Finding the right coach

With the sheer abundance of coaches that ply their trade in gyms and on line, sorting the wheat from the chaff can be difficult if you don’t know what you are looking for. But please note, this list is not limited to just the qualities listed, it is an outline of what I consider to be the basic requirements that every coach should work to.

In this article I want to give you the information you need to confidently find a quality coach.

The first part of finding someone to work with is to know exactly what you want to achieve. Having a vague goal isn’t going to help, so make sure you know exactly what you want as this will streamline the process.

Once you know what you want, you can search for coaches who offer exactly that.

Be wary though, of any coach who says they are specialists in everything. By definition, a specialist is;

              a person who concentrates primarily on a particular subject or activity; a person highly skilled in a specific and restricted field.

If you want weightlifting*, search for a weightlifting coach, if you want bodybuilding, search for a bodybuilding coach. You get the picture.

*Weightlifting is commonly referred to as Olympic Lifting and isn’t the same thing as weight training so it’s an important distinction to make, if you want to find the right coach.

On my site, I have my services page and don’t take on clients who want something I don’t offer for the simple fact that if it’s not one of my services, it means I’m either not qualified in, or confident enough to coach it and my only priority is to give the client what they want. The mark of a truly good coach is that they will refer you to a colleague who is better suited to what you want, instead of taking your money and falling well short of their promises.

Once you know what you want, and have found a few coaches, the next step is to contact them and ask a few questions.

·       What is their level of expertise in what you want? 

·       Do they have any client testimonials? 

·       How long have they been coaching the thing you want? 

·       Do they have any relevant qualifications and or personal experience with it?

If they can’t give you the information you want, then move on.

If the answers they give are satisfactory, you should expect them to ask you;

·       What is your level of experience?

·       What time frame are you working with?

·       How much time can you realistically give to the goal?

·       Are you dealing with any injuries or illnesses?

You must give honest answers to these questions if you want to find the best coach for you.

A good coach will give honest feedback to your answers, for example, I was approached by a guy who wanted to add 30kg to his deadlift (320kg at time of contact) in 12 weeks. I told him it wasn’t going to happen and explained that It might require a complete break down and re build of his technique, which could take months before he even got back to his current max, and if it didn’t, to add 10% in such a short time wasn’t realistic, and any coach who says it is, is either being disingenuous or doesn’t fully understand what is required to get from 320kg to 350kg.

The next step, once you have found the coach who you think is the best fit is to get started with them, they should have paperwork for you to fill out in the guise of a PAR Q, which is a brief medical questionnaire that is a requirement of their insurance, an informed consent form which outlines the potential risks, your right to refusal and so on, on top of these, there should also be a contract outlining the terms and conditions of what you can expect from them, and what they expect from you.

In terms of programming, it should be concise, simple to follow and easily explained. At no point should you feel confused when looking at the sessions which you are expected to complete on your own.

Nothing should be in the plan that doesn’t get you to your goal and the coach should be able to fully justify any exercises they have included. If they can’t, or if they say, “just because”, then the programme is most likely a generic, cookie cutter plan that they farm out to all of their clients.

If the plan is overly complicated, it means one of two things;

·       The coach is deliberately giving you something that makes you depend on them to get through it,

·       They are trying to show off how smart they are.

My problem with coaches who fall in to the former category is that they are putting your money before your progress, if you can’t understand their programme, then you have no choice but to keep paying them if you want to reach your goal.

My issue with the second is that the goal of a good coach is not to prove they are brilliant, but to help you discover how brilliant you can be.

Another thing to look out for is the language used in the session, a good coach will take something complex and make it sound simple, using language that the lay person understands. A bad coach will make something simple sound complex by using language suitable for a textbook. 

Any good coach will list their services and prices so you can see if they would be appropriate for you and your budget, do not contact a coach who charges more than you are prepared to pay and try to haggle them down, you wouldn’t be happy to take a pay cut from your employer, so don’t expect your coach to. 

It’s also worth noting that we aren’t obliged to take you on as a client, and personally, I make it a point to never work with anyone who asks for a discount.

With all that being said, the ultimate test of how good your coach is, is that you get the results you are paying for.

If you are 2 or 3 months in and you’ve made no progress, then you should look elsewhere because they aren’t doing the job you’re paying them for.

If you are looking for a coach that ticks all the boxes mentioned above, one that has your goal as their priority, you can find everything I offer here, SERVICES AND PRICING