Being a coach is a great honor – it is being invited into another persons life to help them get better on their journey. Therefore it is a great responsibility. A coach is “one who instructs or trains.” I have had many great coaches in my life from middle school to today.
I also love technology. Technology has managed to shrink the world. I can FaceTime now with a friend who is in Korea for the Olympics and have a conversation with him just like he were sitting across from me. I also just read an article about how Tele-Medicine is bringing big-city healthcare resources to rural communities via telemedicine facilities.
In light of all of this, one thing has always not sat well with me: e-coaching. Personally I’m tired of the “8-week booty workout” solicitations that I keep getting (I’m beginning to get a complex). Or the “let me be your online coach.” No! How do you e-coach? I can write workouts for people without being in the same place as them. I can answer questions. I can watch them do a squat on my computer screen and give them feedback. But is that coaching? Or, is that distance programming, and providing feedback. The absolute MOST impact I have received from a coach is the on-the-fly adjustments – the change in exercise, the progression, regression or alteration of something to get a better training adaptation out of me. How does that happen on a weekly check in?
In no way am I discounting e-coaching. I do truly believe the programming and the accountability it affords individuals serves a place. There is a time and a place for everything. But even a crappy “in person” coach is going to have a better coaches eye than an e-coach. Why? Opportunity, exposure, and repetition. They also are going to understand the dynamics of how someone moves and learns better. I challenge all of my graduate students everyday to coach 25+ people in how to deadlift (in our facility, that is a light day and can be accomplished by mid-day). They (grad student) show up. That’s exposure. There are people to coach. That’s opportunity. I tell them to interact with 25+ athletes each day. That is repetition. That is how we learn everything.
Anyone can be a coach, but there is a difference between playing coach and being a great coach. Great coaches are developed and molded. They learn from the interactions with their athletes. Often this is seen as a 1 way relationship: the coach helping the athlete in front of them. That is happening, but that is the top of the iceberg. It’s the butterfly effect. The great coaches take that experience and opportunity from that one athlete and apply that lesson to every athlete that comes after – it’s a tidal wave. The greatest coaches learn from each athlete, which in turn creates a better coach for all of the future athletes.
I recently started training an athlete again that I trained when he was in college. Fast forward 5 years. His comment – “this is so much better than what you took me through in college – and that was awesome.” That’s the evolution of catching – adapting, evolving, getting better. I want every athletes experience to be new and exciting – that’s also how we keep athletes engaged over time. I REFUSE to train an athlete short-term. Unless we are talking year-long plans, I’m not interested. Why? Anyone can commit to doing something new for 6 weeks – but I want commitment. I can write a workout that will keep anyone engaged for 8 weeks, but then what? After you watch season 1 of Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones (or whatever the new binge watching series is) what do you want? To go back to Episode 1 of season 1 and watch it again? NO! We want -WE DEMAND- season 2 not Season 1 that’s a little different than the first time we watched it.
I’m happy to give out random programs to people. Why? A Shi$$y program done consistently will get good results. I just need to put safeguards in place to ensure consistency – weekly check ins, exercise-logs, weekly pictures to show your progress. All are great, but that’s not coaching. That lacks mentoring, training, and inspiring. That lacks a relationship, and make no mistake a great relationship with a coach can change that person’s world.