Why do you need a good strength coach and how to find one?
Strongman and powerlifting are both sports that require strength. If you are interested in doing either of them, a good strength coach is essential.
Every athlete needs a good strength coach to monitor their progress and determine if they are executing the exercises with proper technique. Aside from that, a coach also helps athletes track their neurological and morphological adaptations and ensure they are not overtraining.
If you are starting your journey as an athlete, it is strongly recommended you work with an experienced strength coach to achieve desired results. Even though you are a professional in the field of sport, or perhaps you are a coach yourself, you cannot deny the essence of having a good strength coach by your side.
Monitoring their progress is one of the most important things often overlooked by many athletes without professional coaches. This is a common mistake that many athletes are guilty of. Therefore, working with a professional strength coach is necessary despite having a lot of experience or even being a coach yourself.
I just want to share that coaching works both ways. If the coach doesn’t listen to the athlete and can’t admit his own mistakes, problems arise. I have coached multiple athletes who competed at national and international levels, including athletes who squatted over 300kg, bench pressed over 220kg, and deadlifted over 350kg and I believe we wouldn’t be able to achieve the victory without a solid bond and good communication. Sometimes, we had to change workouts mid-cycle, because the athlete’s situation has changed and I had to adjust training routine. I had to react accordingly to their feedback and if I hadn’t done that, the routines wouldn’t have worked.
What makes a good strength coach?
Here are some of my tips to help you find a good strength coach. Read on to know further:
A good strength coach must be goal-oriented
It is essential to find a strength coach to help you achieve your long-term and short-term goals within the allocated time. The coach shall create a daily plan with a holistic view of your goals. Aside from that, it is also essential to know if they are capable of creating a macrocycle and explaining to you how their strength training routine can help you achieve your objectives.
A good strength coach must have the credentials, expertise, and knowledge
Another thing you should consider when finding a strength coach is their credentials, expertise, and knowledge in the field. After all, who would want to work with someone who doesn’t know what he is teaching?
You can ask for their track record, proving that they have the abilities and knowledge to share with you so you can achieve your goals. Moreover, you can also request their certificates and diplomas showing the number of qualifications they hold, and the record athletes they have handled with success in the past.
Aside from that, the coach must also possess at least basic knowledge regarding exercise physiology, anatomy, and strength and conditioning. In addition to that, a strength coach should also be anble to understand how the muscles work together and how certain exercises affect the athlete’s body.
A good strength coach must be observant
A good strength coach must also be observant. He must be able to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of each athlete and provide them with a good training plan for improvement. It is because athletes (and people generally) are different and might react to various stimuli in different ways. And a good strength coach must be able to recognize these differences and set up a coaching program accordingly.
A good strength coach must continuously educate himself
If the coach is to stay on the top, he must continuously take part in CPD courses, attend meetings, share their opinions and expertise with other coaches. In a nutshell, a good strength coach must be hungry for knowledge. Only by constantly developing his abilities and acquiring more knowledge, a coach can reach higher and higher levels. It is only common sense that if the athlete is striving to be the best, the coach must also aim to do so.
Expanding the knowledge can allow the strength coach to learn new methods so you can progress faster, tweak his own methods so they work better and most importantly, expand his scope of practice. Expanding the scope of practice can be done by achieving other qualifications, for example in the fields of Sports Massage Therapy, Nutrition, Exercise Referral, Rehabilitation, or even Yoga Instructing. All these mentioned fields have their own uses in strength sports and can be applied accordingly to improve your performance.
A good strength coach should be mentored by the best
If the coach aspires to achieve great success in the field of strength sports, he should be learning from the best coaches and athletes in the world as it allows to spot many useful observations (such as strength ratios for examples) much faster and earlier in his career, than he would have done so by himself. It’s only natural to learn from your idols and there is no shame in that. When it comes to me, I have read dozens of books on training and related academic disciplines and on top of that, I have consulted some of the world’s strongest lifters and smartest coaches who produced the best athletes on the planet and I am proud of that. Consulting other coaches allowed me to expand my knowledge, adopt the approaches of smarter people into my system and tremendously increase my and my athlete’s strength levels.
What to expect from a good strength coach?
Finding a good strength coach is undoubtedly tricky, especially if you are a beginner. However, once you find the one, here are the things you should expect that he will:
- Create a specific training routine to meet your objectives and needs. When creating a solution, he must consider your strengths and weaknesses since different athletes have unique needs and require unique solutions.
- Listen to you, cooperate, and show respect. A strength coach must also listen to your observations and give enough time to track your routine.
- Adjust the training plan according to your daily routine and overall progress. He must be observant of how the athete’s body reacts and how their training methods can help you achieve the best results.
- Be open-minded, which means he must accept his own mistakes when he’s wrong and he must be willing to try new things when conventional approaches fail. There is no perfect coach or perfect training method as nobody can predict how well will a certain training method work this time. A good strength coach must also listen to his trainee’s suggestions and remain open to new ideas.
Final thoughts
A good strength coach is still a must, no matter your skill level as an athlete. However, finding the right coach who understands your training goals and needs has never been easy. However, if you know what you are looking for, it will be easier to find someone who can meet your requirements.
You can find a lot of strength coaches online with different sets of skills and expertise in training. However, if you found this and my other articles interesting, you might want to check out my coaching offer.
