Don’t Use the Overhead Squat in Your Assessment

In this episode, Sean and Cody explain why Active Life’s movement assessment deliberately avoids popular top-down screens like the overhead squat and instead relies on joint-level, bottom-up testing. Sean walks through how the assessment was originally adapted from his clinical work and why the goal is not to watch a movement fail, but to predict how a movement will fail before loading ever occurs. The conversation breaks down the real limitations of screens such as the FMS when used with general population clients and even high-level athletes. Sean explains how skilled athletes can hide massive inefficiencies through compensation, creating false confidence and false negatives, while less skilled clients may fail screens simply because of coordination rather than true joint limitations. The group clarifies the difference between identifying a problem and having a usable path forward to solve it. The episode closes by showing how simple, low-skill, repeatable joint assessments create better client understanding, stronger buy-in, and ultimately better business outcomes for coaches. By using assessments to answer specific questions instead of gathering vague information, coaches can build more durable programs, reduce unnecessary risk, and create clearer stories clients can share with others—driving both results and referrals.