The 21 Myth: The Quest for FMS Perfection

For many that have come across the Functional Movement Screen (FMS), they are familiar with the scoring system of 7 tests graded from 0 to 3, with a perfect score then being 21.

The attention then immediately turns for most into “How do I get a 21???”

Many of our clients are often shocked when I say that I don’t care if they are a 21. Sure it would be nice to be perfect, but it is certainly not necessary for their goals. Here’s why:

1- You didn’t come in to get a 21.

People come through our doors for one of 3 reasons. They want to either Look, Feel or Perform better or a little of each. No one yet has come in specifically to get a 3 in their Leg Raise. The FMS is a screen that is designed to filter out individuals who may be at risk if put under the stress of movement and exercise. If you score a 15 or above and have no imbalances from right to left in your score, you do not bear that risk so you need to then train for your goal that you came in for.

2 – I don’t want you to be a 21.

What???? Yup. I said it. For some, being a 21 may actually be detrimental. My favorite example would be if you are one of our clients who is an NFL linebacker. For you to score a perfect 3 in your Shoulder Mobility test you need to have your reach behind your back come within one hand length of each other.

If you’re not familiar with what an NFL linebacker is or does, they are giant, 6ft. +, 240lb.+ men whose job is to run full speed into other men as big or bigger than them a couple dozen times per game. You know what their weapon of choice is and the main point of contact? Their shoulders. So if you don’t have big, broad, hulking shoulders you have a very short life expectancy at your position.

So now if my NFL linebacker can get his hands that close together and score a 3 on a Shoulder Mobility test there is 1 of 3 scenarios at play:

1 – Your arms are extremely long, which we can’t control or do a whole lot about

2 – Your upper body isn’t all that developed so your dead meat anyway

3 – You have hypermobility or lax joints and it’s only a matter of time before you sublux or dislocate, which is also really bad

In all of our years of doing screens, our staff has performed the FMS literally thousands of times. We have a board in our facility where we list our “21 Club” of all of the perfect scores we have gotten. We even have a tee shirt you get if you make it on there. (Check it out>>>)

You know how many we have gotten in all of the years and thousands of screens we have done? 19. And out of those, only 2 were on intake the first day.

So stop worrying if you’re not perfect, as only a rare few are, and the NOT 21 Club is much larger!