The Importance of Having a Coach
Imagine an Olympic runner on the biggest stage of his career, getting ready, comfortable in his blocks and focusing on the race ahead of him. He's looking around at his competition, he's beat them all before, He's trained long and hard and feels ready for this moment. The race is called to the line, READY, SET, BANG!! The gun goes off and the runners explode out of their starting positions, this particular runner get out and pushes as hard as he can, and though all his effort is exhausted, he finishes with a 3rd place just .08 seconds from taking the Olympic Gold Medal. This happens to some of the greatest runners and athletes across the world. The smallest margin can create the difference between success against the most elite field of athletes.
What's the difference between those margins? Athletes at such a top level of conditioning and strength, what could they possibly do more to get the advantage. Is it just luck from day to day? Is it just moments of greatness that they have no control over?
The difference is the Coach. The importance a coach has to these athletes is beyond what many truly believe.
A coach brings a variety of benefits to an athlete’s performance and when properly applied to physical practice, improvements come in a variety of ways. They bring extra pair of eyes and perspective to the athlete’s technique, they bring analytical expertise to the athlete’s strategy, they bring experience in tactical and training components to the sport, they provide accountability and they give educated advice in strengthening weaknesses. All of these tools that a coach provides goes beyond the physical and also help improve the mental and emotional characteristics of the athlete. They can help keep the athlete focused, they can take notice when an athlete is tired or getting overly frustrated and accordingly adjust training and schedules to accommodate the needs of the athlete in order to bring out the best performances possible.
The advantages a coach brings can be scaled down to even the most novice of fitness enthusiasts. Someone who is just beginning their journey to being stronger is going to benefit greatly from what someone with more experience is going to add to their training. To a novice exerciser, it is especially important to analyze techniques and movements in order to prevent initial injury, also scaling resistances on the weights and the intensities of workouts to ensure that the individual is not overdoing anything and in the end setting them up for success. It is difficult for a beginner to do this themselves mainly due to the flood of information available online and through other media outlets. A coach can help answer questions that arise from all this information and sift through to find the quality and throw out the garbage, at the same time point the individual in a direction most appropriate to their goals and current capacities.
Proper coaching from beginning to elite level fitness creates a greater possibility of constant progression helping avoid plateaus in performance. Taking notice of the subtle changes in performance during training and even the attitude of the athlete can provoke changes in training and changes in environment to ramp up the stimulus avoiding any steps backwards. It is also important for athletes to find coaches that will work well with their goals. People respond to certain types of coaching differently. Though coaches are not meant to be your best friend, people should get along with them, able to converse about personal issues, stress, accomplishments, and have a professional yet, personal relationship with them so the type of training can be developed to the needs of the athlete. In order for a partnership to achieve success, both parties, the coach and athlete, need to be on the same page and develop an efficient and fluid way to work together and communicate what is happening. A coach, personal trainer, strength and conditioning specialist, martial arts master, all these people are teachers and teach their philosophies in a variety of forms. Sometimes it takes more than personal opinion and research to find solutions, a coach may have more resources to take from, more experiences with other athletes to remember and use all of this to apply to a unique situation in the athlete that is currently working with the coach. A competent coach knows that no two athletes are alike and the ability to problem solve and adapt are essential. However, a good coach also has a system that can apply in a fairly general sense to help provide structure and organization for success and well as create an environment suitable for tracking improvements. This is where the athlete needs to pay close attention to learn if a particular coach’s system is going to work for them. Just because a coach has a history of training a number of champions, doesn’t necessarily mean that their methodologies and systems will make any athlete into a champion.
The benefits of a coach are irreplaceable. Everyone, including professionals and “masters” need someone to coach them in some aspect or another. The key to unlocking the maximum potential inside an individual lies in the effective relationship with a coach who can assist in the development towards their goals. An individual alone can only obtain a limited perspective of what is needed to improve. Imagine the perspective of an extra set of expert eyes, or a team of expert eyes to add to your training program. There is no replacement for a good coach, there is no other way to get the most out of your personal performance without the help of people who want you to succeed. The improvements you will see by listening to an expert willing to guide you will be worth it. People, no matter the circumstance, situation, or activity, will never realize what their true and full potential is, unless the learn from and listen to a coach.
