To understand Exercise Mechanics™ and its application, we start with the bigger picture of biomechanics.

Biomechanics is defined as the “study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, from the cellular level to the entire organism.”

It’s a broad and fascinating field that covers a range of topics from the gait of a human’s walk to the bend of a giraffe’s neck.

Water gliding off an otter’s neck? Biomechanics.

A pelican’s swallowing motion? Biomechanics.

Although a fundamental understanding of mechanical-biological movement, it’s too broad for the study of professionally-applied exercise. 

Fields such as Sports Biomechanics may use complex equipment in their analysis of particular, usually high-level athletic and sporting disciplines. 

But personal trainers working with general-population clients don’t have that luxury.

The good thing is – we don’t need it.

Sure, our clients may play sports as a hobby. Hopefully, our exercise protocols will even help improve that performance.

But studying biomechanics doesn’t allow us to focus on the critical, science-based aspects of individualising exercise to create optimal internal stimulus – at minimal cost.

Tom Purvis coined the term ‘Exercise Mechanics’ in the 1980s, describing it as a division of biomechanics. 

Exercise Mechanics™ is an application of engineering and physics concepts to understand, implement, and deliver exercise.

The study of exercise mechanics includes understanding:

• Anatomy & structure of the individual

• Joint & muscle function through motion

• Effects of forces on the individual

• The influence of intention

• Goal-specific mechanisms

These concepts apply to human performance along the Functional Continuum™, from rehab to general fitness to sports-specific athletic performance.

It’s graduating from generic, traditional, predetermined choreography – to a client-centred approach to exercise design and delivery.

Anatomy and mechanics aren’t the sexiest subjects. Even for most personal trainers.

That’s because no one ever made them applicable to personal training.

But Exercise Mechanics™ is essential to a professional coach-client relationship.

It is the foundation of understanding the personalisation and optimisation of exercise according to every individual client’s goals and abilities.

Exercise Mechanics™ is how we teach bodybuilders to focus stimulus on particular muscles - or even the very fibres of particular muscles - while minimising the stress on their joints that are handling so much training volume.

It’s how we demonstrate that rehabilitation protocols can be improved with a deeper understanding of forces through joints, allowing a client’s recovery progress to be tailored, regressed and progressed appropriately.

It’s how we help trainers with busy clients manipulate resistance profiles relative to their clients’ strength to create more efficient exercises that achieve more stimulus in less time.

RTS is relevant, applicable, real-world thinking for real-world clients.

RTS teaches trainers not only the science, but the thought processes behind establishing an objective, balanced perspective about their exercise analysis, design and execution.

And importantly – ensuring that no student who attends our course thinks of any exercise or modality as “good” or “bad”.

To us, that’s an unprofessional way of thinking.

RTS explores many perspectives, principles and scientific truths that are unique to the course:

Unique RTS Principles 

• ‘Who-Have-Own-Tolerate’® & the ‘Goal of the Exercise’ ensure trainers remain critically analytical of exercise design relative to the individual it’s being applied to.

• ‘The Exercise Equation’® helps trainers identify all of the variables involved in exercise to better understand the differences in exercise that may appear similar.

• The ‘Exercise Continuum’® helps trainers evolve their clients’ training priorities by mapping every exercise based on the level of coordination required relative to that client’s ability to produce force.

• The ‘Functional Continuum’® helps rehab-focused professionals pinpoint a client’s point in their recovery process and the appropriate stimulus for that stage.

These concepts are not simply read aloud to the room as part of the workshop. 

They are rehearsed in their application over and over again, as we explore the various joint functions of the human body. 

Even then, we can’t possibly cover every single possible exercise set-up and execution.

(We can’t do that in the 200+ hours of education at RTS Mastery, let alone 36 hours at RTS Level 1.) 

That’s why we empower trainers to think and make decisions for themselves; to be open-minded and objective at the same time. 

Our goal is for trainers to complete the course with the tools to customise, analyse and optimise exercise, with exercise mechanics as the fundamental science that forms that toolbox.

We don’t paint by numbers. We create our own masterpiece.

Resistance Training Specialist: A World-First. 

RTS has been unique since the day it was launched.

When it was conceived as part of NASM in 1989, it was literally the world’s ONLY international personal training certification.

Hard to imagine these days, when online weekend courses can be created by anyone who decides they’re an authority on the subject ...

When RTS became independent in 1997, it was the only education & certification program built around all the information that an exercise professional should know to better serve their clients …

NOT just the most commercially viable syllabus that would give students a formal qualification.

For decades, RTS was the only international syllabus on exercise mechanics.

Despite being the very essence of the science of exercise - the fundamental, unbiased, inarguable approach to movement - the subject was ignored and even ridiculed by those who didn’t understand or appreciate its value.

The fitness world simply wasn’t ready for it.

By 2017, the industry had matured and was growing rapidly. Top-level PTs in affluent markets could charge well over $100/hr, and social media had made free information more easily accessible than ever.

Clients had also become more knowledgeable. They had greater expectations of their PTs, and a greater appreciation of those who know their stuff.

Bodybuilding was also making a comeback, after the “Functional Training” movement of the 2000s and the Crossfit craze that really kicked off in 2007 with the first Crossfit Games.

