Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART SIX

by Dino Dogan

Teach a Man to Fish and He Will No Longer Buy Fish From You

If you’ve ever purchased a fitness book, DVD, watched a show on fitness or hired a trainer to help you lose some weight then you’ve probably seen this.

Fitness trainers have a tendency to “teach” correct posture on per-exercise basis.

We all know that correct posture is important and incorrect posture can derail you and put you “on the bench” for a long time.

So having your head, neck and back in correct alignment is paramount whenever you perform ANY exercise. Remember the old “lift with your legs, not with your back” advice?

In the next paragraph, I will teach you the correct posture regardless of the exercise performed.

Why?

Because, my livelihood doesn’t depend on teaching you correct posture on per-exercise basis.

Here we go.

1. Place your elbow on a flat surface (your computer desk is perfect).
2. Have your fist point straight-up towards the ceiling.

That’s it, that’s the correct posture regardless of the exercise.

• The length of your forearm represents your spine
• Your wrist represents your neck
• And your fist represents your head.

Try pushing down on your fist and feel how stable and solid that is.

On the other hand, if you misalign any part of your setup (forearm, wrist, or fist) and push down on it, you will feel how your “setup” is not as stable.

Btw, this is the correct posture not only during any exercise, but also when walking and running.

Side note: The point of the correct posture is to maintain maximum stability even if you’re performing an exercise while laying down, on your side, or some other weird position. Keep it straight and properly aligned and you’ll be fine.

This is what’s called a “principle”.

There is no need to teach correct posture on per-exercise basis so why are fitness trainers and experts alike hell-bent on doing exactly that?

It’s simple. They are giving you the fish.

What does this have to do with dog training? Turns out, everything.

Many dog trainers teach individual commands, not overriding principles.

This is sometimes out of necessity (it’s what clients need at the time), and sometimes it’s a matter of indoctrination or limited knowledge and understanding of training principles.

The training principles that I’m talking about are things like timing and consistency, but here is one most people ignore.

There are many opinions as to what “tool” to use during training. Treats, affection, toys, etc.

In the ocean of discussion regarding the “correct tool”; trainers often forget to mention that whatever tool you are using (treats, affection, toys) it’s paramount NOT to use that same tool during non-training time.

So if you are using treats to teach a dog to execute commands then don’t give the dog treats outside the training time. This is doubly-so when using affection to train a dog. I believe you get the idea.

What “tool” do you use?

Looking back, have you had an experience with fitness or dog trainers teaching you individual movements, exercises, commands or did they teach correct principles of movements or commands?

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Dino Dogan is a blogger, writer, biker, dog trainer, singer/songwriter, Martial Artist. Dino is now busy with his DIY Blogger Net blog. He is also behind the great social media tool, Triberr. Hopefully one day he'll return to dog blogging. Meanwhile, you can connect with Dino on Twitter or Facebook.

Related articles:
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART ONE
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART TWO
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART THREE
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART FOUR 
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART FIVE