BALANCING TIME AND MOTIVATION AS A STRENGTH COACH

Managing your own training when you are a strength coach can be a difficult task. You spend 60+ hours at the gym, much of it training clients and writing programs and then you are there even more to get your own training in. Sometimes, especially in the off-season, the discipline just to get your training in can be rough. Not only is there so many things that you’d like to be doing other than spending more hours at your job, but even when you do train, you are still the coach to many of your training partners, and many times, that can take away from your own training. Management of these circumstances along with motivation and drive becomes extremely important here.
In order to keep on task, here are some tips that help me keep my training a top priority.
Time Management
Scheduling your training sessions into your own client schedule is one way to assure you get your sessions in. Block whatever amount of time off during the week for whatever it is that you need to train. I know for myself, I train 3 days during the week and 1 weekend day. My heavy squat day is always 3:00 on Friday, and my heavy bench day is always 1:00 on Sunday. Those two days in particular, there is a crew that shows up and we all train at those times. During the week it may vary, but the days are always the same, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Coaching Control
It is very likely for the gym owners/coaches out there, that it often seems impossible to get your own sessions in without taking a majority of time helping your gym partners, who often times are you clients as well. Though this is mostly ok, there are times that you will need your training to be just that, your’s. Some ways to manage this are to make sure that like you, they know exactly what they are going to be doing that day and numbers they need to hit. This way they aren’t spending your entire session asking what weight they should have on the bar and what is their next exercise. Just by making sure that everyone has a plan, the amount of time you spend in the gym being unproductive should lessen dramatically. Another way to handle this is to make sure you have one person there that is going to handle you. While you spend a majority of your time taking care of other people, it is very important that you have someone there “coaching” you and keeping you on task. The fewer distractions you have the better, but every gym owners knows that this isn’t possible.

Your program
Please please please know your program and yield away from guessing. The 10/20/life book makes it easy to lay out your own programming and Team PRS now even offers training templates that are tailored for each individual’s needs. Even better, hire your own coach. Being the person who trains people regularly, it’s likely you aren’t getting a ton of feedback from your training partners. In a perfect world they would be seeing the things that you do while watching your clients, but the reality of that is, they don’t have the coaches eye that you do. At powerrackstrength.com, we offer a variety of great coaches who can give you feedback, help you find your weaknesses, and tailor and adjust your program for you to achieve your maximal potential.

As a coach, training is actually a huge part of your job. If you don’t practice what you preach, your clients and followers won’t ever take you seriously. Take these tips into great consideration and make sure to use your available resources. Your career depends on it!