What You're Actually Walking Into: The FSL Assessment

If you've been thinking about booking an assessment but aren't quite sure what it involves, this is the short version: it's a conversation with some structure. It's not a test you can fail. It's not intimidating. And it's not a sales pitch with a clipboard. It's about 90 minutes spent figuring out where you are, where you want to go, and what training should actually look like for you.

Here's how it goes.

Before anything physical happens, we sit down and talk. What brought you in? Have you trained before, and if so, what did that look like? What do you want to get out of this? There's no wrong answer. Some people walk in with years of gym experience and a specific goal. Some haven't moved consistently in a decade and aren't sure where to start. Both are completely fine starting points — the whole point of the assessment is to meet you where you are, not where I think you should be.

If you've filled out the PAR-Q+ and health history forms beforehand, we'll go over those briefly so I have a clear picture of any injuries, medical history, or movement limitations before we get moving.

Then we take a resting heart rate and blood pressure. Two minutes, nothing required from you except sitting still. It gives me a cardiovascular baseline and makes sure the movement portions are appropriate for where you are right now.

From there we move into the postural assessment — I'll just watch how you stand at rest. Posture in a static position tells you a lot. How weight is distributed, whether there are visible asymmetries, how the head, shoulders, hips, and feet line up relative to each other. This isn't about whether you stand "correctly." It's about establishing a baseline before we see how things change when you actually move.

The overhead squat is where it gets interesting. You'll do a bodyweight squat while I observe from the front and side. I'm not looking for perfection — I'm looking for pattern. How do your feet, knees, hips, and shoulders behave under load? Are there compensations or restrictions? The squat is a full-body movement and it tells a surprisingly clear story about how someone moves overall.

We'll also look at single leg movement, which reveals asymmetries and stability patterns that a bilateral squat can mask. Then a basic push and pull evaluation to assess upper body mechanics and shoulder stability. This tells me how to structure upper body training and whether any corrective work needs to be prioritized early.

If you're comfortable with it, we'll finish with an optional 3-minute step test — a simple cardiovascular assessment that gives us a sense of your aerobic fitness and recovery rate. No pressure on that one. If it doesn't feel right on the day, we skip it.

After the movement screen, we circle back to the conversation. I'll share what I observed, answer any questions you have, and we'll talk through what training could realistically look like — frequency, format, and which program makes the most sense based on your goals and current capacity. this part needs a little rewording. it might take me some time to decide all that , not right on the spot. i will have some clear ideas, but unlikely that they will leave with a fully complete program and schedule. i will have a good idea about which of the 7 program they need, but i dont have any prebuilt mesos. i have templates, but the movements and individualized program is based on the individual's findings.