5 Things I’ve Learned as a Strength Coach
“If I only knew then what I know now.”
I’m sure we can all say that about many, if not all things in our life. There are many lessons that I can touch on when it comes to my career as a Strength Coach but here are five that have truly helped me in mine.
Be Brilliant at the Basics
The basics are your craft as everyone refers to today. Your bread and butter. Your 1, 2 and 3. This is what you can hang your hat on and what you will use to build the majority of your program. When I speak of basics I am referring to some sort of press, push, squat, hinge or Olympic exercise.
Depending on who you learned under and who you followed at the time will allow these basics to vary for all of us. Whatever they may be though, be sure you have mastered them or try to at least. Everything about the exercise from beginning to end should be very clear and laid out in your head. The details that encompass every movement should be something that you can explain very clear and without much complication.
Every great coach that I have ever been around was able to make the most complex things very simple. Why? Because they knew the subject forward and backwards. They knew everything it entailed. Looking at most any job, the people who seem to be successful don’t have much of a secret recipe that they are hiding away in their wall safe. They all work really hard at basic things. What allows them to separate themselves from other coaches is that they can explain one thing in multiple ways.
Many athletes learn and understand things differently. By being brilliant at the basics it allows you to be a teacher and teach that one thing to all of your athletes. If I can only train and teach one way, then I will always only be able to train and teach one kind of athlete. Being able to do this allows you to program and develop everyone from your 7th grade athletes to your Seniors.
Love what you do
I once heard another Strength Coach say that PR’s, sub 4.5 40’s and homecoming games are less than 1% of our daily jobs. He was not lying! It is these things that attract many to this profession but it is something that we only spend a handful times a year doing. Many people see the Strength Coach there on the sidelines and how they work in a weight room all day and think, “This is awesome, I could totally do this!” I’m here to tell you that is not the case.
Many young aspiring strength coaches come in and find out that 99% of the time you are doing 3:30 or 4AM wake-up calls, 60–80 hours a week, constantly cleaning and wiping down equipment, or trying to motivate some kind of effort out of your athletes who really don’t want to put a bar on their back and hit 85% of their max. Getting them to show up sometimes is a whole other issue.
This, of course, is a fraction of what you are to come across. You still have to coach up the athletes on the daily and most of the time it’s telling them that they are doing it wrong or that you want them going harder. There are not many that really like hearing that.
So how do the strength coaches out there currently in the business do it? How do they get these kids to work? Simple. They love what they do. They truly embrace every rep and opportunity that they get with their athletes. They are sincere in their words and actions and the athletes see that. They feel that.
I’ve come to learn your athletes are more observant than anyone. They watch everything you say and do. They watch your body language and they watch your consistency. They will be the first ones to call you out when you are slacking. They definitely keep you right. They keep you honest. If you think you can squeeze by and fake it until you make it, you are in for a rude awakening. They feed off of you and look for you to get them going.
If this job is not something you truly love and everything that encompasses it, you will never get what you really want out of it or them. Love what you do in this industry and watch much of the things you worry about take care of themselves.
Remember you are a support
Being a Strength Coach many times means taking a backseat on some things. We are not always the ones at the top. It is a humbling profession that demands everything you got. We are behind the scenes relentlessly working and yet many still do not know that our profession even exist or what exactly it is we do. It is important to know this going into the job.
We are there as a support to the staff. When it is all said and done, we are there to support and SERVE everyone. We are there to support the coaches around us and work relentlessly for them. We are there to listen to them and see what it is they are wanting in their program. There is a lot of give and take when it comes to what they are wanting and what you want.
By no means am I saying that you should always give in to what they are saying. I actually think you should question what they want. I think this will keep you accountable on your knowledge of things and also gain some respect from the coach.
Ultimately, we are all working for a head coach and his program. You need to listen to them and what they have to say. This lets them know that you do listen to them, you do care about what they think and that you are ultimately there to work for them and their athletes. If serving people is not your cup of tea, then this is definitely not for you.
Build Relationships
Building relationships is key for anything you do. Relationships build trust. Trust is many times how I earned and kept a job. Relationships with your kids and the coaches you work for is an absolute must. The other relationship that I would tell Strength Coaches to build is relationships with other Strength Coaches. Building these relationships will come full circle. Building trust and just allowing these people to know who you are will always pay off. It blows my mind that I have worked for coaches who coached me. There are even athletes that I coached that have worked for me and the way things are going for them, I may one day be coaching for them.
Keeping in contact with your people is a must. If you are young coach coming into this field I would tell you to make sure you always take the initiative. If someone ever tries to get in contact with you, make sure you are trying to get back in touch with them. Email, text or preferably a phone call. Leave them a voicemail so they can hear you and know your intentions.
All these relationships I am sure are intentional but many of them last because these people have seen how much you really care about them. Always be you and always take advantage of the opportunity to tell someone how much you appreciate them and care for them. It will never go wrong for you.
Stay Current in the Field
Although you heard me above talk about sticking to the basics, it is not to say that you should not keep current with all that is going on. This industry is still fairly young. At the same time, it is growing at such a rapid pace which means that there are many big opportunities that come to a young strength coach.
Although this can be exciting for them I have found that many jump into the job and become stagnant. Sometimes these young strength coaches only look at what is current and don’t look at the history of where everything all originated. There is so much knowledge out there to be shared by so many people. Sometimes there are brand new things we are finding and sometimes it’s the old stuff we have been doing for years that just got dissected a little more.
With some things in this industry we have found that in the past we were doing them wrong. That is not to say you should not read or know that. It is quite the opposite. You should read and know that so that you don’t make the same mistake someone else in the industry did. Understanding how we got where we are at today is a big piece that I see many young strength coaches not as knowledgeable about. Whether it be old information or breaking news, take note and tuck it away in your knowledge files. These all hold as tools in your box for that one time that you will NEED it.
In conclusion, these five things have been what has worked for me. Through your career and growth, I am sure that your five things may differ. Either way, love what you do, learn from your mistakes and be sure to always serve your coaches and athletes.
