is needed for daily activities and can lead to instability and injury.
Example: For someone with arthritis in their hip, the joint may not move well. The simple solution might be to avoid squatting deeper than their anatomy allows. Conversely, people with full flexibility who continue stretching and mobilising their joints without addressing the actual problem may find they are wasting time and potentially worsening their issues.
Mobility
Mobility is the active range of motion—the ability to control movement through strength. It builds on flexibility, ensuring that you can access and control your range of motion effectively. A large discrepancy between flexibility and mobility can be risky, highlighting the importance of balanced training.
Example: If Susan wants to squat, we first check her flexibility by having her lie down and see if she can raise her knee towards her chest so that her thigh touches her ribcage. If she can, she has enough hip flexibility. However, if she struggles to squat, it might be due to insufficient mobility rather than a flexibility issue. Addressing this with active solutions rather than passive ones (like stretching) will be more effective.
Strength Balance
Strength balance examines how well your body absorbs, transmits, and produces force in all directions. It involves comparing different movement patterns and muscle groups, such as:
Left versus right side
Squat versus hinge patterns
Pulling versus pushing strength
Assessing these aspects provides a clearer picture of your strengths and weaknesses, guiding targeted improvements.
Example: We might compare how many high-pulls you can perform on your left versus your right side, how your pressing strength compares, or how well you perform squatting versus hinging patterns. This comprehensive assessment helps identify imbalances and areas for improvement.
Skill & Motor Control
Skill and motor control focus on performing complex movements with competence and quality form. This requires consistent practice and exposure to the demands of specific tasks. The goal is to progress from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence, where movements become second nature.
Example: Consider a person learning to squat who initially moves awkwardly, like a baby giraffe. Over time, with proper training and focus on skill and motor control, their movement improves. People with a full range of motion, strength, and stamina tend to progress more quickly than those without these foundational aspects.
Implementation
Using this hierarchy, we create a plan to address your specific needs. This approach ensures that:
No amount of passive therapy will solve a strength balance issue.
No amount of thinking about proper technique will fix a flexibility issue.
No amount of stretching will solve a painful joint with a full range of motion.
No amount of strength work will help a poor balance between stress and recovery.
This framework serves as a constant reference throughout the coaching journey, providing clarity, confidence, and a path to success.
The Individual’s Hierarchy of Needs is a comprehensive approach to health and longevity, emphasising intentionality and tailored planning. By addressing foundational aspects like recovery and capacity balance and building up flexibility, mobility, strength balance, and skill, we can create effective, personalised plans that lead to lasting improvements and a better quality of life.
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