woodswise
TID Board Of Directors
- Apr 29, 2012
- 4,334
- 1,339
I wanted to start a thread to talk about what are the essential characteristics a person should look for when hiring a coach. I got lucky when I hired mine 7 years ago, and he turns out to be a very high quality coach who happened to settle down in the small rural town where I work.
Here are some of the qualities he has, that I think make him stand out.
1. He walks the walk, in addition to talks the talk. By that, I mean he trains himself to a high degree of fitness, and is both muscular and lean, and really stands out, even in a crowd of highly trained individuals.
2. He has achieved a certain level of greatness, being ranked by at least one national strongman organization, and one of the top three strongmen in his weightclass in the USA.
3. He has a four year degree in fitness and strength training. This education includes anatomy and physiology, sports science, body mechanics and exercise, supplementation and nutrition. I have not looked at the curriculum, but these are the areas in which he stands out and I know he studied as part of his degree.
5. He has tailored my training to meet my goals, not his. I.e. he listened, and kept my goals as the top priority in training.
6. He consistently pushes me hard, and when he can see I am having some trouble (whether in my own life, or with not feeling quite myself, or having an injury, he not only has good advice for facing the situation, he tailors my workouts to address the issue, whilst still giving me a challenging workout, even if on other bodyparts than where the trouble is).
7. he has helped me to set new goals and has offered constant encouragement over time
8. he challenges me to go beyond my mental limits regularly.
9. he has never, by his training, caused me an injury. Yes, I have been injured, due to accident and misunderstanding (doing something wrong). But I have never been injured by him pushing me beyond my mental limits (i.e. he does not push me into unsafe situations, and if I say I don't feel safe, lets me stop or ramp it down, something that rarely happens).
9. He has helped me develop a new and much more aggressive mental approach to my training and competing.
10. He constantly inspires me to do better through the example he sets for all of us around him.
Needless to say, after 7 years with my coach, I am more inspired than ever and am quite happy to pay him an amount of money each month, that amounts to a small mortgage payment!
Here are some of the qualities he has, that I think make him stand out.
1. He walks the walk, in addition to talks the talk. By that, I mean he trains himself to a high degree of fitness, and is both muscular and lean, and really stands out, even in a crowd of highly trained individuals.
2. He has achieved a certain level of greatness, being ranked by at least one national strongman organization, and one of the top three strongmen in his weightclass in the USA.
3. He has a four year degree in fitness and strength training. This education includes anatomy and physiology, sports science, body mechanics and exercise, supplementation and nutrition. I have not looked at the curriculum, but these are the areas in which he stands out and I know he studied as part of his degree.
5. He has tailored my training to meet my goals, not his. I.e. he listened, and kept my goals as the top priority in training.
6. He consistently pushes me hard, and when he can see I am having some trouble (whether in my own life, or with not feeling quite myself, or having an injury, he not only has good advice for facing the situation, he tailors my workouts to address the issue, whilst still giving me a challenging workout, even if on other bodyparts than where the trouble is).
7. he has helped me to set new goals and has offered constant encouragement over time
8. he challenges me to go beyond my mental limits regularly.
9. he has never, by his training, caused me an injury. Yes, I have been injured, due to accident and misunderstanding (doing something wrong). But I have never been injured by him pushing me beyond my mental limits (i.e. he does not push me into unsafe situations, and if I say I don't feel safe, lets me stop or ramp it down, something that rarely happens).
9. He has helped me develop a new and much more aggressive mental approach to my training and competing.
10. He constantly inspires me to do better through the example he sets for all of us around him.
Needless to say, after 7 years with my coach, I am more inspired than ever and am quite happy to pay him an amount of money each month, that amounts to a small mortgage payment!