Do you want to be a better lifter?

In my opinion, every person that steps into a gym, should be coached, until at the very least, they are competent at a few of the major fundamentals of strength training; breathing, bracing, squatting, bench pressing and deadlifting.

 

A relatively small investment into the fundamentals at the start, will not only build the correct motor patterns and help to prevent injury, it will also set you up to grow into the best lifter you can be, from the start.

 

 

If, like many, you didn’t start your journey with a coach, when, why, and how should you implement a coaches services into your training?

 

These are the clients that coaches deal with mostly.

People that have had a “PT” and have eventually outgrown their services, or people that train at home watching YouTube videos, but want to take their training to the next level.

 

Normally a good coach will go through movement assessments, ask questions about their programming, injury history etc, then hit the gym floor.

Generally speaking, many corrections need to be made, which normally includes learning how to brace, how to hip hinge, and how not to bust their back by deadlifting properly……. the very first things they should have been taught. 

 

The problem is, after the initial assessments and correction sessions, the next block of sessions they book are generally 8 weeks out from comp.

 

Don’t get me wrong, its great they are booking these sessions, because it gives the coach a perfect viewing of a lifters strengths and weaknesses, how they are tracking on a program, the ability to adjust the program, and of course wrap knees and think about attempts for the comp. 

 

The issue with only getting coached 8 weeks out, is it leaves very little opportunity for a coach to correct any technique and movement patterns as they weights are simply getting too heavy. 

 

The most effective time to have your lifting coached, in my opinion, is in the off season. 

This is when a coach can have you moving lighter loads, and doing movements that are going to correct weaknesses, imbalances and iron out bad motor patterns you may have picked up.

This of course, will lead to you becoming a much more efficient lifter, help you stay injury free through your strength and peaking blocks, and allow you to bring the best package you can to the platform.

 

Now, like I mentioned earlier, being coached through a prep is a great idea.
A coach can program more effectively, pick weaknesses to train, take care of wrapping and it also can help with attempt selection. 

But, if the goal of being coached is to become better at lifting, consider getting coached much further out from meet day to give you the best chance of becoming a much more efficient and stronger lifter.

 

 

Until next time, 

Stay strong,