Unlike those training methods which are ‘externally focused’ on hitting weight or distance targets, bodybuilding requires deliberate attention to technique to ensure the intended internal adaptations.

Often imitated. Never duplicated.

It was time for Exercise Mechanics™ and the “body transformation” industry to kick off.

Positive physical transformation requires highly efficient exercise selection that is tailored to the structure and abilities of the individual. Turns out “WODs” weren’t serving the general public or offering sufficient value for high-paying clients.

Suddenly, there were plenty of “experts” on exercise mechanics all over social media.

Copying and repurposing and (often incorrectly) interpreting the source material as their own – with no credit.

They couldn’t really use the term ‘Exercise Mechanics’, because that’s effectively owned by RTS, and they’d be giving their game away.

And while, in fact, many of these courses do have great things to share with the market – and it’s better than nothing at all – there are huge issues with delivering advanced exercise education with only limited experience in its application.

It’s like a university professor trying to teach a personal trainer how to do their job.

RTS: Question Everything.

At RTS, however, we have our own version of an experienced university professor.

Tom Purvis, RTS Founder, has over 50,000 client hours under his belt.

Known as the “Trainer to the Trainers”, he has taught several thousand exercise professionals over the years, fielding their feedback and questions about their own processes of applying the RTS principles to their professional practice.

All RTS Instructors are experienced personal trainers or medical professionals who use, assess and apply this information on a daily basis.

The RTS syllabus is constantly evolving. The Exercise Equatio®n and Exercise Continuum® have each gone through about 14 different iterations.

Even RTS ‘Mastery’ students are constantly going back to RTS HQ for updates, learning about new processes and approaches in relation to professional problem-solving.

It’s easy enough for social media gurus to create charming, engaging content that regurgitates information about exercise mechanics.

It’s impossible for them to know how applicable their own perspectives are, compared to how well-tested the RTS approach has been.

It’s common to hear categorical statements about “the best way to train X” or “doing Y will cause injury”.

This just tells us they haven’t worked with enough people to realise that this is simply not the case.

Not only is RTS the only source of Exercise Mechanics™ science and philosophies on the planet that has been around for almost three decades …

It is the only source that has been continuously upgraded and iterated in that time.

RTS doesn’t just question the science and methodologies of others – but of itself.

Do you work in the field of exercise? 

Are you inquisitive and open-minded?

Then right this way. RTS is waiting for you.

If you’re an exercise professional who wants to understand and consider all the possibilities that will help your clients achieve their individual goals, RTS is for you.

In fact, we’ve even had non-PT students who just wanted to understand their own training better.

The RTS syllabus is modality-agnostic. It has no preference in its application to any particular “type” of exercise.

It serves as a fundamental understanding of all exercise.

Are you a PT working with clients to improve their strength and muscle-joint function?

There’s no better course on the planet.

The core of the RTS approach is teaching people to “own” their bodies and using appropriate force to challenge that in various ways.

You’ll learn to improve strength and function in both isolated and integrated movements, using the Exercise Continuum® to progress clients between Internal Performance and External Performance Goals.

Are you a Strength & Conditioning Coach for high-performance athletes?

You’ll love RTS.

We’ll teach you how to break down exercises and movements into individual components to improve them, before integrating them into multi-joint movements to help the athlete apply strength safely in sports-specific scenarios.

(Which is often overlooked by S&C coaches, so you’ll have a competitive advantage for your competitive clients.)

Are you training clients with physique-related goals?

Great - many of our graduates are too.

Whether your clients are busy individuals who want to maximise their results from their limited availability, or they’re seriously committed to bodybuilding as a profession or hobby, aesthetic physiques are a common goal these days.

Trainers with busy clients only have a few hours a week (at best) to create as much stimulus for muscle growth as possible. RTS teaches PTs to match the Resistance Profile™ of any exercise to the Strength Profile™ of any client to create stimulus at every part of the rep.

The ‘CRAMP’ approach will help you regress exercise to meet the client where their current ability levels will yield the greatest output.

And amateur bodybuilders to regular clients to professional athletes all have one thing in common –

Maintaining good joint health while managing relevant amounts of weekly volume is critical to good progress.

People quit training programs every day because they can’t handle the stress being placed on their joints.

On RTS, you’ll learn the intelligent and individualised approach to exercise design to eliminate this problem.

These same principles apply to exercise if you’re a physiotherapist or sports physician working in physical rehabilitation.

In fact, if you’re a physical therapist, you’re our ideal student. Our founder was a physical therapist. Our course was designed for global workshops by a chiropractor.

If you are a physical therapist, you don’t need us to teach you anatomy – but you’ll benefit from the RTS perspective on “positional anatomy”.

The textbook stuff is lovely if your client is standing motionless in front of you with palms supinated. It lacks application to exercise-specific scenarios and understanding which muscles are in a position, mechanically, to move the body at various points in an exercise.

RTS will take your work way beyond resistance bands. We’ll teach you the physics of exercise and a deep understanding of available tools to help you progress clients past rehab and into the high-performance zone.

If you work in exercise, if you love exercise, if you want to better understand exercise to benefit yourself and every single client you could ever work with we can’t wait to welcome you to RTS.