Coaching & Mindset
Fix One Piece Of A Movement Before You Mention The Next One
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in Movement Trainer (AFT) — where chunking is taught →
In short: Chunking breaks a complex movement down into smaller, more manageable parts and gives feedback on one chunk at a time, rather than handing a client every correction in one breath. It's a technique Movement Trainer names for learning a skill for the first time, when the whole movement is more than a client can hold in their head at once. A trainer who fixes one piece, lets it settle, then moves to the next gets more changed over a session than one who lists four things and hopes the client remembers all of them by the next rep. PT Manager's Analysis Notes does the same job on video: a note stamped to the exact second it was written, so a chunk of feedback stays attached to the moment it belongs to instead of getting bundled into one long list at the end.
Four corrections in one breath is four corrections nobody keeps
The instinct, watching a client's first attempt at a movement with three or four things wrong at once, is to say all three or four things. Chest up, knees out, slow the descent, breathe. The client nods, tries to hold all of it in their head at the same time as lifting a weight, and keeps roughly none of it. Movement Trainer names the alternative chunking: break the movement into smaller pieces and give feedback on one piece at a time.
What the course actually says
The course's own definition is specific rather than vague: "breaking down complex tasks into smaller, more manageable parts and providing feedback on each 'chunk'." The point isn't politeness or softening the correction, it's that a client's attention is a fixed size, and a movement handed over one chunk at a time fits inside it where four things at once don't. The course flags it as a technique that earns its keep specifically when a skill is brand new to someone, which is exactly the moment a client has the least spare attention to spend holding a list.
What it looks like mid-set
A client's first few reps of something unfamiliar rarely go wrong in one place. Chunking asks a trainer to pick the piece that matters most right now, say only that, let the client run a rep or two against it, and hold the rest back until that piece is settled. The second chunk arrives once the first one has actually changed something, not on a timer and not because the trainer remembered it next.
Why the discipline is harder than the idea
Naming four things feels thorough in the moment, and naming one feels like leaving three uncorrected. Movement Trainer treats that feeling as the thing to override rather than trust: a client who fixes one piece properly is closer to the full movement than a client who half-heard four pieces and changed none of them. The skill isn't spotting every fault at once, which most trainers can do inside a few sessions of watching closely. The skill is choosing the order they get handed over in.
What to do next
Movement Trainer (AFT) is £375, and chunking sits inside the coaching delivery material alongside the six named coaching styles covered in an earlier post and guided discovery, covered in another. Read more at Movement Trainer (AFT), and PT Manager opens free the moment you sign up.
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Frequently asked
Does chunking mean ignoring everything except the one thing being fixed?
No, it means sequencing the corrections rather than dropping them all at once. The other pieces still get their turn, just not in the same breath as the first one.
How does a trainer decide which chunk to fix first?
The course points at the piece that's furthest from safe or furthest from the movement's intent as the one worth taking first, since a client who fixes that piece often finds the smaller ones settle on their own.
Does Movement Trainer connect to PT Manager?
Yes. Passing Movement Trainer (AFT) opens PT Manager's full client tools, including Analysis Notes, where a chunk of feedback can be pinned to the exact second of a client's video it applies to.
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