Exercise Red Lighting

Today’s post is a continuation of my introduction to Functional Movement Systems in the Video Post entitled “Build Movement Quality First”. At the end of that video I mention the Red Light System.

“Exercise Red Lighting” is essentially an injury prevention mechanism we incorporate into exercise programming. If you have issues with symmetry or cannot perform a simple movement pattern without load then it makes sense to remove exercises that involve an advanced form of that pattern from your routine. You have to keep in mind that everything is connected. So if something isn’t moving well it will influence or generate a compensatory pattern either above that joint, below that joint or both. So, until you correct the issue, you should avoid exercises that will cause problems elsewhere because of it.

In the video below I discuss Red Lighting a little more and give you an example of an exercise we would remove and why.