Strap in, Warriors. I have something I need to get off my chest.
This has been on my mind lately and it drives me absolutely crazy. It’s the idea running rampant in the fitness industry that to have had a productive, effective workout you must lying in the fetal position in a pool of your own sweat and vomit at the end of it. This is ridiculous.
Our job as coaches is to get results for our clients. These results include getting them stronger, getting them leaner, improving their performance in sport or martial art, improving their confidence, increasing their mental strength, and making them healthier individuals. Somehow, I don’t think puking during or after your workout fulfills that last one of getting them healthy. In fact, I have to say it’s decidedly unhealthy to be puking during your workout.
The thing is, any fool – doesn’t even have to be a good coach – can write a fitness program that is impossible to do. Anyone can craft a program to almost kill even the fittest individual on the planet. This is not hard. It requires little skill and very little knowledge. In fact, the old adage, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, could not be more applicable here.
What DOES require skill AND knowledge AND experience is creating a program that will get your clients RESULTS. A program that will mold them into stronger individuals and reduce their chance of injury. A program that pushes them, challenges them, makes them uncomfortable, but not severely uncomfortable. A program that forces them to grow as a person, not just as an athlete. This, to me, is where the real art of program design lies.
Call me crazy, but I actually want my clients to learn something when they train with me. I consider myself a coach, yes. I consider myself a trainer, yes. But my true calling is to be a teacher. This is where I excel.
You see, strength is a skill. Fitness is a skill. And like any other skill, it requires practice. To just throw random crap together on a daily basis and call it a fitness program is nonsense. Your body takes at least 4-6 weeks to adapt to any exercise. You have to stick with a program for at least that long to see results and understand what works and what does not for your body. Read my post on Muscle Confusion Got Ya Confused for a more detailed look at this.
If we as trainers and coaches do not take the time to learn our craft before setting up shop we are doing ourselves, our clients, and the fitness industry as a whole a great disservice. Coaches – learn your craft or find another!
We can do better.
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