For those that do follow me, I'm sorry I haven't been posting much. The beginning of the semester is always busy. On top of the normal, I had two new assistants. Getting them taught and up to speed is a lot of work. I'm not sure how other people handle new assistants, but I'm a control freak and I believe my reasoning is sound.
For instance, my fifth year seniors on the soccer team are on their sixth strength coach. If I let the new assistants run their own programs that's six new programs in five years. That's program hopping and that's never a good idea. Soccer is the most extreme example. The girls have handled it well, but it's not even close to ideal.
So, I have to explain, teach and babysit the new assistants until I'm comfortable that they understand what needs to get done. This takes a training cycle (four weeks) and sometimes longer. In my current situation, I have one assistant that just doesn't seem to learn. The other assistant is pretty good, but he got a better opportunity that I had to tell him to take.
Currently, I'm down one assistant and the remaining new one is still in the babysitting mode. Thank god for my third (second) assistant. He handles his business and is able to help me quite a bit.
In the last two weeks the news that one was leaving was dropped on me. So be it. I'll be fine. I've been here before. I've picked up two more teams (four total, including Football - 107 guys and Softball 25 girls, Baseball - 36 guys (1/2 Pitchers and 1/2 Position players) and Track Sprinter - 8 girls. I did the math because I'm kind of douchy that way. I'm in charge of over half of the athletes on campus.
I know the DII and DIII strength coaches are telling me to stop crying. A lot of those guys have ALL teams with assistants and interns that are not always the best. But, I'm feeling sorry for myself, so let me have it.
What it does is limit my abilities to experiment with new ideas. Keeping track of multiple programs is hard enough. Add in the fact that they're not all on the same schedule (Football In-Season - 2x/week, Baseball Fall Ball - 3x/week Postion/2-3x a week Pitchers, Softball Fall Ball - 3x a week, Track Sprinters Off-Season - 3x/week). I know Baseball is one sport, but programming-wise, I consider it two teams.
Anyway, what I've found over the last two weeks is that my workouts have suffered. In the grand scheme of my amazing progress - not a big deal. However, I do believe that it is massively important for strength coaches to train. I'm not talking about working out. I'm talking about training. For young coaches the best way to learn is to do. You don't have to be the strongest or the biggest, but you do have to learn how to suffer. You need to learn how to follow a program. You need to learn what your athletes a going through so you can have empathy for them. This also helps you figure out how to adjust and accommodate as training cycles wear on, in my opinion.
As I mentioned, for me, my days of PR's and big weights are behind me. What is in front of me is following a plan (like the athletes are expected to), striving towards goals (like the athletes have to do) and suffering (I call this breathing heavily).
The last 10-12 days I haven't had the same kind of time because of the upheaval in my program. What I've always been good about is getting my training in. The last three or four workouts have turned into getting my Main Lift in, a break because I have something I have to do and then finishing the Assistance work at a different time. Not a huge deal.
What it does lead to is me not feeling a well as I usually do. The act of training for me is still physical, but because of injuries and the need to change goals, it's become more of a psychological experience. Holding myself to a standard, suffering through a tough circuit... whatever it may be that day.
As my rambling has gone on longer than planned, I've figured out that my training schedule really does help me with energy, focus, a sense of accomplishment and I would venture to guess, I'm a better coach (to deal with) and possibly a better human being when I can get it done the way I want to.
My challenge with my current situation is to get back on track despite the increased workload. It's absolutely possible. I can either make excuses for why I suck or I can make excuses to succeed. Common sense would dictate that Option B is the better route.
So I'll leave you with some preaching - get your ass training (not working out). Pick a goal and suffer and progress towards it. Make yourself get in a stretching session in between lifts. Hell, make yourself stretch after every lift, especially when you don't want to. Make yourself manage your time better so that you can do these little things. We expect it from our athletes. Let's not be the ultimate hypocrites and expect it from the kids and not follow the same "rules".