Coaches Need Coaches
This is relevant for all coaches, but I am writing this specifically in the context where you are a weightlifting or S&C coach who is also actively training (if not competing). A little bit here’s my journey, a little bit cautionary tale.
Brief background (I’ve spoken more about my knees, if you want the long version it’s here); mid-202o I developed persistent knee issues that turned out to be early osteoarthritis. Since then I’ve struggled with pain and at times substantial inflammation which has had a huge impact on my ability to train consistently (and in the way I’d prefer).
August 2021 I was in Auckland and we entered an(other) extended covid lockdown. I had performed well, actually achieving a personal best championship total at the 2021 North Island Champs about 6 weeks prior, but my knees had then blown up again so I was unable to follow my usual programme. At the same time, I was starting to get more involved in coaching and had a few resources on hand that lockdown gave me an opportunity to spend time working through. The combination of being ‘broken’ while actively upskilling as a coach led to the decision that I was going to programme for myself moving forward.
My reasoning; I couldn’t do the programming I had access to so I needed an alternative regardless, and I wasn’t willing to pay anyone else. I also saw it as an opportunity to explore and try things, and gain confidence in programming weightlifting in general. I don’t regret this, at all. I learnt a LOT and am a substantially better coach for having done it. I was able to include a ton of new movements (both lift variations and accessory work), play around with my own technique, and learn a huge amount around training variable manipulation. I gained an awareness of my programming biases and areas for improvement. It also gave my training meaning, at a time when I was generally pretty demoralised and pessimistic about my future as an athlete.
Here’s the pitfall though- in my mind it was still about overcoming an ‘injury’ and getting back to training how I was before. That, combined with an ongoing intention to keep competing, meant that for the next two years all I ultimately did was varied preparatory training blocks before going back to heavy back squats and single snatch and clean & jerks. My knees kept flaring up, and I kept getting stuck at the same top numbers (90-93% of all time bests). Late 2022 I made the call to pull back on actual weightlifting training, and consciously target ongoing rehab work… this didn’t really take. By mid-2023 I was coaching a lot on top of my fulltime work, which meant struggling with feeling like I had the energy to train regularly with any sort of intensity, as well as the rest which still hadn’t really progressed. I was now only lifting around 80% of my bests. Once I acknowledged that I hadn’t done enough work and was not going to be able to qualify for 2023 Senior Nationals, I stopped trying.
I didn’t really lift (or do much of anything if I’m honest), until January, when I started working with Caity. Granted, it needs to be the right fit, but basically now we’re several months in I’m pretty livid with myself that I didn’t re-engage with a coach sooner.
Here’s why I wanted to work with this coach
Every coach I’d worked with before her was male
She’s 1-2 steps ahead of me in her own coaching career
She’s an Osteopath as well as a weightlifting coach, a very helpful skill combo for me and my bones
She’s Australian, i.e. has developed in a different system and had a variety of influences that don’t really overlap with mine
The outcome, so far, has been fantastic. My training is the most consistent it’s been in at least two years, I am doing a lot of things I know I never would have given myself, my body is coping, and I am progressing. I’ve made technical adjustments I’m not sure ever would have occurred to me on my own. The rate at which my numbers are going up is pretty pedestrian; my working numbers when I started in January were around 55% of all time best, and I’m at 70% now. Part of this is me, in that I’m no longer willing to go heavy enough to see any major technical breakdown. This could be translated as not willing to push, but I don’t really care; my technical standard is the highest it’s ever been, and I’m able to do it again week on week.
For now I’m happy with how it’s all going and what I’m doing. That’s not the point I want to make though. I wanted to work with Caity to utilise her skills in both weightlifting and Osteopathy, and work a coach unlike any of my previous influences. That’s more about finding the right fit for you as an individual. When it comes to the general benefits of working with a (quality) coach when you yourself are a coach…. here’s a few
Active Professional Development
You get a completely inside perspective on how another coach works! You get insight into how they run their business, programming, communication, relationship management, and can form a pretty informed opinion around how effective it is, because you’re the client in this scenario.
A New Exercise and Cue Library
Of course there’s crossover, but you’re still going to have exposure to a range of new movements, and see how a different coach uses those movements in context. You’ll also be able to experience how they provide cues and feedback.
A Fresh Eye
Chances are you’re not observant as you think when it comes to your own movement, as you’re simply too familiar with it. Working closely with an outside perspective is going to pick up things you were missing, and challenge your coaching eye in general. Subsequently you’ll start picking up things in your athletes that you were missing, and hopefully start challenging your own biases.
Outsourced Accountability
Just because you’re capable of writing your own programme doesn’t mean doing so will get the most from you. I mean this both in the sense of making intelligent decisions around actual programme variables, and the feedback process. I know when I lift well, it’s still nice to have that reinforced by someone who’s opinion I respect.
At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter how good you are, a coach is going to offer feedback, external perspective and a sounding board you simply cannot replicate yourself. When you do it well, it’s also going to make you that much better as a coach.
I 100% endorse having an F Around and Find Out phase as a developing coach, just please don’t get stuck there like I did.
p.s. If today’s the day, you can enquire about working with me here.
