In our economical climate, people are constantly looking for “sure thing” investments. While economically speaking, those are hard to find, in the world of strength coaches, there are a few investments that are sure to bring about huge returns. I’m not talking about state of the art pieces of equipment or even a new facility. I’m talking about investing in your athletes, your knowledge, and your own training.
We’ve all heard the cliché, “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” As overused as it may be, we all know that it still rings true. There are many ways that we can show our athletes that we care and are willing to invest in their lives.
Most of the athletes we train play sports ranging from basketball, soccer, football, baseball, and wrestling among others. When was the last time you took time out of your schedule to attend one of your clients’ games? Hopefully, it hasn’t been long because this is one of the most important ways to show that you truly care about them. Yes, you put in a ton of time programming their training and motivating them to give every ounce of effort they have when it comes to training, but they see that as your job. When you show up for Johnny’s baseball game, it will change the way he approaches that game and will probably influence the effort he trains with too.
Attending part of a game or even a whole game can be very time consuming when you have a lot of clients, but there are other ways to invest in your athletes. Cell phones and social networking sites make it easy to keep up with what’s going on in your client’s life. When you log on to Facebook and see that Johnny posted something about his new dog, car, or girlfriend and you ask him about it the next day, he starts to believe that you care about more than just what he squats that day. Sending out a text here and there to ask how he’s feeling after he caught the Prowler flu on a Friday afternoon isn’t a bad idea either.
Investing in your athletes should be common sense, but as strength coaches, we have to continually invest in the furthering of our own knowledge. As John Wooden once said “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” If we take this to heart, we realize that learning is something that should never stop.
Increasing our knowledge can come in several forms, one of which you’re doing right now. Staying up to date on the articles, Q&A, and training logs here on # is an easy way for us to expand our minds. There is a wealth of information on the internet, but we must remember to check the sources before we start applying everything we read. If you’re trying a training program from someone who looks like they’ve never trained and doesn’t have any clients who look like you want your athletes to look, maybe you need to take what they’re saying with a grain of salt.
One of the best ways to invest in your knowledge is to get involved with other strength coaches. The times that I have learned the most is when I have invested my time and money to travel and be around other coaches. I have a good friend who coaches at a high school a couple hours away from me, and when I go and observe him or talk to him on the phone, I instantly find myself opening up to new training ideas.
In June of 2010, I traveled to New Jersey for one of Zach Even-Esh’s Underground Strength Coach certifications. I had to look at the price for the flight, hotel, food, and the certification itself and realize that it was an investment, not simply money I was spending. At this event, I took in a great deal of information and ideas from Zach, but I also learned a lot from the other coaches who attended. There were fourteen guys including Zach together for three days who all have a passion for the strength game. I don’t believe there is a better setting for learning than being around like-minded people.
Simply put, if you already think you know it all, you probably don’t know much. Venture outside of your comfort zone and learn from people who have already accomplished what you wish to one day.
I constantly tell my athletes and clients not to trust a strength coach who doesn’t have calluses on his hands. Obviously, there are some great strength coaches who may not be able to train the way they used to, but I think we all get the point. If a coach hasn’t been “under the bar,” as Dave Tate puts it, then how much can he really know?
As strength coaches, we have to be able to show our athletes/clients how to perform lifts with proper form. I heard John Sisk, the strength coach at Vanderbilt University, at a clinic a few years back say that all of his coaches must be able to perform each exercise or lift with proper technique before they ask a player to perform it. For most of us, I’m sure this comes as common knowledge, but it is crazy to see how many strength coaches don’t actually train themselves.
No, we don’t all have to be elite level powerlifters or have played in the league to help our athletes perform at the highest levels, but we should constantly be trying to improve ourselves before we tell others how to. Whether you’re training with Crossfit, Wendler’s 5/3/1, or the Strong(er) training regimen, it is vital to your success to be under the bar. I don’t understand how football coaches who look like the Michelin man can tell their players to be in good enough shape to give their all for four quarters. Live it—don’t just preach it!
So before you expect your athletes to invest the majority of their lives into training, make sure you are willing to invest yourself into these three areas at a minimum.
